Integration of offshore oil and gas platforms and cage aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

In response to an U.S. Department of Commerce Aquaculture Policy, the Gulf of Mexico Offshore Aquaculture Consortium (OAC) was formed to create a collaborative, Gulf-wide, interdisciplinary research and development program to generate primary scientific data and conduct studies in marine policy, ocean environmental, marine biology and ocean engineering aspects of offshore aquaculture (www.masgc.org/offshoreconsortium.html). Permission has been provided to moor a 600 m³ Ocean Spar Sea Station (OSSS) in U.S. federal waters near a Chevron gas platform off the coast of Mississippi (29^o 58.649'N, 88^o 36.297'W). To decrease user conflicts, unintentional damage and vandalism to grow-out systems, a currently producing gas platform was chosen as the site for the consortium’s experimental offshore aquaculture operation. The OSSS is not attached to the gas platform but is moored to the continental shelf on a single-point mooring (SPM) and allowed to move in a ‘watch circle’ near the Chevron platform. Although providing no investment, Chevron is a cooperator to the project as a field observer to structural damage and provides passive navigation protection. Increased liabilities and dependence on oil and gas operations exist with integration of these industries. An alternative solution to design and manufacture a lift-boat specifically for offshore aquaculture operations has been proposed to alleviate offshore aquaculture logistics. An aquaculture lift-boat would eliminate oil and gas liability issues, create complete independence for the offshore aquaculture operations, and compares economically to integration strategies of aquaculture with the oil and gas industry. From a preliminary analysis of options, the OAC research team has concluded that for offshore aquaculture to succeed in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM): (1) an OSSS design will be required; (2) cobia may be the best candidate species; and (3) a lift-boat strategy may be most appropriate to alleviate offshore logistics, and is economically comparable to aquaculture integration with the oil and gas industry.