WO2019162543A1 - Method for cultivating marine species and platform for implementing said method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a floating platform for the cultivation of marine species, which comprises two horizontal structures (1) and (2), the first being situated at the top and assisted by corresponding floats (3) and comprising a plurality of main tubes (4) through the inside of which run feeding tubes (5) with outlets (6) that enter the bottom structure (2), which is formed by a plurality of modules (7) of groups of vertical cages (9), a feeding outlet (6) entering each module. Each module (7) of vertical cages comprises a support frame (8) based on polygonal horizontal framing elements (10) solidly connected by vertical posts (11), sections of grouped cages (9) being accommodated in said frame (8) and vertically superposed, with the ability to slide upwards and downwards inside the respective frame (8). Using the described platform, it is possible to alternate between feeding based on marine fouling and food with more protein, thus optimising the results.

Description

 CULTURE PROCEDURE Di MARINE SPECIES AND PLATFORM FOR THE

PUTTING INTO THIS PROCEDURE

D E S C R I P C I Ó N

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a floating process and platform for the cultivation of marine species, whose obvious purpose is to constitute a habitat that allows the cultivation of certain merino species, so that production is maximized, all with a simple structure that makes it easily implanted.

The Invention is applicable to the cultivation of all types of crustaceans, octopus and other species, being of special application in those species in which it is intended to use marine fouling as food and / or those that, due to their characteristics, must be bred da isolated or separated into groups with few individuals.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The cultivation of some crustaceans, especially lobsters or lobsters, has been a long-pursued goal over time. Its high demand, low production and high commercial value has made it worthy of many cultivation initiatives. However, it has not been considered viable due to several bottlenecks. They stand out from them:

- The high conversion rate and low growth rate of animals necessitates a high cost in food and maintenance for a long period of time.

In addition, in order to obtain acceptable development, growth and survival rays, the food must contain a high percentage of very expensive proteins and nutrients (eg.

~ Some types of lobsters, such as European, have a cannibalistic behavior, so it is necessary to separate them into individual cages. If you want to grow in a way Industrial thousands of cages are necessary, which greatly increases the investment and also requires very high maintenance costs to avoid death from suffocation (due to obstruction of the cages due to ouling) or disease (due to the accumulation of organic remains in decomposition you lack of sterilization in food). Given the long investment in food and operating expenses, the higher the percentage of mortality, the lower the probability of achieving economic viability of the crop.

Various ways to solve these problems have been explored, without fully satisfactory results so far.

It is noteworthy the AquaReg initiative, developed in Ireland, UK and Spain, in which lobsters are deposited in containers on the seabed to feed only fouling. These algae and small marine organisms (mussel, barnacle, serpulidcs, sponges ...) that colonize the cages contain various nutrients, active ingredients (bacteria, enzymes and hormones) and pigments such as astaxanthin that are a determining factor for growth and correct development of other marine species. With only one feeding, moderate growth levels were obtained during the first months. However, the fouling was accumulating until the outside of the cages were clogged, which caused the death of a percentage of the animals. In addition, this type of diet has a low protein content. Due to this, it has been detected in other experiments that after two months there is a gradual physiological degradation, which causes a decrease in the growth rate as well as a high increase in mortality.

In Vietnam, there have been successful initiatives of fattening lobsters in bats, They are fed with discards of fish and crustaceans, with good results in terms of growth and profitability. However, the lack of sterilization in food caused diseases and mortality that caused production to drop. On the other hand, the cultivated species do not have a cannibal behavior like the European one, letting themselves be raised in bats from which community cages hang, in which the food is decanted.

Attempts have been made to cultivate European lobster in trays, some of them in Spain, but this route has been discarded since, although there are numerous and varied types of structures, they do not solve all the problems derived from cultivation. Large scale lobster and other species with similar needs, or have a complex structure that makes their cultivation economically unprofitable.

In this regard, the invention patent WO 2013168147 can be cited, in which a floating platform for marine species culture is described and claimed, consisting of two structures in combination are support floats.

The second structure is in a parallel plane below the first and comprises some collateral vertical modules inside which are vertically superimposed cages, which can ascend / descend vertically within the modules.

 This design is valid for the cultivation of fish, but not for species whose individuals must remain isolated or in cages with few individuals, since it presents several problems with respect to the proposed design, among which the following can be highlighted:

It has large community cages, not individual ones.

It has no division into sections that facilitates the cleaning and manipulation of the entire cages on the surface, as well as cleaning means that prevent the fall of the fouled fouled residue from the walls of the cages to avoid their denseness. Both deficiencies cause an increase in the risks of mortality and morbidity. This means that this design is not suitable for installation in an area with a high concentration of fouling, and it is not possible to take advantage of its benefits in terms of increased growth, cost savings of food, nor savings in operational costs derived from feeding on alternate days (which includes the combination of the crop with other species). Therefore, this design is not suitable for the cultivation of spaces that feed on foullng, especially crustaceans.

The feeding system is based on a feeding tube by decantation in a single cage. As a consequence, food waste is produced and a homogeneous dosage is not guaranteed to all individuals, resulting in lower degrees of growth in many of the animals. In addition, it has electrical and mechanical elements, including a motor, which increases the chances of damage as well as maintenance costs. It also means a Insurmountable increase in personnel costs, since the lack of an automated feeding system for thousands of cages would imply done by hand.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The procedure solves satisfactorily the problems that have been making inviabie the cultivation of some types of species such as lobster or lobster, as well as other species whose aquaculture poses similar problems. It is characterized by:

. The cultivation is done in a floating pan. Once there, the animals are grown in individual cages to prevent deaths from cannibalism or, in the case of non-cannibalistic species, in cages with few individuals to reduce the stress and energy consumption caused by competition for food, this way, the growth and survival of cultivated animals is optimized,

Individual cages mean an increase in operational costs as well as the difficulty of distributing the food in a dosed form to each animal. For this reason, the implementation of an automated feeding system that distributes food in a dosed form with the lowest possible cost, both installation and operational and fault prevention, is crucial.

. The procedure is based on the use of fouüng as food. Since lobsters can feed the first tables with fouüng reaching moderate growth, it is possible to reduce the daily frequency of feeding at once every two days, feeding the lobsters with a more protein type meal one day in the form of pellets, to knowing that the next day they will feed the fouüng that will supplement the diate with the other necessary nutrients. In this way, several advantages are achieved simultaneously: Unlike the AquaReg initiative, in which fouling was used as the only food, this procedure achieves a balanced diet between proteins and other essential nutrients, which results in an increase in levels. of growth and survival, solving the problems of the previous diet, The food in the form of peliets contributes to a better dosage, facilitates its storage and transport, and eliminates the risks of diseases due to lack of sterilization in the food as happened in Vietnam.

All this while lowering costs: On the one hand, expensive nutrients such as astaxanthin are contributed by fouiing naturally. On the other, by programming the feeding every two days, it makes it possible to dedicate boat and crew to the cultivation of other species on the day off, achieving great savings in operational expenses.

. To favor the entry of fouiing as well as the exit of waste that prevents unhealthiness, a circulation system is necessary. To give, aisles are established between the cages, leaving each of them with a side wall to a corridor.

. Given that the higher the percentage of mortality, the lower the probability of achieving economic viability, it is necessary to implement a maintenance system that avoids the problems associated with the accumulation of fouling detected in previous experiences. To do this, two types of maintenance are established: Surface maintenance The animals eat the fouiing inside the cages, but this progressively thickens the outer walls until they cause death by suffocation of the animals. To avoid this, a system was implemented to periodically remove fouiing from the exterior walls.

Deep maintenance. It is necessary to remove the remains of the molts as well as any other accumulation of decomposing organic remains, to minimize morbidity risks. For this reason, a rotary maintenance will be performed in which the interior of each of the cages is cleaned.

Each of these characteristics is designed to serve a critical profitability in the form of increased survival, growth rate, savings in food and operating expenses. In this way, the combination of all the characteristics creates a synergy that provides technical and economic viability to the cultivation in bat of species that until now it was considered unfeasible,

The implementation of this procedure entails the use of the floating platform for the cultivation of marine species that is recommended. This is characterized in that it is constituted by means of two types of structures associated with some support floats thereof, so that one of the structures is formed by a plurality of main tubes through which a plurality of the supply tubes run, with exits or branches through the corresponding main tube, and whose exits are directed towards the second type of structure, this one formed by a plurality of mesh cages that form horizontal alignments below the alignments that form the main tubes, the special feature that the mesh cage structure comprises in each horizontal alignment a series of frames based on horizontal frames at different heights or levels, joined together by vertical struts that run in correspondence with the vertices or corners of the horizontal frames, thus forming a rack in which they are housed in ascending character and descending, a series of cages distributed in clusters forming the sum of said clusters in each case a module so that the plurality of modules that form each horizontal alignment are located under the different main tubes, with the outputs of the feeding tubes of these leading to each of the previous modules.

The feeding tubes contained in the main tubes branch towards the alignments corresponding to the vertical structures of the mesh cages, complementing the set with the aforementioned floats for supporting the platform.

The tubes have an opening at the level of each cage they pass through, to deliver the food.

semi-rigid hoses that are launched from the ship and run the tubes to the bottom of each module. Once there, you begin to release the food and climb slowly, distributing the food to the cages of each level as it rises.

In this way several advantages are achieved simultaneously: It guarantees the distribution of the appropriate dose of food to the animal of each cage. In this way, growth is favored and waste of food produced in normal feeding systems is avoided, based on the decantation in

- There are no electrical or mechanical elements in contact with the sea. In this way, breakdowns by accumulation of saltpeter and foullng that interrupt the food supply are avoided. These elements are placed on the ship as part of the launching of the hoses and the pumping, which makes it possible to reuse them for feeding other trays. In addition, it avoids the installation of numerous risk elements such as valves. In a context in which thousands of cages have to be fed, it is a great decrease in the risk of damage and costs.

- The accumulation of foulness in the tubes is also avoided, since this is expelled every time the hose passes. In this way, any breakdown or jamming that interrupts the power is prevented and maintenance costs are minimized.

They also provide other design advantages: The upper bases of the horizontal tubes provide a pear surface that the operators can move over, to perform the pressure gripping of the outer walls of the cages, as well as to support the cage clusters when take out.

- Since cages cannot be installed underneath, because they could not be hoisted to the surface, the water column under each horizontal row of pipes is used as a waterway, as well as to place the floats longitudinally.

This automation will make it possible to feed thousands of cages of animations in a short space of time, during which the operators perform maintenance work. In this way it allows to combine its culture with other marine species that do not need daily care, achieving critical savings in operational costs, Each cage is Individual to avoid problems of cannibalism, and ensure survival. The structure is also designed so that, in the case of non-cannibal species, it is possible to suppress cage separations, to give rise to larger cages with few individuals, in order to reduce the stress and energy consumption caused by competition for food that occur when many animals live together, In turn, the cages are grouped into sub-groups of manageable size, in order to facilitate maintenance, so that the cages that participate in said sub-groups of cages are fixed together by any conventional medium that is easily decoupled.

Under the branches or bifurcations of the main tubes there are narrow horizontal cannons that adopt a parallel arrangement between each structure of main tubes and each horizontal alignment of modules.

From this structuring, at the time of eliminating the accumulated marine life in lifting the cages up to the outside of the scaffolding and projecting water under pressure over them by means of a hose, so that when the gutters are arranged laterally to the cages extracted, much of the waste would fall on them, preventing them from falling on cages.

The groups of cages of the modules can slide independently of each other, both upstream and downstream, through corresponding "L" glues provided on the sides of the racks themselves, this, together with the manageable size of each cluster of cages, facilitates its extraction to the surface, in order to clean the organic remains inside each cage, thus minimizing disease risks.

On the other hand, each group of Cages integrates a circular section of tube that crosses them vertically, so that when said groupings of cages are assembled the tube will also be assembled, all in such a way that when the assembly is divided into parts favor the extraction manipulation and the different groups of cages without having to remove a long tube each time you want to remove the groups of cages for maintenance,

Obviously, being the groups of independent cages and of reduced size, it can be said that in the set a division by groups is established that solves the problems that could arise if a periodic cleaning was not done.

This disabilization allows to optimize the use of fouling, which makes the cultivation of crustaceans economically profitable. Thus, from this structuring, the lobsters or marine species in question can be fed alternately by means of the feeding tube system and the fouüng accumulated in their cages, reducing food costs and allowing the ship and crew in charge of said Food is dedicated to the cultivation of other species in those days that the animals are expected to feed on the fouüng, achieving great savings in operational expenses.

On the other hand, the disposition of the cages in corridors defines a seawater circulation system that favors the fouling entrance and the waste exit to avoid unhealthiness, all the cages presenting a side that gives outside.

Finally, and with regard to the lift system, as stated above, the platform is supported by a series of floats located below the horizontal rows of tubes, and can be materialized in two different ways:

. Watertight closure Most San and are placed in sufficient numbers to provide almost total buoyancy to the bat.

. Opening and closing at two ends, they incorporate valves to be able to inject air from the boat and expel the water from inside. In this way, you can make the bat emerge when the ship arrives, and sink it to the desired depth when it leaves. OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description that will then be made and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to a preferred example of practical implementation thereof, a set of drawings is attached as an integral part of said description. Where Illustrative and not limiting, the following has been represented:

Figure 1 - Shows a general perspective view of a platform for marine species cultivation carried out in accordance with the object of the invention.

Figure 2.- Shows a perspective and schematic view according to an exploded view of each of the Sos modules corresponding to the mesh cage structures that participate in a marine platform.

Figure 3.- Shows a detail in perspective and in section according to a vertical plane

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FOR THE INVENTION

In view of the figures outlined, it can be seen how the floating platform for marine species object of the invention comprises two structures generally referenced with (1) and (2), structures that adopt a horizontal arrangement and intended to be submerged in water , being supported by floats (3), so that the structure (1) is formed by a plurality of main tubes (4) by the Inside of which a plurality of feeding tubes (5) run, so that the main tubes (4) are located in a horizontal plane, are parallel to each other and equidistant, with the special feature that through each main tube (4) a plurality of outlets (8) emerge from the feeding tubes (5) ).

The second structure (2), which is also located horizontally and below in a plane parallel to the structure (1) formed by the main tubes (4), is formed by modules (7), so that in each module participates a frame (8) and a plurality of different groups of mesh cages (9), the frame (8) being formed by a series of dizziness (10) according to planes at different levels, that is to say at different heights but parallel horizontally between sl. supported by their respective vertices to the vertical uprights (11) of said frames (§), forming a structure in which groups of mesh cages located superimposed and vertically are housed in an ascending and descending manner, to form in each case the respective module (7) with the frame (8).

Under the branches (6) of distribution of the main tubes there are horizontal and narrow gutters (12) that adopt a parallel and flush parallel arrangement and superior to the structure (2), with each horizontal alignment of modules. These elements have the function of facilitating the exit of the residues that fall when the cages are hoisted for cleaning, preventing said residues from falling on other parts of the cages.

The aforementioned modules (7) form horizontal alignments to determine the structure (2) that is located under the structure (1) of the main tubes (4), so that the branches (6) of the feeding tubes (5) they are projected until each of the modules (7) described above is reached, that is, they reach the cages (9) that are mounted inside the racks (8) corresponding to the modules themselves (7).

As stated previously and in accordance with Figure 3, each cluster of cages (9) integrates a circular section of feed tube (6 ') that passes through them vertically, such that when each cluster of cages will also assemble the tube, all of it in a way such that as the whole is divided into parts, the manipulation and extraction of the different groups of cages is favored without having to remove a long tube every time you want to remove the cages to its

The feeding tubes (6 ') have an opening (13) at the level of each cage that they cross, to deliver the food, so that in said network of tubes semi-rigid hoses are inserted that are thrown from the boat and run through the tubes (5- 8-8 ') to the bottom of each module, so that once the lower point is reached, the food starts to be released and the hose slowly rises, distributing the food to the cages of each level as it rises without the need for dosing mechanisms for each cage, which significantly simplifies the cost of the Installation,

Claims

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N E S 1 ^a - Procedure for the cultivation of marine species, species housed in individual cages or for a few individuals duly submerged in the sea, characterized in that it consists of combining food based on marine fouling and additional food in an alternate feeding regime that is impiemegated in a floating platform with a plurality of Cages, and in which the following stages are defined: a) Through an automated feeding system, feed the animals with in the water on alternate days. b) Carry out maintenance work every time the animals are fed, specifically, cleaning the fouling accumulated on the outer walls of the cages to prevent it from becoming clogged and cleaning the organic debris accumulated in the cages. 2 ^a - Fixing platform for the cultivation of marine species, characterized in that it is constituted from a series of structures (1) and (2) in combination with main floats (4), parallel and equidistant from each other, each of the hides it houses a plurality of feeding tubes (5), projections at different levels of the tubes located below that formed by the first structures (1), the second structures (2), formed by modules (7) of clusters (9) of vertical maila cages, forming horizontal alignments under the main tubes (4), with the plurality of modules (7) attached to each other collaterally, accessing each module (7) one of the branches (8) of the feeding tubes (5) coming from the main tubes (4), it being provided that the branches (8) are connected to respective feeding tubes (6 ') that pass through each cage cluster green, and that incorporate an om more feed openings (13) in correspondence with each cage they pass through, feed tubes (5-5 ') in which axial and selectively semi-rigid projection hoses of the feed flow are displaced, with the particularity that each module (7 ) of vertical mesh cages comprising a support frame (8) based of horizontal frames (10), polygonal, supported by vertical struts (11) in correspondence with the corners of the polygons of those frames (10), the groupings of cages (9) being housed in said frame (8) and superimposed vertically, with the ability to slide both up and down inside the respective frame (8). 3 .- Floating platform for marine farming, according ^to claim 2, characterized in that upper and lateral to each structure (2) are mounted a guttering (12) of waste drain in the cleanup gives cages, running parallel to both structures below the branches (8). 4 ^a. - Floating platform for cultivation of marine aspados, according to claim 2 *. characterized in that the floats (3) are sealed. 5 .- Floating platform for marine farming, according ^to claims 2 and 4, characterized in that it includes additional floats having means for adjusting their level of buoyancy.