Animal husbandry – Aquatic animal culturing – Crustacean culturing
Patent
1997-06-23
1999-01-19
Swiatek, Robert P.
Animal husbandry
Aquatic animal culturing
Crustacean culturing
119221, A01K 6100
Patent
active
058603921
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a lobster house or lobster habitat in water resistant materials consisting of one or more elements equipped with recesses of varying sizes of opening and depth, which can be through-going in the element, wherein the element is composed of a block of uniform thickness or a block which is thicker at one end.
In the field of marine biology it is known to deploy so-called fish houses on the seabed. This is due to the fact that fish and marine organisms have been observed to gather around shipwrecks on the seabed, oil installations and the like. Such structures have been shown to be well suited to attract stationary fish, i.e. fish which remain in the same area for their entire lives provided that the supply of food is adequate.
The present inventor has observed in Japan amongst other places that sub-merged fishing boats, exposed pipe structures and car tyres provide a good basis for marine growth and attract marine organisms, but it appears to be important for these structures to be stable. Submerged tyres which are moved by the current do not provide the same amount of marine growth as, e.g., a stationary and stable wreck.
Lobsters are a stationary crustacean. However, they are cannibalistic and dependent on natural hiding-places in order to attain full growth. These hiding-places must provide adequate protection while at the same time giving access to volumes of water which are regularly replaced, thus providing satisfactory supplies of food.
The hiding-places may, e.g., be hollows or recesses in soft species of rock, coral reefs or loose stones. These rocks will be capable of providing overhang and hiding-places while at the same time the current of water supplies food. The result of this therefore is that there are large areas along the coast which are not suitable for lobsters even though the food supply may be adequate.
Structures in which lobsters are accommodated are known from Japan amongst other places. These consist of compact pyramidal structures of concrete with a plurality of openings in the external surfaces. However, these structures have many drawbacks. The compact construction makes deployment on the seabed complicated due to the great weight. They have small surfaces in relation to the volume of the structure, which results in a relatively small number of hiding-places and less satisfactory economic exploitation. Moreover, uniform openings will not take account of the fact that the lobster grows during its development and needs more room for protection within the same area.
Thus it is an object of the present invention to provide a lobster habitat or lobster house which ensures that the lobster is protected during its entire growth period, and where the openings in the hiding-place are exposed to adequate supplies of food when the volumes of water are replaced. In addition the material must be of a type which provides optimum marine growth. The surfaces must be large in relation to the volume and the weight/construction should make deployment uncomplicated with present day technology, in addition to which the deployed structures should also be stable.
These objects are achieved by the present invention characterized by the features presented in the claims.
On the basis of the above information, it is important for the lobster habitat to consist of one or more large surfaces with recesses perpendicular to the surface, with varying depth and shape of the openings which must be of different sizes in order to give shelter to the lobsters at various stages of their growth and where this lobster habitat can be designed in such a manner that the surfaces are exposed to replacement of the volumes of water. At the same time the structure should be simple to deploy on the seabed with existing maritime technology and once it has been deployed it should be capable of establishing a stable structure on the seabed with is not moved by the currents.
The present invention is therefore composed of one or more elements of water resistant material wherein the element consists of a block
REFERENCES:
patent: 5173006 (1992-12-01), Lowe
patent: 5564369 (1996-10-01), Barber et al.
P.J. Consult A/S
Swiatek Robert P.
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