Recirculating marine aquaculture process

Details Recirculating marine aquaculture process Recirculating marine aquaculture process

2001-03-16

2002-09-03

Abbott, Yvonne R. (Department: 3643)

Animal husbandry

Aquatic animal culturing

Fish culturing

C119S215000, C119S225000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06443097

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recirculating marine aquaculture process.
2. Description of the Art
In recent years the world has witnessed an alarming decline in commercial fisheries, the result of overfishing and environmental degradation. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, nearly 70% of the world's commercial marine fisheries species are now fully exploited, overexploited or depleted.
Based on anticipated population growth, it is estimated that the world's demand for seafood will double by the year 2025. Therefore, a growing gap is developing between demand and supply of fisheries products, which results in a growing seafood deficit. Even the most favorable estimates project that in the year 2025 the global demand for seafood will be twice as much as the commercial fisheries harvest.
The same trend is present in the U.S. Per capita consumption of seafood by Americans increased 25% from 1984 to 1994, and continues to increase. As a result, the United States has become highly dependent on imported seafood. The U.S. is, after Japan, the world's largest importer of seafood. The value of fish imports increased by nearly 80% between 1985 and 1994 to a record level of nearly $12 billion U.S. This has resulted in a trade deficit of $7 billion U.S. for edible seafood, which is, after petroleum, the largest contributor to the U.S. trade deficit among natural products and the largest deficit among all agricultural products.
It is very clear that the only way to meet the world's growing needs in fisheries products, and to reverse the U.S. fisheries trade deficit, is through marine aquaculture systems—the farming of aquatic organisms in controlled environments. In response to the situation, global aquaculture production is expanding quickly. Aquaculture's contribution to the world's seafood supplies increased from 12 to 19% between 1984 and 1994. U.S. aquaculture production has also grown steadily in the 1980's and 1990's and it is the fastest growing agricultural industry. However, despite the recent growth of the U.S. industry, only 10% of the seafood consumed in the U.S. comes from domestic aquaculture, and the U.S. ranks only tenth in the world in the value of its aquaculture production.
Worldwide, it is estimated that in order to close the increasing gap between demand and supplies of fish products, aquaculture will need to increase production three-to-four-fold during the next two and a half decades. In this context, there is a compelling motivation to develop aquaculture systems of improved and commercially viable character for high volume production of fish and environmental sustainability.
While there is a strong impetus to develop high-rate production aquaculture systems, it is clear that finfish farming must develop as a sustainable industry without having an adverse impact on the environment. In many countries including the U.S., fish are grown in either earthen ponds or in floating net pens in the marine coastal environments. Both systems have an adverse impact on the environment, in some cases resulting in massive degradation of aquatic and marine resources. Moreover, such systems are far from offering optimal conditions for the desired performances and production.
In an effort to eliminate the effects of marine aquaculture on the environment and to optimize aquaculture production, a new environmentally acceptable fish farming technology has recently emerged: the use of recirculated marine aquaculture systems (RMAS), in which the same water is continuously reused in operation of the system.
RMAS can be effectively used for fish farming without having any effect on the environment. These systems have many advantages over non-recirculating systems.
Water re-use in the RMAS minimizes any adverse environmental burden created by the aquaculture system since there is minimal net waste material generation, and what waste is generated is easily handled by local sewer systems. RMAS offer flexibility in location options (urban, rural, inland) since they are not confined to coastal areas or open oceans. Unlike free-floating pens, process conditions can be better controlled within a RMAS.
In general, the fish farming methods and aquaculture systems of the prior art are poorly integrated in respect of the life stages of the fish species of interest and the process conditions associated therewith. As a result, the commercial aquaculture systems developed to date are highly variable in efficiency and output of fish. Such systems are subject to numerous processing and operational deficencies, including: sub-optimal production of fish; absence of control of process conditions; process instability; susceptibility to environmental pathogens; suceptibility to pollution; loss of stock; and the lack of well-defined optimal conditions for achieving maximal growth and production of the fish species being raised in the aquaculture system.
There is therefore a basic need in the art of fish farming for aquaculture systems of improved character, for high performance production of fish species.
In respect of the present invention, as hereinafter more fully described, the following references are noted, and their disclosures hereby incorporated herein by reference:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,100 to Fujino (biofiltration aquarium systems utilizing microbial growth on plastic substrate elements for metabolic waste removal);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,055 to Timmons (closed cycle aquaculture system including a is rotating biological contactor);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,715 to Fahs, II (enclosed aquaculture system comprising progressively larger tanks connected in series to accommodate fish growth);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,093 to Reese et al. (aquaculture vessel with recirculating open-cell foam media for aeration and waste removal);
U.S. Patent Nos. 5,732,654 and 5,947,057 to Perez et al. (mariculture system including activated carbon treatment enabling use of polluted source water);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,586 to Malone (hourglass-shaped biofilter containing floating media supporting biofloc and nitrifying bacteria);
U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,183 to Hoult (open system including a biological water filter, and removal of sludge from bacterial mat, for growth of fish to marketable size);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,024 to Meilahn (pump-equipped floating tank aquaculture system for pump-mediated displacement of water, to remove nitrogen wastes and introduce oxygen);
U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,738 to Hemauer et al. (fish pond including deepened central region, in combination with a settling pond and a decompositon pond for biological decomposition of wastes by plants);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,536 to Turk (anaerobic bacterial denitrification of fluids, e.g., in aquaculture systems);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,839 to Jörgensen (aquaculture tank with liquid level-responsive siphon/suction unit for waste removal);
U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,220 to Ewald, Jr. (fish farm and hatchery system with comparted tankage for brood fish retention, fertilized egg collection, fish feed cultivation and grow-out);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,451 to Inslee et al. (fish farm and hydroponic greenhouse system with intercirculation between fish tank and hydroponic network);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,373 to Handwerker et al. (biofilter using amphipods, e.g.,
Hyalella azieca
);
U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,195 to Tabb (floating fish pens for open sea use);
U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,317 to Reynolds (egg trays for growth of fresh water fish species);
U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,853 to Lewis (fish egg incubator suspended in a body of water by a buoyant collar);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,290 to Mueller (a fish larval incubator with skimmer, gas controller and waste evacuation means);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,479 to Hiebert (fish eggs/larvae collection/preservation system);
U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,854 to Lewis (device by which fertilized eggs are transported over a barrier into a holding container, thereby separating viable from non-viable eggs);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,831 to Lee et al. (automated aquaculture system

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