Global aquaculture production has already exceeded wild fisheries production, and space constraints in coastal areas have driven interest in the viability of combining aquaculture with offshore energy installations. New ideas keep coming.
An article published in Heliyon this month assessed the potential for growing high-value algae species on decommissioned oil and gas jackets.
Algal aquaculture is growing at 8.9% annually and became an $22 billion industry in 2024. There are an estimated 7,500 jackets globally, most located in the Gulf of Mexico, and the researchers estimate that existing wind and oil and gas infrastructure could create an industry worth as much as $50 million.
There are barriers to potential development including regulatory compliance costs and environmental risks, but the researchers propose that oil and gas companies should consider their options. They also suggest that finance mechanisms could reward projects that include environmental benefits such as carbon sequestration. (As seaweed grows, it sheds dissolved and particulate organic carbon that can be sequestered in the ocean for over 100 years.)
Another article published in Ocean Engineering this month examined the potential for the co-location of aquaculture amongst offshore wind platforms and on the platforms themselves. It cites one study that estimates salmon yields from co-located farms could be worth around 80% of the that of the electricity yield.
However, there are operational and environmental risks associated with these ideas too, including the risk of collision as a result of mooring failure and scour development.
Still, there are several offshore wind focused aquaculture trials underway in Europe, and the concept has now being expanded to include conservation.
The European oyster (Ostrea edulis) was once a dominant reef-forming species in European waters, but its population has deteriorated over the last 200 years due to large-scale harvesting, habitat destruction and the introduction of the Pacific oyster.
Today, the European oyster is considered functionally extinct within the German Bight and is unlikely to recover on its own. For this reason, growth trials are being conducted as part of the ULTFARMS project to explore its cultivation potential at a research platform located 80km offshore in the North Sea and a Belgian pilot site in the Belwind windfarm.
The idea is for offshore platforms to be sites for both aquaculture and nature restoration efforts, and ULTFARMS reported the successful installation of an oyster cultivation system in December 2024.
If successful, it could boost the case for offshore aquaculture.
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