Rotating ladders offer a step up for oyster production
Farmer teams with technology developer to advance solar-powered prototype
United States aquaculture technology producer Solar Oysters LLC has announced a partnership with Blue Oyster Environmental LLC, a vertically integrated oyster farmer. The collaboration aims to revolutionise aquaculture technology by using solar energy for oyster production and to enhance environmental sustainability and efficiency.
Baltimore-based Solar Oysters’ Solar Oyster Production System (SOPS) is estimated to produce up to 200,000 oysters in a 0.02-acre space by using solar panels to power the rotation of 575 oyster cages on five ladders to a depth of 16 feet. This increases the oysters’ access to varying food availability, dissolved oxygen, and salinity and exposes them to sunlight, which can inhibit biofouling. The SOPS technology includes a spray wash system powered by solar energy.
Blue Oyster Environmental (BOE) is an oyster company in pursuit of re-establishing the eastern oyster as a cornerstone species of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.
Game changer
It owns Hoopers Island Oyster Company, a full-service oyster production business that grows oysters and manufactures oyster aquaculture equipment.
“We are excited to partner with Solar Oysters LLC to bring this innovative, game-changing technology to the aquaculture market,” said BOE chief executive Jordan Shockley in a press release.
In late September 2023, the SOPS prototype was moved from the Baltimore harbour to Crocheron, Maryland. The SOPS prototype will operate on Hoopers Island Oyster Company’s lease on Fishing Bay in 2024. The new partnership will further develop the SOPS technology and enhance its operation. BOE will be the North American distributor of SOPS as the partnership brings the technology to the aquaculture market.
“We look forward to working with Blue Oyster Environmental as our partner in bringing this potentially game-changing technology to growers and those interested in oyster restoration,” said Solar Oysters business director Steve Pattison.
