Floating marine plant for containing marine organisms

#This application is the National Stage of International Application No. PCT/NO2018/050085, filed Mar. 23, 2018, which claims the benefit of Norwegian Application No. 20170497, filed Mar. 27, 2017. The contents of both applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

#The invention concerns a floating plant. The plant is suitable for the breeding or containment of fish and other marine organisms.

#The prior art within the area of fish pens includes Norwegian patent No. 336739 B1, which describes a cage device for containing live fish before slaughtering, where the device forms an intermediate cage or buffer cage. The cage device comprises a frame, a side wall and a bottom, and may be raised and lowered in the water. The bottom may be a perforated, installed fabric, or an installed seine, a metal wire screen, grill or similar. The frame comprises a number of vertical lifting pipes with a top end and a bottom end, at least a pressure equalizing system for equalizing or control the pressure in the vertical lifting pipes, one or more horizontal stabilizing pipes, and a ballasting system. The vertical lifting pipes are pneumatically interconnected near the top of the cage device, above the water surface, and the ballasting system is arranged near the bottom end of the vertical lifting pipes. The at least one stabilizing pipe extends along and around the periphery at a location between the lifting pipes top end and bottom end and the cage device bottom is arranged at a location between the lifting pipes top end and bottom end, such that the cage device is stable and generally horizontally in the water with the bottom in or above the water surface when the pen device in a raised position.

#The above mentioned and other characteristics of the invention will be explained in more detail in the following description of embodiments, presented as non-limiting examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

#FIG. 1 is a perspective drawing of a first embodiment of the plant according to the invention floating in a body of water, and shows a state in which the container is surrounded by the mooring element and is in a lowered position relative to it;

#FIG. 2 corresponds to FIG. 1, but shows a state in which the container is in a raised position relative to the mooring element;

#The following description will use terms such as “horizontal”, “vertical”, “sideways”, “back and forth”, “up and down”, “upper” “lower” “inner”, “outer” “forward”, “rear”, etc. These terms refer primarily to the views and orientations shown in the drawings and that are related to a normal use of the invention. The terms are used only to facilitate the reading of the description and shall not be limiting.

#Reference is initially made to FIGS. 1, 2 and 8. The breeding plant 8 comprises in the illustrated embodiment two main components: a container 1 and a floating mooring element 2. Although the term “breeding plant” will be used in the following, it should be understood that the plant may have other applications. The invention shall therefore not be restricted to a use in breeding fish or other marine organisms.

#In the illustrated embodiment, the container 1 (which is configured for holding fish, other marine organisms or objects) has an impermeable wall 4, a funnel-shaped bottom 5 and an upper opening 3. The wall and bottom materials are preferably steel of a grade appropriate for the intended use. The container is in the illustrated embodiment cylinder-shaped, but the invention shall not be limited to such shape. The container 1 is essentially a cage structure having an open top. Although the wall 4 and bottom 5 in the illustrated embodiments are described as being impermeable, solid structures, it should be understood that the wall and bottom also may comprise one or more openings, with or without a net or wire mesh, where the net or wire mesh are dimensioned to prevent passage of fish or other marine organisms but allow fluid flow.