US 11,985,959 B2
Fish pen for open sea aquaculture
Mark Penner, Dorchester, MA (US); David P. Kelly, Scituate, MA (US); Peter Nicholas Woskov, Everett, MA (US); Harrison P. Zimmer, Bainbridge Island, WA (US); Jeffrey Reifsnyder, Fond du Lac, WI (US); Rafael Cordero, Bedford, MA (US); Wyatt Grass, Fort Bragg, CA (US); James Fitzgerald, Boston, MA (US); Todd Vangsness, Stow, MA (US); and Matthew Darres, Northport, ME (US)
Assigned to Innovasea Systems, Inc., Boston, MA (US)
Filed by InnovaSea Systems, Inc., Boston, MA (US)
Filed on Jul. 29, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/942,384.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/880,263, filed on Jul. 30, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0029974 A1, Feb. 4, 2021
Int. Cl. A01K 61/60 (2017.01); A01K 61/10 (2017.01)
CPC A01K 61/60 (2017.01) [A01K 61/10 (2017.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A submersible aquaculture pen configured to be controllably submersible in a body of water such that the entire aquaculture pen can be moved between a surfaced position wherein an upper portion of the aquaculture pen is at or above the surface of the body of water and in the submerged position the entire aquaculture pen is below a top surface of the body of water, the aquaculture pen comprising:
an annular floatation assembly comprising a plurality of float platforms connected end to end with platform joints, wherein each float platform is at a side of an annular polygon floatation structure, the annular floatation assembly having an inboard side and an outboard side, wherein each of the plurality of float platforms comprises at least one variable floatation member centrally placed between a fixed floatation member respectively, on the left and right end portions of each float platform, the variable floatation members being configured to be controllably provided with a gas such that the aquaculture pen has a net positive buoyancy in the body of water, and configured to be controllably provided with a liquid such that the aquaculture pen has a net negative buoyancy;
a weight ring suspended from the floatation assembly by a first plurality of tension members that are attached to a bottom side of the floatation assembly at first transverse locations between the inboard side and the outboard side of the floatation assembly;
a net support ring suspended from and directly below the floatation assembly by a second plurality of tension members that are attached to the bottom side of the floatation assembly at second transverse locations in a middle one-third of the floatation assembly between the inboard side and the outboard side of the floatation assembly such that the net support ring remains submerged below the floatation assembly; and
a mesh enclosure comprising a main portion having an upper end that is attached to the net support ring, a jump net portion that extends from the net support ring to the inboard side of the floatation assembly, and a top portion that closes an upper end of the mesh enclosure,
wherein the main portion of the mesh enclosure is supported by the floatation assembly through the net support ring, wherein the entire aquaculture pen includes the weight ring.