Comparison of Taut and Catenary Mooring Systems for Finfish Aquaculture

Abstract

Finfish aquaculture has been expanding in areas like Norway and Canada over the last 20 years, and is projected to expand further in the next decades as the planet’s population and demand for seafood increases. Finding appropriate salmon farm sites is becoming increasingly difficult, as there are fewer protected nearshore locations available for development. As a result, there is interest in increased utilization of existing leases (i.e. permitted sites). These leases have a boundary in which the anchors and mooring lines must be contained. Reducing the footprint of the mooring arrangement will allow for an increased utilization of existing leases. A possible method to reduce the footprint of a spread moored salmon farm is to use a taut mooring rather than a chain catenary mooring. This requires the use of mooring materials and components that allows for handling of tidal elevation changes and wave action. This paper investigates the performance of a taut moored configuration with integrated Seaflex elastomeric mooring components in comparison with a conventional chain catenary configuration using dynamic analysis. The results show that a reduced footprint taut mooring configuration with integrated elastomeric mooring components can be substituted for a typical chain catenary mooring with no significant increase in peak mooring line loads at extreme sea states and significant reduction in peak loading at moderate and calm seastates.