Construction, Assembly and System Deployment of a Fish Cage With Copper Alloy Mesh Pen: Challenging Work Load and Estimation of Man-Power

Abstract

In the present study, a 150 cubic m net pen was designed as part of a collaborative research effort between the International Copper Association (ICA-USA), the University of New Hampshire (UNH-USA) and Cannakale Onsekiz Mart University (COMU-Turkey) in August 2011. The fish cage was developed to support the creation of a small scale demonstration farm, located in the Strait of Canakkale, off the coast of Guzelyali town in Turkey. The surface gravity-type, octagonal shaped fish cage was designed to have a diameter of 6 m and a copper alloy mesh chamber depth of 5 m. The present study details the cage construction and system deployment of one fish cage utilized a chain link mesh net chamber with a copper alloy developed by Wieland-Werke in Germany, with reference to work load challenge and estimation of man-power necessary for the partial and total work efforts. As a conclusion, one cage equipped with copper-alloy mesh pen was brought to a final shape with the net chamber assembled and attached to the cage frame in 3 days and 90 man-hours. The HDPE (high density polythylene) cage frame was assembled by an outside company, therefore detail of the main cage frame is not discussed in this paper.