While oil and gas remains the primary market, CSUB is well established as a supplier of large composite constructions for the aquaculture industry.

“Experience from the oil and gas industry made it easier for us to enter aquaculture. Having worked with oil companies to tailor products has proven very valuable,” said Anders Holm, CEO of CSUB. He was a speaker at the Aquaculture Conference in Kvinesdal this week.

Established in 2003, CSUB merged with HighComp in 2015. HighComp is a EPCI supplier of large composite aquaculture constructions, mainly in the form of fish tanks, bridges and water treatment tanks.

Headquartered in Arendal, CSUB has more than 250 employees in Norway, Lithuania, and the Middle East – where a new office is being established in Qatar.

“A home market is vital for testing new solutions. The development in salmon farming is similar to the development of the Norwegian oil and gas industry in the 80s and 90s. With Norwegian owners, Norwegian finance and Norwegian competence, Norwegian technology is spreading throughout the world,” said Holm, happy to be along for the ride.

Working with composites, CSUB promotes products with a reduced carbon footprint (approximately 50 per cent compared to steel), low weight (one third of steel), reduced vessel crane requirements, and stackability.

“Our products are very durable, with an expected lifespan of at least 50 years,” said Holm.

Other GCE NODE participants present at the Aquaculture Conference in Kvinesdal included NOV, HMH, Nekkar, NORCE, DNB, NIVA, CapGemini, and Håmsø Patentbyrå.

Christian von der Ohe, RD&I Manager at GCE NODE.

Christian von der Ohe, RD&I Manager at GCE NODE, was pleased to see a good mix of companies, organizations, and county and municipality representatives present.

“The conference highlights most of what we aim to solve in the Oil2Fish project. We need to increase the competence level for companies and public authorities entering the aquaculture market, and more specifically – we need to understand the complex and fascinating processes of marine biology. For our tech people – the system and machine builders – to succeed in aquaculture, it is important that they work together and learn more about the industry,” says von der Ohe.

He calls for more openness and collaboration across companies.

“The oil and gas industry has done a tremendous job to gain trust between companies, despite a highly competitive environment. Test facilities must be open to small and medium-sized companies, as they often have very good solutions to offer,” says von der Ohe.

“Fish farmers must reduce their environmental impact and increase fish welfare,” says Even Tronstad Sagebakken.

Sagebakken, a State Secretary at the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, and a former Mayor of Lindesnes, opened the annual Agder Aquaculture Conference, which took place in Kvinesdal this week.

“The world needs more food, and proteins from the ocean is essential. The government has great ambitions on behalf of an industry that is very important for many local communities and for Norway as a whole,” said Sagebakken.

Describing Agder as a region with a history of seafood export, Sagebakken documented his claim with records of lobster export from Flekkefjord as early as 1660, in addition to more recent and current regional production of turbot and salmon.

Sagebakken called for the fish farming industry to become more sustainable.

“A new governmental aquaculture report will include incentives for fish producers to reduce their environmental impact and to increase fish welfare. A hearing was recently initiated. I hope to receive input from many of you,” said Sagebakken – addressing more than 70 people in the room.

DIGITAL FISH FARMERS
Implementation of digital technology is expected to answer some of Sagebakken’s requests and wishes. Several speakers talked about how digitalization of the ocean space will provide insights and tools that can greatly improve production and fish welfare.

Still, Lars Ebbesson, Senior Aquaculture Advisor at NORCE and Program Director for Sustainable Ocean Harvesting at EDIH Oceanopolis, admitted that there are many digital challenges to overcome.

Lars Ebbesson, Senior Aquaculture Advisor at NORCE and Program Director for Sustainable Ocean Harvesting at EDIH Oceanopolis.

“We struggle with outdated sensor data standards, a fragmented digital infrastructure, inadequate real-time sensing, and lack of understanding of fish biology and the environment. We have insufficient access to data, and insufficient prediction and decision support tools. However, when we hurdle some of these challenges, machine vision and artificial intelligence will improve sector sustainability,” said Ebbesson.

He predicted – among others – improvements in real-time information of the environment and fish behavior, automated biomass measurements, and early warning of diseases and parasites – and their spreading.

“Digital technology will provide infrastructure condition monitoring, energy use optimization, predator warning, and parasite removal. We will be able to trace a product from farm to fork – that is, we will be able to document that a fish had good welfare, which will enable the consumer to make better informed choices,” said Ebbesson.

He painted a picture of a more data-driven industry.

“Data from different systems can improve overall performance if they communicate,” said Ebbesson, calling for more cooperation and data sharing.

75 people attended the conference in Kvinesdal.

Developing a smart and wireless underwater sensor network, SFI Smart Ocean met to plan its research activities this week.

“SFI Smart Ocean is already contributing to international standards on underwater networks, and this work will be continued and expanded for increased flexibility and robustness. Improved solutions for underwater positioning are also important to increase the precision and reliability for autonomous operations,” says Christian von der Ohe, RD&I Manager at GCE NODE.

He recently attended the annual fall meeting at SFI Smart Ocean, a research center of which GCE NODE is an industry cluster partner.

So far, SFI Smart Ocean has focused on stationary sensors and fixed underwater networks, but the rapidly increasing use of remotely operated vehicles, as well as autonomous underwater vehicles and autonomous surface vehicles, calls for improved underwater wireless network performance.

SFI Smart Ocean is currently in the process of an underway assessment, and as part of this, a revised project description for the last center period is prepared. Center goals and activities are clarified and optimized to maximize center outcome.

The annual fall meeting of SFI Smart Ocean was in Bergen this week. Photo: Terje Restad, UiB

There is an extensive existing network of subsea fiber cables for telecommunications in the North Sea and new cables in the Arctic are in the planning phase. SFI Smart Ocean has started mapping the potential for utilizing these cables for acoustic monitoring using fiber sensing and additionally for picking up acoustic signals from smart sensors close to the cables. A successful outcome will create a large opportunity for collecting real-time data from remote subsea sensors as well as new services based on already deployed infrastructure.

“SFI Smart Ocean has developed many components both for sensing, such as an innovative method for pH sensing, automatic data quality control and, a data and service management platform. These components will be integrated in system solutions and demonstrators in the coming years. This will partly be done in cooperation with other research projects where we benefit from utilization of infrastructure and ship-time, but most of all at the IMR research station at Austevoll,” explains Center Director Ingvar Henne.

Generating spin-off projects and related activities beyond the scope of the center is also important to utilize the competence and professional relations.

Please see https://sfismartocean.no and contact the SFI – or GCE NODE – if you have suggestions for new project initiatives related to ocean technologies.

SFI Smart Ocean Center Director Ingvar Henne. Photo: Christian von der Ohe
Discussings at intermissions. Photo: Terje Restad, UiB