Enhancing fish stocks with wave-powered artificial upwelling
Abstract
Ocean fisheries are declining worldwide due to overexploitation. Productivity could be enhanced and the problem alleviated by pumping nutrient-rich deep ocean water (DOW) to the surface to feed phytoplankton, the bottom end of a marine food chain, mimicking natural upwelling which sustains the most productive ocean fishing grounds in the world. Various pump types and power sources have been proposed for this purpose. The present article proposes a simple wave-powered pump to demonstrate the concept cost-effectively at prototype scale. Possible solutions to the problems of dilution and plunging of dense, nutrient-rich DOW are discussed. Two further possible benefits of this proposal are discussed: by extracting wave energy, relatively calm fishing grounds may be created close to markets, and by pumping up very large quantities of cold DOW, the surface temperature could be lowered enough to reduce coral bleaching on parts of the Great Barrier Reef.
- Publication:
-
Ocean and Coastal Management
- Pub Date:
- 2003
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S0964-5691(03)00067-X
- Bibcode:
- 2003OCM....46..901K
- Keywords:
-
- DOW;
- Deep ocean water;
- FRP;
- Fibre reinforced plastic-general term for fibreglass carbon fibre and similar materials in which high strength fibres are embedded in a plastic matrix;
- OTEC;
- Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion-a process in which the temperature difference between cold deep ocean water and warm tropical surface water is used to drive a heat engine;
- OWC;
- Oscillating Water Column-a technique for harnessing wave energy