

Resources
At Kelson, we're always building and refining our library of tools and processes. We've had lots of cool opportunities to speak about and publish various methods. Now we'd like to share some practical tools with you.
Exposure Index Calculator
Kelson Marine is an active member of the ICES Working Group for Open Ocean Aquaculture (WGOOA). As a Working Group, we have convened farmers, engineers, regulators, and scientists to resolve the present ambiguity in the term "Offshore Aquaculture". The Working Group now recommends two distinct metrics to quantitatively describe aquaculture sites:
"Distance from shore": Sites are described by their distance from the coast.
"Exposure": Sites are further described with an exposure index that incorporates the design wave, current velocity, and depth of the site.
This distinction addresses a need to define the terminology to reduce ambiguity for characterizing aquaculture sites to:
- Promote a common understanding and avoid misuse of different classifications;
- Enable regulators to identify the characteristics of a marine site;
- Allow farmers to assess or quantitively compare sites for development;
- Equip developers and producers to identify operational parameters for the equipment and vessels; and
- Provide insurers and investors with better means to assess risk and premiums.
To help farmers, developers, regulators, investors, and members of the public apply these definitions, Kelson provides a calculator for the proposed exposure index definitions.

References:
Lojek, O. Goseberg, N., Moe Fore, H., Dewhurst, T., Bölker, T, Heasman, K, Buck, B, Fredriksson, DW, Rickerich, S, 2023. A quantified approach to assessing hydrodynamic exposure of mariculture sites. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society. In preparation.
Buck, B. H., Bjelland, H., Bockus, A., Chambers, M., Costa-Pierce, B. A., Dewhurst, T., Ferreira, J., Føre, H. M., Fredriksson, D., Goseberg, N., Holmyard, J., Isbert, W., Krause, G., Markus, T., Papandroulakis, N., Sclodnick, T., Silkes, B., Strand, Å., Troell, M., Wieczorek, D., van den Burg, S., Heasman, K. 2023. Resolving the term ‘offshore aquaculture’ by decoupling ‘exposed’ and ‘distance from shore’ for managers and policy makers. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society. In preparation.
Exposure Velocity: | m/s | |
---|---|---|
Exposure Velocity at Reference Depth of 5m: | m/s | |
Specific Exposure Energy: | J/kg | |
Depth-integrated Energy Flux: | kW/m | |
Structure-centered Depth-integrated Energy: | kJ kg/m3 | |
Structure-centered Drag to Buoyancy Ratio: |
We'll be adding to this collection going forward.
What Else We're Up To

Dewhurst Presents at Seagriculture EU on Resolving ‘Offshore’ Aquaculture

SCORE Maine names Kelson "Best Innovative Small Business" in 2023

NeuralWEC: combining machine learning and model predictive control with a lightweight high‐TPL multi‐axis point absorber, toward a cost‐disruptive wave energy capture system
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