Headed up by those having long time experience in ocean renewable power, fisheries, offshore aquaculture, and other marine systems an earlier focus had been on systems to reduce the cost of working offshore. C.A. Goudey and Associates is now organzied around development of farm systems and mechanization specifically for the seaweed industry, building experimental structures that would enable more industrialized deployment and harvesting of kelp farms which can survive open ocean environments. The system includes a towing vessel designed to deploy farming equipment and to transport harvested seaweed, and a rigid catenary array currently being deployed at Nantucket Sound, MA. For centuries seaweed has been harvested from the wild. In the past 30 years, cultivating seaweeds has become a quickly growing industry in Asia. However, being highly labor intensive with cultivation methods primarily compatible with calm, intercoastal waters, it is the judgment of C A Goundey personnel that use of robotics could significantly reduce cost of operations and support greater use of seaweed as a non-land / no-fresh water using resource providing animal feed, fertilizer, biofuell and bioplastic. Fast growing, Seaweed cultivation also could improve coastal ecosystems, remediating problems of acidification and oxygen depletion.
