Modelling the financial viability of offshore aquaculture using a case study of a sea bass farm in the Bay of Lion, France

The extension of net pen aquaculture to open ocean sites provides many advantages to the industry including opportunity for expansion, utilization of high energy sites, and better resilience to certain near shore or surface-associated stressors. The industry has been slow to develop due to high perceived risks and a lack of operating farms to provide financial information for open ocean farm operations. A model was developed to evaluate the economic viability of a hypothetical sea bass aquaculture venture in the open French Mediterranean Sea that utilizes open ocean submersible farming systems. Advanced open ocean equipment, including submersible net pens, environmental sensors, and camera systems with artificial intelligence can boost farm throughput, decrease personnel costs, reduce feed wastage, and reduce stress from hypoxia events or algal blooms. A spatial analysis considering bathymetry, wave height, current velocity, maritime traffic, and shoreline proximity was used to select an optimal location leading to more realistic financial inputs. The model projects the operation to generate 5,220 tonnes of sea bass per annum (live weight equivalent) and an internal rate of return of 19.43%. An investment of $39,924,456 is required and leads to an aggregate net present value (NPV) of $166,058,739. The model indicates that open ocean aquaculture can provide investment competitive financial returns and offers important insights into the economics of open ocean farming given the unavailability of commercial examples.