A new jewel in the crown at the Crown Research Institute's Nelson Research Centre, the tank is available for others to refine and ready technology for field testing or commercialisation.
Critically - this can happen in the tank's controlled, simulated ocean environment and from the safety and comfort of modern laboratory facilities. It allows developers to shorten or fast-track tricky and expensive field testing, says Helen Palmer, Plant & Food Research General Manager Science, Seafood Technologies.
"The flume tank is a place to put technology through its paces - whether it's a scaled model, prototype, or full-size piece of technology. We can get the water moving at very high speeds, up to 1.5 metres per second, and then you have this amazing view of how something is functioning and moving," Palmer says.
"You can test and refine technology, as many times as it takes, to get it to the point it is ready for field testing in the ocean, which is a much more difficult environment to work in."
Field testing can also be very expensive, says Charles Heaphy, Fisheries Resources Manager for Sealord.
"An hour of vessel time can cost tens of thousands of dollars. So if you have to rely on field testing to refine new technology - the costs rack up in the process."
It is also very difficult to observe how equipment is functioning in deep water beneath turbulent surfaces without diving and filming or observing in suboptimal, low-light conditions.
Pop your prototype into the flume tank however and you have the perfect view of what's happening - from above, below and at eye level only inches away through crystal-clear glass.
Heaphy can see many applications for the tank to fishing, citing fuel efficiency as an example.
"Fuel efficiency is really important to Sealord so that we bring home our catch, and our fishers, in shorter trips using less fuel. With a flume tank we can measure the drag of fishing gear in moving water very accurately," Heaphy says.
Other applications Heaphy can see include the improvement of bycatch mitigation devices and methods. This includes sealion exclusion devices used by Sealord and, for other companies, optimising the sink rate of longlines to whisk bait away from opportunistic seabirds before they can dive for it.
At the launch of the new tank in May, Seafood New Zealand Chief Executive Dr Jeremy Helson said the new tank is a fantastic opportunity for the seafood and marine industries.
"There's nothing of this scale in New Zealand and something the commercial fishing industry can look to towards keeping its environmental impact as low as possible," Helson says.
FloMo and the flume tank Sealord is a shareholder, alongside Plant & Food Research, Sanford and Moana, in Precision Seafood Harvesting's (PHS) development of trawl net technology FloMo.
Earlier iterations of FloMo, then called the 'Modular Harvesting System' (MHS) are used in commercial fishing by Sealord and others to reduce bycatch and improve the quality of the catch.
FloMo was initially designed by Plant & Food Research and then developed by PSH under a 2012 Primary Growth Partnership programme. In 2024, PSH is adapting FloMo for different fish species and maximising its benefits to selectivity, survivability and quality of fish.
FloMo replaces the cod end of a traditional mesh trawl net with a membrane-based series of cylindrical modules planning to use the tank to "prove FloMo designs before manufacturing the units for real-world trials".
De Beer can see huge potential for the tank to reduce the barriers in sustainable fishing uptake. "The fishing industry is quite progressive in embracing science and adopting new technologies, but the expense can be a barrier. There is still much that science and technology can do to help improve commercial fishing and help us to deliver our aspiration for better, more sustainable fishing, including ensuring decisions on fisheries management are evidence-based.
"This is where cutting-edge facilities like the flume tank are important, and also programmes like the Sustainable Food & Fibres Future fund, in helping to derisk the development for the industry, particularly when economic conditions a Charles Heaphy, Fisheries Resources Manager for Sealord are so very tough," De Beer says.
Fast facts:
- This is the largest tank of its typein New Zealand - a 190,000 litre flume that produces a uniform horizontal flow of water moving up to speeds of 1.5 metres per second.
- It is a 'race-track' flume - where water is recirculated around a contained system.
- The flume tank will further Plant & Food Research scientists' leading research into farming fish in the open ocean, and helping the
sector adapt to the changing global climate.
- It will also further work underway towards sustainable commercial fishing.
- The flume tank capital investment of NZD$1.9M was funded by Plant & Food Research. Research that uses the flume tank includes the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Endeavour Fund programme - Whakapōhewa ki ahumoana Re-imagining Aquaculture - and Ngā Tai Hōhonu Open Ocean Aquaculture research, which sits under Plant & Food Research's Ngā Pou Rangahau Growing Futures™ investment.
