An artificial floating island includes a lower mounting and an upper mounting. The upper mounting includes a bottom wall and a surrounding wall that cooperatively define an internal space. The surrounding wall has service openings and root through holes. The upper mounting has internal blocks, each having a block body that is connected between the bottom wall and the surrounding wall, and that defines a service space disposed outside of the upper mounting and being in communication with a respective one of the service openings. The lower mounting is coupled to the upper mounting and has an outer surface that is formed with a plurality of guiding troughs.

Disclosed are floating island assemblies for phytoremediating a water body, the floating island assembly comprising a buoyant framework for positioning in the water body, the buoyant framework comprising as shell with a foam core material disposed therein, and defining a growing area within the perimeter thereof for growing plants, a grate secured across the framework and below the growing area; and a geotextile material disposed over the grate.

An aquaculture production and/or transfer system is provided and comprises: at least one floating aquaculture production apparatus on a novel offshore advanced hull system of varying shapes for closed containment method and ecological friendly for sustainable floating farming system (which may be marketed under Eco-Ark?); a station keeping apparatus coupled to the aquaculture production apparatus; a custodian transfer apparatus having a custodian chamber, a chute and a pump, wherein the custodian chamber is fluidly coupled to at least one of the tanks to receive live aquatic animals therefrom, wherein the chute is configured to transfer live aquatic animals to an amalgamated facility.

Open-sea aquaculture systems and methods are provided, which employ a semisubmersible platform with vertical columns, having storage and maintenance facilities for supporting aquaculture. Systems comprise a rigid assembly of aquaculture cages, with vertical cavities having forms configured to receive the corresponding vertical columns of the semisubmersible platform. The rigid assembly is mechanically connected to the semisubmersible platform in operational positions: (i) a raised position in which the rigid assembly encloses the corresponding vertical columns in the vertical cavities to limit a horizontal movement of the rigid assembly, and (ii) a lowered position in which the rigid assembly is below the corresponding vertical columns. Systems further comprise a control unit configured to control the mechanical position control mechanism to lower the rigid assembly upon occurrence of specified rough sea conditions, or whenever needed, and to raise the rigid assembly upon specified conditions.

A permeable floating concrete vessel for creating floating aquatic habitats is disclosed. The vessel includes an interior space to hold growth material and a plant. The vessels includes one or more channels so a root of the plant can extend through the channel and into a body of water in which the vessel is secured. The vessel is made from a buoyant material, such as water-permeable concrete material. In an exemplary embodiment the water-permeable concrete material includes a mixture of cement, glass microspheres, expanded glass aggregate, and microfibers. Two or more vessels may be connected together via a connecting member to form an array of the vessels.

Embodiments of a hydroponic growing system include raft segments that can be reversibly attached together to form a raft. Rafts can have one or more plant holes to support a plant body, and one or more thermal chimneys to provide for gas transport from underneath the raft to the upper surface, to control temperature and humidity of the plant. Additional embodiments include wireless sensors that may or may not be part of a raft, and a growing environment control system that can receive data from one or more sensors of environmental conditions of a plant and in other embodiments, can detect discrepancies between the actual environmental conditions and desired conditions. In still further embodiments, a growing environment control system can automatically adjust an actuator to return an environmental condition to a desired state.

The photovoltaic device includes a base, a photovoltaic power panel disposed on the base to produce electric power using sunlight, and a reflector formed on the upper surface of the base, being provided to accommodate water, and having a receiving groove defined by a bottom and a sidewall extending from the bottom such that the sunlight is refracted according to a difference in refractive index between the air outside the receiving groove and the water accommodated in the receiving groove, and to be reflected toward a lower surface of the photovoltaic panel through the bottom or sidewall. Accordingly, the photovoltaic device may effectively collect sunlight from both sides of the photovoltaic panel to improve power generation efficiency.

A floating structure and method for obtaining same. The structure includes a first plurality of tubes and a second plurality of tubes. The second plurality of tubes are inserted into the first plurality of tubes to extend through the upper portion of same, and both sets of tubes are welded together. The ends of the tubes of the first plurality of tubes are closed in order to be used as flotation tanks when the floating structure is fitted out for such use. The method concerns locking the first plurality of tubes in place on the frame, with pairs of holes in each of the first plurality of tubes being aligned, and a corresponding tube of the second plurality of tubes being inserted through each pair of aligned holes by force. Each of the connection portions or parts contained in the tubes are welded on the periphery of the holes.

An offshore aquaculture system based on a semisubmersible platform having storage and maintenance facilities for supporting aquaculture with an attached framework, to which net covered rigid aquaculture cages are movably connected and controllably positioned according to sea conditions. The cages may be sunk or raised to protect the aquaculture products, and all maintenance and feeding is carried out by crew onboard the platform.

Embodiments of a hydroponic growing system include raft segments that can be reversibly attached together to form a raft. Rafts can have one or more plant holes to support a plant body, and one or more thermal chimneys to provide for gas transport from underneath the raft to the upper surface, to control temperature and humidity of the plant. Additional embodiments include wireless sensors that may or may not be part of a raft, and a growing environment control system that can receive data from one or more sensors of environmental conditions of a plant and in other embodiments, can detect discrepancies between the actual environmental conditions and desired conditions. In still further embodiments, a growing environment control system can automatically adjust an actuator to return an environmental condition to a desired state.