Ocean FarmITS crew when carrying out projects in the field

ITS Campus, ITS News – Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), as the foremost maritime campus in Indonesia, is ready to take its innovative steps through Ocean FarmITS prepared to be launched. Ocean FarmITS is the first floating marine ecotourism dual fish farming (aquaculture) building in Indonesia, initiated by a team of lecturers from the Department of Marine Engineering and the ITS Directorate of Research Community Service (DRPM).

Conceptualizing Ocean FarmITS, Yeyes Mulyadi S.T, M.Sc, Ph.D., one of the lecturers’ team, explained that this innovative breakthrough would be applied at Pondokdadap Beach Fishery Port, which will later be placed in Sidoasri Bay, Malang. “The location where the floating net cages (KJA) will be placed has a superior commodity, namely tuna,” he explained.

In addition to the aquaculture aspect, Ocean FarmITS is also designed with a tourism concept that offers ecotourism, where people can learn about aquaculture, namely raising tuna in the sea. “We will also develop tour packages, restaurants in the middle of the sea, diver packages, overnight packages, and others,” he said.

Yeyes continued that during this pandemic, the project, which had entered soft launch since February 2020, was hampered, starting from labor restrictions in the field to several components that cannot be imported immediately due to the pandemic.

In the process, according to Yeyes, the project, which was supported by PT Pertamina and spent around Rp 1.3 billion in funds, consisted of several components. One of them is the floating component, which gives urgency to the building structure. “In this floating component, we apply a wave vibration damper which will be assembled on the beach near the location and brought directly to a predetermined point,” he explained.

The development of the Ocean FarmITS framework, which is will assemble in Sidosari Bay, Malang

Yeyes said that the Ocean FarmITS project currently had reached 95 percent. The registration process for Intellectual Property Rights (HaKI) and product industrial designs and trademarks on behalf of Ocean FarmITS has also been carried out. “Insha Allah, approaching March or April, it will be launched to the public,” he said.

In its launching later, the Ocean FarmITS Team plans to do a hybrid between online and offline. Namely, only a few crews carry out the assembly in the field, and stakeholders follow it online. “Hopefully, the Ocean FarmITS launching event will run smoothly in the future,” he concluded hopefully. (far/ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Shinta Ulwiya