Name That Ton--Fish Feeder Naming Contest
By Jody Record, Media Relations
May 23, 2007
Which sounds better, “20-ton SBIR” feeder or just about
anything else?
Exactly.
No wonder the folks at the Atlantic Marine Aquaculture Center are holding
a contest to come up with a new name for 80-ton automated fish feeding
buoy that is slowly making its way to the university’s fish farm
off the New Hampshire coast.
Shaped like a huge pill box, the remotely-operated machine holds 20
tons of food and can feed four species at a time. Its development has
been a priority for the fish farm whose offshore location is subject
to storms and frigid temperatures that make regular feeding a challenge.
Designed at UNH and built in Canada, the SBIR (for Small Business Innovation
Research) feeder just recently went in the water. It will undergo further
evaluation before being floated down to the Gulf of Maine and the fish
farm site near White Island.
The fish feeder has four internal silos to hold different food for different
fish. Its remote control capabilities mean the time of the feeding and
the quantity of food can be controlled right here on campus.
For now, feeding will take place twice a day during warm weather and
once a day in the winter months. That may change as researchers learn
what is optimal for different species.
"If this feeder technology works as planned, it will be a major
leap forward for offshore fish farming," said Richard Langan, director
of the Atlantic Marine Aquaculture Center.
So, a new name; it could be something like Moby Dick, which plays up
both the fish and size angle. Monstro, the whale that swallowed Geppetto,
works for the same reason. There are sentimental favorites like Nemo
or Cleo, the goldfish in Pinocchio.
Or how about honoring someone who was named for a fish, like Kurt Vonnegut’s
Kilgore Trout? Or, a fish named for a person, as in the movie “A
Fish Called Wanda.”
Playing around with the feeder’s size conjures up all kinds of
names that either start with the word ‘big’--like Big Bertha,
the nickname given to those huge cannons of WWI—or are known for
being big, like, say, King Kong.
The prize for coming up with the SBIR’s new name is a boat ride
out to the site and some free cod. Send entries to dolores.leonard@unh.edu.
The deadline is June 22. A panel of research team members will choose
the winning entry.
The Atlantic Marine Aquaculture Center is a partnership of UNH and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The SBIR feeder
project was developed through collaboration with Ocean Spar Technologies,
LLC, recipients of a grant from NOAA’s Small Business Innovation
Research program.
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