Marine Ecosystem Engineering Laboratory

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Welcome to Marine Ecosystem Engineering (Kitazawa) Laboratory

Overview of the laboratory

Ocean surface occupies about 70% of the Earth's surface. Utilizing the vast ocean, we research and develop sustainable marine food and renewable energy production systems in harmony with marine ecosystem . We hope to contribute to Japan becoming a true maritime nation by developing technology that allows us to maximize the various resources of the ocean.

Application to graduate students in our laboratory

Our laboratory accepts the students from Department of Systems Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. If you have a plan to study in our labratory, look at this page. Also, please email to here if you want to contact us.

What's new

  • 12/2-4, 2024:Prof. Zhou and Mr. Tu talked on "Challenges for characterizing biofouling on coastal floating infrastructure: A pilot investigation of biofouling on floating substrata installed in Tokyo Bay" and "Reconstructing historical water quality and biofouling dynamics in Tokyo Bay: A numerical simulation approach for sustainable floating infrastructure", respectively, at WCFS2024 in Hong Kong.

  • 10/15, 2024: Welcome party of Bai san, Li san, Yu san, Youri san, and Jules san was held.

  • 10/8, 2024: The paper "Experimental and numerical investigation on the motion responses of a spar-type floating structure with aquaculture feeding systems" was published in Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.

  • 6/9-14, 2024: Prof. Zhou and Mr. Bai talked on "Investigation of water surface fluctuation and flow velocity inside a floating closed flexible membrane fish cage under forced oscillation experiment" and "Experimental study on the effects of aquaculture net cages on the motion responses of a spar-type floating structure", respectively, at OMAE2024 in Singapore. The paper "A physical model approach to mooring forces and motion responses of a closed fish tank including internal free water" presented at OMAE2023 was selected as the Best Paper Award.

  • 6/7, 2024: Welcome party of Tom san was held.

  • 4/30, 2024: Welcome party of Ting san and Guo san was held.

  • 4/1, 2024: Project researcher, Shuchuang DONG, has been appointed as an associate professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology. Project researcher, Jinxin ZHOU, has been appointed as an assistant professor.

  • 3/31, 2024: The paper "Modeling Environmental Impacts of Intensive Shrimp Aquaculture: A Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Ecosystem Approach" was accepted by Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.

  • 3/29, 2024: The paper "Incorporating physiological knowledge into correlative species distribution models minimizes bias introduced by the choice of calibration area" was accepted by Marine Life Science and Technology.

  • 3/20, 2024: We held a one-night and two-day event for foreign students in Yokohama.

  • 1/25, 2024: Mr. Bai and Dr. Zhou taled on "Review of recent research on offshore floating wind turbine collaborated with aquaculture cages" and "Fish wastes promote oyster growth in a polyculture farm" at the 11th East Asian Workshop for Marine Environment and Energy, respectively. They received Outstanding Paper Presentation Award!

  • 1/16, 2024: The paper "Water-tank and semi-field experimental investigation of a hose net fish-hauling device for next-generation set-net fishing" was published in Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.

  • 12/21, 2023: The end-year party was held at Ueno.

  • 10/27-28, 2023: Kashiwa campus was opened for public. 160 and 823 people visited our laboratory on 27th and 28th, respectively. Thank you very much for many visits.

  • 10/2-6, 2023/: Dr. Dong and Mr. Bai talked "Experimental investigation of the motion response of a sheet fish tank in waves" and "Towards the development of an innovative aquaculture pen: A sub-scale fish tank utilizing flexible sheets" at 13th Asia Pacific Marine Biotechnology Conference (APMBC 2023), respectively.

  • 9/30, 10/1, 2023: Mr. Huaizhi Zhao completed his master course. Ms. Yuhan Li joined our laboratory as a graduate research student.

  • 8/29, 2023:Dr. Dong and Dr. Zhou talked on "Numerical simulation of the three-dimensional sloshing and internal free surface oscillation control in a closed fish tank using the particle method" and "Review of the impacts of sessile organisms attached to artificial floating structures on the surrounding environment" at WCFS2023 conference.

  • 6/22, 2023: The paper 'Opposite trends in environmental DNA distributions of two freshwater species under climate change' was accepted by Ecosphere.

  • 6/14, 2023: Prof. Li, Prof. Han, Dr. Zhou and Prof. Kitazawa talked on "An experimental study on the responses of a spar-type floating structure integrated with aquaculture systems", "Numerical simulation of motion responses of a cabin-suspended catamaran in head waves", "Experimental and numerical analysis on the hydrodynamic force of an ice piece in synthetic brash ices with defined distance" and "A physical model approach to mooring forces and motion responses of a closed fish tank including internal free water" at the ASME 2023 42nd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, respectively.

  • 5/26, 2023: A welcome party was held.

  • 5/19, 2023: A lunch party of Oncorhynchus masou was held.

  • 4/28, 2023: Prof. Kitazawa talked on 'Marine energy utilization and technology development in Japan' in the seminar of Wuhan University of Technology.

  • 4/3, 2023: Prof. Li moved to Yokohama National University. Mr Kangnian WANG (D1), Mr. Lei HU (D1) and Mr. Huajin WANG (M1) join our laboratory.

  • 3/9, 2023: Prof. Li and Prof. Kitazawa talked on "An experimental study on the stability of a catamaran boat equipped with an underwater camera" and "Numerical analysis of the motion of an automated fish guiding system for set net fishery" at Underwater Technology 2023, respectively.

  • 2/20, 2023: Dr. Zhou talked on "A comparative study on the experimental hydrodynamic force of an ice piece in model-scale brash ices" at the 37th International Symposium on the Okhotsk Sea & Polar Oceans 2023.

  • 1/31, 2023: A book chapter "Risk finance for natural disaster in lakes and coastal seas using modeling techniques" was published in the bookk "Global Blue Economy, Analysis, Developments, and Challenges".

  • 11/27, 2022: I talked about "Environmental impact assessment of fish farming activities in coastal seas" at 2022 Future Ocean International Industry-University-Research-Application Cooperation Conference (Qingdao).

  • 8/2-5, 2022: I talked about "Current status of cage aquaculture systems", "Numerical simulations of the environment around farming sites", and "Carrying capacity of farming sites and sustainability" in the training course on innovative approaches in aquaculture of Asian Productivity Organization.

  • 7/26, 2022: The paper 'Hydrodynamic analysis of a bottom-placed fine-mesh cage and its effects on the transport of particulate organic waste' was accepted by Ocean Engineering.

  • 7/26, 2022: The paper 'Characteristics of the flow field inside and around a square fish cage considering the circular swimming pattern of a farmed fish school: Laboratory experiments and field observations' was accepted by Ocean Engineering.

  • 7/1, 2022: The paper 'Monitoring of cage-cultured sea cucumbers using an underwater time-lapse camera and deep learning-based image analysis' was accepted by Smart Agricultural Technology.

  • 4/1, 2022: Prof. Kitazawa talked on 'Marine energy utilization and technology development in Japan' in the seminar of Wuhan University of Technology.

  • 3/15, 2022: The paper 'Sustainability assessment of marine aquaculture considering nutrients inflow from the land in Kyushu Area' was accepted by Water.

  • 3/3, 2022: 'Review of the water tank experiment for assessing the fish behavior around tidal or oceanic current turbines' was presented at Ocean Science Meeting 2022.

  • 3/2, 2022: The paper 'Current status on aquaculture technology' was presented at the joint workshop with Chabahar Maritime University, Iran.

  • 2/18, 2022: The paper 'Occurrences, sources, and human health risk assessments of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in marine organisms from temperate coastal area' was accepted by Frontiers Ecology and Evolution.

  • 12/10, 2021: 'Panel Session 3: Sustainable Aquaculture' was discussed in Techno Ocean 2021.

  • 11/29, 2021: The paper 'Antibiotics resistant bacteria and resistance genes in aquaculture: risks, current concern and future thinking' was accepted by Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

  • 11/9, 2021: The paper 'Experimental study on the wave energy harvesting performance of a small suspension catamaran exploiting the maximum power point tracking approach' was accepted by Ocean Engineering.

  • 10/22, 2021: 'Sustainability assessment of marine aquaculture considering nutrients inflow from the land in Kyushu Area' and 'Numerical analysis on long-term shifts of mixing regime and nutrient status in Lake Biwa under climate change' were presented at the 10th EAWOMEN (East Asian Network for Marine Environments and Energy) held at Qingdao, China.

  • 9/28, 2021: The paper 'Model tests and full-scale sea trials for drag force and deformation of a marine aquaculture net cage' was accepted by Ocean Engineering.

  • 9/14, 2021: The paper 'Performance and feasibility study of a novel automated fish-harvesting device using a flexible hose net structure in set-net' was accepted by Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.

  • 9/14, 2021: The paper 'Experimental study of fish behavior near a tidal turbine model under dark conditions' was accepted by Journal of Marine Science and Technology.

  • 6/25, 2022: Prof. Kitazawa talked on 'Marine energy utilization and technology development in Japan' in the seminar of Wuhan University of Technology.

  • 6/23, 2021: 国際会議OMAE2021で'Experimental investigation of fluid-structure interaction in linked flexible net cages' and 'Flow field inside and around a square fish cage considering fish school swimming pattern' were presented at OMAE (40th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore & Arctic Engineering) 2021.

  • 6/8, 2021: The paper 'Improvement on the effectiveness of marine stock enhancement in the artificial reef area by a new cage-based release technique' was accepted by Journal of Ocean University of China.

  • 5/18, 2021: The paper 'Investigating the utilization of polyethylene pipe for automated hauling system in set net fishery' was accepted by Ocean Engineering.

  • 4/10, 2021: Keynote presentation 'A motion-controlled small boat with wave energy harvester' was presented at the international workshop of Wuhan University of Technology.

  • Research highlights

    • Controllable Depth Cage (CDC)

      A controllable depth cage was developed using a general cage and floats. The vertical position of the cage was controlled remotely by adjusting the buoyancy of the floats based on the real-time vertical water quality profile. The feasibility of a controllable depth cage was tested in Onagawa Bay, Miyagi Prefecture.

    • Submergible cage using flexible hoses

      A general cage made of polyethylene pipes could be submerged successfully by injection and ejection of air in flexible hoses in the pipes. We could prolong the aquaculture period and adjust the shipment time by culturing silver salmon at 10 to 20 m below sea surface, where water temperature is lower by 2 or 3 degrees than that at sea surface.

    • Motion controlled ship with wave energy harvester

      Motion controlled ship with wave energy harvester was developed and its sub-scale model was tested in the real sea. The ratio of harvest of wave energy to improvement of comfort can be varied as necessary. The developed ship will be widely applied to fishing vessels for reduction in energy consumption, to working boats for acculate operation, and to pleasure boats for leisure. Visit the web site which introduces this project.

    • Submergible cage using step by step exchanging air and water

      A large cage could be floated and submerged securely by exchanging air and water in the polyethylene pipe step by step. This submergible cage can be submerged during typhoon attacks to escape from high waves. This cage was also installed in the coastal sea of the Phillipines.

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