Make oysters cheaper than chicken
After a 37 -year career as a main seafood microbiologist at USFDA, Dr. Angelo Depaola decided to take up a different challenge: Oyster Farming
The Shellevator® is about to change the way oysters are cultivated. The latest invention of Dr. Angelo Depaola presents a lasting and evolving solution to food production which could revolutionize agriculture of oysters, much like chicken agriculture transformed in the 1950s, making oysters a source of more affordable and lasting protein.
Why oysters?
Oysters are among the greenest foods on the planet. They filter up to 200 liters of sea water per day, transforming tiny seaweed into nutritious foods – no food, fertilizer or chemicals required. Oyster breeding also benefits the environment by eliminating harmful nutrients, stabilizing shores, creating habitats and sequestering carbon in their shells. But despite these advantages, Oyster Farming had a hard time evolving. Traditional methods are with a high intensity of labor, costly and vulnerable to climate risks such as storms and heat waves, leaving many oyster farmers each year.
Enter the Shellevator®
The Shellevator® changes the game. Using compressed air, it moves from top to bottom in water like a submarine, lifting the oysters on the surface in a few seconds. This eliminates the need for farmers to manually enter the water or manage heavy equipment. By automating these tasks, the Shellevator® considerably reduces labor costs and accelerates operations. It is simple, effective and designed to last ten to 50 years – much longer than the cultivation of traditional oyster.
Built for climate resilience
Climate change has made the oysters more risky, hurricanes and bad weather destroying night farms. The Shellevator® is portable, allowing farmers to move oysters to safer places when storms or environmental changes threaten their farms. This mobility offers a safety net for oyster producers, ensuring that their investment is not destroyed by a single storm.
Extent
The Shellevator® is not content to facilitate oyster farming – it makes it larger. Traditional oyster farms give around 250,000 to 500,000 oysters per hectare. A Shellevator® farm can grow between two and five million oysters per hectare, and the new generation megaur – a version on the Shellevator® level – could produce 150 million oysters per hectare. These figures put oysters on the right track to become a dominant and affordable source of protein.
Beyond food: the advantages of the ecosystem
Shellevator® is not only a tool for agricultural oysters; It is a versatile ecological power. A single unit holding 50,000 oysters can filter ten million liters of seawater per day. Shellevators can be deployed for:
- Improve water quality by eliminating excess nutrients;
- Create habitats for fish and other marine lives;
- Stabilize shores to prevent erosion; And
- Boost oyster populations in areas where natural reproduction is limited.
They can even be placed near wastewater outings to reduce harmful pathogens, which makes water downstream for swimming and fishing.
Ahead
The Shellevator® always evolves, with fascinating development characteristics:
- Remote operations: automation for loading, unloading and cleaning;
- IA and renewable energy: Autonomous movement to find the most advanced conditions fed by sustainable energy; And
- Low -cost models: affordable versions made with materials such as bamboo for use in developing countries.
The ultimate goal? To make oysters cheaper than chicken by increasing production with systems like the megaur. This leap forward could transform oysters from a niche luxury to a basic protein source.
Change the future of food
Shellevator® is more than an invention – a vision of a better food system. The combination of automation, scalability and ecological advantages offers a means of cultivating nutritious foods in a sustainable manner while protecting the planet. With this technology, oysters could soon feed millions, support ecosystems and prove that innovation can bring us closer to a healthier and greener future.
