Cunningham Covers teams up Gael Force Group in ground-breaking fish containment solution - SeaQureWell™

Cunningham are well known for their expertise and large factory capacity in the manufacturing of clever protective covers and containment products from high-tech, high-strength flexible materials.

Their experience in creating durable and customized solutions spans more than 50 years, and today they produce and supply a range of specialised cover products for aerospace, offshore, and aquaculture applications, including fresh-water treatment bags, fresh-water storage bags, lice skirts, and other custom tarpaulin textile products.

Due to this announcement and growth in other key sectors, Cunningham not only seek to significantly extend their Maghera manufacturing facility but will be recruiting a further 28 skilled workers.  This investment further cements Cunningham on its journey to becoming the world’s leading manufacturer of Clever Protective Covers.

Gael Force Group has taken a substantial step forward in its plans to deliver its integrated SeaQureFarm™ by announcing this exclusive partnership with Cunningham Covers in Northern Ireland for the prototyping and production of their ground-breaking semi-closed containment solution for the aquaculture sector, SeaQureWell™, in 2024.

For this partnership, Gael Force and Cunningham Covers have also entered a supply partner agreement with Serge Ferrari, a global leader in flexible composite materials. They will provide highly advanced Precontraint technology and membranes to enhance the performance and durability of the SeaQureWell™ system. The use of innovative materials will contribute to the system's robustness, flexibility, and resistance to environmental factors.

SeaQureFarm™ has the potential to unlock global ambition for a greener, carbon-friendly, and more efficient way of producing healthy nutritious food protein through improving the sustainability of farming of the seas. It is designed to deliver improved fish health, reduced predation, prevent seabed depositions and reduce egg-to-plate emissions while enabling on-farm circular economies and turning a waste problem into an energy solution.

The SeaQureWell™ will be constructed of engineered high-quality composite membrane material, cut, and welded by Cunningham to form the ‘Well, with structural floatation at the surface and a rigid sub-surface service and support structure.  It aims to provide and maintain a secure controlled environment to safeguard healthy growing fish against external environmental threats to the fish from sea lice, gill amoeba, jellyfish and algae bloom as well as protect against sea mammal predation. Additionally, faecal depositions along with any uneaten food will also be captured in the ‘Well’ for on-site recovery and reduction for reuse.

Gael Force Group Managing Director, Stewart Graham, commented:

“By announcing this next major step forward in the development of SeaQureFarm™ we continue to demonstrate our commitment to the continual improvement of a greener, carbon-friendly way to sustainably produce a healthy, nutritious food protein.  We share the sector’s ambition of minimising environmental footprint and moving closer to a goal of achieving net zero.  In partnership with Cunningham Covers, supported by Serge Ferrari as our specialised material supply partner, I am extremely confident that our collective experience and expertise will enable us to move the dial considerably towards that target.”

Cunningham Covers Managing Director, David Cunningham, commented:

“We are delighted to be a long-term partner with Gael Force in this project. Our two companies share core values and ethos, as well as a long-term ambition to grow our presence together in the semi-closed containment fish farming sector, combining the considerable and complementary strengths of both companies”.