Fisheries and Aquaculture
Fish are Friends … and Food
The importance of fisheries and fish habitat is enormous and far-reaching. Fish act as an ecological vector, critical to the transport of energy and nutrients between the ocean, estuaries and freshwater environments. Fish are often at the center of economies and culture, with coastal societies dependent on fish for both protein and income. The world’s largest sockeye salmon run in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, for example, yields over USD 500 million annually for commercial, recreational and subsistence fisherman.1
The aquaculture industry further improves the world’s food security and nutrition needs by increasing the amount of seafood available for consumption, while alleviating pressure on native fish stocks. When managed properly, aquaculture can also boost coastal and rural economies, and help keep waterways clean.
With a team of coastal, offshore and environmental engineers, fisheries biologists and aquatic scientists, we offer a wide range of services to sustain healthy fish habitats and aquaculture operations.
From our offices in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean, Lally LLC can provide the following services related to the design, installation and maintenance of fish habitat and aquaculture facilities;
- Wave Data Collection and Analysis
- Tides and Currents Analyses
- Coastal Processes Modeling
- Sediment Transport Analyses
- Bathymetric Surveys and Mapping
- Geotechnical Sampling and Testing
- Climate Adaptation Engineering
- Wetland Engineering
- Nature-based Engineering
- Spawning Reef Sediment / Gravel Sampling
- Feeder Beach Design
- Aquatic Habitat Maintenance Design
- Contract Plans and Specifications
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Biological Evaluations
- Environmental Permitting
- Fish and Habitat Monitoring
- Annual Monitoring Reports
- Mapping and Data Infographics
- Project Management
- Construction Oversight
Lally LLC has completed long-term (i.e. 10-Year) fish and habitat monitoring programs on behalf of our clients in support of environmental permits for installation and maintenance of multi-faceted shoreline and aquatic habitat improvement projects. The key objectives of these programs are often to inspect and document changes in habitat conditions and fish use in terms of fish spawning, emergence, migration, and rearing activities resulting from new shoreline, nearshore, and maintenance dredging activities at various sites.
Lally LLC fisheries biologists, scientists and coastal engineers perform surveys, often year-round, in compliance with monitoring plans as required by multiple federal, state, and regional environmental agencies and other stakeholders including indigenous tribes.
Recent Fish and Habitat Monitoring work executed by Lally LLC includes;
- Dive Inspections of Spawning Areas, Nearshore and Offshore Habitat, Water Intake and Upwelling Facilities
- Fish Use Surveys. Seasonal Fish Use Characterization via Monitoring focused on Spawning, Fry Emergence, Migration and Rearing
- Scientific Collection Permits Acquisition and Annual Reporting
- Bathymetric Surveys and Sediment Transport Analyses
- Fish Habitat Surveys
- Coastal Structure Surveys
- Spawning Reef Sediment / Gravel Sampling
- Snorkel Surveys
- Seine Surveys
- Emergent Fry Trap Deployment
- Annual Fish and Habitat Monitoring Reports and Data Infographics
- Aquatic Habitat Construction Oversight
With safety as a core value, in our 15-year company history, Lally LLC has completed thousands of hours of fieldwork, much of it in- or on-water, and have never had a safety incident of any kind. Through care and diligence, we aim to maintain this record.
Lally has been leading integrated remediation and fish habitat restoration projects since the 1990s, transforming several contaminated coastal, estuarine and riverine sites into functioning fish spawning, rearing and nursery habitats.
Fish Habitat services we offer for industrial and contaminated sites includes:
- Site Characterization
- Feasibility Studies
- Vessel Traffic Analyses
- Topographic & Bathymetric Surveys
- Subsurface Investigations
- Geotechnical Sampling and Analysis
- Sediment Remediation Engineering
- Dredging and Capping
- Enhanced Natural Recovery
- Nature-based Shoreline Erosion Control
- Fish Access Channels
- Spawning Beds
- Submerged Aquatic Vegetation
- Fish Substrate Sizing
- Mapping and Visualization Services
- Plans and Specifications
- Procurement Support
- Cost Estimates
- Project Management
- Construction Oversight
We are happy to share our experience to effectively incorporate habitat improvements into your next cleanup project.
As aquaculture continues to grow at a rapid pace, the engineering and operation of efficient and environmentally safe pens and production facilities is of increasing importance to the industry and its stakeholders.
Whether in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Scandinavia or Caribbean, Lally LLC can assist clients with the engineering design of aquaculture facilities from concept to installation and management.
We are skilled in understanding critical wave and hydrodynamic conditions of open-ocean and nearshore coastal environments. Applying MetOcean data collection, analysis and numerical modeling capabilities, we can assist in determining optimal siting of fish pens and the weather windows they can best be mobilized.
The full list of services we offer to the aquaculture industry includes;
- Site Selection Studies
- Physical Conditions Assessment
- Master Planning and Structure Planning
- MetOcean Data Acquisition and Analysis
- ADCP Wave / Current Data Collection
- Numerical Modeling of Offshore Hydrodynamic Conditions
- Tides, Currents and Waves Analyses
- Workability Windows
- Vessel Traffic Analyses
- Bathymetric Surveys and Mapping
- Geotechnical Sampling and Testing
- Design of Aquatic Production Facilities
- Mooring System Design and Analysis
- Water and Fish Transportation
- Infrastructure Relocation
- Underwater Inspections / ROV Operations
Fish are sensitive to a wide range of water quality and environmental conditions. To monitor critical parameters at aquaculture pens or other fish habitat locations, Lally LLC personnel can install state-of-the-art sensors and wireless telemetry systems to deliver anywhere access to real-time data, including;
- Turbidity and TSS
- Temperature
- Dissolved Oxygen
- Salinity
- Chlorophyll
- Blue-Green Algae
- Waves
- Currents
- Windspeed
- Wind Direction
- Surface and Underwater Video
Threshold values for some parameters can be programmed to trigger alarms and notifications for many sensors, as may be needed to manage critical pen conditions in a timely manner.
- 1 United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2023. About Bristol Bay.