4 minute read
Keeping tabs on fish welfare and structural integrity
Early warning
IT is enabling fi sh farmers to respond to potential hazards in good time
Two contras� ng case studies show how technology is increasingly helping fi sh farmers to understand what is going on below the helping fi sh farmers to understand what is going on below the water’s surface.
Last year marine technology business RS Aqua won an Innovate UK compe� � on to develop a harmful algae bloom (HAB) warning system for the Sco� sh salmon farming industry, in collabora� on with Innovasea (Nova Sco� a, Canada) and Grieg Seafood Shetland (recently acquired by Sco� sh Sea Farms).
Monitoring for harmful phytoplankton is typically done using regular water quality samples analysed by microscopy. This project will develop a warning system to no� fy farms of poten� al HABs before they reach the farms, enabling managers to respond ahead of � me and mi� gate harmful impacts.
The system will consist of an oceanographic buoy posi� oned downstream of the test farm and carrying a suite of water quality sensors. The parameters being measured are dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, blue-green algae, chlorophyll, turbidity, and salinity. Meteorological data and current speed and direc� on will also be recorded.
A similar suite of sensors will be deployed on the test farm, with data sent to the cloud where the results will be processed to build a HAB risk index, available through a smartphone app.
The project kicked off in April 2021. To date the farm sensors have been deployed and the buoy system is built and wai� ng for a weather window to go in the water at the test site in Shetland. The collec� on of phytoplankton samples is also underway, and these will be collated on a daily basis with the recorded sensor data. All these data will be used over the next 18 months to build a database.
Ryan Mowat PhD, Director of Fisheries & Research with RS Aqua, says: “We envisage this project having far-reaching impacts for salmon farming and HAB monitoring methods, and look forward to making it available to all Sco� sh salmon producers.”
Cas� ng light on the ma� er
Last year salmon farmer SalMar entered into an agreement to provide its Ocean Farm 1 aquaculture facility with a fi bre op� c-based structural monitoring system. As an off shore installa� on in deep, open water, Ocean Farm 1 – which features six very large nets in a circular fl oa� ng structure – is subject to extreme stresses.
Light Structures, the supplier delivering the system, installed a customised monitoring system using its SENSFIB technology in August 2021. Previously this system has been used eff ec� vely by the company to monitor ships at sea.
The SENSFIB structural monitoring system is now installed and opera� onal on the Ocean Farming 1 facility and the documenta� on package for the system has been delivered to Salmar. The installa� on consisted of 16 sensors and took six days to complete in cold and icy condi� ons, with no interrup� on to opera� ons on Ocean Farming 1.
As well as delivering data direct to Salmar engineers, the system is now also connected to the Veracity cloud pla� orm run by Ocean Farm 1 technology partner DNV.
Ernad Sehic, Senior Interna� onal Sales Manager, Light Structures, says: “In terms of installa� on, confi gura� on, and customer sign-off , the project is now closed, but Light Structures, Salmar and DNV con� nue to work together on addi� onal scope including the integra� on of data provided by OEM systems on Ocean Farming 1 within the same interface as the SENSFIB data.
“At the � me of wri� ng, Ocean Farming 1 had been subject to nearly two weeks of storms and high seas. The data collected by the SENSFIB system has provided invaluable for decision support in such circumstances and will also contribute to the design of future off shore, open, and exposed fi sh farms.” FF
Clockwise from top: Ocean Farm 1 sensor being installed; Innovasea Sensor; HAB Buoy from RS Aqua; Salmon farm; Ryan Mowat
