Fisheries
BlueTech in Fisheries – At a Glance
Global Fishing Watch has developed a free public interactive map to get insights into commercial fishing across the globe by leveraging big data.
Balancing fishery interests with environmental concerns is not easy, but advanced analytics (AA)—the use of sophisticated methods to collect, process, and interpret big data—represent an untapped solution to this problem. While fishing companies, regulators, and environmentalists now apply these tools, their use is typically limited to small-scale pilots.
Our World in Data stated that the average person now eats almost twice as much seafood as half a century ago. Simultaneously, for the first time in history, the consumption of farmed fish has exceeded that of wild-caught fish. Innovative technologies have been introduced for the fisheries sector and aquaculture, responding to the increased demand for fish.
Below are some initiatives using real time data and other technologies within the industry:
Fisheries Innovation
In recent years, innovation is gradually boosting the fisheries supply chain globally, In Oman, during the Covid-19 pandemic when restriction on movement disrupted the market conditions, Behar, an integrated electronic platform was started with fish auctions for wholesale and soon dived into retail business, and has already registered sale of 12,000usd and about 270 tons of fish since its start in March,2021. Behar allows for individual consumers to check out what is on offer in their neighborhood fish stores or local outlets, select the fish, its prices, and quantities they want online, and request delivery of the items purchased at their doorstep. The platform offers bids to buy and sell fish to consumers. The platform also serves as a window for international companies to take advantage of buying local fish
Electronic Record Keeping
The Electronic Recording and Reporting System, known as the E-Logbook, can better manage fishery resources. Captains of fishing ships are legally required to record species, location, and volume, which was done with paper. E-Logbook provides transparent, high-quality data that would allow fishing operators to trace back their catches and improve overall efficiency and enforcement.
Illegal Fishing Monitoring with Blockchain
Through Blockchain technology illegal fishing can be reduced, as it allows for a fish voyage to be tracked from bait to plate and improves the overall supply chain efficiency. As blockchain creates a tamper-proof ledger, it creates a transparent and traceable method that allows customers, merchants, and customers to know where the fish came from, significantly reducing illegal fishing. Legal suppliers would also have sufficient information on how their catches compare to other suppliers with the additional data incorporated into the blockchain. More information on how blockchain is being applied in Australia is shown in the video below.
Several initiatives are pooling indigenous, local, and international knowledge and efforts to study and protect freshwater systems. One such wide-ranging regional initiative is protecting Amazon freshwater systems.
Citizen Science for the Amazon , created in 2017, is a network of multiple stakeholders, including more than 100 groups of citizen scientists (Fishermen, indigenous peoples, local communities, and students) from across the Amazon basin and more than 25 academic, conservation, and grassroots organizations from seven countries. These citizen scientists regularly monitor fish migrations and water quality, registering and sharing their observations via a common app and a platform. This platform is designed to guide data management decisions by connecting local efforts, using interoperable standards, aggregating data, and making the information open, safe, and accessible. The result is the first database of the entire Amazon basin that is available for researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers.
Integrated multi-species aquaculture, or IMTA , is mixed farming where each species provides a function. IMTA might include a wide range of species combinations, including marine plants, crab and bivalve shellfish species, and finfish. The technique could work well when the waste from fish aquaculture could be captured and recycled. For example, the inorganic nutrient waste from fish could be used by kale. Filter feeders such as mussels and oysters would use the fine particulate while large organic material would be used by sea cucumber. IMTA has been practiced in Asian countries for centuries, and the oldest example is in China, with rice and fish co-cultivation. More information on IMTA is shown in the video below.
Narrow Band IoT for Fisheries Monitoring
Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) is starting to be used by India's fishing industry since it easily allows any mobile phone to connect with cellular and satellite networks. Although NB-IoT transmission is limited to data only, it does enable fishermen to transmit an SOS signal, receive weather notifications, and obtain information on potential fishing areas. In addition, it allows fishermen to negotiate a better price by sending catch data far out at sea. More information on NB-IoT is shown in the video below.
Technologies could be a key role– be it for fish stock assessments or systems to guide, regulate, and facilitate sustainable fisheries, or to support the fish value chains. Many new technologies are envisaged in this “ smart fisheries ” Future, including for fish feed extrusion , blockchain applications in seafood value chains , aquaculture data and technology and earth observation to curtal illegal fishing , especially in the coming years.
Automated Identification Systems have been in used for a few years to help sea vessels locate each other with on-board transponders.
Optimizing Resource Efficiency
There is a drive to optimize ocean resource efficiency, improve the automatic collection for assessing fish stock, providing evidence of compliance with fisheries regulation and to reduce the ecological impact of the fishing industry, using high tech systems. In the European Union for instance, the SMARTFISH H2020, has been established to develop such systems using real time monitoring systems to detect organisms in the ocean that cannot be seen with conventional fish finding techniques, use of optical and hydroacoustic technologies for pre-catch size and species recognition, use of LED technology to optimize the performance of trawl fishing gear and the use of 3D machine vision systems to inspect catch samples on small fishing vessels.
Monitoring Fisheries Stocks and Pollution
Autonomous underwater vehicles are being used to monitor water quality and subsurface ocean plastic. Biomimetic robotic fish developed by Aquaai are 3D printed using selective laser sintering (SLS) and can be deployed to monitor underwater industries like aquaculture fisheries. Due to their size and the fish-like way in which they move, the fish can get very near to the sources they need to monitor. They continuously swim alongside and keep an eye on real fish stocks, which leads to less disease and death and results in increased yield. Robotic fish collect and deliver real-time visual and environmental data, such as water quality, temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen, but also images and other footage. The data is sent back to an AI-powered online dashboard which is accessible by multiple industries. Robotic fish can also be used to pinpoint sources of pollution, monitor waterways after storms and floods, and locate subsurface ocean plastic. Being as they are autonomous and continuously in the water, their operating cost is significantly lower than manned systems.
Aquaculture - Sea Warden
Sea Warden tackles critical data gaps within the aquaculture industry by leveraging satellites, AI, and cloud computing to map and monitor global aquaculture activity. Using satellite, shrimp ponds are automatically detected, to monitor start of production and estimate harvest time. The approach uses cloud penetrating technology, which enables year-round monitoring at weekly intervals, of pond fallowing, to reduce disease risk, early detection of pond emptying across a region which could be a sign of disease outbreak.
Aquaculture is identified as a Blue Growth priority to ensure the sustainable supply of seafood to help meet increased food demands of the growing global population. In the growing aquaculture industry , sensor technology and machine learning are enabling core tasks such as feeding and water-quality control to be automated. And the global coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has only served to accelerate the pace of technological advance : fish farms have been commissioned remotely from the other side of the world using smart glasses , while ship classification organizations have deployed drone technology to carry out ship inspections. Their automation is progressing undeterred, although further developments are still required, both technological and regulatory
There are several challenges within aquaculture, such control of disease, feed and nutrition of produce and low production. The advent of new technologies provides some solutions to some of these challenges: the use of remotely operated vehicles or unmanned autonomous vehicles, is facilitating the monitoring of below water surface activity, is also helping to cut out the expense of having to use a skilled work force to cover some of these routine activity farmers can carry out various types of inspections on netting and other equipment from onshore locations. Robotics is enabling the production of aquapods; roaming fishing cages that reduce problems of overcrowding and help with disease control. Drones also provide a means for remote monitoring of offshore fish farms, providing critical data on fish health and conditions within farms for decision–making by farmers.
Sensors enhance the efficiency of drones and robots in the capture of data such as ph data, salinity, pollutants etc. Artificial Intelligence can also assist farmers to detect hazards a pollution, and notify farmers of major environmental changes that affect aquaculture
Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are a recognized global problem with annual losses to aquaculture running into billions of Dollars. The AtlantOS HAB use case focuses on creating a weekly HAB bulletin for three European study areas in Norway, Ireland, and Spain. Experts who prepare the bulletins use the in situ ocean observing system, satellite data, and available numerical marine hydrodynamic modeling to provide a science based product to indicate the current HAB status in areas of interest, accompanied by text describing the likely HAB occurrences in the days ahead.
Drones for Fisheries and Aquaculture
Underwater Drones are used to monitor offshore fish farms, replacing expensive human intervention. Underwater drones use sensors to monitor the health of fish farms by measuring all the important parameters including temperature, oxygen, salinity, and light. The data collected by the drone and big data analysis helps farmers to gain insights of environmental conditions and patterns of the fish. Data collection and analysis by the drones can help reduce risks/damage outbreaks and improve the quality of harvest.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Aquaculture
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology conducts predictive analysis, offering improved data-based decision-making for the fish farmers and for Aquaculture. AI helps farmers to make data-driven decisions, achieving higher profit and efficiencies by automatically measuring the health of fish and monitoring environmental conditions. AI also helps identify underwater pollution and alerts fish farmers before damage occurs in their aquaculture.
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) for Aquaculture
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies are being used for training and instructional purposes in the aquaculture industry. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) designed an aquaculture simulator using VR and AR , incorporating Oculus Rift’s technologies. It is designed to teach about fish welfare, disease prevention, escaping fish and dangerous working conditions. As fish farming is one of the principal industries in Norway, trainings using VR/AR technologies have been particularly important to students. Also, U.S. Navy uses AR technology to develop Divers Augmented Vision Display (DAVD), which offers high-resolution sonar imagery on a diver’s visual world.
3D Underwater Farming
3D ocean farming is an innovative vertical underwater gardening technique which has a high yield using very minimal acreage. These farms cultivate shellfish in addition to other healthy fast growing protein rich sea vegetables. This model of farming started by GreenWave is restoring ocean ecosystems and creating biofuel as well
Technologies for the Safety and Sustainability of Small-Scale Fishermen
To ensure the safety and sustainability of small-scale fishing, the EU is funding a project that develops innovative technologies for the safety of small-scale fishers and sustainable marine resource management. This project empowers local, small-scale fishers, increasing their opportunity to fish further offshore for higher value species and actively engage in the management of their marine protected areas, while ensuring traceability, which improves marketability of catches. The resilience built through this project might help their recovery after the global COVID pandemic. The STARFISH project also is actively supporting digital transformation, a key EU priority, and accelerates the sustainable development of the Blue Economy through innovative means. At the core of the STARFISH 4.0, There is the NEMO system: a solar-powered Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) terminal with a call for assistance button, and a fishery monitoring software with Big Data capabilities, that handles information gathered from large numbers of traditional vessels. ( EU,2021)
E-Fishery (Indonesia)
eFishery - an aquaculture intelligence company manufactures smart fish feeding machines, which is helping Indonesia’s fish farmers by providing them affordable technology services. It is a notable example from the developing world of how social and economic inequality can be reduced through an inclusive digital economy in fisheries. The automatic fish feeder machines use a data and intelligence platform to sense the fishes' appetite and feed them until they are full. These machines can be controlled by smartphones, helping you to monitor feed output every day without having to manually record. It increases feed efficiency by 28%, shortens the harvest and a 100% increase in profits of smallholder fish farmers. These are then linked to market value chains for additional services to fish farmers.