Projections estimate that aquaculture will yield 106 million tons of fish by 2030, highlighting the growing demand for efficient and sustainable practices. Emerging technologies provide valuable tools to enhance the management of marine aquaculture systems.
In a recent study, researchers from Campus Gandia (UPV), led by Jaime Lloret and in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Cartagena, explored the application of new technologies in aquaculture. They designed control systems and proposed an intelligent algorithm-based system aimed at enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of marine aquaculture systems. This system uses cost-effective sensors and sensor networks to collect data, allowing real-time monitoring of multiple parameters.. The study organizes these parameters into four key domains that impact fish welfare: the production domain, the abiotic domain, the biotic domain, and the control systems domain, analyzing each in detail. The interactions between the elements within each domain are assessed to identify the key aspects that need to be monitored. This analysis is conducted for two types of marine aquaculture systems: sea cages and recirculating aquaculture systems. The study proposes a range of algorithms to optimize fish farming management, including energy efficiency algorithms, fault tolerance algorithms, data management algorithms, and an intelligent control algorithm.
The proposed control system for aquaculture facilities offers a substantial enhancement over current systems. Additionally, the architecture, communication technology, and network protocols are designed to ensure scalability for large fish farm facilities with multiple cages or tanks, while maintaining a low cost. These features, combined with the system’s versatility and adaptability to various fish farming scenarios, make it highly valuable to the aquaculture industry.
This study is part of the ThinkInAzul program and is funded by the European Union’s Next Generation EU (PRTR-C17.I1), the Generalitat Valenciana (THINKINAZUL/2021/002), and the Ministry of Science and Innovation through project FJC2021-047073-I.
More ingormation at: Parra, L.; Sendra, S.; Garcia, L.; Lloret, J. Smart Low-Cost Control System for Fish Farm Facilities. Appl. Sci. 2024, 14, 6244. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14146244
Source: Belén Tárraga Davia
