Final Report Summary - AQUAFARMCONTROL (Capsule-based system to enable Precision Livestock Farming and eliminate escapees in marine aquaculture)
Executive Summary:
The Aquafarmcontrol project has achieved all the target scientific and technological objectives established at the beginning of the project. As main results, the consortium has developed a full prototype capsule and sonar system, entitled the AFC Sentinel which was successfully tested at the fish farm facility in Scotland in July 2015.
The aim of the project was to build a system, based on advancements in active-capsule and sonar technology. The developed solution is centered on an active multi-purpose capsule device remotely controlled by sonar equipment installed in the fish pens. The sonar is integrated with the Control Unit, transmitting and receiving data from the capsules allowing the full control of the AFC Sentinel system by the farm operator.
Project Context and Objectives:
The AQUAFARMCONTROL project was envisioned to develop an innovative integrated solution to enable Precision Livestock Farming in aquaculture and eliminate fish escapees in case of breach. Through the development and launch of a new tool for fish biomass management, new skills and technology was developed that the consortium believe will push forward Europe’s competitive edge within the sector and benefit the involved SMEs commercially.
The aim of the project was to build a system, based on advancements in active-capsule and sonar technology, to further optimize the efficiency of marine fish farmers by adopting Precision Livestock Farming practices and eliminating the fish escape problem. The developed solution is centered on an active multi-purpose capsule device remotely controlled by sonar equipment installed in the fish pens. The sonar is integrated with the Control Unit, transmitting and receiving data from the capsules allowing the full control of the AQUAFARMCONTROL system by the farm operator.
Multi-purpose capsule and immobilization mechanism
The main component of the AQUAFARMCONTROL solution is the capsule device that will be injected into the fish belly at initial vaccination, using an identical device as for vaccination with no need of extra operational stages or process steps. The capsule is commanded by sonar signal. The sonar/capsule communication was envisioned to be designed based on a passive surveillance configuration – capsules will not be triggered in case of equipment failure. Significant technological breakthroughs in the project, allowed for bi-directional communication, so that the capsule not only receive signals from the sonar transmitter, but is also capable of sending data packets to the sonar receiver for collection of biometric and identification markers. The immobilization functionality originally envisioned as part of Aquafarmcontrol project, was not incorporated into the final prototype system, but tested as a stand-alone proof of concept. The decision to omit the immobilization functionality was made due to significant regulatory and biomass welfare barriers for commercial exploitation.
The activate/deactivate functionality originally envisioned for the capsules capsules during fish growth by using sonar patterns still remains as a functionality and can be used to customize the collection of biometric data in specific time intervals. This operation can easily be performed through the user-friendly interface of the control unit, if necessary. The capsule will be easily recovered during fish gutting by a magnetic collector.
The capsule was envisioned to comprise of the immobilization system to be triggered when the fish escapes from the fish farm perimeter, effectively inhibiting any long term effects of escaped fish from marine aquaculture. The final immobilization system functionality was tested as a pyro-technical single-component pressed solid with integral detonator wire. The reaction results in the formation of a gas bubble that will be released quickly under pressure to effectively kill the fish without any unnecessary suffering. This solution worked very well and was done as a stand-alone “proof of concept” for the immobilization functionality but not included in the final prototype system.
The unique ID assigned to each capsule will enable precision livestock farming, i.e. allow fish farmers to scan and track each individual fish at any stage of the fish growth to assess for relevant information such as DNA, origin, location, and date of release – The tag capability will allow the farm operator to collect real time data from the fish, such as ID, temperature and timestamp to have detailed inventory and livestock data, and will in the future also include input data on size and activity distribution of the population, both of which are crucial to improve assessment of fish feed dosages.
Sonar technology for biomass monitoring and Wireless warning system
The Sonar/Control Unit system will monitor in real-time the fish biomass inside the fish pens which will allow the accurate dosage of fish feeds, improving the efficiency and overall cost efficiency of operations. It also comprises the preparation for a fully automated alert system utilizing the latest Wireless technology, effectively eliminating the need for human intervention, beyond correcting the problems at the farm once indicated by the alert system.
The instant Wireless warnings will allow the farm operator to act quickly and correct the cause of the fish escape avoiding larger losses of farmed fish biomass. By enabling consistent monitoring in marine fish farms, AQUAFARMCONTROL will generate clear benefits. By triggering the multi-purpose capsule device provide early warnings enabling the quick response, the farmer operator will be able to avoid large biomass losses. Moreover, the system will enable other direct economic benefits for marine fish farmers in the form of mitigation of overfeeding related costs, by enabling accurate fish counting in pens. Apart from the direct economic impact, marine fish farms will reach higher environmental sustainability standards giving a boost to the certification of marine farms and thereby promoting a potential access to new licenses and sustainable expansion of the industry.
The overall objective of the AQUAFARMCONTROL 606061 project was to develop an innovative system for fish control in aquaculture.
The solution was envisioned and has been realized as centered on an innovative capsule controlled by sonar, with a transmitter mounted at a certain distance to the fish pens, and in turn connected to a control unit with wireless alert feature. The development of a fully marketable solution for marine aquaculture fish management and elimination of farmed fish escapees was expected to furnish the consortium with a unique, competitive and marketable system – and provide significant benefits for fish farm end-users and allow the continued growth of the sector, while reducing the negative environmental impact of the industry. As stated in the RP2 report, the final prototype system differs in one regard to the envisioned final system in that the immobilization feature was omitted from the capsule prototype system. Although the immobilization functionality was developed and trails were conducted to gain a proof of concept, the future commercialization of such functionality was deemed too difficult due to regulatory and biomass welfare barriers.
However, ground-breaking innovation in the communication capacity of the capsule itself (bi-directional) alleviated concerns about the commercial viability of the final product without the immobilization functionality. A new business model was developed and submitted as deliverable D6.3 which is much more robust and financially viable for the SMEs.
The original overall objective was broken down to specific verifiable technological and scientific objectives that need to be met in order to overcome the technological barriers:
1. Development of capsule electronics and trigger mechanism: The main challenge of this project is the development of the electronic component device that will ensure the sonar signal reception and will act in case of activation promoting the mixture of two reactants.
• To develop a low power, compact sonar receiver, with a sensitivity appropriate for reliable sonar reception at a depth of at least 30m and a total distance of at least 100m
• Selection of a suitable sonar hydrophone technology that provides good sensitivity whilst being very compact.
• To develop low power, compact activation electronics and a functional trigger device that removes the barrier between two reactants
• Selection of a suitable compact battery technology and type with the capacity to provide the capsule with a life time of 30 months and with the capacity to activate the fish immobilization trigger device at any time during that period.
• Development of a power management solution to minimize power consumption
• Innovative and highly compact integration of the sonar receiver, activation electronics, functional detonator device and battery into the capsule with reactants
• Selection or development of reliable reactant packaging and integral detonator functionality (WP3).
2. Development of capsule polymer and reactants accommodation: The other capsule component is the two polymer elements that will accommodate the reactants in separate chamber and the exterior of the capsule.
• Selection of appropriate chemical reactant combination capable of building up sufficient gas volume and percussive power to terminate the fish.
• Selection of the polymer material(s) for reactants chamber with the sufficient pressure breaking point.
• Selection of capsule construction and construction material(s) fulfilling the needs for size, durability, functionality and bio compatibility as defined in WP2.
3. Sonar/Wireless system integration: The communication between the capsule device, the sonar transmitter and the control unit software (integrating the Wireless surveillance system) will be specified together with fish farm personnel, and the outcome of the early design process will drive the technical requirements report for the global system communication infrastructure as well as for integration with the fish farm facilities.
• Development of a reliable acoustic detection of and signal transmission to the capsules implanted in the densely packed fish population occupying a large volume of water.
• Development of the sonar communication system to be fail-safe for capsule activation and deactivation.
• Specification report of a system module for sending SMS alerts to operators using the Wireless standards. The module will consist of software and an external Wireless module connected to the system via conventional protocols.
4. Technology application in a fish farm and fish handling: The communication between the capsule device, the sonar transmitter and the control unit software (integrating the Wireless surveillance system) will be designed in dialogue with fish farm personnel.
• Specifications report on development of an automated method to introduce the capsule inside the fish with quick suture and minimized effect on fish welfare and performance (WP 6).
• Implementation of the whole tagging procedure (from tagging to harvest/activation) under farm conditions, including all technical components and handling procedures, meeting the requirements of the previously determined validation protocol for ethics and animal welfare (Test of final product)
Scientific objectives
Scientific Objectives:
The scientific objectives of the AQUAFARMCONTROL project were:
• Investigation of predicted lifetimes of polymers, in the chemical and physical environment the materials will experience inside and outside of the capsule, inside the fish. Based on permeability data, capsule geometries and realistic conditions the permeation of reactants, humidity and other relevant permeants will be calculated to verify the sufficient lifetime of the capsule functionalities. Results will be verified by real accelerated experiments.
• Investigation of system link budget calculations for the sonar communication, with respect to transmit and receive power, sonar hydrophone technology performance and communication reliability to establish best technology combination and probabilities for the fail-safe system.
• Increase understanding of sonar hydrophone technology, power management and battery technology, and designed sonar receiver prototype (using a standard low power electronics design solution) in a real underwater scenario.
• Carry out reliability and power calculations for the functional trigger device to cause rapid gas expansion.
• Investigation of the activation electronics for the functional detonator device and the functional detonator device effect and connection to on the reactant chamber.
• Increase understanding of the capsule and detonator design and reliability, and the complete capsule integration in a real underwater scenario.
• Investigation of the effect of long exposing periods of the fish flesh to sonar signal.
• Development of protocol for validation of ethics and animal welfare related impairments of tagging procedures (from tagging to harvest/activation) under farm conditions (WP 2).
• Investigate the effect of physical properties of different fish tag types (capsule designs) and tagging procedures (manual and semi-automated) on fish welfare in different species of farmed fish under controlled conditions
• Evaluation of long term effects of sonar signal on growth performance and fish welfare in different species of farmed fish under controlled conditions
• Evaluation of the fish immobilization technique under considerations of fish welfare and humane killing protocols in different species of farmed fish under controlled conditions
Project Results:
Description of the main S & T results/foregrounds
The Aquafarmcontrol project has achieved all the target scientific and technological objectives established at the beginning of the project. As main results, the consortium has developed a full prototype capsule and sonar system, entitled the AFC Sentinel which was successfully tested at the fish farm facility in Scotland in July 2015.
The aim of the project was to build a system, based on advancements in active-capsule and sonar technology. The developed solution is centered on an active multi-purpose capsule device remotely controlled by sonar equipment installed in the fish pens. The sonar is integrated with the Control Unit, transmitting and receiving data from the capsules allowing the full control of the AFC Sentinel system by the farm operator.
The overall objective of the AQUAFARMCONTROL 606061 project was to develop an innovative system for fish control in aquaculture.
The solution was envisioned and has been realized as centered on an innovative capsule controlled by sonar, with a transmitter mounted at a certain distance to the fish pens, and in turn connected to a control unit with wireless alert feature. As stated in the RP2 report, the final prototype system differs in one regard to the envisioned final system in that the immobilization feature was omitted from the capsule prototype system. Although the immobilization functionality was developed and trails were conducted to gain a proof of concept, the future commercialization of such functionality was deemed too difficult due to regulatory and biomass welfare barriers.
However, ground-breaking innovation in the communication capacity of the capsule itself (bi-directional) alleviated concerns about the commercial viability of the final product without the immobilization functionality.
The following is a presentation of the main scientific and technological results as they were achieved in light of the stated objectives of the project.
The AquaFarmControl system has three main purposes: To track the fish count in order to detect fish escaping, to log individual fish temperatures, and to alert the operator any anomalies in the biomass as indicated in the user software. The AquaFarmControl system also performs self-diagnosis, and can provide the operator with the current system status, e.g. which systems that are working, and which systems that need repair or maintenance.
The main component of the system is the Fish Capsule, a capsule injected into the belly of fish kept in the pen. The capsule contains an ultrasonic transducer and capable of sending and receiving ultrasound. In order to count the present fish, the capsules transmits unique ID's that are received by the Pen System, and presented to the local operator. The Pen System also uploads the recorded data to the Cloud System, that lets remote operators monitor one or multiple pens.
The main component of the AQUAFARMCONTROL solution is the capsule device that will be injected into the fish belly at initial vaccination, using an identical device as for vaccination with no need of extra operational stages or process steps. The capsule is commanded by sonar signal. The sonar/capsule communication was envisioned to be designed based on a passive surveillance configuration – capsules will not be triggered in case of equipment failure. Significant technological breakthroughs in the project, allowed for bi-directional communication, so that the capsule not only receive signals from the sonar transmitter, but is also capable of sending data packets to the sonar receiver for collection of biometric and identification markers. The immobilization functionality originally envisioned as part of Aquafarmcontrol project, was not incorporated into the final prototype system, but tested as a stand-alone proof of concept. The decision to omit the immobilization functionality was made due to significant regulatory and biomass welfare barriers for commercial exploitation.
A highly innovative proof of concept and a prototype series of 45 fully functional capsule devices was manufactured and tested in the project period. A total of 35 of the functional capsule devices were delivered for insertion into fish at the final trials test site in Scotland. The remainder was used for general performance testing during the final trials.
The capsule device designed and manufactured is both compact, having a size of 5 mm in diameter and 18.5 mm in length, and low cost, having a BOM cost of approx. $5 per capsule at a production volume of 100K pieces. The electronics and software were thoroughly tested and were performing in accordance with design and meet the requirements for the capsule device. The pin battery supply measurements and power budget calculation appear to be consequent implying that the capsule device design should meet the requirements for an operational lifetime of 30 months.
The assembly and integration were satisfactory for a proof of concept prototype series but need to be improved for manufacturability, reliability and testability. The current assembly concept involves tricky manual steps and soldering. There is a risk for damaging the pin battery performance during soldering. Taking all aspects of preparation and assembly into account then the assembly time per capsule, after the PCB SMD assembly has been completed, is approx. 15 minutes per capsule, which is unsatisfactory from a manufacturing standpoint. The assembly and integration can be significantly improved by implementing automatic PCB separation, suitable mechanical interconnections (instead of manual solder joints), programming at the PCB panel level and self-test functionality.
Functional testing of the final assembled and programmed capsule devices was successful when testing the capsules underwater in a laboratory environment. The capsule devices change from suspend mode to active mode and vice-versa depending upon the pen to capsule communication.
When active the capsule devices transmit the ID number and temperature with a sufficient hydro acoustic signal amplitude and are correctly interpreted by the capsule to pen receiver with a reasonable statistical performance in the laboratory environment. Testing during the final trials showed that the capsule device could communicate properly when installed inside the fish belly, but further work is needed to improve signal reception range over longer periods.
The activate/deactivate functionality originally envisioned for the capsules during fish growth by using sonar patterns still remains as a functionality and can be used to customize the collection of biometric data in specific time intervals. This operation can easily be performed through the user-friendly interface of the control unit, if necessary. The capsule will be easily recovered during fish gutting by a magnetic collector.
Notes on exclusion of immobilization feature
The capsule was envisioned to comprise of the immobilization system to be triggered when the fish escapes from the fish farm perimeter, effectively inhibiting any long term effects of escaped fish from marine aquaculture. The final immobilization system functionality was tested as a pyro-technical single-component pressed solid with integral detonator wire. The reaction result in a formation of a gas bubble released quickly under pressure to effectively kill the fish without any unnecessary suffering.
Although thoroughly investigated within the project, the capsule device prototypes do not provide the fish immobilization functionality in the event of fish escaping from the fish farm pens. This is because the initial euthanasia methods, anticipated to be potential solutions at the outset of the project, were researched and found to be insufficient.
The final method of euthanasia, that was researched and evaluated to be a realistic potential solution for the humane euthanasia of fish, included the use of a rapid high energy reactant material that requires special licensing for manufacture, storage, transport and use. None of the project partners have the ability or permission to work with such materials. Furthermore, approval from animal welfare authorities to perform such tests was not given. Therefore the capsule device prototypes do not have the euthanasia functionality included, but trials were conducted as stand-alone “proof of concept” by the Swedish Defense Institute (FOI) under the auspices of RTD partner ACREO, but not included in the final prototype system.
Notes on polymer capsule shell identification trials, moulding and final welding
Numerous polymer raw materials were investigated for their suitability, both in terms of material injection moulding ability, surface joining, raw material cost and most importantly bio-compatibility. Initially, Norner conducted a literature study to identify suitable polymeric materials with adequate biocompatibility. As expected the majority of referenced materials are used in medical and implant applications.
It was realized that it would be most advantageous to consider what is called commodity polymers (Polyethylene and Polypropoylene) or engineering polymers (such as Polymethyl methacrylate, Polyethylene terephthalate, Polyamides and Thermoplastic polyurethanes). The reasoning behind these choices are their relative low cost and favorable processability.
The capsule shell and cap had to meet several requirement for implantation into the fish. The capsules needed to have a surface, shape and geometry that would not cause any irritation or inflammation in the fish. The final size of the capsule, however was not decided at the on-set of the project period. It was desirable to develop a capsule big enough to be able to utilize off-the-shelf, inexpensive electronic components, but at the same time, it needed to be small enough to not cause health or welfare problems for the fish. Therefore a trial was commissioned to test 6 diffent sizes of compact dummy capsules shaped like cylinder with hemispheres in each end. As discussed in the fish welfare section below, an initial trial was conducted with 3D printed capsules, but they all had inferior surface smoothness causing irritation and high mortality among the sample population.
In order to have a dummy capsule with the surface similar to the finished product, it was decided to run an injection moulding trial with capsules in in poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) by injection moulding.
Since the capsule is embedded in the fish abdominal cavity, in a harsh environment, it was essential to ensure that the polymeric materials have good barrier properties against water transmission to protect the electronics and battery. A range of materials were tested for the water barrier properties (polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) have been selected to evaluate for biocompatibility in fish).
As with the initial material selection RTD partner Norner conducted a literature study to understand water and vapor permeability properties of polymers. Subsequent trials were conducted and the results showed that PE, PP, PET and PVDF were the most suited and PE, PP and PET were preferred for their low cost. The final material chosen for the capsule was High Denisty Polyethylene (HDPE).
The capsule body construction material is pure HDPE whereas the cap construction material is HDPE compounded with carbon black pigment. The capsule body and caps were produced by injection moulding at SME partner Celoplas.
For the manufacture of the concepts a small injection moulding tool was designed and manufactured for the conceived injection mould tool concept for both the capsule pieces (Body and Cap). Laser welding of plastics is an innovative welding technique based on the STTIr™ (Simultaneous through Transmission Infrared) principle where laser energy is passed through one plastic component (transmissive part) and absorbed by the second component (the absorptive part). This absorption results in heating and melting of the interface, and with the application of a controlled clamp force, the parts are joined. Laser welding trials were carried-out at Branson facilities in Nove Mesto nad Vahom,
The injection moulding of the capsule body and cap was successful. The HDPE material chosen appears to have the correct characteristics for biocompatibility and mechanical properties. The laser welding to seal the capsule has provided good results with capsules comfortably surviving long term tests at a pressure of 10 bar. Water diffusion through the capsule wall does not appear to be a problem.
Tagging the fish – trials conducted as part of Aquafarmcontrol
RTD partner GMA (Gesellschaft für Marine Aquakultur) conducted several experiments to determine the maxium usable tag size in Atlantic Salmon for the Aquafarmcontrol project. All trials conducted at GMA and the final trial facility in Scotland, UK had secured appropriate approvals from animal welfare authorities in Germany and United Kingdom prior to start-up of trials.
GMA conducted an initial trial with dummy capsules produced by means of 3D printing in period 1 of the project. The objective of the experiments was to determine the maximum usable tag size in the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) reared in a small scale recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Within the first trial (77 days), 12 different experimental tag sizes and 3 control treatments were evaluated. Here, the juvenile Atlantic salmon had an initial weight of 76.4 ± 10.2 g.
In the second trial (53 days) the 6 biggest tag sizes of the first trial were evaluated under slightly different conditions with smolts (initial weight of 85.5 ± 18.8 g). The experimental fish were fed several times a day to apparent satiation.
The first trial showed that additionally to high mortality rates conditional on handling at the first day of the experiment there is a clear break in the survival rate of fish with the tag size 8 (6 x 30 mm). To determine the best position for tag application without the need to suture the wound, a pre-test with a small number of fish was performed. For that, 3 different positions were chosen. Position A on the left side behind the pectoral fin, the well-established ventral cutting position in front of the pelvic fin (B) showed a breakthrough of the intestine through the wound and a high risk of tag loss. The caudal position (C) in front of the anal fin showed also disadvantages.
On the one hand the tissue is thicker than in position A and B and makes it harder to insert the tag. On the other hand the danger to cut the intestine in this region is much higher. Position A on the left side behind the pectoral fin showed the best requirements for a good tag application and tag retention without the need to suture the wound. After the tag application, the liver presses against the tissue and closes the wound so that no intestines can perforate. Additionally, the pectoral fin itself protects the wound from biting by other fish, which could be observed on the other positions.
Because of the results of the pretest, position A was chosen for the incision in the first trial.
At the beginning, the Atlantic salmon smolts were anesthetized, weighed and classified to a treatment. Then the elastomer tags were injected and the tag was inserted through a cut at position A. As a last step, the wound was treated with a disinfecting powder/ointment. Afterwards, the smolts were sorted into the three RAS.
In the second trial the aim was to determine whether the cutting position A causes a higher mortality, tag loss, etc. compared to cutting position B including suturation of the wound. The tags were inserted at the position B and the wound was suturated afterwards.
In contrast to the first trial the highest mortality in the second trial occured within the first two weeks (n=46) of the experiment, where 88% cases of death occured. After 15 days the mortality rate reached a plateau and stays almost constant to the end of the experiment (n=52).
In contrary to the first trial, the first loss of tags could be observed at the 7th day of the trail. Another difference to the first trial is that the loss of tags was never extremely high at a particular time but continuous and low.
Like in the first trial, mortalities at the first day of the second trail could be observed throughout all treatment groups. In contrast to the first trial, nearly 50 % of the smolts survived the experiment without a tag loss and only 14 % of the fish lost their tags. The mortality of 38 % was nearly the same as in the first trial. Concerning the mortality and tag loss, there was no significant difference between the three different tanks.
High mortality rates could be observed throughout the whole experiment. In the first trial 8.6 % and in the second trial 17.7 % of the smolts died within the first day. Because even treatment were smolts got an incision without tag insertion showed the same mortality as the other treatments, the loss at day one could be explained by handling procedure and stress. Therefore, the tag application and handling should be reconsidered in further experiments. The lower mortality at day one in the first trial could be a result of the higher range of tag sizes.
Loss resulting from tag size could be observed at the tag sizes 8 to 12. At the end the total mortality adds up to 32 % in the first trial and 37% in the second trial. These high percentages are clearly a result of the used tag sizes 8 to 12 where up to 100 % of the initial stocking died.
Five days after surgery 33.3 % of fish treated by the novice died whereas only 6.6 % of fish treated by the experienced surgeon died. This tendency is also clearly seen in the 2nd trial of the experiment (Figure 31) where the surgeons had more practice and the post-tagging mortalities are not equally distributed cross the treatments. Here the mortalities at day one after surgery are higher in treatments 8 to 12, which should be the influence of the tag size and not the handling procedure. Nevertheless the tag application and handling should be generally reconsidered in future experiments.
The major part of smolts died within the first five days of the experiment. This should be the direct and successive consequences of the handling and surgery. One week after the start of the experiment most deaths occurred in treatments 8 to 12 in both, the 1st and 2nd trial. During further course of the experiment major component of deaths occur again in treatments 8 to 12. At the end the total mortality adds up to 32 % in the first trial and 37% in the second trial. These high percentages are clearly a result of the used tag sizes 8 to 12 where up to 100 % of the initial stocking died.
Another big problem that could be observed during the experiments was the high amount of lost tags in the tanks. Some tags may have been lost through the incision, but this only happened, when the wound was inflamed. Because all dead smolts were examined it was noticeable, that the smolts with a big inflammation were without a tag or close to lose the tag.
Due to the control weighting during the trials it was possible to monitor the wound healing. The healing process went well. Therefore the loss of tags through the wound is unlikely, except for the loss through the inflamed tissue. Nevertheless, the amount of lost tags was immense.
An explanation for this was found at the control weighting. Many tags perforate the skin of the smolts and migrate through the tissue out of the smolts. However, many smolts showed already healed perforation wounds which is evidence that a perforation is not lethal.
To test whether the tag material had an influence on retention, treatment 13, a glass PIT tag with nearly the same size as that from treatment 1, was used as a material-control group. Due to the fact that the retention of the glass PIT tag was very good and the retention of the tag used in treatment 1 was very bad it stands to reason that the material could be the cause for the bad retention. Another reason could be the surface of the tag. In contrast to the PIT tags, the experimental tags had a slightly rough surface, which could support the perforation of tissue.
The expulsion itself is a common and widespread problem in widely separated teleost taxa (Perciformes, Salmoniformes and Siluriformes), whereas expulsion of implanted transmitters or other implants in mammals appear to be extremely rare. In this study the expulsion of tag occurred mainly through the intact body walls. A possible explanation why expulsions occur is the fact that fish maintain neutral or near neutral buoyancy in water and therefore little support for their viscera is required. In contrast the abdominal region of terrestrial vertebrates has to deal with gravitation and consequently develops stronger viscera.
The trials at GMA indicated that the best position of tag application is the ventral position B. Even though the mortalities were nearly the same in the first and second trial the tag retention is better in the second trial, where the cutting position B was used. A disadvantage of this position is, as already mentioned, that the wound has to be suturated, which increases the handling time.
Due to the results of the first and second trial the recommended tag size would be the tag size 7 (6 x 20 mm). As the results of the first trial show the maximum volume with the low mortality rate of 5% is the tag size 7 with a volume of 565 mm³. The next bigger tag size 8 (6 x 30 mm) with a volume of 848 mm³ had a mortality rate of 65%. The results of the second trial display comparable results. Because of the big step from 565 mm³ to 848 mm³ of the tag sizes 7 and 8 the maximal usable tag size could lay between them.
Based on the outcomes of the above mentioned trials on the effect of capsule size, a trial was conducted with Rainbow trout to evaluate the effect of the polymer PMMA on fish welfare (capsules injection moulded by RTD Partner Norner).
The trial lasted for 12 weeks. Fish (200 pieces) were group weighed every 4 weeks. All routine operations (start of experiment, feeding, water quality, etc.) were comparable to the trials described in the previous section.
Compared to the previous trial the number of tag expulsions was quite low and most of the tag losses were observed in fish implanted the tag material used in the previous trial one and two. Only two fish lost the tag made of the new material (PMMA). Compared to earlier results also a higher tag volume had no significant influences on the mortality of the fish. Growth was assessed after 6 and 12 weeks. No significant difference in body size was observed between the treatment groups.
Due to the results of this trial and the previous two trials (effect of tag size) the recommended tag size would be the tag size between 7 and 8 of the first two trials, e.g. PMAA 16 in the third trial (6 x 25 mm). As the results of the first trial show the maximum volume with the low mortality rate of 5% is the tag size 7 with a volume of 565 mm³. The next bigger tag size 8 (6 x 30 mm) with a volume of 848 mm³ had a mortality rate of 65%. The results of the second trial showed comparable results. However results of the third trial indicate that the tag size has no significant influence on the mortality and that the use of even bigger tag sizes resulted in lower mortalities. We also observed a non-significant level of mortality of the tagged fish when compared the fish of the non-tagged sham group. These results indicate that most of the fish died because of the handling procedure and stress and further work was needed to improve the handling procedures for final trials.
As the consortium made the strategic decision to omit the immobilization functionality, there was no need for a reactant chamber in the capsule. This decision also altered the final size of the capsule so that the final prototype capsule had a size of 5mmx18,5mm, below the recommended size.
Final trials
As part of the final verification of the system, final trials of the complete prototype were conducted at a sea farm in western Scotland in July 2015. The consortium had access to this site throughout the project period, and several trials were conducted there as part of the ramp up to the final trials.
In order to implement the Aquafarmcontrol capsule system (AFC Sentinel) it was necessary to provide training to on-site staff. The training schedule and content was based on the results generated from the controlled trials at GMA with the aim to minimize mortality and ensure proper handling of the fish during incision and suturing. The novelty of the technology and its invasiveness, required that that RTD partner Viking Fish Farm obtained the appropriate licenses from the UK Home Office. Not only technical training was required, but also training in animal welfare regulations was needed to ensure correct procedures during the trials. As the system is still in the prototype stage, with further miniaturization expected in the follow-on period after Aquafarmcontrol, there was no standardized training manual developed and there was still a need to solve some issues related to the incision and suturing practices before any formalized training can be conducted.
After an extensive period of training, the Home Office issued a license for the final trials. The farm trials were conducted at Ardnish Salmon Farm, Lochailort, Inverness-shire, 50 km west of Fort William. The farm is a technical site involved in carrying out trials for fish feed companies and accustomed to working with trial protocols.
The trial work was taking place on the site with 10 cages of 16 metre square and around 8 metres deep. Each pen had 6000 fish of 2.5 kg mean weight. The fish were stocked in October 2014. Part of the Home Office approval required not only training of staff in surgical implantation of the tag but also construction of a surgical unit to enable the work to be carried out on site at the salmon farm. A cabin of 3 m by 2.8 m was hired and fitted as a surgical unit.
As part of the licence staff received training in fish anaesthesia and also in surgical techniques to implant the tags. This training was undertaken in the laboratory by a Veterinary Surgeon with wide experience of small animal and fish surgery. The Veterinarian provided training materials, aids, and instructions. She demonstrated the technique several times and several staff practised the techniques until they achieved the standard assessed as proficient by the Veterinarian.
A total of 35 fish were equipped with the capsule and the system was activated. Due to time constraints, it was not possible to run the trial over longer period of time. The follow-on period post-Aquafarmcontrol will include long-term trials of the capsule system to ensure that it has sufficient robustness and to iron out any bugs inherent in the development of a prototype.
No mortalities in the cohort were experienced in the trials. After the trails were concluded the tags were removed and the fish harvested. A Post-trial evaluation of the workshop is planned to investigate which areas can be handled by on-site staff and which must be handled by specialized staff when the follow-on project starts post-Aquafarmcontrol in the winter of 2016.
Conclusions
The Aquafarmcontrol project achieved all the target scientific and technological objectives established at the beginning of the project. As main results, the consortium developed a full prototype capsule and sonar system, entitled the AFC Sentinel. This system has garnered significant interest from the aquaculture industry and the authorities. Although the originally envisioned immobilization functionality had to be omitted from the final prototype, there was significant technological breakthrough in the project specifically related to the bi-directional communication capacity of the capsule enabling the collection of data from the fish.
The SMEs in the Aquafarmcontrol consortium are very satisfied with the performance of the RTD partners and the results achieved in the project. The Coordinating SME, Seafood Security took, as part of its dissemination activities, and active role in informing the fishery authorities about the progress of the project. Furthermore, Seafood Security was issued with a full production license for Salmon to continue the development of the AFC Sentinel capsule platform and supporting software.
This is a major achievement for the consortium and an acknowledgement of the importance of the novel technology developed under the Aquafarmcontrol project. The ground breaking technology platform will now undergo further development and large scale trials with added functionalities on a commercial production license. The SMEs will continue their collaboration in a joint venture to fully exploit the commercial opportunities that the Aquafarmcontrol project resulted in.
Potential Impact:
The objective of the AQUAFARMCONTROL project was to strengthen the competitiveness of the SME consortium by developing and launching a new capsule solution to manage fish biomass in aquaculture – targeting the marine fish farms which are prone to high risk of fish escape - and where the potential benefits of IT enabled, precision livestock farming is substantial.
Marine farming or aquaculture is the fastest growing animal based food production sector, not only outpacing other food production but also population growth itself. Tremendous improvements in breeding technology, production and feed design has enabled a rapid expansion across the entire span of aquaculture production both in species and volume. In 2011, China alone produced 62% of global aquaculture production, while Asia as a whole accounted for 88%. The World Bank developed a scenario analysis in their report Fish to 2030 (2013) projecting that aquaculture will continue to fill the supply-demand gap, and that by 2030, 62% of fish for human consumption will come from this industry. Aquaculture provides close to half (47%) of all fish supplies destined for direct human food consumption, yet fish was estimated to account for only 6.4% of the global protein consumption and about 19% of total animal protein supply .
European Aquaculture is a very varied industry, where farming of aquatic animals is composed of three major sub-sectors: marine shellfish farming, freshwater finfish farming and marine finfish farming. Commercial seabased farming of Salmonoids (salmon and anadromous trout variants) represents the fastest growing segment in aquaculture in the northern hemisphere, with the biggest production countries being, Norway, Chile, UK, and Canada . The cage aquaculture sector has grown significantly over the past 20 years and is undergoing rapid changes in response to pressures from globalization and growing demand for aquatic products in both developing and developed countries.
Total reported cage aquaculture production, amounted to 2 412 167 tonnes in 2005 with Norway leading the cage culture production with 652 306 tonnes. The main species in Northern Europe are the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) mostly produced in Norway, Scotland, Ireland and the Faroe Islands. All relevant aquaculture production using cage technology in northern Europe is carried out in marine waters. The growing production means that the Marine Aquaculture is gradually emerging as a mature food industry - But at the same time, growth is hampered by the need to increase output while at the same time meeting environmental legislation.
Supply of Atlantic salmon has increased by 428% since 1994 (annual growth of 9%). The annual growth flattened out in recent years and the annual growth has been around 6% in the period 2004-2014. Continued growth is expected to flatten further and has projected a 3% annual growth from 2013 to 2020. There are many reasons for this flattening trend, but the are primarily rooted in the fact that production sites have reached a production level where they operate near the biological boundaries . Further growth must be within the scope of environmental sustainability, where they industry as a whole seeks to reduce its biological footprint. More technology, better pharmaceuticals and continued improvement to regulations and cross-sector collaboration is needed. It is within this framework that Aquafarmcontrol Precision Livestock Farming presents a technological breakthrough for improved biomass handling in sea-based caged aquaculture.
Although marine cage aquaculture represents a an industry with tremendous growth and future potential, it is also marred with significant biological and technological problems, where three main problems dominate; 1) spread of diseases such as pancreatic disease and ILA, 2) sea lice infestations and 3) Net breach with subsequent catastrophic losses of biomass. The technology developed under R4-SME project 606061 Aquafarmcontrol (hereafter AFC Sentinel) aims to reduce the impact of escapees in the natural environment and provide a platform for collection of biometric data to improve fish welfare and operational efficiency.
Real-time surveillance of fish pens will not only enable a platform for biomass management, it will also allow for immediate detection of breaches and the subsequent correction of the anomaly minimizing the number of fish lost in net breaches. The optimization eliminate the impact of the fish escape from marine fish farms in wild populations, allow the accurate online determination of the biomass in fish pens, tracking the fish cultures and a finally, will allow a quick response by the farm operator when a net pen structure is breached. For fish farmers, escapees represent a loss of valuable assets – to society, escaped fish represent a disease hazard; invasive to valuable marine habitat and wild fish stock; and have the potential to spawn with wild fish, leading to dilution of genetic integrity.
Additionally, as the marine fish farming industry grows the need for optimized dosages to feed fish in marine pens increases. To accurately estimate the number of fish in pens and distribution of the population are necessary is important to improve operational efficiency. The accurate characterization of the fish population is determinant for key cost drivers in the industry, and required for optimization of main resource inputs such as feed and medicine.
Currently, marine aquaculture is encountering environmental concerns with negative consequences on the global industry performance. The marine aquaculture industry continue to be under high pressure to solve important barriers related to environmental sustainability and sea life in order to expand the industry with new farming licenses.
Historically, main markets for production of salmon and trout have been Norway, Chile, North America and Scotland. Traditionally each producing company has focused on its nearby markets as Salmon is primarily marketed as a fresh product. The chart below shows the 5 top producers in the different markets representing potential customers for the AFC Sentinel technology with the largest operations. Marine Harvest with its production around 400 000 tons annually, is the world’s largest producer of salmon. The largest producers are also multinational producers and are represented in all global markets.
Market growth for salmon is strong. Although the trend for the next decade is slowing somewhat, salmon still represents the fastest growing of farmed seafood. With global CAGR of 9% it is still an industry subject to tremendous growth. Norway and Chile continue to be the main production countries and Norway is expected to 5-fold its production by 2050 .
Main barriers to future global growth is depleting natural resources (fatty acids, marine proteins for feed), concerns regarding environmental impact of sea-based aquaculture and local coastal impact (reduction in available coastal areas with suitable climate for commercial exploitation) along with stricter requirements for better environmental stewardship. The profitability in the salmon market is relatively good with EBITDA margins upwards of 50% for the most cost-efficient producers. However, salmon pricing is volatile and the current political climate is putting pressure on the futures pricing of salmon and trout for export to Russia and Ukraine. This does primarily affect European Salmon producers, but they are taking precautionary actions by holding stocks (frozen) in an effort to keep prices up. Aside from a major dip in the prices in 2012 to early 2013, salmon prices are in a rising trend. The challenge however, is that production costs are also increasing, due to consistent troubles with sea lice and disease (especially in Norway and Chile) and stricter regulations on environmental stewardship along with rising feed costs as where access to raw materials such as marine based fatty acids and proteins represents a significant scarcity.
Typically all costs related to production of salmon and trout is calculated as a factor of kg/biomass produced. Initially, at the onset of the Aquafarmcontrol project, the consortium had a goal of reaching a cost per kg produced salmon of 1NOK/Kg (0,11€/kg). This figure was derived from a comparative biomass management cost of de-licing the salmon, which was considered an acceptable cost target for wide scale implementation. As the business model now has changed, this is no longer a target cost for the operator the implementation of the AFC system will only represents a marginal cost per kg produced salmon (basic subscription model). The financial plan section will provide further explanation.
Aquaculture in the Northern Hemisphere is more and more technology driven. Due to stricter environmental regulations and often higher costs associated with production, such as labor costs, there is increasing acceptance for advanced technological solutions that previously would be considered too difficult or sensitive to implement in the often harsh environment the pens are located in. Good examples of the move towards more technologically driven solutions is Tel-Cage, a remote fish farm surveillance system that allows the owner to be alerted in case any intruders in the area .
One of the pioneer companies in biomass size estimation and counting, the Iceland company VAKI is offering technology that will measure the fish and calculate total biomass in the pens. By coupling their input data collected pen-side, into advanced statistical models, they can tell the fish farmers with increased accuracy about the number of fish and the size distribution. Their system, widely implemented, is considered satisfactory, but only offers a glimpse into the fish population by random data collections on very few individuals and no real time data is collected from the fish itself, only video observations of the fish in the pen.
At the same time, the Aquaculture supply industry believes that in the next decades the industry will go high-tech to meet ever stricter regulations and increased customer awareness of the environmental impact of traditional aquaculture operations. To achieve satisfactory market penetration at an acceptable rate, we believe it is essential to make this a low-cost, low-barrier technology. A salmon producer will always have a need to have information about its biomass. Current practices are by and large based on qualified assessments by staff and veterinarians using empirical data from previous years, along with visual observations and sample collections, but we believe our complete AFC sentinel system will provide the operator with the breadth and depth of data required for future growth.
The need for innovative research and the unmet demand in the marine aquaculture industry, thus, represent a clear opportunity for development and market breakthrough of AQUAFARMCONTROL. The system is expected to significantly reduce the negative effects of the escaped fish, avoiding their migration to the wild, reducing the loss of fish biomass in accidents, minimizing the reaction time through online surveillance of fish pens and quick alert systems, and improving fish feeding operations by accurate counting of fish.
The prototype AFC Sentinel System developed under AQUAFARMCONTROL
The AFC sentinel system will be delivered as a complete “package” where the fish farm operator can chose between a number of different access levels to the information that is gathered from the capsule and the surrounding environment. Sensors inside and outside the nets will collect running data on environmental conditions, such as salinity, turbidity and oxygen levels at various heights in the water column. This type of information is very important for a fish farmer as high level of planktons and algae blooms affect the local water conditions by depleting oxygen and creating photo inhibition in the upper level of the water column, the area where the fish is typically fed.
Additionally, by monitoring weather patterns, such as wind and wave height the system will improve predictability of adverse events, such as a storm, which increases the likelihood of damage to pen structures which may cause net breaches with subsequent losses of biomass.
The pen-mounted system is a so called “stand-alone” system that can be connected to an external network for data transmission. On a production site with several pens, the units can be connected together, either physically or wirelessly, to form a network of units. The system consists of a data collection and processing unit, data storage and exchange as well as pen hardware such as sonar/transponder and connecting module for hydro acoustic signaling. The sonar system will consist of transducers, amplifiers/receivers, signal generators and signal processing. Finally, software will be used for processing and analyses of raw data .
The main component of the system is the Fish Capsule, a capsule injected into the belly of fish kept in the pen. The capsule contains an ultrasonic transducer, capable of sending and receiving ultrasound. In order to count the present fish, the capsules transmits unique ID's that are received by the Pen System, and presented to the local operator. The Pen System also uploads the recorded data to the Cloud System, that lets remote operators monitor one or multiple pens.
The backbone of the AFC technology developed under AQUAFARMCONTROL is the injectable capsule. The capsule uses a bi-directional acoustic ultrasound link to communicate data with the control center. The AFC capsule v1.0 developed under AQUAFARMCONTROL measures 5mmx18mm and is the smallest capsule on the market within its price range and functionality, suitable for mass implementation in farms for real time biomass surveillance, as well as data collection tool for scheduled research trials. It’s welfare, with functionalities to be included such as sensors as pressure change, heart rate frequency and kinetic movement. This data, transmitted acoustically to a pen mounted receiver, then wirelessly to the cloud interface system, will provide technical manager and veterinary staff alike with invaluable real time information accessible from anywhere about the health and status of their biomass.
The capsule to pen communication module is part of the biomass estimation system, in which the capsule is responsible for sending the fish ID to the pen control system. Fish ID reporting is a way for the fish capsule to let the pen side software know that it is present in the pen. This function is a part of both the breach control system, and the biomass estimation system.
Industry impact of technology developed under AQUAFARMCONTROL
Remove barriers to implementation
One of the main challenges to implementation of technologically advanced solutions in the aquaculture industry is the perceived risks of failure and required maintenance. Sea based farming operations are typically located in remote areas in tough climates which reduces the industries willingness to adapt technologies that are perceived as being sensitive, high-tech and requiring specialized training and maintenance. By offering a low cost, tiered access platform where we inject the capsules, install pen equipment and guarantee functionality, we believe we will remove one of the main obstacles for large scale implementation. The fish farmer only pays a monthly subscription fee for real time access to biometrics collected from the fish as well as online breach alert including estimations of number of fish escaped.
Tailored access & analyses
Initially, we will offer two types of subscription service on annual basis. The farm specific subscriptions will be priced as one-per-pen and will include everything, including installation, testing, access to data and running analyses. The simplified business model includes a basic and a premium model for site specific data as well as a basic and premium model for industry/financial/government sectors that include aggregate data and analyses from all sites. All capsules will collect the same data, only access to it will be differentiated based on the subscription level.
Operators.
The farm specific model will consist of two subscription models, basic and premium. The basic model will give the farmer access to information about the fish such as rudimentary biometrics in raw data form including temperature with ID reports and time stamps and breach alert. The AFC Sentinel v1.0 will only include this functionality
The premium model will give the farmer access to information about the fish with running analyses of all collected data, including external, such as ambient temp, salinity, turbidity, O2 concentrations and internal, such as temp, muscle movement, xyz position of fish in water column, along with breach alert, which combines into a complete biomass welfare index model giving the fish farmer a running analyses on pen specific performance, biomass health and welfare and early detection of immediate threats such as disease and breach.
This type of tiered access allows the farmer to choose the level of information they need and they can upgrade at any time from basic to premium as the capsule collects all data and stores it on the server regardless of subscription level.
Overall socio-economic impact
Industry/Regulatory Authorities
The industry subscription model will give access to aggregate production data on regional/national level for the aquaculture industry and related services, such as the financial industry represents a new type of professional market data. The availability of regional and national benchmarking data, such as bi-monthly production volumes, growth projections, etc will provide insight into the overall aquaculture industry’s performance and growth.
This information in turn can be coupled with regularly published information from government agencies and stock listed companies on expected volumes, yield and sales to assist in correctly assessing available biomass stocks. Moreover data collected from all sites will provide the user with regional and national benchmarking scores with data sourced in the biomass welfare index model for a accurate count of industry performance with regional differences. This type of data will not only aid the accurate determination of asset valuation of stock listed companies, but also help forecast regional and national production yields given the varying climatic conditions and aid regulatory industries in their planning of opening of new production sites.
Job Creation: The main European employment effect of the AQUAFARMCONTROL project will be to ensure the competitiveness of marine aquaculture industry and safe-guarding 30 846 full time jobs in the industry. Furthermore, the AQUAFARMCONTROL project is expected to generate new jobs across Europe for SMEs providing the new solutions to the fish farmers.
Environmental impact
While difficult to quantify due to the many external costs of pollution elements, the proposed innovations will have a significant environmental impact, since these will solve the environmental problems related with fish escape such:
• Significantly reduce the potential genetic contamination of wild populations with farmed fish;
• Significantly reduce the spread of diseases from fish farms; especially lice that is currently a big concern of regulatory bodies;
• Reduce the nutrients contamination caused by overfeeding fish pens.
• Reduce waste from overfeeding.
This will enable fish farms to significantly lower their environmental impact on the surrounding area and biodiversity in sea and rivers. The project is in line with and supports the European Technology Platform (ETP) Food for Life which identifies the achievement of sustainable food production as a key challenge. The aquaculture industry is ideally suited for this as it is less resource intensive than other food industries.
Impact on Quality of Life: From a societal perspective, a solution to farmed fish management is also of great interest due to the positive impact of the consumption of seafood produced in sustainable way. For instance, seafood is an important source of polyunsaturated fatty acids, proteins, phosphorus, iron, selenium, iodine and vitamins. Notably, there is scientific proof of links between fish consumption and reduction in the risk of cancer and heart disease (due to the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in fish). It is important that aquaculture produces a product that is not only acceptable to consumers in terms of price and safety, but also in terms of quality.
SME competitiveness: The AQUAFARMCONTROL project will strongly increase the competitiveness of the 3 core SMEs in the consortium providing those significant economic benefits and strengthening their strategic positioning as product/technology providers in the aquaculture market. Additionally, as shown above, the SME marine fish farm sector stands to gain great improvements in their competitiveness from adopting the novel, innovative technologies for management of fish biomass in marine fish farms.
By increasing the competitiveness of the fish farms, AQUAFARMCONTROL is in line with the EC’s Aquaculture Strategy under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) target of increasing production and employment in aquaculture. Moreover, by overcoming the problems related with fish escape and spread of diseases into the wild, which stands as an obstacle to issue new licenses for marine farming and seriously affect production and costs, this project will enable European fish farmers to compete on price with third country producers, especially in Asia – from where Europe imports most of its aquaculture products, and will at the same time contribute to high Community standards to placing European aquaculture in the forefront of sustainable development globally in terms of both social and environmental impact.
The project has been widely disseminated through a variety of channels outlined in section 4.2 of this document. In addition to presentation at Aquaculture conferences in Norway and Spain, the EDM and Coordinator has spent considerable effort keeping regulatory authorities in Norway and the UK informed about the progress and potential impact of the project as a biomass managment/surveillance tool. Additionally, the Aquafarmcontrol project has garnered significant interest from the both industry magazines and popular press.
List of Websites:
www.aquafarmcontrol.no
contactinfo
Carl Holmen
cih@seafoodsecurity.com
The Aquafarmcontrol project has achieved all the target scientific and technological objectives established at the beginning of the project. As main results, the consortium has developed a full prototype capsule and sonar system, entitled the AFC Sentinel which was successfully tested at the fish farm facility in Scotland in July 2015.
The aim of the project was to build a system, based on advancements in active-capsule and sonar technology. The developed solution is centered on an active multi-purpose capsule device remotely controlled by sonar equipment installed in the fish pens. The sonar is integrated with the Control Unit, transmitting and receiving data from the capsules allowing the full control of the AFC Sentinel system by the farm operator.
Project Context and Objectives:
The AQUAFARMCONTROL project was envisioned to develop an innovative integrated solution to enable Precision Livestock Farming in aquaculture and eliminate fish escapees in case of breach. Through the development and launch of a new tool for fish biomass management, new skills and technology was developed that the consortium believe will push forward Europe’s competitive edge within the sector and benefit the involved SMEs commercially.
The aim of the project was to build a system, based on advancements in active-capsule and sonar technology, to further optimize the efficiency of marine fish farmers by adopting Precision Livestock Farming practices and eliminating the fish escape problem. The developed solution is centered on an active multi-purpose capsule device remotely controlled by sonar equipment installed in the fish pens. The sonar is integrated with the Control Unit, transmitting and receiving data from the capsules allowing the full control of the AQUAFARMCONTROL system by the farm operator.
Multi-purpose capsule and immobilization mechanism
The main component of the AQUAFARMCONTROL solution is the capsule device that will be injected into the fish belly at initial vaccination, using an identical device as for vaccination with no need of extra operational stages or process steps. The capsule is commanded by sonar signal. The sonar/capsule communication was envisioned to be designed based on a passive surveillance configuration – capsules will not be triggered in case of equipment failure. Significant technological breakthroughs in the project, allowed for bi-directional communication, so that the capsule not only receive signals from the sonar transmitter, but is also capable of sending data packets to the sonar receiver for collection of biometric and identification markers. The immobilization functionality originally envisioned as part of Aquafarmcontrol project, was not incorporated into the final prototype system, but tested as a stand-alone proof of concept. The decision to omit the immobilization functionality was made due to significant regulatory and biomass welfare barriers for commercial exploitation.
The activate/deactivate functionality originally envisioned for the capsules capsules during fish growth by using sonar patterns still remains as a functionality and can be used to customize the collection of biometric data in specific time intervals. This operation can easily be performed through the user-friendly interface of the control unit, if necessary. The capsule will be easily recovered during fish gutting by a magnetic collector.
The capsule was envisioned to comprise of the immobilization system to be triggered when the fish escapes from the fish farm perimeter, effectively inhibiting any long term effects of escaped fish from marine aquaculture. The final immobilization system functionality was tested as a pyro-technical single-component pressed solid with integral detonator wire. The reaction results in the formation of a gas bubble that will be released quickly under pressure to effectively kill the fish without any unnecessary suffering. This solution worked very well and was done as a stand-alone “proof of concept” for the immobilization functionality but not included in the final prototype system.
The unique ID assigned to each capsule will enable precision livestock farming, i.e. allow fish farmers to scan and track each individual fish at any stage of the fish growth to assess for relevant information such as DNA, origin, location, and date of release – The tag capability will allow the farm operator to collect real time data from the fish, such as ID, temperature and timestamp to have detailed inventory and livestock data, and will in the future also include input data on size and activity distribution of the population, both of which are crucial to improve assessment of fish feed dosages.
Sonar technology for biomass monitoring and Wireless warning system
The Sonar/Control Unit system will monitor in real-time the fish biomass inside the fish pens which will allow the accurate dosage of fish feeds, improving the efficiency and overall cost efficiency of operations. It also comprises the preparation for a fully automated alert system utilizing the latest Wireless technology, effectively eliminating the need for human intervention, beyond correcting the problems at the farm once indicated by the alert system.
The instant Wireless warnings will allow the farm operator to act quickly and correct the cause of the fish escape avoiding larger losses of farmed fish biomass. By enabling consistent monitoring in marine fish farms, AQUAFARMCONTROL will generate clear benefits. By triggering the multi-purpose capsule device provide early warnings enabling the quick response, the farmer operator will be able to avoid large biomass losses. Moreover, the system will enable other direct economic benefits for marine fish farmers in the form of mitigation of overfeeding related costs, by enabling accurate fish counting in pens. Apart from the direct economic impact, marine fish farms will reach higher environmental sustainability standards giving a boost to the certification of marine farms and thereby promoting a potential access to new licenses and sustainable expansion of the industry.
The overall objective of the AQUAFARMCONTROL 606061 project was to develop an innovative system for fish control in aquaculture.
The solution was envisioned and has been realized as centered on an innovative capsule controlled by sonar, with a transmitter mounted at a certain distance to the fish pens, and in turn connected to a control unit with wireless alert feature. The development of a fully marketable solution for marine aquaculture fish management and elimination of farmed fish escapees was expected to furnish the consortium with a unique, competitive and marketable system – and provide significant benefits for fish farm end-users and allow the continued growth of the sector, while reducing the negative environmental impact of the industry. As stated in the RP2 report, the final prototype system differs in one regard to the envisioned final system in that the immobilization feature was omitted from the capsule prototype system. Although the immobilization functionality was developed and trails were conducted to gain a proof of concept, the future commercialization of such functionality was deemed too difficult due to regulatory and biomass welfare barriers.
However, ground-breaking innovation in the communication capacity of the capsule itself (bi-directional) alleviated concerns about the commercial viability of the final product without the immobilization functionality. A new business model was developed and submitted as deliverable D6.3 which is much more robust and financially viable for the SMEs.
The original overall objective was broken down to specific verifiable technological and scientific objectives that need to be met in order to overcome the technological barriers:
1. Development of capsule electronics and trigger mechanism: The main challenge of this project is the development of the electronic component device that will ensure the sonar signal reception and will act in case of activation promoting the mixture of two reactants.
• To develop a low power, compact sonar receiver, with a sensitivity appropriate for reliable sonar reception at a depth of at least 30m and a total distance of at least 100m
• Selection of a suitable sonar hydrophone technology that provides good sensitivity whilst being very compact.
• To develop low power, compact activation electronics and a functional trigger device that removes the barrier between two reactants
• Selection of a suitable compact battery technology and type with the capacity to provide the capsule with a life time of 30 months and with the capacity to activate the fish immobilization trigger device at any time during that period.
• Development of a power management solution to minimize power consumption
• Innovative and highly compact integration of the sonar receiver, activation electronics, functional detonator device and battery into the capsule with reactants
• Selection or development of reliable reactant packaging and integral detonator functionality (WP3).
2. Development of capsule polymer and reactants accommodation: The other capsule component is the two polymer elements that will accommodate the reactants in separate chamber and the exterior of the capsule.
• Selection of appropriate chemical reactant combination capable of building up sufficient gas volume and percussive power to terminate the fish.
• Selection of the polymer material(s) for reactants chamber with the sufficient pressure breaking point.
• Selection of capsule construction and construction material(s) fulfilling the needs for size, durability, functionality and bio compatibility as defined in WP2.
3. Sonar/Wireless system integration: The communication between the capsule device, the sonar transmitter and the control unit software (integrating the Wireless surveillance system) will be specified together with fish farm personnel, and the outcome of the early design process will drive the technical requirements report for the global system communication infrastructure as well as for integration with the fish farm facilities.
• Development of a reliable acoustic detection of and signal transmission to the capsules implanted in the densely packed fish population occupying a large volume of water.
• Development of the sonar communication system to be fail-safe for capsule activation and deactivation.
• Specification report of a system module for sending SMS alerts to operators using the Wireless standards. The module will consist of software and an external Wireless module connected to the system via conventional protocols.
4. Technology application in a fish farm and fish handling: The communication between the capsule device, the sonar transmitter and the control unit software (integrating the Wireless surveillance system) will be designed in dialogue with fish farm personnel.
• Specifications report on development of an automated method to introduce the capsule inside the fish with quick suture and minimized effect on fish welfare and performance (WP 6).
• Implementation of the whole tagging procedure (from tagging to harvest/activation) under farm conditions, including all technical components and handling procedures, meeting the requirements of the previously determined validation protocol for ethics and animal welfare (Test of final product)
Scientific objectives
Scientific Objectives:
The scientific objectives of the AQUAFARMCONTROL project were:
• Investigation of predicted lifetimes of polymers, in the chemical and physical environment the materials will experience inside and outside of the capsule, inside the fish. Based on permeability data, capsule geometries and realistic conditions the permeation of reactants, humidity and other relevant permeants will be calculated to verify the sufficient lifetime of the capsule functionalities. Results will be verified by real accelerated experiments.
• Investigation of system link budget calculations for the sonar communication, with respect to transmit and receive power, sonar hydrophone technology performance and communication reliability to establish best technology combination and probabilities for the fail-safe system.
• Increase understanding of sonar hydrophone technology, power management and battery technology, and designed sonar receiver prototype (using a standard low power electronics design solution) in a real underwater scenario.
• Carry out reliability and power calculations for the functional trigger device to cause rapid gas expansion.
• Investigation of the activation electronics for the functional detonator device and the functional detonator device effect and connection to on the reactant chamber.
• Increase understanding of the capsule and detonator design and reliability, and the complete capsule integration in a real underwater scenario.
• Investigation of the effect of long exposing periods of the fish flesh to sonar signal.
• Development of protocol for validation of ethics and animal welfare related impairments of tagging procedures (from tagging to harvest/activation) under farm conditions (WP 2).
• Investigate the effect of physical properties of different fish tag types (capsule designs) and tagging procedures (manual and semi-automated) on fish welfare in different species of farmed fish under controlled conditions
• Evaluation of long term effects of sonar signal on growth performance and fish welfare in different species of farmed fish under controlled conditions
• Evaluation of the fish immobilization technique under considerations of fish welfare and humane killing protocols in different species of farmed fish under controlled conditions
Project Results:
Description of the main S & T results/foregrounds
The Aquafarmcontrol project has achieved all the target scientific and technological objectives established at the beginning of the project. As main results, the consortium has developed a full prototype capsule and sonar system, entitled the AFC Sentinel which was successfully tested at the fish farm facility in Scotland in July 2015.
The aim of the project was to build a system, based on advancements in active-capsule and sonar technology. The developed solution is centered on an active multi-purpose capsule device remotely controlled by sonar equipment installed in the fish pens. The sonar is integrated with the Control Unit, transmitting and receiving data from the capsules allowing the full control of the AFC Sentinel system by the farm operator.
The overall objective of the AQUAFARMCONTROL 606061 project was to develop an innovative system for fish control in aquaculture.
The solution was envisioned and has been realized as centered on an innovative capsule controlled by sonar, with a transmitter mounted at a certain distance to the fish pens, and in turn connected to a control unit with wireless alert feature. As stated in the RP2 report, the final prototype system differs in one regard to the envisioned final system in that the immobilization feature was omitted from the capsule prototype system. Although the immobilization functionality was developed and trails were conducted to gain a proof of concept, the future commercialization of such functionality was deemed too difficult due to regulatory and biomass welfare barriers.
However, ground-breaking innovation in the communication capacity of the capsule itself (bi-directional) alleviated concerns about the commercial viability of the final product without the immobilization functionality.
The following is a presentation of the main scientific and technological results as they were achieved in light of the stated objectives of the project.
The AquaFarmControl system has three main purposes: To track the fish count in order to detect fish escaping, to log individual fish temperatures, and to alert the operator any anomalies in the biomass as indicated in the user software. The AquaFarmControl system also performs self-diagnosis, and can provide the operator with the current system status, e.g. which systems that are working, and which systems that need repair or maintenance.
The main component of the system is the Fish Capsule, a capsule injected into the belly of fish kept in the pen. The capsule contains an ultrasonic transducer and capable of sending and receiving ultrasound. In order to count the present fish, the capsules transmits unique ID's that are received by the Pen System, and presented to the local operator. The Pen System also uploads the recorded data to the Cloud System, that lets remote operators monitor one or multiple pens.
The main component of the AQUAFARMCONTROL solution is the capsule device that will be injected into the fish belly at initial vaccination, using an identical device as for vaccination with no need of extra operational stages or process steps. The capsule is commanded by sonar signal. The sonar/capsule communication was envisioned to be designed based on a passive surveillance configuration – capsules will not be triggered in case of equipment failure. Significant technological breakthroughs in the project, allowed for bi-directional communication, so that the capsule not only receive signals from the sonar transmitter, but is also capable of sending data packets to the sonar receiver for collection of biometric and identification markers. The immobilization functionality originally envisioned as part of Aquafarmcontrol project, was not incorporated into the final prototype system, but tested as a stand-alone proof of concept. The decision to omit the immobilization functionality was made due to significant regulatory and biomass welfare barriers for commercial exploitation.
A highly innovative proof of concept and a prototype series of 45 fully functional capsule devices was manufactured and tested in the project period. A total of 35 of the functional capsule devices were delivered for insertion into fish at the final trials test site in Scotland. The remainder was used for general performance testing during the final trials.
The capsule device designed and manufactured is both compact, having a size of 5 mm in diameter and 18.5 mm in length, and low cost, having a BOM cost of approx. $5 per capsule at a production volume of 100K pieces. The electronics and software were thoroughly tested and were performing in accordance with design and meet the requirements for the capsule device. The pin battery supply measurements and power budget calculation appear to be consequent implying that the capsule device design should meet the requirements for an operational lifetime of 30 months.
The assembly and integration were satisfactory for a proof of concept prototype series but need to be improved for manufacturability, reliability and testability. The current assembly concept involves tricky manual steps and soldering. There is a risk for damaging the pin battery performance during soldering. Taking all aspects of preparation and assembly into account then the assembly time per capsule, after the PCB SMD assembly has been completed, is approx. 15 minutes per capsule, which is unsatisfactory from a manufacturing standpoint. The assembly and integration can be significantly improved by implementing automatic PCB separation, suitable mechanical interconnections (instead of manual solder joints), programming at the PCB panel level and self-test functionality.
Functional testing of the final assembled and programmed capsule devices was successful when testing the capsules underwater in a laboratory environment. The capsule devices change from suspend mode to active mode and vice-versa depending upon the pen to capsule communication.
When active the capsule devices transmit the ID number and temperature with a sufficient hydro acoustic signal amplitude and are correctly interpreted by the capsule to pen receiver with a reasonable statistical performance in the laboratory environment. Testing during the final trials showed that the capsule device could communicate properly when installed inside the fish belly, but further work is needed to improve signal reception range over longer periods.
The activate/deactivate functionality originally envisioned for the capsules during fish growth by using sonar patterns still remains as a functionality and can be used to customize the collection of biometric data in specific time intervals. This operation can easily be performed through the user-friendly interface of the control unit, if necessary. The capsule will be easily recovered during fish gutting by a magnetic collector.
Notes on exclusion of immobilization feature
The capsule was envisioned to comprise of the immobilization system to be triggered when the fish escapes from the fish farm perimeter, effectively inhibiting any long term effects of escaped fish from marine aquaculture. The final immobilization system functionality was tested as a pyro-technical single-component pressed solid with integral detonator wire. The reaction result in a formation of a gas bubble released quickly under pressure to effectively kill the fish without any unnecessary suffering.
Although thoroughly investigated within the project, the capsule device prototypes do not provide the fish immobilization functionality in the event of fish escaping from the fish farm pens. This is because the initial euthanasia methods, anticipated to be potential solutions at the outset of the project, were researched and found to be insufficient.
The final method of euthanasia, that was researched and evaluated to be a realistic potential solution for the humane euthanasia of fish, included the use of a rapid high energy reactant material that requires special licensing for manufacture, storage, transport and use. None of the project partners have the ability or permission to work with such materials. Furthermore, approval from animal welfare authorities to perform such tests was not given. Therefore the capsule device prototypes do not have the euthanasia functionality included, but trials were conducted as stand-alone “proof of concept” by the Swedish Defense Institute (FOI) under the auspices of RTD partner ACREO, but not included in the final prototype system.
Notes on polymer capsule shell identification trials, moulding and final welding
Numerous polymer raw materials were investigated for their suitability, both in terms of material injection moulding ability, surface joining, raw material cost and most importantly bio-compatibility. Initially, Norner conducted a literature study to identify suitable polymeric materials with adequate biocompatibility. As expected the majority of referenced materials are used in medical and implant applications.
It was realized that it would be most advantageous to consider what is called commodity polymers (Polyethylene and Polypropoylene) or engineering polymers (such as Polymethyl methacrylate, Polyethylene terephthalate, Polyamides and Thermoplastic polyurethanes). The reasoning behind these choices are their relative low cost and favorable processability.
The capsule shell and cap had to meet several requirement for implantation into the fish. The capsules needed to have a surface, shape and geometry that would not cause any irritation or inflammation in the fish. The final size of the capsule, however was not decided at the on-set of the project period. It was desirable to develop a capsule big enough to be able to utilize off-the-shelf, inexpensive electronic components, but at the same time, it needed to be small enough to not cause health or welfare problems for the fish. Therefore a trial was commissioned to test 6 diffent sizes of compact dummy capsules shaped like cylinder with hemispheres in each end. As discussed in the fish welfare section below, an initial trial was conducted with 3D printed capsules, but they all had inferior surface smoothness causing irritation and high mortality among the sample population.
In order to have a dummy capsule with the surface similar to the finished product, it was decided to run an injection moulding trial with capsules in in poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) by injection moulding.
Since the capsule is embedded in the fish abdominal cavity, in a harsh environment, it was essential to ensure that the polymeric materials have good barrier properties against water transmission to protect the electronics and battery. A range of materials were tested for the water barrier properties (polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) have been selected to evaluate for biocompatibility in fish).
As with the initial material selection RTD partner Norner conducted a literature study to understand water and vapor permeability properties of polymers. Subsequent trials were conducted and the results showed that PE, PP, PET and PVDF were the most suited and PE, PP and PET were preferred for their low cost. The final material chosen for the capsule was High Denisty Polyethylene (HDPE).
The capsule body construction material is pure HDPE whereas the cap construction material is HDPE compounded with carbon black pigment. The capsule body and caps were produced by injection moulding at SME partner Celoplas.
For the manufacture of the concepts a small injection moulding tool was designed and manufactured for the conceived injection mould tool concept for both the capsule pieces (Body and Cap). Laser welding of plastics is an innovative welding technique based on the STTIr™ (Simultaneous through Transmission Infrared) principle where laser energy is passed through one plastic component (transmissive part) and absorbed by the second component (the absorptive part). This absorption results in heating and melting of the interface, and with the application of a controlled clamp force, the parts are joined. Laser welding trials were carried-out at Branson facilities in Nove Mesto nad Vahom,
The injection moulding of the capsule body and cap was successful. The HDPE material chosen appears to have the correct characteristics for biocompatibility and mechanical properties. The laser welding to seal the capsule has provided good results with capsules comfortably surviving long term tests at a pressure of 10 bar. Water diffusion through the capsule wall does not appear to be a problem.
Tagging the fish – trials conducted as part of Aquafarmcontrol
RTD partner GMA (Gesellschaft für Marine Aquakultur) conducted several experiments to determine the maxium usable tag size in Atlantic Salmon for the Aquafarmcontrol project. All trials conducted at GMA and the final trial facility in Scotland, UK had secured appropriate approvals from animal welfare authorities in Germany and United Kingdom prior to start-up of trials.
GMA conducted an initial trial with dummy capsules produced by means of 3D printing in period 1 of the project. The objective of the experiments was to determine the maximum usable tag size in the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) reared in a small scale recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Within the first trial (77 days), 12 different experimental tag sizes and 3 control treatments were evaluated. Here, the juvenile Atlantic salmon had an initial weight of 76.4 ± 10.2 g.
In the second trial (53 days) the 6 biggest tag sizes of the first trial were evaluated under slightly different conditions with smolts (initial weight of 85.5 ± 18.8 g). The experimental fish were fed several times a day to apparent satiation.
The first trial showed that additionally to high mortality rates conditional on handling at the first day of the experiment there is a clear break in the survival rate of fish with the tag size 8 (6 x 30 mm). To determine the best position for tag application without the need to suture the wound, a pre-test with a small number of fish was performed. For that, 3 different positions were chosen. Position A on the left side behind the pectoral fin, the well-established ventral cutting position in front of the pelvic fin (B) showed a breakthrough of the intestine through the wound and a high risk of tag loss. The caudal position (C) in front of the anal fin showed also disadvantages.
On the one hand the tissue is thicker than in position A and B and makes it harder to insert the tag. On the other hand the danger to cut the intestine in this region is much higher. Position A on the left side behind the pectoral fin showed the best requirements for a good tag application and tag retention without the need to suture the wound. After the tag application, the liver presses against the tissue and closes the wound so that no intestines can perforate. Additionally, the pectoral fin itself protects the wound from biting by other fish, which could be observed on the other positions.
Because of the results of the pretest, position A was chosen for the incision in the first trial.
At the beginning, the Atlantic salmon smolts were anesthetized, weighed and classified to a treatment. Then the elastomer tags were injected and the tag was inserted through a cut at position A. As a last step, the wound was treated with a disinfecting powder/ointment. Afterwards, the smolts were sorted into the three RAS.
In the second trial the aim was to determine whether the cutting position A causes a higher mortality, tag loss, etc. compared to cutting position B including suturation of the wound. The tags were inserted at the position B and the wound was suturated afterwards.
In contrast to the first trial the highest mortality in the second trial occured within the first two weeks (n=46) of the experiment, where 88% cases of death occured. After 15 days the mortality rate reached a plateau and stays almost constant to the end of the experiment (n=52).
In contrary to the first trial, the first loss of tags could be observed at the 7th day of the trail. Another difference to the first trial is that the loss of tags was never extremely high at a particular time but continuous and low.
Like in the first trial, mortalities at the first day of the second trail could be observed throughout all treatment groups. In contrast to the first trial, nearly 50 % of the smolts survived the experiment without a tag loss and only 14 % of the fish lost their tags. The mortality of 38 % was nearly the same as in the first trial. Concerning the mortality and tag loss, there was no significant difference between the three different tanks.
High mortality rates could be observed throughout the whole experiment. In the first trial 8.6 % and in the second trial 17.7 % of the smolts died within the first day. Because even treatment were smolts got an incision without tag insertion showed the same mortality as the other treatments, the loss at day one could be explained by handling procedure and stress. Therefore, the tag application and handling should be reconsidered in further experiments. The lower mortality at day one in the first trial could be a result of the higher range of tag sizes.
Loss resulting from tag size could be observed at the tag sizes 8 to 12. At the end the total mortality adds up to 32 % in the first trial and 37% in the second trial. These high percentages are clearly a result of the used tag sizes 8 to 12 where up to 100 % of the initial stocking died.
Five days after surgery 33.3 % of fish treated by the novice died whereas only 6.6 % of fish treated by the experienced surgeon died. This tendency is also clearly seen in the 2nd trial of the experiment (Figure 31) where the surgeons had more practice and the post-tagging mortalities are not equally distributed cross the treatments. Here the mortalities at day one after surgery are higher in treatments 8 to 12, which should be the influence of the tag size and not the handling procedure. Nevertheless the tag application and handling should be generally reconsidered in future experiments.
The major part of smolts died within the first five days of the experiment. This should be the direct and successive consequences of the handling and surgery. One week after the start of the experiment most deaths occurred in treatments 8 to 12 in both, the 1st and 2nd trial. During further course of the experiment major component of deaths occur again in treatments 8 to 12. At the end the total mortality adds up to 32 % in the first trial and 37% in the second trial. These high percentages are clearly a result of the used tag sizes 8 to 12 where up to 100 % of the initial stocking died.
Another big problem that could be observed during the experiments was the high amount of lost tags in the tanks. Some tags may have been lost through the incision, but this only happened, when the wound was inflamed. Because all dead smolts were examined it was noticeable, that the smolts with a big inflammation were without a tag or close to lose the tag.
Due to the control weighting during the trials it was possible to monitor the wound healing. The healing process went well. Therefore the loss of tags through the wound is unlikely, except for the loss through the inflamed tissue. Nevertheless, the amount of lost tags was immense.
An explanation for this was found at the control weighting. Many tags perforate the skin of the smolts and migrate through the tissue out of the smolts. However, many smolts showed already healed perforation wounds which is evidence that a perforation is not lethal.
To test whether the tag material had an influence on retention, treatment 13, a glass PIT tag with nearly the same size as that from treatment 1, was used as a material-control group. Due to the fact that the retention of the glass PIT tag was very good and the retention of the tag used in treatment 1 was very bad it stands to reason that the material could be the cause for the bad retention. Another reason could be the surface of the tag. In contrast to the PIT tags, the experimental tags had a slightly rough surface, which could support the perforation of tissue.
The expulsion itself is a common and widespread problem in widely separated teleost taxa (Perciformes, Salmoniformes and Siluriformes), whereas expulsion of implanted transmitters or other implants in mammals appear to be extremely rare. In this study the expulsion of tag occurred mainly through the intact body walls. A possible explanation why expulsions occur is the fact that fish maintain neutral or near neutral buoyancy in water and therefore little support for their viscera is required. In contrast the abdominal region of terrestrial vertebrates has to deal with gravitation and consequently develops stronger viscera.
The trials at GMA indicated that the best position of tag application is the ventral position B. Even though the mortalities were nearly the same in the first and second trial the tag retention is better in the second trial, where the cutting position B was used. A disadvantage of this position is, as already mentioned, that the wound has to be suturated, which increases the handling time.
Due to the results of the first and second trial the recommended tag size would be the tag size 7 (6 x 20 mm). As the results of the first trial show the maximum volume with the low mortality rate of 5% is the tag size 7 with a volume of 565 mm³. The next bigger tag size 8 (6 x 30 mm) with a volume of 848 mm³ had a mortality rate of 65%. The results of the second trial display comparable results. Because of the big step from 565 mm³ to 848 mm³ of the tag sizes 7 and 8 the maximal usable tag size could lay between them.
Based on the outcomes of the above mentioned trials on the effect of capsule size, a trial was conducted with Rainbow trout to evaluate the effect of the polymer PMMA on fish welfare (capsules injection moulded by RTD Partner Norner).
The trial lasted for 12 weeks. Fish (200 pieces) were group weighed every 4 weeks. All routine operations (start of experiment, feeding, water quality, etc.) were comparable to the trials described in the previous section.
Compared to the previous trial the number of tag expulsions was quite low and most of the tag losses were observed in fish implanted the tag material used in the previous trial one and two. Only two fish lost the tag made of the new material (PMMA). Compared to earlier results also a higher tag volume had no significant influences on the mortality of the fish. Growth was assessed after 6 and 12 weeks. No significant difference in body size was observed between the treatment groups.
Due to the results of this trial and the previous two trials (effect of tag size) the recommended tag size would be the tag size between 7 and 8 of the first two trials, e.g. PMAA 16 in the third trial (6 x 25 mm). As the results of the first trial show the maximum volume with the low mortality rate of 5% is the tag size 7 with a volume of 565 mm³. The next bigger tag size 8 (6 x 30 mm) with a volume of 848 mm³ had a mortality rate of 65%. The results of the second trial showed comparable results. However results of the third trial indicate that the tag size has no significant influence on the mortality and that the use of even bigger tag sizes resulted in lower mortalities. We also observed a non-significant level of mortality of the tagged fish when compared the fish of the non-tagged sham group. These results indicate that most of the fish died because of the handling procedure and stress and further work was needed to improve the handling procedures for final trials.
As the consortium made the strategic decision to omit the immobilization functionality, there was no need for a reactant chamber in the capsule. This decision also altered the final size of the capsule so that the final prototype capsule had a size of 5mmx18,5mm, below the recommended size.
Final trials
As part of the final verification of the system, final trials of the complete prototype were conducted at a sea farm in western Scotland in July 2015. The consortium had access to this site throughout the project period, and several trials were conducted there as part of the ramp up to the final trials.
In order to implement the Aquafarmcontrol capsule system (AFC Sentinel) it was necessary to provide training to on-site staff. The training schedule and content was based on the results generated from the controlled trials at GMA with the aim to minimize mortality and ensure proper handling of the fish during incision and suturing. The novelty of the technology and its invasiveness, required that that RTD partner Viking Fish Farm obtained the appropriate licenses from the UK Home Office. Not only technical training was required, but also training in animal welfare regulations was needed to ensure correct procedures during the trials. As the system is still in the prototype stage, with further miniaturization expected in the follow-on period after Aquafarmcontrol, there was no standardized training manual developed and there was still a need to solve some issues related to the incision and suturing practices before any formalized training can be conducted.
After an extensive period of training, the Home Office issued a license for the final trials. The farm trials were conducted at Ardnish Salmon Farm, Lochailort, Inverness-shire, 50 km west of Fort William. The farm is a technical site involved in carrying out trials for fish feed companies and accustomed to working with trial protocols.
The trial work was taking place on the site with 10 cages of 16 metre square and around 8 metres deep. Each pen had 6000 fish of 2.5 kg mean weight. The fish were stocked in October 2014. Part of the Home Office approval required not only training of staff in surgical implantation of the tag but also construction of a surgical unit to enable the work to be carried out on site at the salmon farm. A cabin of 3 m by 2.8 m was hired and fitted as a surgical unit.
As part of the licence staff received training in fish anaesthesia and also in surgical techniques to implant the tags. This training was undertaken in the laboratory by a Veterinary Surgeon with wide experience of small animal and fish surgery. The Veterinarian provided training materials, aids, and instructions. She demonstrated the technique several times and several staff practised the techniques until they achieved the standard assessed as proficient by the Veterinarian.
A total of 35 fish were equipped with the capsule and the system was activated. Due to time constraints, it was not possible to run the trial over longer period of time. The follow-on period post-Aquafarmcontrol will include long-term trials of the capsule system to ensure that it has sufficient robustness and to iron out any bugs inherent in the development of a prototype.
No mortalities in the cohort were experienced in the trials. After the trails were concluded the tags were removed and the fish harvested. A Post-trial evaluation of the workshop is planned to investigate which areas can be handled by on-site staff and which must be handled by specialized staff when the follow-on project starts post-Aquafarmcontrol in the winter of 2016.
Conclusions
The Aquafarmcontrol project achieved all the target scientific and technological objectives established at the beginning of the project. As main results, the consortium developed a full prototype capsule and sonar system, entitled the AFC Sentinel. This system has garnered significant interest from the aquaculture industry and the authorities. Although the originally envisioned immobilization functionality had to be omitted from the final prototype, there was significant technological breakthrough in the project specifically related to the bi-directional communication capacity of the capsule enabling the collection of data from the fish.
The SMEs in the Aquafarmcontrol consortium are very satisfied with the performance of the RTD partners and the results achieved in the project. The Coordinating SME, Seafood Security took, as part of its dissemination activities, and active role in informing the fishery authorities about the progress of the project. Furthermore, Seafood Security was issued with a full production license for Salmon to continue the development of the AFC Sentinel capsule platform and supporting software.
This is a major achievement for the consortium and an acknowledgement of the importance of the novel technology developed under the Aquafarmcontrol project. The ground breaking technology platform will now undergo further development and large scale trials with added functionalities on a commercial production license. The SMEs will continue their collaboration in a joint venture to fully exploit the commercial opportunities that the Aquafarmcontrol project resulted in.
Potential Impact:
The objective of the AQUAFARMCONTROL project was to strengthen the competitiveness of the SME consortium by developing and launching a new capsule solution to manage fish biomass in aquaculture – targeting the marine fish farms which are prone to high risk of fish escape - and where the potential benefits of IT enabled, precision livestock farming is substantial.
Marine farming or aquaculture is the fastest growing animal based food production sector, not only outpacing other food production but also population growth itself. Tremendous improvements in breeding technology, production and feed design has enabled a rapid expansion across the entire span of aquaculture production both in species and volume. In 2011, China alone produced 62% of global aquaculture production, while Asia as a whole accounted for 88%. The World Bank developed a scenario analysis in their report Fish to 2030 (2013) projecting that aquaculture will continue to fill the supply-demand gap, and that by 2030, 62% of fish for human consumption will come from this industry. Aquaculture provides close to half (47%) of all fish supplies destined for direct human food consumption, yet fish was estimated to account for only 6.4% of the global protein consumption and about 19% of total animal protein supply .
European Aquaculture is a very varied industry, where farming of aquatic animals is composed of three major sub-sectors: marine shellfish farming, freshwater finfish farming and marine finfish farming. Commercial seabased farming of Salmonoids (salmon and anadromous trout variants) represents the fastest growing segment in aquaculture in the northern hemisphere, with the biggest production countries being, Norway, Chile, UK, and Canada . The cage aquaculture sector has grown significantly over the past 20 years and is undergoing rapid changes in response to pressures from globalization and growing demand for aquatic products in both developing and developed countries.
Total reported cage aquaculture production, amounted to 2 412 167 tonnes in 2005 with Norway leading the cage culture production with 652 306 tonnes. The main species in Northern Europe are the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) mostly produced in Norway, Scotland, Ireland and the Faroe Islands. All relevant aquaculture production using cage technology in northern Europe is carried out in marine waters. The growing production means that the Marine Aquaculture is gradually emerging as a mature food industry - But at the same time, growth is hampered by the need to increase output while at the same time meeting environmental legislation.
Supply of Atlantic salmon has increased by 428% since 1994 (annual growth of 9%). The annual growth flattened out in recent years and the annual growth has been around 6% in the period 2004-2014. Continued growth is expected to flatten further and has projected a 3% annual growth from 2013 to 2020. There are many reasons for this flattening trend, but the are primarily rooted in the fact that production sites have reached a production level where they operate near the biological boundaries . Further growth must be within the scope of environmental sustainability, where they industry as a whole seeks to reduce its biological footprint. More technology, better pharmaceuticals and continued improvement to regulations and cross-sector collaboration is needed. It is within this framework that Aquafarmcontrol Precision Livestock Farming presents a technological breakthrough for improved biomass handling in sea-based caged aquaculture.
Although marine cage aquaculture represents a an industry with tremendous growth and future potential, it is also marred with significant biological and technological problems, where three main problems dominate; 1) spread of diseases such as pancreatic disease and ILA, 2) sea lice infestations and 3) Net breach with subsequent catastrophic losses of biomass. The technology developed under R4-SME project 606061 Aquafarmcontrol (hereafter AFC Sentinel) aims to reduce the impact of escapees in the natural environment and provide a platform for collection of biometric data to improve fish welfare and operational efficiency.
Real-time surveillance of fish pens will not only enable a platform for biomass management, it will also allow for immediate detection of breaches and the subsequent correction of the anomaly minimizing the number of fish lost in net breaches. The optimization eliminate the impact of the fish escape from marine fish farms in wild populations, allow the accurate online determination of the biomass in fish pens, tracking the fish cultures and a finally, will allow a quick response by the farm operator when a net pen structure is breached. For fish farmers, escapees represent a loss of valuable assets – to society, escaped fish represent a disease hazard; invasive to valuable marine habitat and wild fish stock; and have the potential to spawn with wild fish, leading to dilution of genetic integrity.
Additionally, as the marine fish farming industry grows the need for optimized dosages to feed fish in marine pens increases. To accurately estimate the number of fish in pens and distribution of the population are necessary is important to improve operational efficiency. The accurate characterization of the fish population is determinant for key cost drivers in the industry, and required for optimization of main resource inputs such as feed and medicine.
Currently, marine aquaculture is encountering environmental concerns with negative consequences on the global industry performance. The marine aquaculture industry continue to be under high pressure to solve important barriers related to environmental sustainability and sea life in order to expand the industry with new farming licenses.
Historically, main markets for production of salmon and trout have been Norway, Chile, North America and Scotland. Traditionally each producing company has focused on its nearby markets as Salmon is primarily marketed as a fresh product. The chart below shows the 5 top producers in the different markets representing potential customers for the AFC Sentinel technology with the largest operations. Marine Harvest with its production around 400 000 tons annually, is the world’s largest producer of salmon. The largest producers are also multinational producers and are represented in all global markets.
Market growth for salmon is strong. Although the trend for the next decade is slowing somewhat, salmon still represents the fastest growing of farmed seafood. With global CAGR of 9% it is still an industry subject to tremendous growth. Norway and Chile continue to be the main production countries and Norway is expected to 5-fold its production by 2050 .
Main barriers to future global growth is depleting natural resources (fatty acids, marine proteins for feed), concerns regarding environmental impact of sea-based aquaculture and local coastal impact (reduction in available coastal areas with suitable climate for commercial exploitation) along with stricter requirements for better environmental stewardship. The profitability in the salmon market is relatively good with EBITDA margins upwards of 50% for the most cost-efficient producers. However, salmon pricing is volatile and the current political climate is putting pressure on the futures pricing of salmon and trout for export to Russia and Ukraine. This does primarily affect European Salmon producers, but they are taking precautionary actions by holding stocks (frozen) in an effort to keep prices up. Aside from a major dip in the prices in 2012 to early 2013, salmon prices are in a rising trend. The challenge however, is that production costs are also increasing, due to consistent troubles with sea lice and disease (especially in Norway and Chile) and stricter regulations on environmental stewardship along with rising feed costs as where access to raw materials such as marine based fatty acids and proteins represents a significant scarcity.
Typically all costs related to production of salmon and trout is calculated as a factor of kg/biomass produced. Initially, at the onset of the Aquafarmcontrol project, the consortium had a goal of reaching a cost per kg produced salmon of 1NOK/Kg (0,11€/kg). This figure was derived from a comparative biomass management cost of de-licing the salmon, which was considered an acceptable cost target for wide scale implementation. As the business model now has changed, this is no longer a target cost for the operator the implementation of the AFC system will only represents a marginal cost per kg produced salmon (basic subscription model). The financial plan section will provide further explanation.
Aquaculture in the Northern Hemisphere is more and more technology driven. Due to stricter environmental regulations and often higher costs associated with production, such as labor costs, there is increasing acceptance for advanced technological solutions that previously would be considered too difficult or sensitive to implement in the often harsh environment the pens are located in. Good examples of the move towards more technologically driven solutions is Tel-Cage, a remote fish farm surveillance system that allows the owner to be alerted in case any intruders in the area .
One of the pioneer companies in biomass size estimation and counting, the Iceland company VAKI is offering technology that will measure the fish and calculate total biomass in the pens. By coupling their input data collected pen-side, into advanced statistical models, they can tell the fish farmers with increased accuracy about the number of fish and the size distribution. Their system, widely implemented, is considered satisfactory, but only offers a glimpse into the fish population by random data collections on very few individuals and no real time data is collected from the fish itself, only video observations of the fish in the pen.
At the same time, the Aquaculture supply industry believes that in the next decades the industry will go high-tech to meet ever stricter regulations and increased customer awareness of the environmental impact of traditional aquaculture operations. To achieve satisfactory market penetration at an acceptable rate, we believe it is essential to make this a low-cost, low-barrier technology. A salmon producer will always have a need to have information about its biomass. Current practices are by and large based on qualified assessments by staff and veterinarians using empirical data from previous years, along with visual observations and sample collections, but we believe our complete AFC sentinel system will provide the operator with the breadth and depth of data required for future growth.
The need for innovative research and the unmet demand in the marine aquaculture industry, thus, represent a clear opportunity for development and market breakthrough of AQUAFARMCONTROL. The system is expected to significantly reduce the negative effects of the escaped fish, avoiding their migration to the wild, reducing the loss of fish biomass in accidents, minimizing the reaction time through online surveillance of fish pens and quick alert systems, and improving fish feeding operations by accurate counting of fish.
The prototype AFC Sentinel System developed under AQUAFARMCONTROL
The AFC sentinel system will be delivered as a complete “package” where the fish farm operator can chose between a number of different access levels to the information that is gathered from the capsule and the surrounding environment. Sensors inside and outside the nets will collect running data on environmental conditions, such as salinity, turbidity and oxygen levels at various heights in the water column. This type of information is very important for a fish farmer as high level of planktons and algae blooms affect the local water conditions by depleting oxygen and creating photo inhibition in the upper level of the water column, the area where the fish is typically fed.
Additionally, by monitoring weather patterns, such as wind and wave height the system will improve predictability of adverse events, such as a storm, which increases the likelihood of damage to pen structures which may cause net breaches with subsequent losses of biomass.
The pen-mounted system is a so called “stand-alone” system that can be connected to an external network for data transmission. On a production site with several pens, the units can be connected together, either physically or wirelessly, to form a network of units. The system consists of a data collection and processing unit, data storage and exchange as well as pen hardware such as sonar/transponder and connecting module for hydro acoustic signaling. The sonar system will consist of transducers, amplifiers/receivers, signal generators and signal processing. Finally, software will be used for processing and analyses of raw data .
The main component of the system is the Fish Capsule, a capsule injected into the belly of fish kept in the pen. The capsule contains an ultrasonic transducer, capable of sending and receiving ultrasound. In order to count the present fish, the capsules transmits unique ID's that are received by the Pen System, and presented to the local operator. The Pen System also uploads the recorded data to the Cloud System, that lets remote operators monitor one or multiple pens.
The backbone of the AFC technology developed under AQUAFARMCONTROL is the injectable capsule. The capsule uses a bi-directional acoustic ultrasound link to communicate data with the control center. The AFC capsule v1.0 developed under AQUAFARMCONTROL measures 5mmx18mm and is the smallest capsule on the market within its price range and functionality, suitable for mass implementation in farms for real time biomass surveillance, as well as data collection tool for scheduled research trials. It’s welfare, with functionalities to be included such as sensors as pressure change, heart rate frequency and kinetic movement. This data, transmitted acoustically to a pen mounted receiver, then wirelessly to the cloud interface system, will provide technical manager and veterinary staff alike with invaluable real time information accessible from anywhere about the health and status of their biomass.
The capsule to pen communication module is part of the biomass estimation system, in which the capsule is responsible for sending the fish ID to the pen control system. Fish ID reporting is a way for the fish capsule to let the pen side software know that it is present in the pen. This function is a part of both the breach control system, and the biomass estimation system.
Industry impact of technology developed under AQUAFARMCONTROL
Remove barriers to implementation
One of the main challenges to implementation of technologically advanced solutions in the aquaculture industry is the perceived risks of failure and required maintenance. Sea based farming operations are typically located in remote areas in tough climates which reduces the industries willingness to adapt technologies that are perceived as being sensitive, high-tech and requiring specialized training and maintenance. By offering a low cost, tiered access platform where we inject the capsules, install pen equipment and guarantee functionality, we believe we will remove one of the main obstacles for large scale implementation. The fish farmer only pays a monthly subscription fee for real time access to biometrics collected from the fish as well as online breach alert including estimations of number of fish escaped.
Tailored access & analyses
Initially, we will offer two types of subscription service on annual basis. The farm specific subscriptions will be priced as one-per-pen and will include everything, including installation, testing, access to data and running analyses. The simplified business model includes a basic and a premium model for site specific data as well as a basic and premium model for industry/financial/government sectors that include aggregate data and analyses from all sites. All capsules will collect the same data, only access to it will be differentiated based on the subscription level.
Operators.
The farm specific model will consist of two subscription models, basic and premium. The basic model will give the farmer access to information about the fish such as rudimentary biometrics in raw data form including temperature with ID reports and time stamps and breach alert. The AFC Sentinel v1.0 will only include this functionality
The premium model will give the farmer access to information about the fish with running analyses of all collected data, including external, such as ambient temp, salinity, turbidity, O2 concentrations and internal, such as temp, muscle movement, xyz position of fish in water column, along with breach alert, which combines into a complete biomass welfare index model giving the fish farmer a running analyses on pen specific performance, biomass health and welfare and early detection of immediate threats such as disease and breach.
This type of tiered access allows the farmer to choose the level of information they need and they can upgrade at any time from basic to premium as the capsule collects all data and stores it on the server regardless of subscription level.
Overall socio-economic impact
Industry/Regulatory Authorities
The industry subscription model will give access to aggregate production data on regional/national level for the aquaculture industry and related services, such as the financial industry represents a new type of professional market data. The availability of regional and national benchmarking data, such as bi-monthly production volumes, growth projections, etc will provide insight into the overall aquaculture industry’s performance and growth.
This information in turn can be coupled with regularly published information from government agencies and stock listed companies on expected volumes, yield and sales to assist in correctly assessing available biomass stocks. Moreover data collected from all sites will provide the user with regional and national benchmarking scores with data sourced in the biomass welfare index model for a accurate count of industry performance with regional differences. This type of data will not only aid the accurate determination of asset valuation of stock listed companies, but also help forecast regional and national production yields given the varying climatic conditions and aid regulatory industries in their planning of opening of new production sites.
Job Creation: The main European employment effect of the AQUAFARMCONTROL project will be to ensure the competitiveness of marine aquaculture industry and safe-guarding 30 846 full time jobs in the industry. Furthermore, the AQUAFARMCONTROL project is expected to generate new jobs across Europe for SMEs providing the new solutions to the fish farmers.
Environmental impact
While difficult to quantify due to the many external costs of pollution elements, the proposed innovations will have a significant environmental impact, since these will solve the environmental problems related with fish escape such:
• Significantly reduce the potential genetic contamination of wild populations with farmed fish;
• Significantly reduce the spread of diseases from fish farms; especially lice that is currently a big concern of regulatory bodies;
• Reduce the nutrients contamination caused by overfeeding fish pens.
• Reduce waste from overfeeding.
This will enable fish farms to significantly lower their environmental impact on the surrounding area and biodiversity in sea and rivers. The project is in line with and supports the European Technology Platform (ETP) Food for Life which identifies the achievement of sustainable food production as a key challenge. The aquaculture industry is ideally suited for this as it is less resource intensive than other food industries.
Impact on Quality of Life: From a societal perspective, a solution to farmed fish management is also of great interest due to the positive impact of the consumption of seafood produced in sustainable way. For instance, seafood is an important source of polyunsaturated fatty acids, proteins, phosphorus, iron, selenium, iodine and vitamins. Notably, there is scientific proof of links between fish consumption and reduction in the risk of cancer and heart disease (due to the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in fish). It is important that aquaculture produces a product that is not only acceptable to consumers in terms of price and safety, but also in terms of quality.
SME competitiveness: The AQUAFARMCONTROL project will strongly increase the competitiveness of the 3 core SMEs in the consortium providing those significant economic benefits and strengthening their strategic positioning as product/technology providers in the aquaculture market. Additionally, as shown above, the SME marine fish farm sector stands to gain great improvements in their competitiveness from adopting the novel, innovative technologies for management of fish biomass in marine fish farms.
By increasing the competitiveness of the fish farms, AQUAFARMCONTROL is in line with the EC’s Aquaculture Strategy under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) target of increasing production and employment in aquaculture. Moreover, by overcoming the problems related with fish escape and spread of diseases into the wild, which stands as an obstacle to issue new licenses for marine farming and seriously affect production and costs, this project will enable European fish farmers to compete on price with third country producers, especially in Asia – from where Europe imports most of its aquaculture products, and will at the same time contribute to high Community standards to placing European aquaculture in the forefront of sustainable development globally in terms of both social and environmental impact.
The project has been widely disseminated through a variety of channels outlined in section 4.2 of this document. In addition to presentation at Aquaculture conferences in Norway and Spain, the EDM and Coordinator has spent considerable effort keeping regulatory authorities in Norway and the UK informed about the progress and potential impact of the project as a biomass managment/surveillance tool. Additionally, the Aquafarmcontrol project has garnered significant interest from the both industry magazines and popular press.
List of Websites:
www.aquafarmcontrol.no
contactinfo
Carl Holmen
cih@seafoodsecurity.com
