The monitoring of what happens within a pen at a fish farm has progressively become a greater necessity for fisheries. As the complexity and importance of monitoring the relevant behaviour of the fish developed so did the engineering solutions.
The monitoring of what happenswithinapenatafishfarmhaspro-gressivelybecomeagreaterneces-sityforfisheries.Asthecomplexity
and importance of monitoring the relevantbehaviour of the fish developed so did theengineeringsolutions.
Traditional methods focussed arounddiversgettingwetanddippingintothetank,perhaps with waterproof cameras to recordthe data to be analysed later. This methodobviouslyhasitsdrawbacksasitisnotpracti-calordesirable foradiver tobe in thepenfor extended periods of time, which wouldhavebeenneededifatruerepresentationofwhatwasgoingonwas tobeacquired.Thiswaswhyfishfarmsstartedtolookforremotevisualinspectionsolutionstotheirmonitoringneeds.
Pan and tilt cameras have been usedextensivelyinfishfarmsthroughouttheworldformonitoringthefish,feedingbehaviourandconditionofthefishwithinthefarmenviron-ment.Aproblemwiththis isthattheycouldonlysettheirpanandtiltcamerastoafixeddepthandlocationwithintheirfishpens.
The primary objective is to keep feedingforaslongaspossible,whilstwastingaslittlefeed as possible. Operators need to watchthe fish feeding so that theycancontrol thefeedsupply rateand insomecases the feedspecification.Atthestartofafeedingsession,the fish are frantic at the surface,but as thesession progresses, the fishmovedown andprogressively more and more of them stopfeeding. The operator wants to control thefeed supply rate by watching, not so much
thefish,butthefeedpelletstoseehowmuchis falling past the fish. Feed is expensive andthepelletsarequitesmall,theyalsocomeindifferent‘sink’rates.
Apanandtiltcameraonitsowncanonlybe moved manually however All OceansEngineeringofAberdeen,Scotlanddevelopedatwowinchsystemthatcanbemovedoverthe full width and depth of a pen or tank.Thepanandtiltcameraissuspendedonlinesfromthetwowinches.Operatingthewinchestogether or separately greatly increases thetankviewingoptions.
Other inspection requirementsThere are however many other under-
waterinspectionrequirementsonfishfarms.The above considered the ‘product’ whilethe following considers thehigh value assetrepresentedby thepens, anchorsandenvi-ronment. This is where All Oceans andtheirassociatecompanyAC-CESSareagainprovidingsupport.TheAC-ROVmicroROV(Remotely Operated Vehicle) is a revolu-tion in micro ROV design. Never beforehad a companymanufactured a robust andmanoeuvrable system that came in such asmallpackageastobeabletobedeployedandoperatedbyoneperson.Thisseemstobetheperfectsolution.
Distributors of products developed byAC-CESSanditsparentcompanyAllOceansEngineering have also had success in imple-menting the use of bespoke remote visualinspectionsolutionsforthemonitoringoffishin fish farms worldwide. In northern EuropeinNorwayandFinlandremotevisual inspec-tionisincreasinglybeingintegratedintoevery
Chilean salmon farmingThe southern region of the South-
American continent is normally known asPatagonia.Itispossibletodistinguishbetweentwo ‘Patagonia’s’, the Argentinean side, andtheChileanone.Due to the fact that therearetheAndesinbetween,bothregionshaveacompletelydifferentclimatology.
This new concept is based on the factthat theArgentinean part ismostly arid andthe Chilean side has a temperate-humidclimatology. Similar toNorway, this areahasan immense amount of fjords and channels.Hundreds of islands, including underwatervolcanoes make this region unique in theworldandidealforaquacultureactivities.Duetothepristinewater,thestrongcurrents,thecontinuous water mass exchange and theproximitytofreshwaterreservoirs,animpor-tant salmon farming industry has developedoverthelastthreedecades.
Itstartedasaprojectintheearly80s,withvery small wooden cages. The results weresoencouragingthatasmallindustryfollowed.Uptotheendofthe90s,thesalmonindustryin Chile was growing fast. A lot of thingschangedfromthebeginningsandtheindustrydevelopedfromaveryartisanonetoaverymodernharvestingindustry.
ingsitesarefarbiggerthananywhereelseintheworld.Withnetsof50mindiameterandupto40–45mdeep,theamountofsalmonper cage reached 150 – 200 tonnes andmore. The biggest production sites had upto36suchcagespermoduleandsometimesthree modules in parallel. These huge siteshad tobemooredwithdeadweightsofupto20tonneseach,sometimeswithmorethan700tonnesofweightforeachsite.Thedeepfjordscombinedwithstrongcurrentsandtheactionofwavesmadecompletelynewmoor-ing designs necessary. Problems arose, sinceoftenthemorethan1kmlongmooringlinescrossedeachotherduringinstallationandsuf-fereddamageduringtheoperation.Accidentswithtotalorpartiallossofharvestingsitesandmillionsofdollars in fish lossresultedfromalackofinspectionoftheunderwaterenviron-mentandinstallations.
therearesomepeculiarities relatedwith thisregionattheworld’send:inthiscasethesealions.Thesepredatorsfinditmostinterestingto attack the cages filled up with salmons
in order to complete their diet. Thereforesalmonfarmersneedtoprotectthenetcageswith special sea lion nets that involve theoriginalnets.
TocompletetheimagebeforewelookattheROVs in this context, a coupleofotheraspectshavetobeexplained.Theharvestingsites are all located in relatively protectedinshorewaters,notintheopenPacificOcean.Nevertheless, these waters are all but calm.Withcurrentsofupto fiveknotsanddepthover 500 m, salmon producing companies
havetofightdayindayoutwiththeextremearea they are located in. In comparison,the maximum current velocity in Norway isaround0.5 knots in salmonproducing areas.Extreme weather conditions with very fastchanging winds (there is a lot of ocean andvery few land masses at these latitudes) arejustanotherproblemofworkinginthisarea.
Introducing ROVsInsurance companies started to ask for
better control after the sites were moored
38 | InternAtIonAl AquAFeed | July-August 2012 July-August 2012 | InternAtIonAl AquAFeed | 39
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projectincludedfourtilapiafarmsinChina.Thesefarms represented both small- and commercial-scale production facilities utilising two differentproductionsystems(pondandcages).Asidefromidentifyingsimilaritiesanddifferencesamongcriteriaand requirements used by the three standards,thisprojectalsoidentifiedoutstandingissuesinthefarms,whichmostproducerswereabletoaddressasaresultofthetrialaudit.Todate,allfourfarmsarenowcertifiedunderoneormoreofthecom-mercialaquaculturestandards.
SFP is widely acknowledged for its expertiseby stakeholders in Chinese tilapia, including keyUSandEuropeanbuyersandretailers,aswellasproducers and processors in China, aquacultureinstitutes, industry associations, and localChinesegovernments.GiventhehighleveloftrustthatSFPenjoyswiththetilapiasupplychainitwasappropri-atethatatilapiaAquacultureImprovementProject(AIP)wasofficiallylaunchedin2011.
SFPhasnowinitiatedtworesearchprojectstoassess the impactof tilapia farmingon theexternalenvironment.Thefirstproject,startedinApril2011, involvesmonitoringwaterqual-ityonselected farms inHainanprovince,andwas undertaken by the Hainan Institute ofAquaculture.Dozens ofwater quality param-eterssuchaschemicaloxygendemand(COD),nitrogen and phosphorus content, and heavymetalswereanalysed for five farmsover twocroppings (10 months). The study helped
The second project is an assessment of theregionalenvironmentalimpactsoffishfarmclusters,whichwillbejointlyconductedbySFPandHainanResearchAcademyofEnvironmentalSciences,theleadingenvironmentalresearchinstituteinHainan.Thestudywillexaminethepotential forregionalscaleimprovementbylookingatcarryingcapacityandthepotentialforzoninginaspecificarea.
As more first-hand data becomes available(along with a more in-depth understanding ofexistingpoliciesandmanagementmeasures), theAIPwillestablishaworkinggroupthatconvenesthekeybuyers,suppliersandproducersalongtheChinesetilapiasupply-chaintosharethescientificfindings.TheAIPwillthenformamulti-stakeholderpolicyroundtabletofurtherdiscusstheproblemsandsolutions.TheAIPparticipantswilleventuallyagreeontheactionsandtimetablesnecessarytoachieve the sustainability objectives defined bythegroup.SFPwillplayaleadingroleinengagingstakeholders,providingscientificadviceandfacilitat-ingcommunication.
tions to assessdifferent tilapia standards that areavailable in the market. A workshop introducingthreeinternationalstandardsfortilapiafarming,i.e.BAP,GlobalGAP, andASC,was held inHaikou
inApril,2011.Over40farmers,processors,tech-nicians and government officers attended theworkshop.Participants found theworkshopveryinformativeandhelpful.Thisenhancedtheproduc-ers’awarenessofincreasingdemandsforcertifiedsustainable seafood from overseas markets, thusfurther facilitating the engagement of Chinesestakeholders into a supply-chaindialogue aroundsustainability.
SFPiscurrentlyworkingwithlocalinstitutesofaquacultureandenvironmentalsciencestoidentifyand evaluate both qualitatively and quantitativelythe environmental impacts of tilapia farming inHainan.Thisincludesanecologicalstudyaswellassocio-politicalanalysistoadviselocalgovernmentsandindustrialassociationsabouthowtoefficientlyaddress theenvironmental issuesassociatedwithtilapiafarminginHainan.ThepreliminaryresultswillbesharedwithkeystakeholdersattheAquaculturePolicyRoundtablethisfallinChina.
SFP is also developing partnerships withChineseuniversitiesandlargefeedmanufacturersto improve feed sourcing for tilapia farming inChina. This work is to be undertaken throughresearch projects on improving feeding efficien-cy and developing alternative feeds with fewerimpactsonwildfisheries.
More InforMatIon:Sustainable Fisheries PartnershipWebsite: www.sustainablefish.org
26 | InternAtIonAl AquAFeed | July-August 2012 July-August 2012 | InternAtIonAl AquAFeed | 27
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and during the operational time. Additionalproblems arose through heavy bio-fouling,increasing theweight of the nets by four tofive times their original mass. This was themomentwhereROVsappearedonthescene.Mariscopestartedwiththefirstinspectionsfortheinsurancecompaniesaround2002.
Initially just a couple of mooring lineswere inspected from the top buoy to theseabed. These inspections demonstrated a
lot of problems in the way moorings weredeployed.Bigrisksforthesalmoncompaniesand for the insurance companies appeared.More and more, complete and periodicalinspections took place, reducing the amountof accidents and the risk of losing sites andstock.
Additionally, mooring companies had thepossibilitytochecktheirworkandlearnhowtochangeprocedurestobemoreefficient.
Divers to ROVsDivershadbeenusedsincethebeginning
to inspect the sea lion nets and to repairthem. Since these nets sometimes reach asdeepas70m,divetimeisreducedalsoreduc-ing the cost effectiveness of using a diver.Through lax regulations and control diversveryoftensuffersevereinjuriesfromthelonganddeepexposureandmortalityamongtheindustrydiversstillremainsrelativelyhigh.AsaconsequenceROVsstartedtobeusedper-manently for the net inspections. The divers
that had been diving for years repairing andinspectingthenetscannowbefoundoperat-ingtheROVs.
Over the last couple of years, the fishfarmingindustryinChilesufferedfromseveraldiseases, some of them as a result of overproduction and increased stock density. Theindustry was hardest hit in 2007 after theinfectious salmon anemia outbreak, whichdepletedstocksdrastically.
Followingthis,lawsinChilewerechangedso that divers and the equipment that serv-iced the divers had to go through stringent
disinfectionprocessesbeforeandafterleavingthefishpens.FormanyfishfarmsthisassertedROVs as themost cost effective and simplesolutionformonitoring.
Some of the larger companies, such asMarine Harvest, have developed ROVs tocleanawaythedeadfishkilledbydiseasefromthebottomof thenetsusing ‘liftup’ suctiontubes attached to the ROVs. Additionally,over the years therehasbeenan accumula-tionofrubbishunderthenetcages.
Sincethisandbio-foulingcontinuestobeaproblemandalsothecopperbasedantifoulingpaintsaredecaying,ROVsareused tocleanthe nets while installed. More and more,ROVs are changing from purely inspectionsystemstolightworkclassunitsthatareabletopickupmaterials,carryinstrumentsorcarryoutcleaningtasks.
Next Generation ROVsAt Mariscope, System Integration is the
basis for new ROVs. These vehicles have acompletely different concept from standardlightworkclassROVs.Normally these typesofvehiclesareequippedwithoneoratbesttwomanipulators,atrackingdeviceandsomekind of sonar. If you then have a couple oflaserpointersandaHDTVcameraonboard,youarealreadyatthetopoftherange.InthecaseofthenewgenerationoflightworkclassROVs,thevehiclesareequippedwithawiderange of oceanographic measuring devices.You can think of them as small underwaterresearchvessels. Sensors likeCO2,H2S,Oilin Water CTDs, Turbidity and Chla just tonameafew,are installedonboardand low-ered under the cages, where other systemscan not get to. Here, under the cages, thesedimentsgrowandarecontaminatedduetotheactivitiesonthesurfaceandarethefocusfornewdiseases.Measurementswillhelptheproducers to take the correct decisions forthefutureoftheirsites.
But theseunderwater labsarealsousefulinotherbrancheslikeoffshore,research,pol-lutiondetection,salvageoperationandothers.Themorerealdatayouhave,thebetteryouwill be able to take operational decisions.Modern, high efficient microprocessor basedROVelectronics, coupledwithhigh-endsen-sors and measuring devices are opening anew world of opportunities for light workclassandmicro-ROVs. ■
