EXPERT TOPIC SHRIMP
SHRIMP
EXPERT TOPIC Using artificial intelligence to improve shrimp post-larvae quality
by Valerie Robitaille, CEO of XpertSea
F
or years, aquaculture lagged far behind agriculture in the use of advanced technologies, which negatively affected efficiency, profits and sustainability across the industry. But recently, with the introduction of new technologies, we’re starting to see big changes in how fish and seafood are farmed. Canadian technology company XpertSea is now bringing AI and related technologies to the aquaculture industry, which produces more than 50 percent of the sea-based protein consumed around the world. Since 2011, XpertSea has developed solutions that transform aquaculture into a modern, efficient and sustainable source of food for our planet. The XpertSea platform replaces traditional hand-counting with precision hardware and software tools for rapidly counting and analysing aquatic species, with 95 percent accuracy or better. Combining artificial intelligence, computer vision and the Internet of Things, the XpertSea solution is increasing the availability of quality food, reducing the environmental impact of food production, and improving profitability across the aquaculture food chain. The future of aquaculture through animal data In contrast to agriculture, much of the work performed in shrimp hatcheries is still done manually. For example, counting is done by hand. Shrimp post-larvae are still sized by hand to determine growth and feed, and even health assessment is done by visual inspection. All of these methods are unreliable and time-consuming, and as a result the industry tends not to collect much animal data. This creates real challenges, because in a livestock industry, the most important data to collect and understand is the animal data.
32 | July 2018 - International Aquafeed