FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
MATURING ROV TECHNOLOGY The new Micro ROV standard Offshore aquaculture is considered a very dangerous and strenuous occupation. Subsea inspections are currently one of the most frequent aquaculture operations. A tear in a net can cause a farm to lose its fish stock which directly affects its bottom line.
By Eduardo Moreno, CEO Seadrone, Palo Alto, USA
F
arms are sanctioned by regulatory agencies and insurance companies for fish escapes. Farms are also mandated to inspect their structures to minimise fish escapes, which threaten the wild fish ecosystem. The primary consequence is farmed fish transferring diseases and pathogens like sea lice, genetic impact because of interbreeding, and also competition for food. To help solve this issue, remotely operated vehicles (ROV) can be utilised. ROV operations can help reduce human risk in offshore aquaculture operations and consequently lower an operator’s liability. ROV and diving operations will be
compared addressing the main strengths and weaknesses of each.
A huge opportunity to make fish farming safer
Humans are not biologically engineered to spend long hours underwater, and ROV technology has been used for many years, but this technology is still in an early adoption phase, similar to where aerial drones were a decade ago. There is a huge opportunity to make fish farming safer and more efficient all at once. SeaDrone believes that mature hardware and connected software will begin to disrupt this industry. SeaDrone can help farm operators gather more holistic inspection data and pair it with intuitive analytics, which in turn will allow them to drive actionable results and lower their insurance costs. Today, inspections are highly dependent on manual labour. A three-to-four man dive group with highly specialised diving
40 | September 2018 - International Aquafeed