World Aquacluture Magazine - September 2020

66 SEP TEMBER 2020 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S.ORG store and manage big data and simultaneously use this data for network analysis and data-driven decision-making. AI has also led to the development of a secure payment mode in aquaculture known as BlockChain that greatly benefit the occurrence of secure transactions and currency exchanges between suppliers and purchasers, thereby verifying fish as a sustainably produced entity. Case Study: AI in India AI-equipped devices using the concept of machine learning have been used in projects undertaken by Aqua Connect, working in partnership with IDH and The Sustainable Trade Initiative, that aim to mitigate the hurdle of reduced production due to increasing shrimp diseases in India. The company designed an app (FarmMOJO), built with the SaaS software, to keep a record of shrimp crops by analyzing feeding and growth patterns to integrate disease surveillance with farm management. The app has been used by over 6000 farmers in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, with a five-fold further increase in 2019. Farmers using the app generated a 5 percent increase in revenue. Aqua Connect charges an amount equal to 0.2-0.5 percent of the total cost of production. (See also: yourstory.com/socialstory/2019/05/ chennai-startup-artificial-intelligence-aqua-farmers ) Limitations Some challenges remain to be solved. Being new to aquaculture, AI must align with the pre-established global competition in the fish market with respect to the main farmed species. Secondly, AI tech investments have greater value for producers of high-value species but are a financially challenging option for poor and needy farmers who are unable to acquaint themselves to adopt this leading technology. It also poses environmental threats, security risks and data ownership conflicts. Therefore, these challenges need to be addressed with widespread awareness and technical training with the help of technical experts in AI. Scope and Prospects AI is projected to expand its horizons in the next few years for sustainable development of aquaculture and could reach to the poorest of the poor. In this context, programming of automatic feeders with timers is expected to expand by establishing the correlation of feeding with different physico-chemical water parameters to ensure accurate food dispersal and distribution. The technology may also reach to full automation of feeding with potential scale-up. It can be expanded to multinational farms with individual standardization within countries. Through its anticipated benefits in aquaculture, AI may boost overall production of intensive aquaculture systems in the near future. It can be a technology that transforms aquaculture into an emerging advanced science. Once incorporated comprehensively, AI could bring large breakthroughs to the industry as a whole. Notes Akruti Gupta, Sanjay Kumar Gupta*, Rishav Sheel, Biplab Sarkar and Manisha Priyam ICAR- Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Namkum, Ranchi, Indi. * Corresponding author: sanfish111@gmail.com (S.K. Gupta) TABLE 2. Developers, devices and key features of artificial intelligence applications in aquaculture. Name of device Developer Key features Umitron Cell Umitron Solar power management of visual surveillance through automated computation; fine-tune feeding equipped with weight sensing; algorithmic estimation of fish appetite index (FAI) and remote FAI metrics determination based on fish behaviour. Plug-and-play AI and Observe Technologies Software based tracker of unused feed navigation with objective data-processing system alerts to identify measurable patterns of exact feeding behaviour; reduction in wastage of feed due to optimization. AquaCloud Seafood Innovation Cluster Cloud-based program to equip prevention of sea-lice infection and development. FarmMOJO app Aqua Connect Multi-faceted advisory application to direct farmers in carrying out varied activities in the farm. Robotic fishes Shoal “Robo-fish”; advanced intelligence and swarm intelligence, (Swarm intelligence) robotic design, chemical analysis, underwater communications and hydrodynamics. Water Quality Monitoring Real Tech Water quality, UV disinfection of water-borne pathogens. Solutions Camera sensors CreateView Sensors that monitor lice, welfare and weight in fish farms for optimization of operations. Sensors and aquaculture The Yield Hardware (sensors), data analytics and user-friendly apps; technology predictive analytics based improved decision-making device. OceanOne Maritime Robotics Underwater navigation system. and Deep Trekker