In the last days of August, the company Wes Trade concluded the Marina project, a Machine learning algorithm correlation and prediction of fish stress derived by water quality and impact of microplastics in the sea on maltese tuna fish farms, co-financed by Xjenza Malta under R&I Excellence program 2023.
The main aim of Marina project was to advance the automation capabilities for monitoring tuna fish and developing an accurate algorithm capable of sizing tuna fish kept in local offshore farms.
Aquaculture has become a significant source of food production globally, and this increase in scale demands more sustainable and technologically advanced practices. Traditional manual monitoring methods, which rely on sporadic and inconsistent data collection, have become insufficient for modern needs due to their high labor costs, inefficiencies, and inaccuracies.
The industry is facing challenges like optimizing feed strategies, maintaining fish health, and ensuring environmental sustainability of operations. Therefore, the integration of technology in fish farming has become essential. For these reasons, this project targets the development of an automated monitoring systems for bluefin tuna farms off the coast of Malta.
It utilizes an underwater camera, deep learning algorithms, and computer vision to measure fish biomass accurately in real-time. Biomass estimation is a crucial metric in aquaculture as it provides insights into the overall health and growth of the fish population.
Accurately determining fish biomass can help farm operators adjust feeding strategies in real time, ensuring that fish are fed the optimal amount of food to promote growth while minimizing waste and environmental impact.
This purpose aligns with the broader goal of enhancing and optimizing the sustainability and productivity of the aquaculture industry in Malta through cutting-edge technological innovation. Specifically, the project aims to refine machine learning algorithms, integrate real-time streams, and optimize practical implementation strategies to achieve more accurate and efficient monitoring of fish length and biomass.
To achieve these results Wes Trade was supported by the company Apogee Evolution Ltd and the end user Fish and Fish Ltd, who offered real time environment on open sea cages where MARINA system was installed.
The research phase of this project has successfully integrated underwater camera system to monitor tuna in real-time. This camera is designed to function in a challenging marine environment, providing valuable data on fish behavior, size, and overall health.
By analyzing these images, the research team is developing tools that allow fish farmers to make better decisions about feeding schedules and farm management. The current system is already improving operational efficiency, reducing the need for manual data collection, and providing insight into fish behavior during feeding times.
Building on the success of this first phase, the project’s next step aims to take monitoring technology to a new level. The team plans to introduce stereoscopic cameras, which will capture 3D images of the fish, allowing for even more precise measurement of their size and biomass.
