The Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST) has approved a new automated method for determining the sexual maturation of farmed salmon proposed by San Francisco, California, U.S.A.-headquartered aquaculture technology company Aquabyte.
“This milestone marks a significant step forward in the digital transformation of aquaculture and fish welfare monitoring," Aquabyte Director of Regulatory and External Affairs Per Erik Hansen said in a statement. "It demonstrates how regulatory authorities, industry, and technology providers can work together to drive real impact.”
Icelandic regulators require fish farmers to monitor the sexual maturity of their salmon to prevent the mixing of wild salmon populations with farm-raised fish. The testing is traditionally a manual, invasive process that can require producers to dissect 200 fish per farm site.
Aquabyte’s solution, by contrast, assesses fish maturation through computer imaging. It provides a standardized reporting mechanism within the Aquabyte User Portal that allows companies to meet regulatory requirements without harming or stressing their fish.
Reykjavik, Iceland-based salmon farmer Arctic Fish partnered with Aquabyte on the development and validation process for the new automated maturation scorer.
“This is an important step forward, and the outcome of the development and validation process conducted at our site in Bolungarvik has been very positive. This new method of automated maturation scoring delivers deeper insight in a way that benefits everyone – from fish farmers and regulators to the fish themselves. It’s about using better data to make better decisions," Arctic Fish COO of Farming John Gunnar Grindskar said in a staatement.
