Three Japanese companies have announced a joint project intended to test new aquaculture technology and model sustainable partnerships in the industry.
The project entails the creation of a remote automated feeding system designed by Osaka-based machinery company Yanmar Holdings, which said that the increasing importance of aquaculture to global food security and ocean health, as well as labor shortages in the industry, had prompted it to build the technology.
Honshu-based Owasebussan Co., a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified sustainable tuna company, will test the remote system at its yellowtail farm in Owase City, Mie Prefecture, which produces over 600,000 fish annually.
Osaka-based food and beverage company Food and Life Companies (F&LC) will evaluate the fish on flavor and quality, with plans to sell it at locations of its popular conveyor-belt sushi chain Sushiro.
The feeding system uses a novel seaweed feed mixing technique that reduces energy costs and is compatible with submersible fish pens. If the first phase of testing is successful, the remote automated feeding system will then be tested in submerged pens.
The companies said that the partnership allows them to leverage one another's strengths to move the industry forward, providing an end-to-end demonstration from production to distribution which can serve as a sustainable fisheries business model.
In recent years, a number of aquaculuture firms have invested heavily an experimenting with and implementing remote and automated feeding systems intended to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and meet sustainability goals.
