The Ribeira, Spain-based Galician Aquaculture Technology Center (CETGA) has received funding from the government of Spain to pursue the application of artificial intelligence technologies to improve aquaculture production processes.
The “Aquaculture 4.0” project received EUR 260,805 (USD 283,950) from Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food to find ways to use AI to conduct biomass analysis; welfare monitoring; water condition optimization; and simplification of decision-making. The project, which is jointly operated with the Polytechnic University of Madrid, is also studying the use of hyperspectral image analysis to further these goals, according to a CETGA press release. The project began in 2021 and is slated to wrap up in the second half of 2023.
“The objective of the project is to improve the production chain of individuals of a certain species found in aquaculture facilities, from the sowing of the larvae until their arrival in the distribution chain. With this improvement, they will try to maximize the production of the tanks and improve the quality of the final product,” it said. “In addition, in this project, new equipment and techniques are being tested with which to evaluate the number of fish and the biomass of the stock. In this way, they will be able to start with the study of the behavior of the fish for their modeling, to which they will add functions with artificial intelligence in the future.
CETGA is a private research center with 26 full-time staff designed to be founded in 2002 to create “innovative solutions to companies for the improvement of products, processes, and systems, improving competitiveness … [and] creating new business opportunities.” Its projects are financed directly by other companies or through public funds obtained through domestic and international grants.
CETGA works in alignment with the European Union’s prioritization of aquaculture as a prioritized sector for strategic development. Additionally, in the past, it has advised the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Photo courtesy of CETGA
