Scottish Sea Farms is expanding its use of autonomous feed technology across all of its farms in Scotland.
The company said it began using Tidal’s autonomous feeding technology at a site in Orkney, Scotland, which brought together Scottish Sea Farms, Tidal’s AI-powered autonomous feed, and BioMar’s aquaculture feed, producing positive biological results.
“The early experience has been very positive. The results are tracking in line with the expected performance model, which gives us increased confidence in the feeding decisions,” Scottish Sea Farms Regional Production Manager Duane Coetzer said in a release. “By bringing together farming, nutrition, and technology, we can develop a much more precise understanding of what is happening during feeding. This gives us an opportunity to make better-informed decisions while keeping the focus firmly on fish performance and welfare.”
Tidal was launched as a standalone company in 2024 after six years of development at X, the moonshot factory – a project of Google parent company Alphabet. Throughout its development, the company worked with salmon-farming company Mowi to optimize its AI-powered technology, which analyzes fish behavior and provides precise real-time data to salmon farmers.
BioMar UK Commercial Manager Mikey Clarkson said the collaboration between the three companies shows how connecting expertise from multiple points of the value chain can produce positive results across the board.
“When we connect nutrition, fish behavior, and real-time data, we can develop more targeted feeding strategies that support fish performance while also contributing to more efficient use of feed,” Clarkson said. “The collaboration gives us an opportunity to combine our respective expertise and learn from data generated in real farming conditions.”
Scottish Sea Farms said the next phase of the project will allow it to evaluate how Tidal’s autonomous feeding technology performs across different types of operating environments and faming conditions at its locations in Scotland.
Tidal Norway General Manager Anders Fossøy said it is also a chance to test the limits of the company’s installations.
“What is particularly valuable is the opportunity to take the experience from the initial project and test the technology across different farming environments,” he said. “The combination of real-time fish behavior and automated feeding decisions has the potential to make feeding more consistent and data-driven.”
