Page 20 - Norway export Seafood, Fishing&Aquaculture 2018-19

Can Math Help Farm Salmon

in the Oceans?

Kongsberg Maritime plans to predict the behaviour of one million
salmon in the world’s fi rst offshore aquaculture laboratory.

By Valeria Criscione

In the 1970s, Norwegian professor Jens SalMar in January 2017 to develop the contract. Shortly thereafter, one million
Glad Balchen at Engineering Cybernetics at cybernetic technology supporting the salmon were deposited into the steel wagon-
the Norwegian University of Technology and Ocean Farm 1 project. It was the fi rst wheel like cage offshore Sør-Trøndelag.
Sciences (NTNU) dreamed of modelling the Norwegian project to receive a development Kongsberg will now work on developing the
oceans so that fi sh could virtually swim in a license under the Ministry of Fisheries and two mathematical models for SimSalma and
computer. The goal was to mathematically Coastal Affairs’ new incentive scheme CyberFish.
calculate conditions so that scientists could created to stimulate new technology
simulate the way fi sh behave under water concepts that help relieve the acreage CyberFish uses a sensor tag, developed
and eventually determine how to control it. problem and promote sustainable farming. by Prediktor Medical, to monitor the
physiological parameters of the salmon,
Today, his mathematical vision is being The Ocean Farm 1 project will both push such as heart rate and metabolism (i.e. how
fulfi lled in the world’s fi rst fl oating laboratory fi sh farming into the most remote and much energy the fi sh uses when feeding
for remote offshore aquaculture at SalMar’s exposed waters and create the world’s and growth rate). SimSalma, on the other
Ocean Farm 1 project. Together with NTNU, fi rst automated offshore aquaculture hand, uses data from several hundred
SINTEF Ocean in Trondheim, and Institute development project. The main goals sensors to look at the external factors
of Marine Research in Bergen, Kongsberg of the three-year-partnership are two- around the fi sh. For example, how the fi sh
Maritime is developing two mathematical fold: satisfy the Norwegian regulatory are reacting to feeding, noise, oxygen, water
models - SimSalma and CyberFish – that requirements for the development license temperature, water current, light, cage wall,
could revolutionize the fi sh farming industry and create the next-generation monitoring and neighbouring fi sh.
to a whole new level with artifi cial intelligence and support tool for sustainable and optimal
(AI). production of fi sh. This method is unprecedented, according
to Hukkelås. Fish have been tagged before
“He was about 40 years too early,” says In September 2017, Kongsberg Maritime to track their position and velocity in order
Thor Hukkelås, director of aquaculture R&D fi nalized the fi rst step of the delivery to monitor their health. A slow moving fi sh
at Kongsberg Maritime and NTNU alumni
with a master’s degree in engineering
cybernetics. “If you want to control
behaviour, you have to build mathematical
models of the ocean. Now this is possible
both because of the development of sensors
and computer power. We are simulating one
million individual (salmon) in a standard PC.”

Do the Math
Kongsberg Maritime entered into a three-
year partnership agreement with Norway’s

The world’s fi rst offshore
fi sh farm Ocean Farm 1.
© SalMar

20