AWARD YEAR
2019
CATEGORY
Work
GOALS
Life Below Water
KEYWORDS
Animal welfare, aquaculture, sea lice
COUNTRY
Norway
DESIGNED BY
EGGS Design
WEBSITE
https://ecotone.com/automatisk-luseteller-fra-ecotone/?lang=en
Spectralice sea lice monitoring
Ensuring fish welfare with sea lice (parasite) monitoring in the aquaculture industry
A common problem in the aquaculture industry is sea lice. This particular parasite causes significant damage to farmed fish and is a threat to the health of wild salmon, thus an environmental threat. SpectraLice is fully automatic sea lice counter giving fish farmers an essential tool for constant monitoring of the sea lice situation. Counting lice manually is still common practice.
The device, composed of a camera using UHI (Underwater Hyperspectral Imaging) and sensors, continuously counts lice on the salmon as they are swimming in the cage. The system sends information about the amount and type of lice in real time to a control centre without manually handling the fish. The sea lice data is much more reliable, and salmon producers can make better-informed decisions of delousing ensuring animal welfare. The improved precision can provide useful data which can help get a better overview of the situation throughout the aquaculture industry and contribute to further research.