Sustainable industrial fish production using AI and advanced data analytics

Land-based recirculating aquaculture (RAS) is an industrial production sector that is growing in Sweden and internationally. There is a large, untapped potential to use sensors, AI and advanced data analysis to optimize operations for significantly increased economic and ecological sustainability.

The study aims to make industrial land-based fish production more circular and sustainable using AI and advanced data analytics.

According to the UN, we should eat more fish and fish needs to be farmed to a greater extent. The government wants Sweden's aquaculture to grow and contribute with sustainable food and jobs in rural areas, but we still import more than 90 percent of the farmed fish we eat.

Why land-based fish farming needs smarter tools

To achieve the goals of increased sustainable fish production, a diversity of techniques and farmed species that can be optimized for the prevailing environment is needed. RAS farms are fully or partially closed systems with strong barriers between the farmed fish and the environment. This allows fish farm locations in areas without proximity to water and in areas where increased nutrient loading is not sustainable.

In closed systems, water quality is crucial for the survival, health and welfare of the fish and thus for optimal production and final product quality. RAS fish farming requires high-tech pumping and purification processes, water quality measurement and observation and interpretation of animal behavior. Here, the development potential is huge, mainly in the area of combining the biological knowledge of the different behaviors of the fish with the measurement and analysis of technical parameters and how to develop this further through advanced data analysis and AI to achieve optimized operation and control.

Research and industry working together for a sustainable blue future

The project is innovative in its multidisciplinary and "bottoms-up" approach, where academic experts in AI, sensors, water treatment and fish biology, behavior, health and welfare collaborate to solve urgent challenges identified by the aquaculture industry. The long-term aim is to optimize farmed fish production in a growing RAS industry. The innovative technologies to be developed in the project aim to achieve significantly reduced operational costs with increased profitability and growth of the participating industries.

IVL is leading the project and is responsible for sensors, AI and data analysis. The project is a feasibility study, which will result in a proposal on how AI and advanced data analysis can be further developed and implemented to make land-based fish production more economically and environmentally sustainable while ensuring fish health and welfare.