Dundee, Scotland-based aquaculture technology company Ace Aquatec has expanded the presence of its products into Oceania, with New Zealand-based king salmon producer Mount Cook Alpine Salmon seeing great benefits from the award-winning A-BIOMASS camera at its site in Mount Cook.
A-BIOMASS is an advanced underwater camera designed to bring more efficiency and precision to biomass measurement and distributions of a range of fish species. The camera utilises machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve real-time millimetre accuracy.
Weighing just 8.5kg, the fully-automated camera is smaller and easier to deploy than many others on the market. It leverages the latest AI technologies to ensure consistent average weight and accurate distribution over multiple harvests as they enter their second year of rental.
Mount Cook Alpine Salmon’s farms are located within a network of continuously flowing waterways, connecting three alpine lakes and creating a unique set of circumstances for the A-BIOMASS camera. The camera’s training processes allows Ace Aquatec to tackle some of the toughest environments, like glacial melt water, low light conditions (starlight visibility) and a variety of fish types. This new precision has enabled Alpine Salmon to identify which fish to harvest whilst significantly minimising handling, thereby reducing stress for the fish and creating a safer and less labour-intensive environment for workers.
The device is already improving efficacy for the salmon producer, which markets its products both domestically and as international exports, with 97% accuracy averaged over multiple harvests over the last 18 months, and individual harvests as high as 99.75%.
The partnership marks a milestone moment for Ace Aquatec as other farmers in New Zealand now look to replicate the success of Ace Aquatec’s biomass system.
“Our partnership with Mount Cook Alpine Salmon reflects the global appeal of our products, as we bring Scottish-born technology to the other side of the planet. We’re already seeing that this installation is generating buzz around the benefits of the A-BIOMASS device, and we’re looking forward to expanding its presence in this region and worldwide,” Ace Aquatec Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Tara McGregor-Woodhams said.
Mount Cook Alpine Salmon General Manager Jon Bailey confirmed that the A-BIOMASS camera technology has consistently been very precise, with predictions aligning closely to actual harvest rates and showing increased accuracy across multiple harvests over the past 18 months.
“Individual harvest results have significantly improved, and we hope to expand the use of these devices across more sites in the future to further optimise our operations,” he said.
From its head office in Dundee, Scotland, Ace Aquatec manages global R&D projects, manufacturing at two UK factories, and co-ordinates installers, engineers, and distributors of their products worldwide. It has offices in Chile, Canada and Norway and distribution partners in key markets
