Application of IoT in Fish Farm or Aqua Farms

The internet is a rapidly growing technology. This advancement of internet technology has opened many new use cases of it. Every day many new devices are made which are nothing without internet. In the internet of things (IoT) model every possible physical device around us can communicate with another device without human intervention. This tsunami of connected devices has gone beyond computers and smart phones. Now connected cars, smart homes, wearable devices, assembly lines of factories, urban security systems etc. are equipped with IoT sensor networks.

The focus of this article is mainly on the potentials of IoT technology in fish farming. This is a type of Aquaculture, also recognized as aqua farming, is a form of farming of animals living is water with the help of sensors in order to avoid any danger. Traditional methods of monitoring of water quality and other parameters mainly depend on the experience of farmers. The situation is not as simple as it seems. Farmers take samples of water at different times and use some chemical techniques to calculate different parameters such as temperature, pH value, oxygen level etc. But possibility of human error and lack of collected samples are some flaws of these time taking procedures. Water pollution is the major cause of fish deaths and results in financial and production loss. According to some researches, using IoT sensor networks this rate can be reduced by 30% to 40%. Hence increases productivity and profit.

IoT technology can change the future of fish farming. Using IoT sensors a fast and intelligent fish farm can be established. IoT sensors collect and send data to control center via some wireless or wired media depending upon the application. Now farmers can monitor the water quality and other parameters in real-time. IoT sensors can monitor water quality on regular basis, make reports and send any warning if these variables go beyond the threshold level.

In addition to this, fish farmers can also control these things from remote location. Lets take an example imagine a micro-controller (a processing chip) in an IoT sensor is continuously observing the oxygen level in a fish pond. It automatically switches ON and OFF the aerators to keep the oxygen level within a desired range. The farm management could also receive an alarm in real time if needed. So they can take necessary action. This is cost and energy saving.

Some Other Advantages of IoT sensors in Fish Farming

  1. Fish Counting

Fish farms always try to have better control of the inventory. XperCount is an IoT- enabled device has the ability to count the fish. This device has an online portal where farmers can access the data.

  1. Save Cost on Overfeeding

UmiGarden is a device used to observe the behaviour of fish. This uses IoT sensors, machine learning and facial recognition algorithms to determine either fish are ready to feed or not. The IoT data collected is used for further research the behaviour of different species of fish.

Similarly eFishery is an Indonesian based company which provides an automatic fish feeder system which can be controlled by a smart phone application. Company is also working on an IoT sensor which could be able to find how much the fish are hungry by monitoring the movement of fish. This is based on the Idea if fish are hungry they create more turbulence in water. So it opens the feeder otherwise feeder remains shut off.

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