December 10, 2019

Japanese IOT companies take on more prominent role to improve local aquaculture

Companies in Japan are taking advantage of opportunities in the field of Internet of Things (IOT) due to the country's recent Fisheries Reform Act, RTInsights reported.

As a result, these companies are introducing technologies that will help enhance efficiency and production in the domestic aquaculture sector. In support of these efforts, Japan's Fisheries Reform Act provides them with access to underutilised aquaculture sites which were once reserved for local fisheries.

At the recent Japan International Seafood and Technology Show, and the Tokyo Seafood Sustainability Symposium, several of these companies showed off their newest products for aquaculture.

Umitron K.K introduced the Umitron Cell 2 at the Japan International Seafood and Technology Show. It is a new smart feeding system that uses IoT technology and operates using solar power and satellite connectivity. The application can also be controlled from a smartphone.

When used with the company's Umitron's Fish Appetite Index (which the company claims is the first real-time ocean-based fish appetite detection system), timing of feedings and volume of feed can be optimised to reduce waste. It uses machine learning and image analysis to pull data from video streams to determine fish appetite.

Cellphone carrier KDDI introduced Akabot II at the Tokyo Seafood Sustainability Symposium. Akabot II is a drone that flies over the ocean and takes deep water samples. The samples are then analysed to detect incidences of red tides, which can be devastating to certain types of fish, including bluefin tuna, which is a popular farmed fish in Japan. The sooner red tides are detected, the less damage they can do to the fish. Fishermen are notified in around 15 minutes after the water samples are taken.

NTT Docomo introduced an IoT buoy at the same show. The buoy is equipped with sensors and communications equipment. The data collected is sent to a cloud server and can be accessed by a smartphone. Users can see their data as a chart, grid or gauge. The buoy is designed to assist oyster and seaweed farmers by recording three types of water temperatures. The data can be used to estimate spawning times for oysters. The company said they are considering adding wind speed/direction and wave height in a future update.

-  RTInsights