Utvikling av et nytt system for biomassemåling av fisk

Biomass measurement of fish is one of the large unsolved problems for the fish farming industry. Knowing the value of your inventory is taken for granted in most industries, but this is not the case for fish farmers, since their inventory spends their life under water, inaccessible. Knowing the exact weight and size of the fish has been an area of interest since the first fish was farmed, and several solutions have been developed and used. A common factor with all current solutions is that they do not have satisfactory exact measurements, which makes their output more of a statistical exercise rather than one of actual precise measurements. Also, the number of measurements current solutions enable is troublesome, in that the results should speak for a population of nearly 200 000 fish. For the fish farmers, the issues with today´s solutions means they are losing large sums every year, mainly due to the following factors: 1. They sell their fish one week in advance of harvesting, and if they sell the wrong amount, either too much or too little, this costs them money. 2. Not knowing the weight of your fish at any given time means two things: a. Cannot produce the maximum amount of salmon as defined by the concessions in the fish farmer´s ownership b. Cannot feed the fish optimally 3. Having a vague inventory is negative, especially for those farmers traded publically 4. Using the wrong dosages when treating disease could lead to having to repeat treatments According to SINTEF these factors cost the industry more than a billion NOK every year. Optomar AS aims to solve these problems by tackling the issue in both ends: Ensure a very high precision in every measurement, as well as enabling more measurements than are made today. The development has largely been on track, and the project is budgeted to reach the ambitions put forth on time and cost. The project had a goal of developing a system for biomass measurement using structured light. From very early on we have been focused on testing new developments in real life. This has meant a lot of trips to fish farms for testing. By doing this we have spent the bulk of the time on the largest obstacles faced, which we mean is important for the success of the project. At the end of this project we have developed a unique system for biomasse measurement. All the activities listed in the application have led to the creation of the system we call "BioScope". There are still improvements to be made with this device, but we have now shown both in laboratory and in field work that it works as intended. The company has received funding from both investors and banks in order to further commercialise the results from this project. This project has been extremely important for the creation of OptoScale as a company, and we are forever grateful to the Research Council of Norway for this.

Biomassemåling er et av oppdrettsnæringens store uløste problemer. Å vite hvor mye man har på lager og kan selge av noe er en selvfølge i de aller fleste næringer, men i oppdrettsnæringen er dette en utfordring siden varelageret stort sett er utilgjengelig. Å vite nøyaktig vekt og størrelse på fiskene man har i vannet har vært en aktuell problemstilling i oppdrettsindustrien lenge, og ulike løsninger har vært utviklet og testet over tid. Problemet med alle kjente løsninger er at de er basert mer på statistikk enn på gode enkeltmålinger, som gir utfordringer med svært store feilmarginer og dermed unøyaktighet i størrelser, fordeling av vektklasser og total biomasse. Man får heller ikke et høyt nok antall målinger, noe som har gjort de statistiske modellene lite robuste. For oppdretterne betyr dette at de årlig taper store summer grunnet manglende kunnskap om fiskens vekt: 1. Man forhåndsselger feil mengde fisk og må betale kompensasjon ved avvik 2. Biomassekontroll - å ikke vite hvor mye fisk man har til enhver tid betyr to ting: a. Man får ikke full utnyttelse av konsesjonsbestemt mengde b. Man kan ikke gi optimal fôring for tilvekst 3. Varelageret er usikkert, noe som spesielt er negativt for børsnoterte selskaper 4. Feildosering ved sykdomsbehandling kan føre til ekstra behandlinger I sum koster disse problemene næringen mer enn èn milliard kroner årlig ifølge SINTEF-rapporten Konsekvensanalyse - utredning rundt følgene av feilestimering av biomasse i sjøbasert oppdrett. Optomar AS vil løse problemet i begge ender - sørge for svært høy presisjon i målingene, samt sørge for at man kan gjøre mange målinger.