AI/ML Holds the Key to Sustainable Aquaculture

Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS) interviewed Bryton Shang, Founder and CEO of Aquabyte earlier this month. Technology company Aquabyte uses machine learning and computer vision to improve fish farming sustainability.

How does machine learning help make aquaculture more sustainable?

Machine learning can help farmers run their farm more efficiently. We build software that helps farmers, for example, count sea lice so they can better assess fish health or determine the weight of their fish—something that’s critical to understanding whether they’re growing efficiently and eating the right amount of food. We also help detect other indicators of fish health.

Our software uses an underwater camera that goes into the fish pen and takes pictures of the fish. We then run that through machine learning algorithms, like those used to run Tesla’s autopilot system, to recognize health indicators and ID markers on the fish. That information is then uploaded to a website where the fish farmers can see charts and dashboards about what’s happening in their fish pens and make better decisions based on data.

What role do you see technology playing in the evolution of aquaculture in the United States?

Growing the U.S. aquaculture industry is really a question of how much fish can you grow while maintaining a sustainable environment. It’s understanding things such as the effect of parasites and pollution. So how does technology help? Technology like ours is used in salmon and trout farms in Norway and Chile to demonstrate that fish farms are sustainable and aren’t polluting the environment. We’re able to monitor the number of pollutants and parasites that are coming from these farms, and in turn that allows the industry to grow transparently and sustainably. With technology, farmers can now measure weight and pollution for the first time, which addresses the main concerns people have about fish farms, and thereby helps facilitate growth. 

How can the expansion of aquaculture here in the U.S., through policies and regulations, help entrepreneurs like yourself and others in this industry, grow their business here in America?

We started our business in California, and the first place I thought to look was California fish farms or other farms in the U.S. What we realized was that there are a lot of folks who are passionate about aquaculture in the U.S., but there’s quite a few hoops to jump through to get the permitting you need to grow a sustainable industry, and the jurisdiction is unclear regarding which agencies are responsible for what. For us starting a new business, we needed to go where we could find customers who could support us, so one of the first places we looked beyond the U.S. was Norway, which produces about half of the world’s salmon.

The U.S. has an opportunity to be a leader in the global aquaculture industry– not only helping to grow our economy and create more jobs, but also by creating a more sustainable future for our country. Aquaculture is a meaningful solution to global food deficits and the U.S. can and should be leading the way. But before that can happen, we need federal action to support the expansion of an aquaculture industry here in the U.S. We need to put in place the proper federal policies and regulations that will allow the aquaculture industry to expand here in the U.S.