Early warning system targets Norway
PORTUGUESE start-up Undersee has developed an early warning system that allows users to monitor water quality without dealing with sensors maintenance.
Due to the lack of a real-time solution of water monitoring, the economic losses for aquaculture caused by harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been estimated at €919 million per year in the EU, said the company.
Even if an algae bloom is not toxic, an early warning system is valuable to prevent production losses and help optimise feeding.
The system monitors chlorophyll A and, based on this and information shared by the European Space Agency, which funds the firm, they can give a risk assessment, said Tiago Cristóvão, co-founder and COO of the company.
‘If there is already an algal bloom, we can’t do anything, but we can tell if the probability of it happening is high or low, based on the information we are collecting.
‘One of the major differences between our device and current monitoring technologies is that we install our device on the surface, not in the water, and we collect the water, we monitor it, and we push it out.’
Among other features, producers will access predictions about dissolved oxygen for the days ahead, and early warnings by SMS or email about possible algae bloom threats or severe oxygen depletion events.
Cristóvão said the sales focus was on the Norwegian sector, and this year the company was completing pilots with Norwegian institutes and aquaculture companies.
The reason they want to start selling in Norway is because not only is it the biggest salmon market, but it also owns much of Scotland’s sector too.
Their target is 10 per cent of the market – so out of Norway’s 5,000 cages, they want to be in 500.
“We can tell if the probability of an algal bloom is high or low”