PROJECT SUMMARY

Hatfield Consultants Ltd. (Hatfield), in collaboration with ACRI-st and Apolloni Virtual Studios (AVS), are collaborating on a project entitled ‘Integrating Earth Observation into Aquaculture Facilities Monitoring in Southern Chile’, hereafter referred to as the “Chile Aquaculture Project” (CAP). This project is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) under the Call for Innovative Earth Observation Market Development Actions (EOMD).

CAP targets the rapidly expanding aquaculture industry, specifically monitoring programs of multinational companies, such as Mainstream Chile. The project was developed as a result of discussions with Mainstream Chile, in an effort to address key environmental issues of concern to the industry such as harmful algal blooms (HABs).

Mainstream is part of the Norwegian holding company CERMAQ, a world leader in salmon production. The holding company has operations in Chile, Scotland and Canada and is also a leader in the production of food for salmon and other marine species. Mainstream produces Atlantic salmon, trout and coho salmon. In terms of production volume, the Mainstream Group is the fifth largest fish farming company in the world.

There are an increasing number of environmental and regulatory issues that will require an expansion of existing, and the development of new monitoring and management services. For example, the aquaculture industry suffers extensive losses due to HABs. A recent industry report in Chile estimated that HABs cost the aquaculture industry in excess of US $50 million annually (Rodriguez-Benito et al., 2004). Therefore aquaculture companies are actively searching for new technologies to provide advanced warning of blooms so that these impacts can be minimized. As a result, there is an increasing demand for geo-information to monitor the emergence and movement of HABs, and to provide sufficient lead-time for related mitigation measures to be taken. This presents a market opportunity for EO-based geo-information products and services for monitoring HABs to help reduce losses to existing facilities, and to improve the site selection process for new facilities.

ESA is funding this initiative to demonstrate, and integrate, EO-based services into the monitoring programs of Mainstream Chile. There is a clear business opportunity for the EO industry to develop services for the aquaculture industry, but these potential clients need to gain experience using and integrating EO-based products before making investments into such programs. Mainstream Chile is investing significant resources in this project as a demonstration of their commitment and interest in this initiative.

PROJECT GOALS AND ORGANIZATION

The overall goal of this project is to integrate remote sensing into Mainstream Chile’s aquaculture monitoring programs. Mainstream Chile has a documented interest in integrating remote sensing for monitoring aquaculture facilities, and for taking a proactive approach towards dealing with issues of concern such as HABs.

CAP project objectives are:

1. To understand the environmental geo-information needs of a global aquaculture company and develop a pilot monitoring service to provide advanced warnings of HABs;
2. Develop an information framework for future Near Real Time (NRT) data integration and management;
3. In close collaboration with the client, conduct a full evaluation of products and services developed and formulate a strategy for service improvement; and
4. Develop a commercialization strategy to roll-out products and services to target customers.

The vision for the service is development of a spatial framework to integrate and report water quality and other geo-information through the internet. The integrative capabilities of GIS are ideal for managing and analyzing disparate datasets. A GIS portal could include accurate locations of existing and potential future aquaculture facilities, distribution of in situ monitoring sites, and allow for rapid distribution of dynamic data. Report products in the form of maps and statistical tables will be developed. A pilot “HAB risk assessment index” may involve EO-based algal bloom detection that will initiate acquisition of targeted in situ samples by Mainstream Chile in areas where blooms are been detected, to establish and verify toxicity levels. Importantly, the framework may also be used to integrate other ancillary data associated with specific aquaculture facilities, such as fish growth, health, and feeding, which are of critical importance to Mainstream Chile.

Within the scope of this project, the focus will be on assessment of current in situ monitoring systems and creating the basic framework for integration of EO and other spatial data. Further development of information management systems may be a future commercial opportunity. Based on discussions with Mainstream Chile (and Mainstream Canada), there is significant room to improve and expand current water quality and facilities monitoring practices.

Hatfield will work in close association with ACRI-st for completion of all technical aspects of the project. Hatfield will focus on securing partnerships with Mainstream Chile and other aquaculture companies, and will be responsible for collection of field data to assist with interpretation of remotely-sensed data. ACRI-st will provide HABs monitoring services, as well as other water quality information from EO data (MERIS/MODIS, and others). AVS will provide marketing and promotional materials to demonstrate the project outputs, both for ESA and for the aquaculture industry.