Live plankton analysis system (LPAS)
Project Summary
Project life: 18 months
Anticipated Benefits
This project looks to develop an instant, accurate assessment of types and levels of plankton in the water surrounding fish farms, in order to work as an early warning system for the farmers.
£273k
Total Value
59%
Industry Contribution
17%
SAIC Contribution
17%
CENSIS contribution
6%
Academia Contribution
Partners
- OTAQ Ltd
- University of Aberdeen
- CENSIS
- SAIC
Salmon farmers face significant challenges from various forms of plankton and algae. Detecting them early is vital and currently involves either a laborious manual process or expensive and complicated stand-alone sensors which do not provide live information.
The vision of the project is to complete the development of a Live Plankton Analysis System (LPAS) which will give salmon farmers instant, accurate assessment of the type and levels of plankton and algae approaching their farm and will form the basis of a true early warning system.
The expected outcome of the project is to develop a fully operational and tested prototype system which has been verified in the lab in collaboration with the expertise of Iain Fraser Cytometry Centre (IFCC) at the University of Aberdeen. Real-world field testing on marine salmon farms is expected to demonstrate the accuracy of the system.