Extreme weather events, driven by climate change, are having an increasingly severe impact on sea farms, even during winter months. Rising sea temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns disrupt the delicate balance of marine ecosystems, leading to shifts in water quality, oxygen levels, and salinity that can stress stock. Intense storms, high winds, and flooding can halt operations with personnel unable to visit sites and can damage critical assets, while patchy connectivity and power outages exacerbate operational challenges. These changes not only threaten the health and survival of stock but also increase the risk of costly losses, highlighting the urgent need for resilient, continuous monitoring and adaptive technologies in the industry.
Connected Seafarm provides continuous mission-critical data to local and central farm teams from across whole operations, no matter what. In particular, farms located in harsh, isolated environments like the rugged coasts of Scotland.
The Problem: Managing Remote Aquaculture Sites
Our client, a producer operating on the coast of Scotland, relied on manual monitoring to collect critical information such as water quality, equipment condition and local weather to ensure optimal conditions for stock and operational equipment. These processes proposed a lot of challenges:
- Manual Monitoring: Site technicians had to physically visit sites to collect data, a process that was not only labor-intensive but also prone to delays. By the time data was analyzed, it was often outdated, reducing its effectiveness in preventing issues.
- Power and Connectivity Issues: Many of these sites operated with intermittent or no power and faced unreliable cellular coverage, especially during extreme weather events.
- Risk of Losses: The inability to access timely information on site conditions increased the likelihood of catastrophic stock losses and costly equipment failures.
Faced with these limitations, the producer needed a solution that could provide reliable, continuous data access without relying on existing power or cellular infrastructure that in turn will enable them to maintain sustainable processes for optimal stock growth and site safety.
The Krucial Solution: Seamless Digitization
With a transformative approach to digitizing remote aquaculture, Krucial’s Connected Seafarm was deployed to provide continuous monitoring of critical parameters via a suite of wireless weather and water quality sensors with data transferred via a robust hybrid communications platform. Addressing the producer’s challenges in several ways:
- Reliable Connectivity in Any Conditions
Connected Seafarm leverages a combination of cellular and satellite networks to ensure uninterrupted communications, even in areas where cellular coverage is non-existent or during power outages. This hybrid connectivity approach guarantees that critical data flows continuously no matter what.
- Off-Grid Operation
The system is designed to work entirely off-grid, eliminating dependence on local power supplies. This ensures that remote sites can remain operational and monitored, even throughout critical infrastructure failures due to extreme weather conditions – in which it was proven to work for the producer even when a storm cut off the power to the full island meaning operations were still able to be monitored and managed.
- Rapid Deployment
The solution was up and running across one of the producer’s key offshore farms in just a few hours, demonstrating its scalability and ease of implementation.
The Outcomes: A Smarter, More Resilient Seafarm
By deploying Krucial’s technology, the aquaculture producer experienced a dramatic transformation in their operations. The benefits include:
- Continuous Insights into Critical Data
With continuous data streaming from wireless sensors, the producer can now monitor critical environmental parameters 24/7. This has drastically improved their ability to respond to changes in water quality or such as drops in Dissolved Oxygen (DO) or spikes in water temperature, and adverse weather conditions when storms make it unsafe for personnel to visit site to manually take water quality samples.
- Reduced Losses
Timely, actionable data has the power to prevent catastrophic stock losses and minimized equipment failures, leading to significant cost savings and improved operational efficiency.
- Scalable Digitization
Connected Seafarm not only addresses immediate challenges but also paves the way for future innovation. The flexible infrastructure enables producers to expand their monitoring capabilities to include:
- Fuel and feed levels
- Equipment condition monitoring
- Security alerts (e.g., open hatches or doors on barges)
- Algae bloom monitoring
- Remote and centralized feeding
- Enhanced Sustainability
By digitizing operations, the aquaculture producer can optimize resource use and minimize environmental impact, aligning their business with growing global demands for sustainable practices.
The Future of Aquaculture: Lessons from the Connected Seafarm
Krucial’s innovative solution demonstrates the power of technology to solve some of aquaculture’s toughest challenges. By combining reliable connectivity, scalable infrastructure, and continuous data access, producers can unlock new levels of efficiency, resilience, and sustainability.
The case of the Scottish fish farm highlights a crucial shift in the industry: digitization is no longer a luxury but a necessity. As the world continues to grapple with climate change and increasing demand for seafood, connected seafarms like these will play an essential role in securing the future of aquaculture.
Embracing transformative and pioneering technologies such as digital twins, which sees a virtual replica of a fish farm showing critical data points inclusive but not limited to in-situ water quality, low latency video feed, and entire production system monitoring with data accessible 24/7. This provides predictive analysis, enhanced traceability and unprecedented insights into the health and sustainability of both the marine environment and operations.
If you’re an aquaculture operator looking to transform your remote production sites, the time to digitize is now. With Connected Seafarm, you can overcome environmental and operational challenges to build a smarter, more sustainable operations.
Get in touch with the team for more information on how Connected Seafarm can provide critical insights for your farms, regardless of location or available infrastructure.
