Norway, a global leader in seafood production, especially farmed Atlantic salmon, has been pushing the boundaries in offshore fish farming practices for some time. The country offers an ideal setup for sea-based aquaculture with an extensive coastline and deep, sheltered fjords. Surprisingly, these benefits are not simply tapped to feed the world’s appetite for seafood, with the United States being the largest importer. They are also being channeled into the development of groundbreaking technologies aimed at making offshore fish farming more efficient and sustainable, and hence more scalable.
Beckett Devoe and Tony Tang, students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), recently found themselves at the heart of this pursuit. Accompanied by the MIT Sea Grant and the MIT-Scandinavia MISTI program, the two dived into the world of offshore aquaculture during their summer internships at SINTEF Ocean, a leading research institute in Europe. Their focus? Robotic and autonomous systems designed for aquaculture, an attempt to blend technology and seafood production in a way that challenges the norm and sets a precedent for the future.
Before their journey to Norway, Devoe and Tang had already participated in related research through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at MIT. Working on wave generator designs and machine learning tools, their task was to monitor the health of oyster larvae. While the United States has made significant strides in aquaculture research, particularly in near-shore environments, open-ocean farming with its complexities and challenges remains less mastered, leaving much to glean from Norway’s advanced infrastructure and research ecosystem.
Not to overlook this gap between U.S. research and Norway’s expertise in aquaculture, MIT Sea Grant heralded a unique initiative, AquaCulture Shock, funded by the National Sea Grant College Program. This program invites MIT students for internship opportunities in Norway, to work directly on game-changing projects. Madeline Smith, who spearheads the MIT-Scandinavia initiative, explains that students are thus exposed to not just technical skill development but also gain a rich cultural understanding and a broader global perspective.
The duo, Devoe and Tang, were integrated into the SINTEF Ocean’s Aquaculture Robotics and Autonomous Systems Laboratory or ACE-Robotic Lab, where they endeavored to push forward technologies that hold promise for the future of offshore farming. Devoe worked closely with artificial intelligence, primarily to optimize fish feeding strategies – a crucial process since feed represents the major operational cost. Working with AI models, Devoe strived to analyze factors like fish size and water temperature to propose ideal feeding frequencies, aiding farmers enhance efficiency and promote fish well-being.
Tang, on the other hand, was working with simulations of an underwater robotic system. This system was conceived to inspect and repair cage nets, a vital process in large-scale fish farms. Their venture was against the backdrop of a reality: Norway already hosts thousands of aquaculture robots, and the aim now is to improve their autonomy. Emboldening Tang’s contribution, Sveinung Ohrem, SINTEF’s research manager, pointed out the infeasibility of having each of those thousands of robots controlled by individual people, highlighting the necessity for smarter, autonomous systems.
This collaborative project marks yet another milestone in the enduring partnership between MIT and Norwegian establishments such as the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and SINTEF. In 2023, MIT Sea Grant welcomed Dr. Eleni Kelasidi, a researcher from SINTEF’s ACE-Robotic Lab. Now a professor at NTNU, Kelasidi is at the helm of the Field Robotics Lab, directing efforts towards the development of robotic systems capable of functioning in harsh, dynamic marine conditions.
Kelasidi talks passionately about aquaculture, which she describes as one of the most challenging sectors for autonomous systems. Everything is moving in this field – the water, the fish, and the equipment. She emphasized the need for an interdisciplinary approach, combining biology with engineering and avoiding a one-size-fits-all attitude to different environments.
During their time in Norway, the MIT students visited Singsholmen, a major fish farm run by SalMar, the world’s second-largest salmon producer. They saw first-hand the operation of vast circular net pens, capable of holding up to 200,000 salmon, underlining the sophisticated scale and complexity of contemporary aquaculture. As Tang puts it, physically experiencing the infrastructure drives home the depth of the modern aquaculture operation.
Keen to continue this exciting journey, MIT Sea Grant and MISTI are calling for a new batch of students interested in autonomy, deep learning, simulation modeling, and underwater robotics to intern in Norway next summer. The program finds its basis in a collective approach to learning and progress. As Kelasidi aptly puts it, we need to face these challenges together to construct the robust systems that the industry needs for future growth.
For students interested in applying or learning more, they can reach out to Lily Keyes at MIT Sea Grant. They can find more information in the original article.
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