Autonomous Monitoring for Offshore Aquaculture

Aquaculture – with its ability to produce high-quality protein with no need for land, freshwater, or fertilizer – will be key to ensuring adequate food supplies for the world’s growing population. Competition for near-shore space, episodes of poor water quality, and environmental considerations have motivated farmers to shift towards less accessible, more cost prohibitive open ocean farming. Autonomous monitoring can be an effective means of reducing these barriers. Advancements in sensor technologies have allowed for the expansion of remote monitoring in offshore aquaculture farms for water quality and fish behavior. A key requirement of automated offshore monitoring, however, is the transmission of data back to shore. The objective of this research is to design and test an autonomous monitoring system for aquaculture farms that constantly monitors water quality and relays real-time data back to shore via satellite.