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Quietly, the commercial fishing and aquaculture sectors are embracing advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize their understanding of the global seafood industry and their operational methods within it. From automating aquaculture practices to monitoring illicit fishing vessels in the vast ocean, AI is reshaping interactions among fishers, regulators, and producers in oceans worldwide.
The adoption of AI is most prominent in aquaculture, where machine learning is utilized to monitor systems, categorize animals and products, and automate feeding processes. Based on data from CrunchBase, Eric Enno Tamm, CEO and Co-Founder of ThisFish, approximates that the seafood industry has invested over USD 610 million (EUR 565 million) in AI-related initiatives, with the bulk of these investments originating from the top 10 global aquaculture companies.
For instance, Mowi, the world's largest salmon-farming company, has collaborated with Aberdeen University and the Scottish Association for Science (SAMS) to trial AI for detecting sea lice in net-pen salmon farms in the U.K. Traditionally, identifying sea lice involved lab-testing water samples under a microscope, a process taking several days. In the trial, an AI trained with thousands of holographic images of sea lice autonomously detects them in camera images.
While aquaculture reaps significant benefits from AI, other segments of the seafood industry are also leveraging this technology. Notably, AI is transforming understanding of ocean activities and aiding regulators in ensuring compliance. Organizations like Global Fishing Watch (GFW) utilize AI to monitor commercial fishing activity in the open ocean, revealing previously undisclosed industrial fishing.
In the United States, NOAA Fisheries explores integrating AI into its surveys and fishery-monitoring duties. Manual video analysis for survey work is resource-intensive, taking a year to process data from the Gulf Fishery Independent Survey of Habitat and Ecosystem Resources. NOAA's collaboration with Mississippi State University-Northern Gulf Institute and Kitware Inc. aims to develop AI-powered software for automating fish detection and tracking in videos, reducing reliance on manual processing.
Regulators anticipate AI tools will transform electronic monitoring programs, making remote observation of commercial fishing operations more feasible. NOAA plans to test AI in its bottom trawl clam survey, aiming to improve algorithms and provide data for further development.
NOAA has embraced AI as a strategic focus area since 2019, establishing the NOAA Center for Artificial Intelligence to promote technology adoption agency-wide. These applications represent just a fraction of AI's potential in the seafood industry, which spans marine mammal tracking, seafood marketing, inventory management, and aquaculture automation.
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