【2020 Solutions】 AI Fish Farming Increases Yield by 30%, Saves Energy by 50%
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Taiwan is known as the 'Kingdom of Shrimp Farming'. However, due to drastic weather changes and the inability to pass on farming experience, the risks for farmers are increasing. Through AIoT (Artificial Intelligence combined with IoT), Kuanwei Technology has started a trend in smart aquaculture, innovating the traditional aquaculture value.
According to the statistics from the Council of Agriculture, the total fishery production value in Taiwan is around NT$100 billion, of which NT$60 billion is contributed by offshore fisheries through exports, and NT$40 billion is from coastal and aquaculture fisheries. The aquaculture industry, which spans 40,000 hectares, has been a strong support in Taiwan's progress from the 'Kingdom of Eels', 'Kingdom of Shrimp', 'Kingdom of Ornamental Fish' to the 'Kingdom of Tilapia'.
However, affected by drastic changes in weather, the winters of 2018 and 2019 were notably warm, averaging the highest temperatures in 72 years, disrupting the breeding cycle of fisheries and severely impacting production.
AI Fish Farming Reduces Costs by 30% and Increases Production Capacity by 30%
Although fishermen also 'depend on the weather for food', they can minimize risks with the aid of artificial intelligence. Located in Hsinchu, Kuanwei Technology focuses on the development of IoT systems and AI algorithms for the aquaculture industry, developing the 'Water Jewel Smart Aquaculture Monitoring System' and the 'Smart Device Control System'. These assist operators in obtaining real-time data such as temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH value, redox potential (ORP), and salinity. With the smart device control system installed, users can start water wheels and set automatic feeding depending on dissolved oxygen in the water. Fishers only need to use a mobile app to keep track at any time, allowing for early prevention and reducing losses. By adopting technology in aquaculture, costs are effectively reduced, creating endless business opportunities. Fishermen can accurately monitor and control the water quality and growth process of aquatic products, hence providing safer food to consumers.
Kuanwei Technology's CEO, Tsai Cheng-hsun, indicated that traditional fishing methods involve measuring water quality twice daily and feeding based on experience, which not only is time-consuming but could also negatively affect water quality due to environments' drastic changes or overfeeding. The 'Water Jewel Smart Aquaculture Monitoring System' continuously collects data every five minutes, gathering up to 1,000 data points per day; if any abnormality occurs, such as overfeeding causing turbid water pollution, or abnormal water temperatures, it communicates these problems to the fishers via the app, allowing immediate remediation.
AI Monitors Water Quality Changes
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Kuanwei Technology's CEO Tsai Cheng-hsun
Tsai Cheng-hsun stated that by monitoring data and keeping it within normal ranges, they can avoid unnecessary water stirring or feeding, thus maintaining water quality stability and reducing costs. Typically, half of the farm costs are feed and electricity accounts for 15%-20%. According to research by Dr. Luo Yong-zhong from the National Cheng Kung University 'Microalgae Biotech and Engineering Lab', after implementing the 'Water Jewel Smart Aquaculture Monitoring System', electricity costs can be reduced by nearly 60%, and with reduced feed input, the overall farming costs can be reduced by 30%.
300 Pools Across Taiwan Adopting Water Jewel Smart Aquaculture Monitoring System
A study by the Ocean University also pointed out that technological equipment, along with basic infrastructure such as waste pipes, should increase the aquaculture output by 30%. For fishers, smart aquaculture truly helps in increasing profits significantly.
Aquaculture expert Huang Guo-liang in Tainan's Jiangjun area is the third generation cultivating milkfish, utilizing ecological balance and friendly farming methods through smart monitoring systems for problem detection and optimizes productivity while reducing costs. Tsai Cheng-hsun stated that the Water Jewel leverages solar power, reports fish pond water data every 5 minutes, and for the Giant Grouper, for example, which needs at least three years to grow and weigh about 20 kg to be marketable. With temperature alerts set at 16 degrees Celsius, if a cold snap occurs and temperatures drop below 10 degrees Celsius, Giant Grouper could freeze to death. By monitoring such instances, preventive actions can reduce losses.
Kuanwei Technology currently has introduced its system to 300 farming pools across Taiwan, including in Hsinchu, Fangliao, Hualien, and Taitung, employing Water Jewel's remote water quality and environmental monitoring, smart energy-saving, automatic feeding, and automated production traceability features. This allows every farmer to record their farming data and process according to their own habits. They can choose to manually control or use AI assistance for real-time alerts and also monitor sites through remote video links to make the Water Jewel aquatic farming IoT system more accessible.
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Water Quality Monitoring Equipment
Fishermen, reliant on the weather, can now monitor aquaculture pond water quality through the AI monitoring system.
Tsai Cheng-hsun, currently the first term manager of the Taiwan Artificial Intelligence School Hsinchu branch and the vice president of the Taiwan Artificial Intelligence School Alumni Association, is deeply committed to AI research. In the future, Kuanwei Technology will continue to optimize data, proposing more applications, and has received recognition from Intel for IoT solutions maturity in Taiwan. By utilizing cloud, big data IoT, and AI technologies and equipment with scientific data management, along with continuous data logging and AI algorithms, it can quickly uncover potential risks, effectively preventing and reducing aquaculture losses.

At the Kuanwei Technology exhibition, vice presidential candidate Lai Ching-te (second from the left) also attended to show support
「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only. Translation date:2024-05-19」