Dundee, Scotland-based Ace Aquatec has expanded its A-Biomass camera into both New Zealand and Japan.
The company launched the A-Biomass camera system in Europe in 2023. The system uses underwater cameras inside aquaculture net pens, combined with machine learning and AI, to precisely measure the biomass and distributions of an array of different fish species.
The company’s camera weighs 8.5 kilograms and is currently deployed at operations in Europe and the U.S.
The company said that since the successful launch, it has also begun to target markets outside Europe and the U.S., with some success. It recently expanded its A-Biomass tech into New Zealand, where it has a partnership with Mount Cook Alpine Salmon.
Mount Cook’s salmon farms are located in a network of waterways between three alpine lakes, which Ace Aquatec said made it a unique challenge for the company’s technology due to low light conditions and a number of different fish types. Despite those challenges, it said the solution has improved the efficacy of the salmon producer’s operation.
“The advanced A-Biomass camera technology has consistently been very precise, with predictions aligning closely to our actual harvest rates and showing increased accuracy across multiple harvests over the past 18 months,” Mount Cook Alpine Salmon General Manager Jon Bailey said. “Individual harvest results have significantly improved, and we hope to expand the use of these devices across more sites in the future to further optimise our operations.”
The company is also working to expand its presence in Japan. The company launched the device to the Japanese market as part of the Japan International Seafood and Technology Expo in Tokyo, Japan.
The company said it planned to also visit key Japanese aquaculture producers to promote its camera system and that it also plans to target the East Asian market.
“Our A-Biomass cameras are helping farmers optimize feed and growth rates and transform the way they monitor their salmon stock,” Ace Aquatec Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Tara McGregor-Woodhams said. “Over the course of our visit to Japan, we hope to not only nurture our connections in this crucial region but also introduce the A-Biomass device to a new market, in line with our ambitions of bringing Scottish technology to the aquaculture industry on a global scale.”
