As an important branch of aquaculture, marine aquaculture faces unique scenarios such as deep-sea high pressure, salinity corrosion, complex biodiversity, and high-value-added breeding species. Traditional manual monitoring methods (such as diving inspections and surface observations) have problems such as low efficiency, high risks, and one-sided data. Underwater aquaculture cameras, with their special design adapted to the marine environment and precise monitoring capabilities, have become a key equipment to break through the bottleneck of marine aquaculture management. Their core application advantages can be summarized into the following five aspects:

In marine aquaculture scenarios, cages are mostly set in deep-sea areas several kilometers to dozens of kilometers offshore (for example, salmon deep-sea cages are usually located at a water depth of 50-200 meters). Moreover, seawater has high salinity and strong corrosiveness, making it difficult for humans to conduct long-term on-site monitoring. Underwater aquaculture cameras, with hardware designs of high pressure resistance (some models can withstand the pressure of 500 meters of water depth), corrosion resistance (the body is made of 316L stainless steel or titanium alloy), and anti-water flow interference (equipped with a stable pan-tilt), can operate stably in harsh marine environments. They can not only go deep into the interior of deep-sea cages to transmit real-time high-definition images of fish swimming and feeding, but also shoot the sediment environment and biological attachment status in inshore shellfish bottom-sowing areas (such as oyster breeding tidal flats). This breaks the limitation that "humans cannot reach and the naked eye cannot observe", allowing breeders to grasp the real underwater situation through remote terminals.

Marine aquaculture species (such as salmon, grouper, Chinese mitten crab, and abalone) generally have the characteristics of high investment and high value. Once diseases occur or the species escape, it will cause huge economic losses. Underwater aquaculture cameras can provide early risk warning through detailed monitoring: in fish farming, the lens can capture early disease signals of salmon, such as "abnormal opening and closing of gills" and "body color fading", or stress reactions of grouper such as "abnormal clustering" (suddenly gathering in the corner of the cage), helping breeders to use drugs in a timely manner before the disease spreads. In shellfish bottom-sowing aquaculture, it can observe whether abalones have damaged shells due to the attack of harmful organisms (such as starfish and octopuses), or whether the attachment bases of scallops are loose, avoiding large-scale deaths caused by delayed manual inspections. At the same time, the real-time monitoring of the cage net by the camera can detect net damage (such as being hit by large marine organisms or torn due to net aging) in the first place, preventing the escape of aquaculture organisms and reducing economic losses.

In marine aquaculture, feed costs account for 40%-60% of the total investment, and it is much more difficult to control the quality of seawater than freshwater (for example, eutrophication of seawater is easy to cause red tides, and changes in salinity affect the survival of organisms). Underwater aquaculture cameras assist in refined management through visual data: in the feeding link, the lens can clearly observe the fish feeding speed and the amount of remaining feed. If it is found that the feeding enthusiasm of salmon decreases and the feed particles sink to the bottom of the cage, the feeding amount can be immediately reduced to avoid the pollution of seawater by residual feed (the decomposition of residual feed will lead to an increase in ammonia nitrogen and nitrite). If groupers show "fierce competition for food", the feeding frequency needs to be increased to prevent excessive differences in individual growth. In water quality management, the camera can cooperate with water quality sensors to observe the transparency of the water body (such as whether it becomes turbid due to algae blooms) and the dissolved oxygen status (such as whether fish show "floating heads") through images, assisting in adjusting the power of oxygenation equipment or the frequency of water changes. This reduces energy waste caused by blind regulation and lowers the comprehensive aquaculture cost.

Currently, consumers are paying increasing attention to the quality and safety of aquatic products. Marine aquaculture products (especially export varieties such as salmon and shrimp) need to meet strict standardization and traceability requirements. Underwater aquaculture cameras can record the entire aquaculture process: on the one hand, by regularly shooting the growth status of fish (such as recording the changes in the body length and body color of salmon every week), standardized aquaculture data is formed to prove that the aquaculture process complies with green aquatic product standards (such as no illegal drug use and reasonable feeding). On the other hand, the video data stored by the camera can be used as an important basis for product traceability. Consumers can scan the product QR code to view the underwater monitoring clips during the breeding period, intuitively understand the product growth environment, and enhance their trust in product quality. In addition, standardized monitoring data also helps marine aquaculture enterprises obtain organic certification and pollution-free certification, improve the product premium capacity, and gain an advantage in market competition.

Most marine aquaculture areas are far from land. Manual inspections rely on ships and diving equipment, which are not only time-consuming and labor-intensive (for example, a single deep-sea cage inspection takes 1-2 days), but also greatly affected by the weather (such as being unable to go to sea in typhoon and rainstorm weather). Underwater aquaculture cameras significantly reduce manpower dependence through remote real-time transmission and intelligent functions: breeders can monitor the operation status of multiple deep-sea cages at the same time in the onshore control center without frequent sea trips. Some high-end models are equipped with AI intelligent recognition functions, which can automatically count (count the number of fish) and identify dead fish (automatically alarm when dead fish are found), avoiding errors and omissions in manual counting. At night, through the infrared night vision function, 24-hour uninterrupted monitoring is realized without the need for manual night duty. This efficient management mode allows one breeder to manage an aquaculture scale 3-5 times larger, significantly reducing labor costs and improving the overall aquaculture efficiency.