The Role of Underwater Aquaculture Cameras in Sea Cage Aquaculture
Hits: 163 Time: August 29,2025
As a mainstream model of marine aquaculture, sea cage aquaculture often faces problems such as complex deep-sea environments, high difficulty in manual inspection, and high breeding risks (e.g., net damage, disease transmission). With the characteristics of salt resistance, high pressure resistance, and high-definition imaging, underwater aquaculture cameras have become the "core monitoring tool" for sea cage aquaculture, and their roles can be concentrated in the following four aspects:
1. Real-Time Monitoring of Net Integrity to Prevent the Escape of Cultured Organisms
The net of sea cages is crucial for preventing the escape of cultured organisms (such as salmon and large yellow croaker), but it is prone to damage due to typhoons, ocean current impacts, or bites from large marine organisms (such as octopuses and sea urchins). underwater aquaculture camera can be arranged along the inner side of the net, and real-time images of the net status can be captured through a 120° wide-angle lens: they can clearly detect whether the net has tears or holes (minimum recognizable damage of more than 5mm), and also monitor whether the net's permeability decreases due to the attachment of a large number of algae and shellfish. Once an abnormality in the net is detected, the camera can be linked to an alarm system (e.g., sending SMS/APP notifications to the farmer's mobile phone), helping the farmer complete repairs within 1-2 hours and avoiding the escape of cultured organisms caused by net damage. Taking a salmon cage as an example, if 500 salmon in a single cage escape due to net damage, the direct economic loss can reach more than 100,000 yuan, while the real-time monitoring of the camera can reduce such risks by more than 90%.
2. Accurate Observation of Fish Health Status to Early Warn of Disease Risks
The density of fish in sea cages is relatively high (e.g., 15-20kg of salmon can be cultured per cubic meter in a salmon cage), and diseases (such as parasitic diseases and bacterial gill rot) are prone to rapid spread. The initial symptoms are hidden underwater and difficult to detect manually. Equipped with a 4K high-definition lens and infrared fill light function, underwater aquaculture camera can clearly observe the swimming posture, feeding behavior, and body surface status of fish: if salmon show abnormalities such as "slow swimming, clustering against the wall", "avoiding bait during feeding", or red spots and increased mucus on the body surface, the camera can mark abnormal individuals through AI image recognition technology and record the trend of disease spread. For example, a salmon breeding base in Guangdong detected signs of parasitic infection 3 days in advance through cameras and promptly applied chemicals, controlling the scope of disease impact within 5% and avoiding a loss of 300,000 yuan caused by the infection of all fish in the cage.
3. Optimizing Feeding Strategies to Reduce Feed Waste and Water Pollution
In sea cage aquaculture, feed costs account for 40%-60% of the total investment. Overfeeding easily leads to residual bait sinking to the bottom and polluting seawater (decomposition of residual bait increases ammonia nitrogen and nitrite concentrations), while insufficient feeding causes uneven growth of fish. underwater aquaculture camera can record the entire feeding process of fish: by observing the "frequency of fish attacking bait" and "amount of remaining bait", it can be judged whether feeding is reasonable - if a large amount of bait remains within 10 minutes after feeding, or if the fish's feeding enthusiasm decreases, the feeding amount can be reduced immediately; if the fish compete fiercely for food and the bait is consumed quickly, the feeding frequency needs to be appropriately increased. Taking large yellow croaker cage aquaculture as an example, after using cameras to assist in feeding, feed waste is reduced by 12%-15%, saving 20,000-30,000 yuan in feed costs per cage annually. At the same time, it avoids water quality deterioration caused by residual bait and reduces the frequency of water changes and water treatment costs.
4. Replacing Manual Inspection to Reduce Management Costs and Safety Risks
Traditional sea cage aquaculture relies on divers to conduct underwater inspections once every 15 days. The cost of a single inspection (including diver's salary and equipment rental) is about 2,000 yuan, and the deep-sea environment (e.g., 10-meter water depth) poses safety risks such as oxygen deficiency for divers and encounters with dangerous organisms. underwater aquaculture camera can completely replace manual inspections: on the one hand, the cameras can work stably at a water depth of 10-50 meters and monitor continuously for 24 hours, saving 48,000 yuan in inspection costs annually (calculated based on 2 inspections per month); on the other hand, farmers can view real-time images in the cages through remote terminals (such as computers and mobile phones) without going out to sea, avoiding safety hazards of going out to sea for inspections under severe weather such as typhoons and heavy rains. In addition, the cameras can also record daily aquaculture data (such as fish growth rate and water temperature changes), providing data support for the adjustment of subsequent aquaculture plans.
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