How Telemetry Can Improve Fish Health

A telemetric helmet which will allow vets to assess fish health remotely has been launched by Stim this month.

Stim – which was formed by a merger of Europharma’s fish health operations, with Fishguard and ACD Pharma in June – has developed the helmet with a view to allowing site technicians to consult qualified vets remotely.

Combined with a portable 4G transmitter, it enables technicians to consult experts remotely by providing them with a real time view of whatever they are observing. It has a range of applications but, given Stim’s fish health specialism, it’s no surprise that they see it first and foremost as a means of improving fish health and biosecurity.

“It means that farm technicians can show any possible fish health issues directly to trained vets,” Thomas Vian Pettersen, business development manger for Stim, explains to The Fish Site.

One application that’s already being trialled is using the helmet, when combined with an ATP measuring device, to monitor biosecurity aboard vessels such as the state-of-the-art harvesting vessel Norwegian Gannet, which slaughters and transports salmon from fish farms in Norway and Scotland to a processing plant in Denmark.

“They currently have to go via Bergen to consult a vet in person, which can mean a 5-6 hour detour, but with technicians on board using the system they should be able to avoid such costly delays,” explains Pettersen.

The system launched on 19 August and the slaughtering vessel’s owners, Hav Line Group, are one of the first customers, while other early adopters are Russian Aquaculture and Pure Shipping. Pettersen expects many others to follow suit as the 200,000 kroner a month rental – which covers both the equipment hire and access to a STIM technician – can be quickly paid back.

Source : The Fish Site