травня
24
System to predict red tides developed
Filed Under EN
‘Sea Purge’ project is mainly designed for mussel producers. (Photo: Stock File/FIS)
System to predict red tides developed
SPAIN
Thursday, May 24, 2012, 23:50 (GMT + 9)
Researchers from Galicia and Catalonia, in collaboration with companies from the shellfish sector, are working on a programme to develop a system to predict the tides in at least one week in advance, thus enabling the aquaculture industry to anticipate this phenomenon and mitigate potential losses.
The system, which is designed especially for mussel producers, aims to reduce the loss caused by toxic algae blooms by up to 50 per cent per platform.
The Mussel Control Board in Galicia estimates that the latest red tide, which occurred in late 2010, caused losses of about EUR 40 million to the Galician shellfish sector, while the Galician Association of Mollusc cleansers considers it caused a 50 per cent fall in sales with losses of EUR 12,500 per platform, Europa Press reported.
The pilot programme will use the platforms already existing in Galician waters to obtain the microalgae proliferation records and will establish a new measuring station in an estuary to be determined.
Project architecture. (Picture: Purga de Mar)
The project, named “Sea Purge”, has a EUR 1.2 million budget and is under the direction of EcoHydros and the coordination of the Galician Institute of Technology (ITG).
The researchers will combine the latest technology in the fields of remote monitoring, wireless sensor networks, Web-GIS systems and Artificial Intelligence, developed under the premise of design, reliability, robustness and scalability, modularity, said ITG.
Enviromar, specializing in technology applied to aquaculture; the Linamar group, a marketer of fresh molluscs; the National Association of Canned Fish and Seafood-National Technical Conservation of Fishery Products (Anfaco-Cecopesca); the Institute for Agrifood Research and Technology of the Government of Catalonia (IRTA); and the Remote Sensing Laboratory of the Department of Applied Physics at the University of Vigo will also join the public-private RD consortium.
The project is funded by the Ministry of Economy and in the first stage it will be developed in the Galician estuaries and Ebro Delta
By Laura Fasano
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
Open all references in tabs: [1 – 7]
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.