Aquaculture operators face a delicate balance: maintaining healthy fish stocks, ensuring the integrity of infrastructure, and doing so in ways that minimize stress on the animals and risk for workers. To better understand these challenges, we spoke with Kana Upton from Aqua-Cage, a rainbow trout farm in Canada, who shared her perspective on how inspections are conducted today, and how advanced underwater imaging can support the future of fish farming.
The Challenges of Comprehensive Inspections
According to Kana, one of the biggest hurdles in fish pen inspections is consistency. “The main challenge for us when inspecting fish pens is ensuring the person checking is doing a comprehensive check. They must have been trained properly in order to not miss sections of the netting. Having an experienced operator is key.”
Monitoring fish health brings additional complexity, requiring careful observation of behavior and external signs across multiple individuals. This is a process that demands both time and expertise.
Current Practices and Their Limitations
Aqua-Cage currently relies on ROVs to cover the full extent of each pen, while monitoring fish behavior to identify signs of illness. “Unhealthy fish are either slowly swimming at the surface or at the bottom of the net,” Kana explained. While effective, this approach still presents challenges in low-visibility waters or when subtle changes to infrastructure need to be detected.
During our demonstration, we compared the Discovery Stereo’s high-resolution imaging with standard ROV camera footage, and the difference was striking. Fine details such as net integrity, knots, and mooring wear that were difficult to detect with conventional cameras became clear and measurable with the Discovery Stereo. This level of visual detail provides operators with far greater confidence in their inspections and reduces the risk of missing early signs of damage.
Voyis Discovery Stereo compared to Standard ROV Camera – net inspection.
Voyis Discovery Stereo compared to Standard ROV Camera – fish pen.
Advancing with 3D Measurements
During our demonstration at Aqua-Cage, the Discovery Stereo camera successfully captured 3D measurements of fish and infrastructure, showing how this technology can be applied directly to aquaculture operations. For operators like Kana, this capability addresses one of the most persistent challenges in fish farming: collecting accurate size and biomass data without stressing the fish.
“3D measurements would be very useful for collecting data on fish size. Less intrusive methods for estimating size are very beneficial,” Kana noted. By eliminating the need for physical handling, especially difficult in warmer waters, 3D imaging offers a practical, non-invasive alternative for biomass estimation.
The same benefits extend to infrastructure monitoring. With the ability to create high-resolution 3D reconstructions, farms can check mooring lines, knots, and the positioning of nets, even in low-visibility conditions. This ensures that the netting is hanging correctly and that early signs of wear are detected before they escalate into larger issues.
Building a Safer and More Efficient Operation
Beyond efficiency, advanced imaging tools can have a direct impact on worker safety. “If a farm is still using divers to conduct subsurface inspections, a tool like this would be a massive improvement in worker safety,” Kana emphasized. The ability to compare images over time also allows farms to track changes in fish health or infrastructure integrity in a systematic, data-driven way.
Visual documentation further supports collaboration with veterinarians and regulators, offering a clear reference point for discussions on fish welfare and compliance.
Looking Ahead: Smarter Monitoring
Kana sees opportunities for these systems to support proactive monitoring, such as identifying early signs of net wear before damage occurs. She also noted potential in optimizing feeding practices by observing fish behavior with greater clarity, helping reduce waste while maintaining stock health.
Finally, the ability to build historical datasets from season to season could unlock new insights into long-term trends in fish health and infrastructure stability. “A historical dataset could be of value to analyze trends in fish health and behaviours year to year. It could also be useful to monitor any changes in mooring from season to season.”
Aquaculture is evolving, and as operators like Aqua-Cage have highlighted, the future lies in tools that combine accuracy, efficiency, and non-intrusiveness. High-resolution underwater imaging and 3D data capture are shaping up to play a vital role in creating safer, smarter, and more sustainable fish farming practices.
