Imagine a future where we can sustainably feed the world through innovative ocean farming. But what if the key to unlocking this potential lies in the icy waters of Norway? Two MIT students recently embarked on a groundbreaking journey to explore the cutting-edge technologies revolutionizing offshore aquaculture in the land of fjords. Get ready to dive deep into a world of robotic fish farms, artificial intelligence, and the future of seafood!
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Norway isn't just any player in the seafood game; it's the undisputed champion of farmed Atlantic salmon production and a major seafood exporter. Meanwhile, the United States remains the largest importer. This stark contrast highlights a critical need: can we leverage technology to build a sustainable aquaculture industry here at home? That's precisely what MIT Sea Grant set out to investigate.
Beckett Devoe, an AI and decision-making whiz, and Tony Tang, a mechanical engineering ace, both cut their teeth on aquaculture projects through MIT's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). They tackled fascinating challenges, from designing wave generators to using machine learning to assess oyster larvae health. While near-shore aquaculture is relatively established in places like Massachusetts, the vast potential of open-ocean farming in the US remains largely untapped, presenting unique hurdles. And this is the part most people miss: scaling aquaculture into the open ocean demands breakthroughs in robotics, automation, and environmental monitoring.
To bridge this gap, MIT Sea Grant launched AquaCulture Shock, a collaborative initiative fueled by a National Sea Grant College Program grant. Teaming up with MIT-Scandinavia MISTI (MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives), MIT Sea Grant connected Devoe and Tang with summer internships at SINTEF Ocean in Trondheim, Norway, a research powerhouse in Europe.
Madeline Smith, managing director for MIT-Scandinavia, emphasizes the program's holistic impact: "This hands-on aquaculture project, under a world-renowned research institution, in an area known for marine technology innovation – that’s what MISTI is all about. Students gain valuable experience but also develop cultural understanding and skills to be future global leaders."
At SINTEF Ocean's Aquaculture Robotics and Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ACE-Robotic Lab), the students plunged into a world of innovation. This specialized facility is dedicated to developing and testing the aquaculture technologies of tomorrow.
Sveinung Ohrem, research manager for the Aquaculture Robotics and Automation Group at SINTEF Ocean, explains Norway's advantage: "Norway has this unique geography with all of these fjords, creating sheltered waters ideal for sea-based aquaculture." He estimates around a thousand fish farms dot the Norwegian coastline. He then describes the advanced tools being used: decision-making systems that process and visualize data for farmers, robots for inspection and cleaning, environmental sensors tracking oxygen levels, temperature, and currents, echosounders to monitor fish location, and cameras to estimate biomass and optimize feeding. "Feeding is a huge challenge," Ohrem admits. "Feed is the largest cost, by far, so optimizing it leads to a very significant decrease in your cost." But here's where it gets controversial... Some argue that focusing solely on cost reduction might compromise fish welfare and environmental sustainability. What do you think?
Devoe's internship focused on using AI to optimize fish feeding. "I try to look at the different features of the farm – how big the fish are, how cold the water is – and use that to try to give the farmers an optimal feeding amount for the best outcomes, while also saving money on feed," he explains. "It was good to learn some more machine learning techniques and just get better at that on a real-world project." This project demonstrates how data-driven insights can revolutionize aquaculture practices.
Meanwhile, Tang tackled the simulation of an underwater vehicle-manipulator system designed to navigate farms and repair damaged cage nets with a robotic arm. Ohrem notes that thousands of aquaculture robots are already in operation in Norway. "The scale is huge," he says. "You can’t have 8,000 people controlling 8,000 robots – that’s not economically or practically feasible. So the level of autonomy in all of these robots needs to be increased." This highlights the critical need for advanced AI and autonomous systems in the future of aquaculture.
The MIT-SINTEF Ocean partnership began in 2023 when Eleni Kelasidi, a visiting research scientist from the ACE-Robotic Lab, collaborated with MIT Sea Grant director Michael Triantafyllou and professor Themistoklis Sapsis. They focused on developing controllers, models, and underwater vehicles for aquaculture, while also studying fish-machine interactions.
Triantafyllou emphasizes the long-standing relationship: "We have had a long and fruitful collaboration with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and SINTEF, which continues with important efforts such as the aquaculture project with Dr. Kelasidi. Norway is at the forefront of offshore aquaculture and MIT Sea Grant is investing in this field, so we anticipate great results from the collaboration."
Kelasidi, now a professor at NTNU, leads the Field Robotics Lab, which focuses on developing resilient robotic systems for harsh environments. "Aquaculture is one of the most challenging field domains we can demonstrate any autonomous solutions, because everything is moving," she says. She stresses aquaculture's interdisciplinary nature, needing students with biology and technology backgrounds. "We cannot develop technologies that are applied for industries where we don’t have biological components and then apply them somewhere where we have a live fish or other live organisms." This underscores the importance of a holistic approach that considers both the technological and biological aspects of aquaculture.
Ohrem reinforces that fish welfare is a primary driver for aquaculture researchers and companies, especially as the industry grows. "So the big question is, how can you ensure that?" SINTEF Ocean holds four research licenses for farming fish through a collaboration with SalMar, the world's second-largest salmon farmer. The students visited Singsholmen, an industrial-scale farm on Hitra Island, featuring ten large, round net pens (50 meters across) holding up to 200,000 salmon each. "I got to physically touch the nets and see how the [robotic] arm might be able to fix the net," says Tang. This firsthand experience provided invaluable insights into the practical challenges of offshore aquaculture.
Kelasidi stresses that field experience is irreplaceable. "That opens up and makes you realize, what is the scale of the challenges, or the scale of the facilities," she says. She also highlights the importance of international and institutional collaboration for advancing research and developing resilient robotic systems. "We need to try to target that problem, and let’s solve it together."
MIT Sea Grant and the MIT-Scandinavia MISTI program are currently seeking a new group of four MIT students to intern in Norway this summer, working with institutes advancing offshore farming technologies, including NTNU’s Field Robotics Lab in Trondheim. Students interested in autonomy, deep learning, simulation modeling, underwater robotic systems, and other aquaculture-related areas are encouraged to reach out to Lily Keyes at MIT Sea Grant. Could you be the next MIT student to help shape the future of sustainable seafood? What are your thoughts on the role of technology in addressing the challenges of feeding a growing global population while protecting our oceans? Share your comments below!
