WellFish Tech – Fish health redefined

You may have heard it said that whilst a jet engine is a complex system, it only becomes complicated when a bird passes through it.

Understanding the difference leaves us better equipped to deal with complications when they arise.

Whilst aquaculture systems vary greatly in complexity, they all, perhaps uniquely, are subject to levels and frequency of complication less common in other sectors which is why the intensive cultivation of fish is widely regarded as carrying higher risk than is observed in other similar sectors.

Reducing risk by elevating our understanding of both complexity as well as complications when they arise, is the central purpose of the Wellfish approach to fish health and welfare. By mining, exploring and processing our very large data sets collected from fish that have been cultivated in a wide range of aquaculture systems, biomarker profiles have emerged that are characteristic of those systems.

Thus it is no longer appropriate to speak of a single blood biomarker reference range for farmed Atlantic salmon, but rather reference ranges for Atlantic salmon farmed in ‘x’ or ‘y’ system. However, whilst setting ‘within species’ reference ranges by method of cultivation will produce a ‘normal’ or ‘standard’ profile for each system, this does not always equate to an ‘acceptable’ one. Stock that is compromised, but coping, presents a much greater challenge to the team trying to manage it than one that is operating within the physiological optimum ranges for the species.

The WellFish database is now being interrogated through ‘rule based’ analysis such that the distinction between ‘healthy’ (optimal) and ‘unhealthy’ (suboptimal) can now be made on the basis of clinical biochemistry. We are also now able to provide greater granularity by assigning health scores for gills, metabolic function, and tissue damage. All this is being offered on the new WellFish Tech Production dashboard which is available to aquaculture health and production managers who are routinely monitoring their stocks with us.

For each of the so-called health panels, our traffic light system of reporting remains in place. What is new is that it now comes with a score which can be tracked over time at the level of the farm as well as each of its constituent tanks or pens. In addition to data and insights flowing from the dashboard, users can interact with it by loading on ‘activities’ or ‘events of note’ within the context of biochemistry data and so develop a rich calendar of inputs and outcomes.

As the model develops, its capacity to predict outcomes based upon the clinical biochemistry of stocks that are being routinely monitored is enhanced so strengthening the contribution that health data makes to production decisions.

The WellFish approach allows unprecedented opportunities for health and production managers to redefine the way in which stock health status in Realtime can be included in stock management decisions. This is not just another tool in the box – it’s another box.

UK: info@wellfishtech.com NOR: kontakt@wellfishtech.com CAN: canlab@wellfishtech.com