System for external fish parasite monitoring in aquaculture

Abstract

A method for external fish parasite monitoring in aquaculture, comprising the steps of: - submerging a camera in a sea pen comprising fish; - capturing images of the fish with the camera; and - identifying external fish parasite on the fish by analyzing the captured images, characterized by the steps of: - distinguishing between at least two different classes of external fish parasite which differin the difficulty of recognizing the external fish parasite; - calculating quality metrics for each captured image, the quality metrics permit-ting to identify the classes of external fish parasite for which the quality of the image is sufficient for lice detection.

Description

technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to a system for the monitoring of fish ectoparasites (such as sea lice) in aquaculture, said system comprising:

[0002] - a camera suitable for submersion into a sea pen suitable for containing fish, said camera being arranged to capture images of said fish; and

[0003] - An electronic image processing system configured to identify fish ectoparasites (eg sea lice) on said fish by analyzing captured images.

[0004] In this specification, the term "surveillance" refers to any activity aimed at providing an empirical basis for a decision on whether a given school of fish is infested with external parasites. The term monitoring can also include means of determining the extent to which fish are infested by external parasites. Although surveillance can be combined with measures to destroy or kill parasites, the term surveillance itself does not include such measures. Background technique

[0005] Like humans and other anim...

Examples

Embodiment Construction

[0033] image capture system

[0034] Such as figure 1 As shown, the image capture system includes a camera and lighting assembly 10 and a camera and lighting control system 12 that enable automatic acquisition of high quality images of fish.

[0035] Camera and lighting assembly 10 includes vertical support member 14 , upper boom 16 , lower boom 18 , camera housing 20 , upper lighting array 22 and lower lighting array 24 . The camera housing 20 is connected to the vertical support member 14 and is preferably height adjustable. The vertical positioning of the camera is preferably such that the field of view of the camera is at least partially (preferably mostly or fully) covered by the illumination cones of the upper and lower illumination arrays 22 , 24 . Also, there is preferably a substantial angular offset between the centerline of the camera's field of view and the centerline of the illumination cone. This minimizes the amount of light backscattered (by particles in t...

technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to a system for the monitoring of fish ectoparasites (such as sea lice) in aquaculture, said system comprising:

[0002] - a camera suitable for submersion into a sea pen suitable for containing fish, said camera being arranged to capture images of said fish; and

[0003] - An electronic image processing system configured to identify fish ectoparasites (eg sea lice) on said fish by analyzing captured images.

[0004] In this specification, the term "surveillance" refers to any activity aimed at providing an empirical basis for a decision on whether a given school of fish is infested with external parasites. The term monitoring can also include means of determining the extent to which fish are infested by external parasites. Although surveillance can be combined with measures to destroy or kill parasites, the term surveillance itself does not include such measures. Background technique

[0005] Like humans and other anim...

Examples

Embodiment Construction

[0033] image capture system

[0034] Such as figure 1 As shown, the image capture system includes a camera and lighting assembly 10 and a camera and lighting control system 12 that enable automatic acquisition of high quality images of fish.

[0035] Camera and lighting assembly 10 includes vertical support member 14 , upper boom 16 , lower boom 18 , camera housing 20 , upper lighting array 22 and lower lighting array 24 . The camera housing 20 is connected to the vertical support member 14 and is preferably height adjustable. The vertical positioning of the camera is preferably such that the field of view of the camera is at least partially (preferably mostly or fully) covered by the illumination cones of the upper and lower illumination arrays 22 , 24 . Also, there is preferably a substantial angular offset between the centerline of the camera's field of view and the centerline of the illumination cone. This minimizes the amount of light backscattered (by particles in t...

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