SES involved in new NTNU AMOS project on autonomous kelp farm monitoring
Realising the potential of kelp farming in Norway requires that we fully understand the environmental and biological interactions that influence macroalgal growth during cultivation. Autonomous monitoring of kelp farms would make that process much more efficient.
SES will provide both access to their seafarm and R&D services in a newly funded NTNU AMOS (Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems) project on autonomous kelp farm monitoring.
The 4-year, NOK 7.2 million project, named "MoniTARE", aims to perform "autonomous underwater monitoring of kelp-farm biomass, growth, health and biofouling using optical sensors."
Dr Glaucia Moreira Fragoso, who will lead the project and secured funding through the Norwegian Research Council's (NFR) “Researcher Project for Young Talents” initiative, writes that the methods that emerge from this project will be vital, "in optimizing growth, minimizing biofouling and predicting environmental factors that may adversely affect [kelp] production from season to season. We foresee that the developments of these methods are one of the first steps towards full autonomous monitoring of seaweed farms...".
The project is scheduled to start in summer 2021.