Shrimp farmers flock to data sharing project

Over 150 Thai shrimp farmers have signed up to a new collaborative data collection and sharing project that has been launched in a bid to reduce the impact of diseases on the sector.

Over 150 Thai shrimp farmers are taking part in the pilot project

Thailand’s Shrimp Health Resources Improvement project (SHRImp), which is managed by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) in collaboration with IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, has chosen XpertSea to deploy a collaborative farm solution to help manage production risks at multiple shrimp farms in Thailand. 

The project will use XpertSea’s aquaculture management platform, the only commercially available hardware/software solution that automatically captures shrimp size and weight using artificial intelligence and computer vision. The programme’s objective is to develop data tools and interfaces that will enable farmers and industry managers to reduce disease outbreaks at individual farms and at the area-level through improved farm management and coordinated action.

At least 150 shrimp farmers will take part in the pilot, which will also involve other actors in the supply chain. XpertSea’s Asia team will work with major stakeholders including farmers, DOF, SFP, IDH, diagnostic companies, feed companies, processors, hatcheries, and academia. The project will initially focus on field validation in specific provinces in Thailand and will be developed with global applicability in mind.

Past experience has shown how devastating the impact of disease outbreaks can be to the industry, costing billions of dollars in lost revenue and growth opportunities.

“Disease is the major threat to the sustainability of shrimp production and a major economic cost,” said Anton Immink, aquaculture program director at SFP. “Past experience has shown how devastating the impact of disease outbreaks can be to the industry, costing billions of dollars in lost revenue and growth opportunities. XpertSea is the perfect partner to provide the tools and advice that will help farmers and link with other tools to help the industry as a whole reduce the potential impact of disease outbreaks, through systems built on improved data collected from, and used by, farms and management agencies.”

"We're excited to partner with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership and IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, with support from the Walmart Foundation, to improve health and farm management practices in Thailand," said Valerie Robitaille, CEO and co-founder of XpertSea. "Together with government, industry and NGOs, we look forward to implementing technologies that reduce disease outbreaks on shrimp farms and that contribute to the advancement of sustainable practices in aquaculture."

The project's technology components will include the XperCount, a portable smart device that automatically captures data about organisms using artificial intelligence; as well as XpertSea’s growth platform, which allows farmers and field technician to enter and visualise production data from any mobile device; and a partner platform that provides third parties such as DOF and universities the ability to securely access and manage the collected data to give advice and insights to farmers.

Over 400 facilities currently use XpertSea’s solutions worldwide, from large producers to mid-size facilities across all continents. The XpertSea platform has processed data about more than 1.8 billion individual shrimp over the last 12 months alone, making it the largest shrimp data platform in the market.

In addition to its technology platform, XpertSea was chosen for this project because of its deep and wide understanding of the complexity of the shrimp aquaculture industry; extensive knowledge of disease surveillance and epidemiology; and proven ability to communicate complex information to farmers as simple actions and advice.