Smart Feeding Systems for Hatcheries (Smart-Hatchery)

SMART HATCHERY was a two-year project funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), aimed at increasing the profitability of fish farmers by reducing the costs of feeding processes in weaning stages, while improving the quality of the feed and rearing water and offering a high-quality and safe seafood with the best organoleptic and nutritional values.

Tangible results: The project developed smartFEEsh, a centralised automatic feeding and management system for all stages of marine fish larvae production. It is based on innovative digital technologies, such as Cloud technologies, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence, which radically increase the co-feeding efficiency, reduce waste, increase water quality, reduce stress levels and susceptibility to disease and thus improve the welfare of aquatic species. The project also developed WINFEEDS, a new generation of dry micro diets resulting from nutritional knowledge (premium quality ingredients that fulfil larvae nutritional requirements) and cutting–edge technologies (cold-extrusion and encapsulation – using pharmaceutical expertise), while having low leaching and high-water stability, leading to maximal larval performance and welfare.

Application/relevance: The project transforms European aquaculture into a state-of-the-art, sustainable and more efficient activity. It is the first technology capable of providing a centralised automatic feeding and management system for all stages of marine fish and shrimp larvae production at industrial scale.