Umitron wins feed system contract with world’s largest fishery firm

Maruha Nichiro Corporation, the world's largest fishery firm, has invested in Umitron’s latest smart feeding device, the Cell2, in its rainbow trout farming operations in Japan.

The farms must be harvested by spring each year, before the rise in water temperatures, so the growing season is limited to a very short period in winter. In order to reach market size in this time, it’s essential to fine tune the feeding system.

Maruha Nichiro had previously been using the Umitron Cell1 in its farms in Saga prefecture. This system allows remote monitoring, automatic accumulation of feed data and detailed and real-time adjustment of feed timing and amount.

This year, however, Maruha Nichiro has upgraded to the newer version, Umitron Cell2, which comes with the Umitron FAI (fish appetite index), a newly developed algorithm that automatically evaluates the appetite of fish using artificial intelligence, allowing for a more detailed and optimised feeding operation.

Umitron Cell can monitor detailed changes in the fish pen condition affected by various environmental and ecological factors. With this information, the system optimises the feeding operation by allowing a flexible adjustment of feeding time, amount, and speed. Traditionally, such detailed feeding management would be time and labour intensive. These operations can be performed efficiently and continuously with less effort using Umitron FAI.

Umitron Cell has now been successfully deployed in aquaculture sites in Shikoku and Kyushu as well as in Lake Titicaca in Peru.