World Aquaculture Magazine - June 2021

WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2021 39 focused on the production of spirulina (cyanobacteria Arthrospira sp.) and the development of products and services frommicroalgae. Another example is Algrow, a recently founded startup, which has public funding and conducts research in association with the university. The innovative company will produce certified seedlings (Fig. 2) and suitable land-based systems for algal culture. Companies producing algae biomass can also reach markets related to biotechnology. Among these are agricultural inputs and compounds of high value for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Cia das Algas® stands out in this segment and the company’s activities involve partnerships with research institutions to develop production of algae crops with the communities (Fig. 3). Technologies and social innovation are also helping Brazil to implement more sustainably based on the bioeconomy. The concept of Aquaculture 4.0 must also be aligned with the reality of local producers, providing the development and transfer of technologies and social innovation. Small family-based aquaculture setting developed a duckweed-based bioremediation system by São Paulo State University (UNESP) in a research and social extension project (Fig. 4). This system follows an IMTAmodel, covering the use of the aquatic plants to treat catfish effluent. The removal of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus is greater than 80 percent. Additionally, aquatic plants can be processed into a flour as a fish feed supplement. In this circular bioeconomy logic, production costs and environmental impacts can be reduced through the application of technologies aligned to Aquaculture 4.0 on family farms. Innovations in biotechnology applied to fisheries and aquaculture with the development of new products, bioprospecting of compounds and technical processes related to the production of aquatic organisms for human consumption also will propel the industry towards the bioeconomy. Shrimp residues generated on farms, for example, can be used in several ways. One of them is the extraction of chitosan from shrimp shells for cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Another example is the animals caught as bycatch in artisanal shrimp trawling. These rejects could have an economic destination. In recent articles, Camargo et al. (2021a, 2021b) investigated the antioxidant activity of protein hydrolysates obtained from four species of bycatch and the results provide evidence for the use of hydrolysates as a functional or nutraceutical ingredient in the food industry, which may offer an economically viable destination for most of the bycatch (Fig. 5). Thus, with the additional income from the sale of by-products of these animals, which are currently discarded, fishermen could reduce fishing activity and consequently its negative impact on marine biodiversity. One of the main innovations of Aquaculture 4.0 is data analysis. Specialized services have gained a lot of space in the operation of farms that seek to improve management and automated control of aqua processes. These services consist of the use of devices, machines, and information technology such as new applications and management strategies that function by integrating biological, technical and economic aspects of production. In this way, these services could get accurate results for farmers. For example, startups and spinoffs (e.g., Wittaya-aqua, Aquability, e.fishery, Aquabit, Aqua Manager) have mobile applications and digital platforms to facilitate decision-making on aquaculture farms. The ease in purchasing equipment and lowmanufacturing costs have made temperature and moisture sensors accessible, which has given rise to other innovative tools and solutions for aquaculture farms. The movement of capital through various aspects of the aquaculture industry has promoted more entrepreneurs with new ideas and prototypes. For example, the startup UMITRON has developed the Fish Appetite Index (FAI), the first real-time ocean- based fish appetite detection system in the world. Advanced machine learning algorithms analyze video data collected directly from farm sites to calculate fish appetite, allowing farmers to make data-driven decisions when feeding their fish. Technological advancements have enabled the creation of specialized databases with productive performance indicators and nutritional information, among other parameters, about tambaqui, pacu, pirarucu Arapaima gigas and other major commercial species fromBrazil. These databases enable analysis in real-time and assist producers in managing aquaculture activities. This has become a reality for several farms throughout South America. Technology for monitoring and farm control using aerial ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 4 0 ) FIGURE 4 . Social innovation of a family-based catfish farm in the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica) region: (a) fish tank, (b) sedimentation tanks, (c) effluent solids, (d and e) harvesting. (Photos: Levi Pompermayer Machado). FIGURE 5. New products generated by innovations and technologies based on the bioeconomy approach: protein hydrolysates obtained from the bycatch and aquaculture wastes (Photos: Tavani Rocha Camargo and Guilherme Wolff Bueno).