World Aquaculture Magazine - June 2021

40 JUNE 2021 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG imagery, GPS and drones is also a reality. These technologies are now available for commercial use, including services from Ocean Reports Platform of the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and AgroTeg Aqua of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA). Another example of an initiative to boost Aquaculture 4.0 in Brazil is the BRS Aqua program, an initiative that received non-refundable financial support from the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) in the amount of ~US$10 million. The program is divided into several technical projects that develop technologies in reproduction and genetic improvement, nutrition and food, sanitation, fish technology, productive management and environmental management. There are also cross-cutting projects that involve economics, technology transfer and management. BRS Aqua recently introduced Aquaprobe, a technology that assists in water quality monitoring in real time. The technology allows remote reporting, by cell phone, of the water quality of nurseries or reservoirs for the cultivation of aquatic organisms. The system is being applied in the Amazon, Cerrado, Atlantic Forest, Caatinga, Pampa and Pantanal Brazilian biomes. Still on environmental and climatic monitoring technologies that are being developed in Brazil, we highlight new sensors and technologies for transmitting climatic and limnological data at high frequency for network monitoring (Fig. 6). These advanced devices and precision aquaculture and robotic systems will allow farms to be more profitable, efficient, safe and environmentally friendly, and include Recirculation Aquaculture Systems (RAS), biofloc technology, offshore smart farms or the automation of tasks to create unmanned inland farms. Another example is IMTA, which consists of the cultivation of different species in such a way that the uneaten food and wastes of one species is a nutrient source for other species. All of these examples of Aquaculture 4.0 include as one of their basic functions the real time monitoring of farmwater quality and Big Data use with machine learning, all of which will require a specialized workforce in Brazilian aquaculture. New digital technologies will improve real-time assessment of production sites, allowing larger and more remote systems to have increased control, efficiency and security of the aquaculture activity, which will lead to increased productivity and support the shift towards a circular economy, bioeconomy and sustainability based on innovation and knowledge. Another action that is being developed to help drive Brazilian aquaculture towards the path of sustainable development, circular economy and bioeconomy is the AquaVitae Program funded by H2020 that includes 35 institutions in 15 countries (Fig. 7). The project’s purpose is to introduce new low trophic-level species, products and processes in marine aquaculture value chains across the Atlantic. Low trophic-level species are those extractive organisms low on the food chain, such as sea urchins or mussels. The five chosen value chains of AquaVitae include macroalgae, IMTA, echinoderm species, shellfish and finfish. IMTA is a process that farms several species together using waste from one species as a resource for another. Thus, the initiatives mentioned above show that many innovations are a reality in Brazil and these could become the country an example of the success of Aquaculture 4.0. However, it is important to make an appeal to governments to step up to the plate and establish a clear path towards this goal. Main Challenges for the Brazilian Production Chain toMove Towards Aquaculture 4.0 One of the main limitations for Brazilian aquaculture and its integration of Aquaculture 4.0 is maintaining exponential growth on the national level. Aquaculture in Brazil faces challenges such as labor force training to work with newmanagement models, technology and innovations. Producers must also “tropicalize” the technologies acquired from other countries because the traditional notion of importing products, knowledge and technology packages based on aquaculture in temperate and colder climates has been inadequate in advancing the activity. Furthermore, there exists a necessity to improve the integration of scientific research into the knowledge base of producers, industry, government and society, thereby generating a stronger capacity FIGURE 6. The limnological and climatic platform at EMBRAPA with autonomous data collection installed in a tropical reservoir with cage fish farms (Photo: Guilherme Wolff Bueno). FIGURE 7. Map of the countries that make up the AquaVitae consortium. The project would be the creation of real and meaningful collaborative links between researchers, industry and other aquaculture stakeholders in the Atlantic area (aquavitaeproject.eu ).