The fish won’t be any smarter, but the farmers will be cybersecure.

Due to overfishing, climate change and environmental pollution, global fish stocks are dwindling around the world. Singapore is particularly vulnerable as her lack of natural resources and paucity of land call for heavy dependence on other countries for food and resources.

In line with achieving its target of producing 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030, Singapore Aquaculture Technologies (SAT), a subsidiary of Wintershine, has launched island nation’s first smart floating fish farm.

The S$4 million aquaculture facility is expected to produce 350 tons of fish annually, catering to the needs of residents for quality fish while also addressing the challenges posed by climate change that have resulted in declining fish populations.

With aquaculture identified as a critical sector by the Singapore Food Agency, SAT’s newest farm will help strengthen the country’s food security and reduce exposure to the volatility of the global food economy. It will produce a sustainable protein source that is climate-resilient, high-yield and reliable.

As a “smart” floating fish farm, the venture also offers an educational case study into how technology can help support the growth of the agri-food industry, by helping businesses to produce more with less. The farm combines advanced technology by using big data, artificial intelligence and video analytics to monitor the fish and detect early signs of disease to increase food yield and productivity. The digital transformation aspects developed in partnership with Siemens, who have lent their expertise to help SAT overcome challenges in raising their yield.

Said Raimund Klein, Executive Vice President, Digital Industrial, Siemens ASEAN: “By integrating cutting-edge technologies like AI, edge computing and blockchain, Siemens is helping SAT to continuously optimise their operations. The use of innovative advanced predictive analytics such as machine learning and video analytics helps to predict potential biomass growth and prevent the outbreak of diseases, hence reducing fish mortality. With this, SAT and Siemens are paving the way for scalable, highly flexible and above all environmentally efficient aquaculture across the entire value chain.”

According to Dr Dirk Eichelberger, Director of Wintershine Asia: “As we believe in a technology-based approach in aquaculture that handles a lot of data, first our own and later potentially also those of others, it is a must to have cybersecurity solutions we can trust and rely on.”

This is where the cybersecurity part of the smart farm benefited from a partnership with software firm Kaspersky.In setting up the systems infrastructure for the smart floating fish farm, Kaspersky deployed its software to help secure the facility’s workstations and servers from various types of cyberthreats that can result from human factors, generic malware and targeted attacks.

Said Stephan Neumeier, managing director for Kaspersky Asia Pacific: “From this example, it is clear that the relevance of cybersecurity is no longer confined to the usual suspects of sprawling industrial complexities, corporations and consumers, but should be a principal consideration for every industry. On our part, we will continue to explore how we can continue to deliver tailor-made cybersecurity solutions that considers the evolving business needs of every industry.”