An enhanced and more realistic tank environment setup for the development of new methods for fish behavioral analysis in aquaculture

Abstract: The aquaculture industry is constantly making efforts to improve fish welfare while maintaining the ethically sustainable farming practises. This work presents an enhanced tank environment designed for testing and developing novel combinations of technologies for analyzing and detecting behavioral responses in fish shoals/groups. Regular cameras are combined with event cameras and a scanning sonar to comprise a sensor suite that offers a more detailed and complex way of fish observation. The modified tank environment is designed to simulate the prevailing conditions on-site at cage based farms, particularly in terms of lighting conditions, while all tank systems and sensors are hidden behind specially designed enclosures, providing a "clean" environment (open arena) less likely to impact the fish behavior. The proposed sensor suite will be tested and demonstrated in the modified tank environment to benchmark its ability in monitoring fish, after which it will be adapted for use in a more industrially relevant situation with open cages.