Big Data Platform for Smart Aquaculture
SIIS: Smart Aquaculture Data Management in Sri Lanka
Sustainable and modern shrimp aquaculture depends on strong collaboration to ensure timely collection of production and biosecurity data, well-regulated infrastructure and markets, safeguards for the environment, and resilience to climate variability and extreme weather events. Smart aquaculture data platforms enable this collaboration by supporting data-driven decision-making for safe, efficient and profitable shrimp production.
The Shrimp Industry Information System (SIIS) is Sri Lanka's national Big Data Platform for smart shrimp aquaculture, developed by the Smart Aquaculture Biosecurity project with the financial support of the Ministry of the Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea.
SIIS is hosted by NAQDA (National Aquaculture Development Authority of Sri Lanka), which holds a national mandate for aquaculture development and has well-established relationships with the aquaculture farming community. The platform was developed in collaboration with NARA (National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency), the Sri Lanka Navy for geospatial data, and the private company GEOEDGE.
The core features of SIIS integrate farm registry data and water quality sensor records into a centralized, cloud-based system accessible to multiple stakeholders.
Key smart features include:
- Secure interoperability between government agencies, farmers and research institutions, enabled through shared data infrastructure, dashboards and geospatial monitoring using Copernicus Sentinel imagery.
- Early weather forecasts for farmers, particularly benefiting Sri Lanka’s extensive and semi-intensive producers who are vulnerable to extreme weather events.
- Advanced sensor analytics, including anomaly detection at sensor level and predictive modelling of water quality at farm level.
- AI-driven chatbots, that provide easy, one-stop access to relevant information through simple user interactions.
SIIS is designed as a secure smart aquaculture platform, centred on a national register of farms, production support functions and biosecurity reporting. Role-based access and confidentiality features ensure that stakeholders, such as aquaculture officers and field entrepreneurs, can access data according to their profiles and specific needs.
The following provides a quick look at the key components of SIIS.
The user interface, which brings together Big Data, artificial intelligence and early-warning systems, is available to farmers and hatcheries, laboratories and regulators, exporters and policymakers.
Setting up the SIIS platform on first use. Language selection.
The Smart Data Platform supports three languages; account creation.
Users select their preferred language when first opening the application. This setting, along with others, are stored in their profile and can be updated later. A user profile also contains key identification data that can not be updated by users. These are agreed with stakeholders to ensure that national identity providers and registers can trust the system as secure, reliable and compliant with national requirements.
To register and use the application, users provide personal details that are verified by a personal SMS. Because the platform handles sensitive information, such as tax numbers, ownership or rental agreements, and production or disease records, registration and user management must be secure by design. The system must also comply with national laws and align with biosecurity, traceability and trade systems.
Given the platform’s wide range of functions, clear and user-friendly dashboards are essential. In SIIS, system managers create role-based workflows by assigning features and widgets to different user groups, including weather forecasts, operation type, active ponds, survival rates, feed use and harvest dates. Users can hold one or more roles, and the options they see depend on these assignments.
The SIIS landing page displays, depending on the users’ profile, the key aggregated information from the shrimp aquaculture. The information originates from various sources, sensors, internal databases, external api’s, but is all presented in a uniform fashion.
The SIIS national dashboard (test data). The dashboard displays live sensor data on pond water quality, highlights alerts and warnings, provides information on license expiry, and shows pending requests.
The dashboard provides each user with a customized overview of their status and guides them to areas requiring attention.
Sample of a customized overview, with a zoom-in on the Business Units section (sample national data).
Another key feature of SIIS is informing users about upcoming, ongoing and past events through alerts and warnings. It integrates multiple data sources to provide a consistent flow of information, while the design of the UI carefully balances information needs with the risk of overload.
In addition, the Smart Platform can support different types of registered aquaculture businesses, using nationally defined categories that allow to track shrimp during the entire production, which is uncommon in standard farm management software. Integration with national systems, such as identity services, business registers, biosecurity controls and weather alert services, further distinguishes a smart platform from standard farm management software.
Event notifications in SIIS: alerts and warnings consolidating inputs from multiple sources in a uniform design.
Registering a business in SIIS: selection of nationally defined categories.
For each farm type, different data-flows are established in the system (e.g. for pond management). These features are accessible through the platform, with each farm type featuring specific elements and rules governing its use.
All relevant data associated with each pond are displayed, including water quality, temperature, cultured species and health status. Where available, IoT sensor data on water quality are also shown.
Once a pond has been registered, it can be selected from the “My Ponds” screen.
Relevant details, including real-time sensor data, are displayed.
Relevant details can also be entered manually.
Another useful SIIS feature is the Cultivation Calendar, which provides a clear overview of past and planned activities. This information can be exported as reports and supports planning, evaluation, profitability analysis and comparison across ponds. Given the wide variation in farming practices, the tool helps strike a balance between standardized guidance and tailored decision-making, enabling more efficient production while keeping monitoring costs manageable.
The Cultivation Calendar offers an at-a-glance view of farm activities over time, supporting planning, tracking and performance review.
A special national feature of the SIIS system is the robust module for ownership and operation of farm productions units. The module delivers interoperability services across different platforms that allow for very detailed registration of production agreements and property structures – a complex operation where security, confidentiality, accountability and privacy requirements come together.
The SIIS lease option allows access to requester details via a QR code. Scanning opens a confirmation screen to verify and complete the lease.
Developing and maintaining administrative features such as those in SIIS is only cost-effective when stakeholders agree on their value. Consensus is needed on platform features, how to share the costs of data entry, system maintenance and updates to meet changing regulations. An oversight board and a regulatory framework that enables stakeholder participation are recommended throughout the platform’s development and implementation.
The Smart Platform integrates data from multiple stakeholders, creating a richer, more contextualized information environment. This added context makes observations more useful. For example, a disease report is only relevant if susceptible ponds are nearby; if none are active or at a vulnerable stage, issuing an alert adds little value. Or access to historical disease records can help producers plan and implement management measures throughout the production cycle.
The platform enables users to access and, where appropriate, contribute biosecurity information at different levels (private, restricted or public). The SIIS platform supports the development of these datasets through dedicated features, such as the “Disease Incidents” option in the production unit menu.
SIIS disease Incidents report. The platform also integrates producer data with external sources, including biosecurity monitoring in waterways and post-harvest reports.
To help users navigate the SIIS platform, data are organized in a structured way that makes it easier to find and use information. This also enables AI-driven chatbots to provide tailored, user-specific support while ensuring data security. Current features focus on targeted document retrieval, but the platform can support a wide range of applications, from farm management to risk analysis. The effectiveness of these AI tools depends on the availability of high-quality data, enabled by the SIIS Smart Data Platform.
For more information please contact: FAO-LK@fao.org