Big Data Platform for Smart Aquaculture 

Extensive producers typically operate with limited digital infrastructure and primarily need early warning services and connection to national communication and data systems.

Key platform services at this level include:

• National and regional early warning systems for extreme weather events (floods, storms, unusual temperature events), delivered to farmers via SMS or mobile app notifications.
• National farm registries and digital maps provide spatial context for management authorities and designated agencies on farm locations relative to environmental risks and disease outbreak areas.
• Support for nationally coordinated sampling networks: uploading field observations, disease samples, and manual water quality readings through mobile apps.
• Basic disease risk advisories based on national surveillance data, disseminated through mobile applications to assist farmers with practical advice.
• Integration with One Health and Blue Transformation national reporting frameworks.

For extensive producers, the platform requires minimal on-farm infrastructure. A smartphone with (intermittent) mobile connectivity is sufficient to access most services.

Extension services and their agents play a key role in facilitating data entry and interpreting alerts and will be key in a successful Smart Data Platform.

Semi-intensive producers benefit from a broader range of services that integrate sensor data with AI-assisted analytics. In addition to all services for extensive producers, a typical smart platform provides:

• Integration of in-pond water quality sensor data (dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, salinity, ammonia) with automated alerts when values fall outside predefined thresholds.
• Statistical and AI-based forecasting of pond conditions, including probabilistic forecasts of dissolved oxygen levels with user-configurable alert thresholds and forecast horizons. The SAB project demonstrated cost-effective hybrid statistical/ML forecasting for DO and other parameters in Peruvian ponds.
• Generate semi-automatically data for passive and active surveillance programs to improve health, environment and biosecurity.
• Remote sensing-assisted water quality assessment for larger ponds using satellite imagery (e.g. Copernicus Sentinel-2 based on water colour classification).
• Integration with Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) certification data for traceability.
• Data sharing across farms in a cluster or region, enabling pattern detection and joint risk assessments, potentially with AI and remote sensing / GIS Systems.
• Demand-side integration with feed and supply chain partners for automated restocking and traceability.
• Dashboards for field extension officers and biosecurity inspectors with farm-level status and alert histories for tailored advice on production and risk management.

Extension services and their agents play a key role in ensuring consistent data quality, even if staff turnover is high, if the Smart Data Platform enforces quality data entry by e.g. geofencing, photographic evidence and calendar driven reporting. This enhanced data quality also improves the possibilities and quality of subsequent analysis.

Keeping an up-to-date inventory of farm inputs is a tedious and repetitive task that can be much simplified with mobile assisted data collection. Inventories are extremely useful in the case of disaster recovery support, maintenance of feed-stock, and to understand farm losses due to feed quality deterioration and misaligned feeding patterns.

Intensive producers require comprehensive, near-real-time operational data management. In addition to all semi-intensive services, the platform provides:

• Continuous high-frequency sensor monitoring with automated controls for feeding, aeration, and water exchange based on real-time analytics.
• Advanced AI/ML forecasting of multiple water quality parameters simultaneously, including phytoplankton composition and mineral balance indicators.
• Innovative AI-driven image analysis for disease risk classification, shrimp growth estimation (achieving over 90% accuracy in pilot programmes), and behaviour monitoring.
• Integration of Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) or Biofloc Technology (BFT) data streams in monitoring and control applications.
• On-farm or mobile laboratory results (PCR, qPCR, LAMP, LFSB field kits) fed directly into the platform’s disease surveillance module.
• Comprehensive food safety traceability from hatchery to harvest, supporting export compliance and audit documentation.
• Risk Index (RI) scoring combining environmental, health, and economic indicators in real time.
• Integration with suppliers and retailers' data platforms to synchronize production schedules with procurement and e-commerce platforms.