Save the future of Hiroshima oyster farming? Get behind the scenes of the latest technology to solve production issues! | My Navi News My Navi News My Navi
There is also a theory that aquaculture has a long history and started in the Muromachi period.
However, even such Hiroshima prefecture is said to have problems with oyster farming.
The challenge is "stabilizing oyster production." New solutions were sought to achieve more stable production.
Therefore, the mission was to increase the production efficiency of oyster farming by utilizing the latest technology, and the industry-academia-government-private partnership project "Smart Oyster Culture IoT Platform Business" was launched.
This time, we hit the key people who participated in the project directly and asked about the background of the launch and their thoughts on the project.
I want to solve the problem of oyster farming with AI / IoT technology.The opportunity to launch the project
This time, we were interviewed by Professor Nakao of the University of Tokyo, Mr. Shimoie of the Uchinoumi Fisheries Cooperative, and Mr. Tsunoda and Mr. Manabe, who belong to the Sharp Communication Business Headquarters.
The beginning of the grand project was the encounter between Professor Nakao and Mr. Tsunoda, both of whom are from Hiroshima prefecture.
I met Mr. Tsunoda on a different project, but he talked about giving back to his hometown by solving the production problem of oysters, which is a specialty of Hiroshima prefecture. |
Etajima City, where Mr. Tsunoda was born and raised, is an area where oyster production is thriving. Mr. Shimoie, who works for the Uchinoumi Fisheries Cooperative in Etajima City, told Professor Nakao and Mr. Tsunoda who visited the hearing about the issues that lie in oyster farming.
Oyster seedling collection * 1 due to high water temperature and mortality * 2 due to adhesion of marine organisms increased, and a decrease in landing height was regarded as a problem. At production sites, labor shortages are becoming more serious as producers age. Even in the production method, know-how was accumulated based on experience and intuition, so it was difficult to pass on the technology to the future without creating a mechanism that can visualize it. |
A production site that is at a loss for complex and intertwined issues.
After hearing the sad voice, Professor Nakao and Mr. Tsunoda decided to work on solving the problem by using the technology of the University of Tokyo and Sharp.
After that, he applied for the AI / IoT demonstration platform project "Company name is Hiroshima Sandbox", which is publicly recruited by Hiroshima Prefecture.
It was successfully adopted and launched the "Smart Oyster Culture IoT Platform Project", an industry-academia-government-private partnership project.
What I noticed was "improvement of seedling collection rate".Data-driven fishing by combining sensors and IoT communication technology
From intuition and experience fishing to data-driven fishing. In order to solve the problem of oyster production, hope was entrusted to sensing technology and IoT communication technology.
At the beginning, there was talk of attaching GPS to fishing boats to monitor the amount of activity from the aspect of work style reform. However, as I continued to interview Mr. Shimoie and those involved in the fishing industry, the core of the issue became apparent. |
The core of the challenge was "sapling". If you cannot collect seedlings, aquaculture will not start and you will have to purchase oyster larvae from outside the prefecture. This purchase cost put pressure on the fishermen's management.
It is difficult to identify the cause of the poor seedling collection because there are various theories, but I thought that it would be possible to show some grounds by environmental monitoring by sensing, so I started the initiative. |
The first thing I worked on was acquiring seawater temperature data. In order to reduce the burden on producers, we floated an inexpensive sensor built by the University of Tokyo on the sea and incorporated IoT communication technology.
If you can see the changes in water temperature during the year in real time, you will be able to predict the spawning time. In the two years since the project was launched, we have focused on improving the accuracy of this forecast. |
Furthermore, using a drone, oyster spawning is photographed from the sky. By simulating the tidal current and submerging scallops in appropriate places to attach oyster eggs, we aimed to improve the seedling collection rate.
The demonstration experiment is "on the sea".The hardships faced by the unprecedented digital revolution
However, the challenge was extremely harsh. Mr. Tsunoda recalls that he was at the mercy of an unexpected event.
Unlike land, experiments at sea are dangerous and very time-consuming. In some cases, the sensor was washed away and it was sunk by a typhoon. It was a harsh environment where data acquisition was not straightforward. |
While agriculture is becoming smarter, the fishery industry has few precedents, probably because the environment of the sea has a great influence. Mr. Tsunoda said that he had obtained a ship license, saying, "If anything happens, I can deal with it."
In addition, it seems that how to show the acquired water temperature data was also mentioned as an important issue.
People who work in the field are in their 50s at the youngest. There was a section where I usually use feature phones and hate smartphones and communication devices, so it was very difficult until I got used to the app. We visited the workshops one by one to explain the usability, and gave feedback to the University of Tokyo and Sharp. |
This time, we focused on "easy-to-see" such as displaying the seawater temperature in different colors on the figure. Producers place oyster rafts in the designated sea area for aquaculture, but because there are differences in water temperature and salinity of seawater in each sea area, the rafts are moved regularly. .. For example, if the temperature is different even at 1 ° C, the growing condition will be affected, so the timing of moving is crucial. I was strongly conscious of what kind of awareness I wanted to give and how I wanted to act. |
Thanks to such hard work, the reputation from the production site is good.
Until now, ocean information was only observed once a month at fixed points in the prefecture, but now it can be grasped in real time through smartphones anytime, anywhere. Some producers say, "I was able to improve the production method" and "I am thinking about what to do for the day after seeing the ocean information every morning," and it has been well received. |
Upon hearing these words, Mr. Tsunoda and Mr. Manabe had a look of relief.
By being involved in the project, I was blessed with the opportunity to communicate with local governments and people from different industries. We have more connections, a wider field of vision, and we are able to rethink what we can do. |
In my previous work, I had never been involved with people in the primary industry, so while promoting the creation of a platform, I was able to receive direct feedback from producers and study. |
The digital revolution in oyster farming has finally taken a step after three years.
The future of oyster farming is bright! Sustainable efforts from the SDGs perspective are key
The challenge to increase production has just begun. However, Professor Nakao emphasizes that this project has great significance even at this stage.
I think we can be proud of the success story of being able to introduce advanced technologies such as sensors and IoT into the fishing industry, which has been said to be a difficult task. If deployed horizontally, it can be applied not only to oyster farming but also to other fishery production. In addition, if we can identify and eliminate the environmental factors that cause the decrease in oyster yields, it will directly lead to the goal of the SDGs' 14th goal, "Protect the abundance of the sea." |
Mr. Manabe and Mr. Tsunoda are also feeling the response to their contribution to the SDGs.
In addition to "Protecting the abundance of the sea" that Professor Nakao said, the continuous installation of inexpensive sensors made it possible to visualize ocean information in real time, which is the ninth goal of the SDGs, "The Foundation for Industry and Technological Innovation." Let's make it. " It promotes the development of the living infrastructure of new entrants and producers, and is related to the 11th goal, "Creating a town where people can continue to live." |
The data on climate change in the sea obtained by sensing the water temperature may be useful for the 13th goal, "Specific measures for climate change." |
There is no doubt that it applies to many other items of the SDGs, such as helping to achieve the eighth goal, "both job satisfaction and economic growth."
Now that the number of fishermen is steadily decreasing, I hope that if we can improve work efficiency and production, oyster farming will become a more familiar industry for the next generation of young people. |
It may take some time. That is why Professor Nakao, Mr. Shimoie, Mr. Tsunoda, and Mr. Manabe all appealed for the need for sustainable efforts.
"Promoting the SDGs through digitalization will lead to securing human resources who will be responsible for oyster production, and will accelerate the economic growth of Hiroshima Prefecture."
In the future, their eyes, who are enthusiastic about producing oysters that are plump and delicious, will have a bright future.
Click here for details on the smart oyster farming IoT platform business
[PR] Provided by: SHARP
