Abstract
The aim of the R&D project is to create an autonomous platform that continuously, throughout seasons, by measuring and analyzing the hydrobiological parameters of the whole water column, is suitable for the early detection of the negative hydrobiological trends related to changes in the dissolved oxygene level pointing towards mass fish kills, appearing and occasionally causing multi million forint damage in fish farms and is able to send warning signal(s) and to automatically control the deployed protection systems. The measuring activity of the platform is performed by a fully autonomous, anchored measuring buoy with independent energy production and energy storage, and the capability of measuring the entire water column in layers. The measuring buoy has its own data transmission system to the special IoT server that evaluates the current risks.
The data of the measurement and early warning system allow:
(1) Fish farmers shall be able to detect in a timely manner the onset of processes for the reduction of dissolved oxygen concentrations in their waters that have the potential to cause significant material and moral damage through mass fish kills, and to initiate interventions in a timely manner to avoid such kills.
(2) The environment of lakes and living waters is drastically affected by climate change, tourism and the transformation of agricultural and industrial activities on the surrounding land. Following the operation of the planned system, fish farmers will be able to optimize their management and manage risk: to change the composition of fish stocks to be more resilient to changing environmental conditions, to explore the combined effects of planting, harvesting, feeding, sluice management and other activities by rescheduling their activities to improve their profitability. The data, measured continuously on hundreds of lakes and living waters, provide an unprecedented, exceptional scientific assessment opportunity in the fields of fisheries management, environmental protection, and the quantification and forecasting of the effects of climate change.
Presentation of the research background: The autonomy of the self-sustaining energy supply capacity of the measuring buoy over the seasons, the spatial and temporal management of the measurement data projected on the whole water column, and the interpretation of its conversion to a risk level are novel. The complexity of the solution requires not only an interdisciplinary approach, but the possibilities for the solution are not immediately obvious to the representatives of different scientific and technical disciplines. In order to solve scientific and technical uncertainties, the performance of research tasks within the framework of the project is of primary importance: the applied research tasks are carried out in a complex system of theoretical and practical field measurements, correlation explorations and data analyzes. The system has the potential to provide continuous monitoring of the environmental parameters of hundreds of Hungarian angling lakes, other stagnant and river waters. The domestic market shows the possibility of placing hundreds of self-sustaining, automatic measuring buoys as measuring points. There are no similar finished products and services in the surrounding countries. Projecting the hundreds of placement potential in Hungary to the surrounding countries, the potential for the creation of thousands of measuring points becomes visible. For the next programming period, the European Union has declared a priority for the development of freshwater fish production systems. The reason for prioritization is that increasing aquaculture is no longer feasible and that fish meat is a source of high quality protein. In addition, serving the needs of climate change-related water resource monitoring and system-level management, either with data or by placing new buoys, can provide additional potential.
Hungary