AEI

Aquaculture Environment Interactions

AEI is a gold Open Access journal and a multidisciplinary forum for primary research studies on the environmental sustainability of aquaculture.

Online: ISSN 1869-7534

Print: ISSN 1869-215X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/aei

Impact Factor2.5 (JCR 2025 release)

Article Acceptance Rate25% (2024)

Average Time in Review175 days (2024)

Total Annual Downloads162.171 (2025)

Volume contents
Aquacult Environ Interact 17:33-43 (2025)

A decision support system to predict mortality events in finfish aquaculture

ABSTRACT: The aquaculture industry can be impacted by mortality events triggered by marine heatwaves, pathogens, and other environmental factors. Aquaculture managers would benefit from advanced warning of mortality events so they can make decisions to maximise production and profitability. To help monitor fish health and performance, finfish farms are often equipped with an array of cameras and environmental sensors. However, analysing and interpreting all this information can be difficult. Decision support systems (DSSs) can help by simplifying multiple data sources into a single output for quick interpretation and action. Here, we present a DSS capable of providing salmon farmers with 4 wk warning of an impending mortality event. This DSS was trained on a suite of data routinely collected by New Zealand salmon farmers and provides an alert if weekly mortality is predicted to exceed 0.5%. In the final model, present mortality, water temperature, and standardised feeding rate were all found to be significantly correlated with the probability of a future mortality event. The model performed well when tested on data not included in the model-building process, suggesting that the DSS could be useful to farm managers. This study shows that even limited information can be used to construct a DSS capable of providing some advanced warning of elevated mortality risk. Given the ease with which DSSs can be adapted to ingest and predict other parameters, we see strong potential for future development and adoption of these tools by the aquaculture industry and other sectors.

KEYWORDS

L. M. Howarth (Co-author)

  • Cawthron Institute, Nelson 7010, New Zealand

B. R. Knight (Corresponding Author)

  • Cawthron Institute, Nelson 7010, New Zealand
  • Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia
ben.knight@cawthron.org.nz

J. E. Symonds (Co-author)

  • Cawthron Institute, Nelson 7010, New Zealand

Z. Waddington (Co-author)

  • New Zealand King Salmon, Picton 7220, New Zealand

I. Davidson (Co-author)

  • Cawthron Institute, Nelson 7010, New Zealand