‘On fire’ at AquaNor 2017

RealTime Aqua 2 — Brad Rodgers, VP of Business Development at Realtime Aquaculture from Nova Scotia, shows how easily salmon farmers can monitor their sites with the company’s innovative underwater wireless sensors.

Tim Stone is definitive when asked how AquaNor 2017 is going for his Nova Scotia company Realtime Aquaculture.

“We’re on fire.”

Stone, Realtime Aquaculture’s VP Product Development, says interest in his company’s technology at this year’s show is overwhelming.

Realtime Aquaculture has developed real-time sensors that eliminate the need for cables by using advanced acoustic telemetry technology to send data underwater. The system is designed to withstand the harshest open water conditions and can be powered for up to a year by a D-cell batter. The sensors report real-time information on water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and sensor diagnostics including tilt and battery life.

“You can be anywhere in the world and see what is happening on your farm,” says Brad Rodgers, VP Business Development.

“It’s great technology coming out of Nova Scotia. It’s a proud moment for our company and I think for our province,” said Stone.

Quite a success story indeed and an excellent example of some of the positive outcomes from Atlantic Aquaculture Missions.

Realtime Aquaculture is a division of Amirix Systems, a company looking for innovations in new markets. Rodgers had contacts in the aquaculture industry and decided to come on our 2015 Mission to Ireland and Norway to learn more about the sector. That led to a collaboration with Cooke Aquaculture and other Atlantic Canadian companies to refine their technology. In December 2016, the company launched their technology in North America and other global locations.

“We’re selling all over the world. It’s been a whirlwind,” says Rodgers. “The technology is great, downloadable apps that are easy to use. The only way to go is with wireless sensors.”

They returned to AquaNor this year as part of our crew once again to showcase their product and identify opportunities to bring the technology to Norway.

“Coming to AquaNor has allowed us to both learn about this industry, build relationships and validate the importance of the problem we solve within the global salmon farming industry,” says Rodgers.

Another crew member – Jonathan Gagne of Enterprise Shippagan – says his participation in the past two missions has been invaluable to his company.

With over 100 employees, Enterprise Shippagan Ltd. has established itself as one of the major wholesale distributors to the commercial fishing, aquaculture and marine industries in Canada. From its inception in 1977 as a supplier to local fishermen, the company has continued to grow and now sells globally.

AquaNor sign and jonathan — Jonathan Gagne and Helene Roussel from Enterprise Shippagan

In 2013, Gagne headed to Aqua Nor on his own but has joined our last two Missions. This year, he presented at our Canada/Norway Business Seminar where he talked about the growth of Enterprise Shippagan and some of its collaborations with other companies to innovate new projects.

“Aquaculture is never the same from farm to farm and the solutions are never the same,” said Gagne.

His company is now working on glow-in-the-dark crab traps – the first in the world. The glow has been shown to attract crab to the trap. The big challenge, he said, was to get the luminous material inside the netting fibers to recharge.

“We worked a long time on it,” he said, adding that now one to 10 mins of direct UV light will recharge the nets for six hours.

“We are curious where this technology can lead,” said Gagne.

Our week in Norway has flown by! Hard to believe we are heading to the airport tomorrow at the crack of dawn…..before that actually….the middle of the night. We’re a tired crew but it’s been such a great week!

We’ll finish off with a couple of beauty shots from Trondheim.