Job interviews with a difference will soon take place under an innovative scheme aimed at tackling a scourge of the Scottish salmon farming industry.
Researchers have teamed up with imaging experts to explore how artificial intelligence could help to select the best delousing fish – typically the ones that are the most bold.
Sea lice are a major problem for salmon farmers, causing stock depletion and costing the sector tens of millions of pounds a year in a variety of treatments to eradicate them.
One solution is to use “cleaner fish” such as ballan wrasse or lumpfish, which feed off the lice.
But in the world of cleaner fish, some are better at this particular task than others.
Different personalities are naturally better suited to different jobs among humans, so it is fascinating to see the same is true of these species.”
Heather Jones, CEO, Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre.
A Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC)-funded study has already shown bolder ballan wrasse are likely to be a better fit for the job of picking sea lice off salmon.
Researchers are now exploring how to use this type of test on a commercial scale.
A new video tool will reveal the most suitable individuals for the delousing job by sorting the bold and brave from the bashful among the cleaner fish job candidates.
The project is led by Stirling University’s Institute of Aquaculture, Swansea University and Argyll-based cleaner fish producer Otter Ferry Seafish (OFS).
Funding has come from SAIC, with the research also supported by salmon farmers Loch Duart and Bakkafrost Scotland, as well as Mowi-owned lumpfish producer Ocean Matters and Cardiff-based machine vision company Visifish.
Fish to get ‘personality’ test
Like some job interviews, there will also be a group challenge – with researchers monitoring how ballan wrasse and lumpfish with different “personalities” respond in social groups.
SAIC chief executive Heather Jones said: “Studying the behaviour of cleaner fish is providing a new and interesting take on how the (aquaculture) sector cares for and uses ballan wrasse and lumpfish to the best of their abilities.”
She added: “Different personalities are naturally better suited to different jobs among humans, so it is fascinating to see the same is true of these species.
“Building on previous SAIC-backed research and further combining academic and sector expertise, the development of new camera-based technology could be transformational for the sector’s approach to using cleaner fish.”
Significant potential
Stirling University aquatic animal behaviour research fellow Adam Brooker said: “We produce cleaner fish for a specific job, so it makes sense to develop an appropriate selection process based on the different personality traits we know can influence delousing.
“With this new information, we can modify the rearing environment to encourage delousing behaviour and select good delousers for breeding future generations.
“Being able to identify the best delousers, based on behaviour, could lead to significant improvements in the health and welfare of salmon and a reduction in the number of cleaner fish used.”
OFS research and development manager Eduardo Jimenez Fernandez added: “So far, the research points towards bold cleaner fish being better delousers.
“However, the data is limited and a more robust model is needed for categorising and identifying such personality traits.
“This project combines global behavioural expertise and will provide valuable information that could guide future selective breeding programmes.”
The first stage of the project involves categorising the different traits – such as boldness, shyness, social interaction and even aggression – and seeing how the range of “personalities” perform at picking sea lice from salmon.
Field trials are expected to take place next year, with the camera system tested using cleaner fish populations at salmon farms run by Loch Duart and Bakkafrost Scotland.
Conversation