The second largest producer of farmed salmon after Norway, Chile experiences up to $2 million a year in theft of salmon and salmon eggs. The addition of intelligent video has proved successful in the reduction of thefts.
Compiled by Erin J. Fellores
Trusal S.A., a leader in the Chilean aquaculture industry, has implemented video analytics to protect its salmon pools in Puerto Montt from threats approaching from sea and land.
The second largest producer of farmed salmon after Norway, Chile experiences up to $2 million a year in theft of salmon and salmon eggs. With 28 salmon pools and a total perimeter of 8,000 square meters, Trusal runs one of Chile’s major fish farms and was suffering significant losses from intruders, fishing boats and predators.
Several logistical issues had to be taken into consideration in selecting an effective security system that would also minimize the incidence of false alarms. “The layout of the sprawling property makes a perimeter fence unfeasible,” said installer Andres Dieterich, project manager of Technology and Systems. “The solution had to be capable of detecting intrusion by boats and unauthorized persons, while differentiating between marine predators and harmless small animals entering the perimeter.” Since surveillance was to be carried out over both land and sea, variable environmental factors such as precipitation and wind velocity needed to be addressed as well.
ioimage offered the only solution that could deal with all of these problems with a single installation,” said Dieterich. “It gives us a high level of security in a complex setting with an exceptionally low false alarm rate. Some salmon farms utilize radar technology, which is ineffective without video verification. The system has reduced the need for operator attention to a monitor, enabling security staff to attend to other functions. In addition, installation was easy and the service has been excellent.”
This system has thus far proven protective for the Chilean salmon farm; since installing video analytics, thefts have been reduced by 75 percent and manpower by 30 percent, which in turn saves the company money.
