IN A pleasant spot on Tasmania鈥檚 coast, has been growing and serving oysters for more than three decades.
But are their oysters as healthy as they can be? The farm is about to find out. Some of the oysters are having sensors the size of credit cards tacked onto their shells.
Farm manager Justin Goc says the information will help him make better decisions. The farm is one of a handful of places that have joined a trial organised by a government-funded project to build a sensor network across Tasmania. The project aims to link up several types of existing sensors, as well as install new ones, to create an agricultural database.
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Sensor technology is now sophisticated enough to be able to monitor an oyster鈥檚 heartbeat. The new sensors will do this, and also track whether the oyster鈥檚 shell is open, which provides insight into the oyster鈥檚 feeding habits. It will record how deep in the water the oyster has settled, and what the temperature and light levels are like down there. Meanwhile, separate sensors keep tabs on changes in the water鈥檚 salinity, and overall temperature and oxygen levels.
鈥淭he sensors will monitor the oyster鈥檚 heartbeat and track whether its shell is open or closed鈥�
All the data can be analysed in real time, so if an oyster鈥檚 condition changes, it will be possible to search for corresponding changes in the water. For the last six months, Sense-T physiologists have been analysing the sensors鈥� output in the lab to figure out what combination of factors produce the best oyster.
鈥淚f we can start to use the data to predict how oysters have grown, that will be useful,鈥� says John McCulloch at , Australia鈥檚 national research agency and a partner in Sense-T.
For example, farmers must periodically take oysters out of their baskets to see how much they have grown. This process is time-consuming and disruptive. The hope is that a handful of strategically placed sensors could do the job instead.
Other Sense-T projects aim to make similar improvements with abalone, vineyards and cattle. 鈥淚t鈥檚 when you put it all together that the exciting stuff happens,鈥� says Ros Harvey, Sense-T director. 鈥淲e can find better ways to use our resources 鈥� how to do more with less.鈥�
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淎 happy oyster is a big-data oyster鈥�
