[Courtesy of Pukyong National University]
SEOUL -- Combining light-emitting diode (LED) with information and communication technology (ICT), a South Korean university research team has developed a lighting system that can make flatfish grow strong, healthy and big in land-based tanks.
Using lighting systems is not a new concept, with LED technology introduced for modern fish farming. A research team at Pukyong National University in the southern port city of Busan conducted an empirical study of 40,000 to 60,000 flatfish at a fish farm on the southern island of Jeju.
The team led by Yu Young-moon, head of the university's LED-marine convergence technology research & business development center, found that flatfish grew 15 percent to 79 percent in a tank installed with an LED lighting system, showing a low mortality rate. South Korea regards flatfish raised in land-based tanks as one of the most valuable aquaculture products.
"We will make efforts to secure global competitiveness by leading the standardization and modernization of the aquaculture industry as well as increasing income for fish farmers through the development of smart farming equipment and materials technology," Yu said in a statement.
Yu's team has analyzed changes in fish movements due to LED wavelengths, immune effects, injury recovery and stress reduction to find an optimal LED wavelength that can be applied to fish farming as well as an optimal lighting system that provides moisture and salinity, optimal wavelengths and light control that enables welfare breeding.
As the study received a good response from fish farms, the research team promised to develop aquaculture technology that improves productivity by identifying the effects of light on other fish species while developing and commercializing technologies that can remotely control light and water environments at the same time.
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