The term ‘Blue Revolution’, which refers to the revolution of the Aquaculture industry, was first introduced in an UK economic Journal ‘The Economist [21]’ in 2003 and derived from the original term ‘Green Revolution’ that had led to a dramatic increase in the output of agricultural produce. Although The Economist has forecasted that the mankind would obtain marine products through aquaculture industry fulfilling the Blue Revolution by 2030, the current aquaculture industry of the ROK is still at the early stage of such a revolution [21, 22].
One of the futurologists anticipated in his report [21,22,23] that following the rapid increase in global demand of marine products, the aquaculture business would become a high value-added business as other cutting-edge technology-based industries and emerge as one of the major industries in 2018. The report also predicted that the volume of cultured marine products would exceed more than 50% of entire marine products starting from 2015, and due to their continued price increase and demand, the global market size for the these products would reach around one trillion US dollars. Thus, the relevant ROK government agencies have been conducting various researches and pilot projects pertaining to the ‘u-Farms’ (Urban Farms).
The major methodological difference between the government-oriented researches and our idea is that we have introduced the Power Line Communication (PLC) technology into our proposed system design. The concepts used in this study have been validated through a number of prior articles and theses presented at the conferences and published on journals [15,16,17,18,19,20].
RFID/USN-based high-quality marine product production support system
Construction of this system started in 2008 for the cage-culturing farms nearby Tongyeong-city, Gyeongsannam-do prefecture, aiming to increase income of aquaculture farmers, merchandise globally competitive marine products, and improve consumer trust. The goal of this project was to convince consumers that what they are consuming is safe and reliable by utilizing the RFID/USN technology to perform an adequate production process management and establish a data linkage throughout entire process [24]. Figure 10 shows a fish attached with the product developed at that time.
Some major contents of the project included a USN-based production management system for the cage-culturing farms, RFID-based traceability management system for fisheries port markets, integrated management system (portal site) for live-fish safety information, trace data, etc.
First, the USN-based cage-culturing production management system performs management of basic overall information of the farm in addition to arrival/shipment information management for both young and full-grown fishes and monitoring of growth/development environments. Second, the RFID-based traceability management system manages production information, reseller’s inventories, transaction information of distributors, live-fish arrival/shipment/transport information. Finally, the integrated management system (portal site) performs the activities such as business promotions, management of bulletin boards for consumers and users, as well as data linking with the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF).
The results of the project regarding distributors, sales, and consumers can be checked with the system. The benefits for the farmer were as follows.
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A scientific achievement was confirmed with continuous monitoring of underwater and external environments of the cage-culturing site by using the acquired data to improvement productivity.
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It was possible to reduce farmer’s facility operation costs based on the records (data) pertaining to production management and facility maintenance status.
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A comprehensive decision making was possible with the data including the record of young fishes purchase, shipment of full-grown fishes, as well as monitoring results of growth environment.
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Farmers’ ability to cope with the crisis had increased. For example, a prompt notice regarding the change in seawater with SMS messages helped farmers to handle the situation much faster than before.
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Lastly, farmers were able to check the problems of their farms through underwater cameras and CCTV monitoring.
The major benefit for the distributors was an actual increase in their sales volume through demands of high-quality live fishes and transparent distribution process. Their reliability had improved with issuance of credible Country of Origin (COA) for the fishes shipped and it was possible for them to improve their earnings by using the statistics showing them accurate sales volumes and profits. Moreover, farmers were able to check an appropriate time and price by securing current sales and price status of entire nation’s port markets though the information linkage with the MIFAFF. Finally, the real-time availability of water temperature and dissolved oxygen of fish-delivery vehicles allowed them to minimize the loss during transportation.
From the resellers’ stance, their reliability and sales were improved by providing consumers with high-quality fishes with credible COA’s, as well as entire records in distribution process. Such trust-worthy information led to consumers’ trust while improving their earnings.
In general, it was expected that consumers would be able to enjoy a healthy diet as the proposed systems could minimize distribution of substandard fishes and offer accurate production/delivery information to promptly cope with crisis.
High-quality u-aquaculture support system in clean waters of Jeju Island
This system, which was constructed in January of 2009 in Jeju Island, is to automatically collect and manage production information including manufacturing of mixed feeds, feeding process, etc. by using RFID/USN technology for the aquaculture industry. RFID tags are attached on the fishes to provide the same information to consumers. The system allows consumers to check the information with attached RFID tags. A real-name production system was implemented to provide production information to consumers and such a measure allowed consumers’ confidence on the Jeju-produced aquaculture products to be improved while securing industry’s competitiveness following the market-opening pressures from FTA and other trade agreements, promoting the image of clean Jeju globally [25]. Figure 11 shows the high-quality u-Aquaculture support system in clean waters of Jeju Island. Figure 12 shows monitoring tags.
Construction project of u-aquaculture farm in Tongyeong and Maritime Disaster response system
The u-IT pilot project was implemented for six aquaculture farms nearby Tongyeong-city in 2010. The project was comprised of tasks such as improvement of growth and development management system of existing RFID/USN-based high-quality production support system, construction of the farm-protection and emergency alarm service systems using CCTVs and intrusion detection sensors, and establishment of the disaster observation and response system by linking with it weather information and the real-time seawater pollution observation system.
Some of the major performances include improvement of farm management by securing farm’s operating information and monitoring theft and disaster events, establishment of disaster protection system with CCTVs, intrusion detection sensors along with the operation of bottom-layer seawater supply system, and construction of real-time monitoring and notification service system using smartphones.
This project was divided into five areas: First, object was to provide farmers with a distribution-model software package which allows an efficient and practical real-time monitoring of seawater environments. Second, the problems in existing growth and development management system were fixed through improvement of u-Farm growth management system software. Third, the real-time intrusion detection and theft prevention system was constructed to protect the standardized u-farms to give warnings. Fourth, by linking all the seawater environment information systems installed at the farms, the real-time farm disaster forecasting/warning system network was constructed. Finally, in order to respond to seawater pollutions, the systems were designed to provide the information regarding the low-layer seawater supply system (equipments) and the possibility of future crisis to the relevant authorities and the farmers.
The resulting effects of the introduced u-IT technology in this project can be found in four areas. First, computerization of farm management process led to the increase in efficiency. The task of managing aquaculture farms was considered as a 3D-work till then as it required much hard physical work and systematic management was not easy. Computerization and automation of management process largely contributed to the farmers’ earnings and work efficiency. Figure 13 shows construction project of u-Aquaculture farm in Tongyeong and maritime disaster response system.
Second, construction of an efficient and adaptable farm protection system was possible with a network of CCTVs, intrusion detection sensors, along with low-layer seawater supply equipments. By directly installing the protection system on the Fish farms, those facilities previously unprotected by existing systems were covered. Such a platform system can be utilized for the disasters occurring nearby waters. Much useful information (e.g., real-time images and sensor data) were provided to the relevant authorities and farmers through smartphones and websites in order for them to take some precautionary measures.
Third, the real-time provision of data including seawater temperatures, dissolved oxygen levels, weather information and tides were possible. Supplying such information vital to the farmers through software applications and internet sites in real-time was the first global attempt so that this research might be able to provide an important basis for future application development.
Fourth and last, introduction of the u-IT technology for the Fish farms is quite meaningful that the all the involved systems are ubiquitous. There have been various ubiquitous projects but implementing such a system on the cage-culturing farms is the first attempt and can be the first example that will be able to surmount regional and environmental limitations. Through the system, which the farmers and the relevant authorities can gain an easy access, the effects of u-Services can be maximized and the project described in this study will be exemplary to other researcher or farmers considering similar projects.