Short films offer easy way to teach fish farming
Fish farm personnel will shortly be able to quickly access the latest knowledge to implement "best practice" thanks to a website offering, among other things, short animations and videos that deal with everything from salmon anatomy to delousing operations.
BluePlanet Academy is a Norwegian enterprise but is translating its material into English, and other languages too.
“If you perform a particular operation, you can make sure that the operator goes through the relevant videos [on the website] together with his personnel before starting the operation," explained chief executive Morten Bergslien.
“In this way, one can more adequately ensure that everyone involved is aware of their duties and responsibilities before the actual operation begin.”
Exchange knowledge
The parent company, BluePlanet AS, is located in Stavanger, has four employees and is a networking organisation owned by the industry and the public sector. The purpose of the organisation is to work at the intersection between research and industry, and exchange knowledge in the industry.
“We want to see the quickest and easiest possible way of learning. This is what BluePlanet Academy is about. We have worked with the development of the portal for approximately one year, after we received the support of Innovation Norway last year, but the idea has been there a long time,” Bergslien told kyst.no website.
In-depth knowledge of aquaculture production based on the topics of sustainability, feed, biology, animal welfare, production and legislation, together with courses, will strengthen the knowledge of operational personnel within the world's aquaculture industry.
Several languages
“We have made hundreds of movies and thousands of questions and answers. The main focus has naturally been on salmon in the first place, but we also work with several species and to translate the material into several languages,” said Bergslien.
The web portal for the Norwegian language version of salmon production will soon be completed, with an English-language version to follow later this year and a Spanish version next year.
Work on tilapia, seabass and shrimp (L. vannamei) is also under development, since the company has received requests for such a tool globally. The tilapia web resource is due in English and Portuguese next year, with French added in 2019. Seabass will be added to the portal, in both English and Spanish, next year, and shrimp will be added, in English, in 2019.
Continuous change
“Demand will control which species and languages we focus on in the coming years,” added Bergslien.
According to Bergslien the website will be under continuous change as the industry develops in the future.
“Our animation films are from a half to three minutes long to make learning as efficient as possible, so that farmers should not need to spend much time to retrieve relevant information. The short film also allows for rapid correction and updating of materials needed.
“We have worked extensively to trim down the information in the movies to essentials, so that knowledge transfer is facilitated. The user will be able to choose how deeply he immerses himself in the various themes. We have described various knowledge areas ranging from general knowledge to university level for aquaculture subjects,” said Bergslien.
Foremost expertise
The parent company, BluePlanet AS, has been involved in aquaculture consultancy for several years, but last year they took the step towards developing a global knowledge portal in the BluePlanet Academy. The knowledge base is obtained from industry suppliers, veterinarians, research institutes, universities, public institutions and more.
“Norway has the foremost expertise in the production of salmon and aquaculture technology. It was natural to start with what we do best, and the focus will also be there in future."
Some of the website's content can be accessed for free, with more available on a paid-for section that requires a login.
“What is available on the open version of the BluePlanet Academy today is only a fraction of what lies in the portal when logging in,” added Bergslien.
Positive feedback
Some of the content of the salmon farming section website - in Norwegian - can be seen here.
Bergslien told fishfarmingexpert.com: "We have got a lot of positive feedback on BluePlanet Academy, and are currently working with finishing up the Norwegian part for salmon production. The aim is to start delivering online courses (in Norwegian) in November.
"However, the goal is to translate BluePlanet Academy into several different languages. English is first up, and we are aiming for a release before Christmas.
"We are testing the login version at the moment, and the price for the login will be ready in early November."
