ThisFish Inc. will be presenting new technology to revolutionize quality inspection in the seafood processing sector at Seafood Expo North America in Boston on March 14, 2023. TallyVision combines the latest in cutting-edge camera and computer vision technology to enable automated, continuous inspection of fish quality.
A water-proof camera captures images of fish fillets passing on a conveyor belt and then a machine-learning algorithm counts and measures the fillets, classifies their colour, and identifies five different types of quality defects.
“Quality control typically involves selecting random fish samples and visually inspecting them for defects. It’s a slow, manual process prone to human error and bias,” says Eric Enno Tamm, Co-Founder and CEO of ThisFish Inc., a Vancouver-based company providing software and artificial intelligence to the seafood sector. “TallyVision automates inspection and provides production managers with data unparalleled in its detail, precision and accuracy.”
TallyVision was developed in partnership with Orca Specialty Foods Ltd., one of Canada’s leading smoked salmon processors based in Surrey, B.C. ThisFish Inc. worked with Orca Specialty Foods Ltd. to develop a computer vision algorithm for salmon fillet inspection, both farmed and wild species. The algorithm classifies colour according to the 14-point SalmoFan scale and identifies five defects including inoculation scarring, bruising, gaping, trenching and softness on fish fillets.
“I’ve been in the fish processing business for 40 years,” says David McKinnon, Owner and President of Orca Specialty Foods Ltd., “and I think TallyVision could be a game changer. We can now inspect every fish fillet for quality and then provide this data back to fishing companies and aquaculture farms to help them improve quality in the future. The sheer volume of quality data is unprecedented since I now have a picture and analytics of every fish fillet we produce.”
The data from TallyVision is sent to TallyBI, an advanced analytics platform that visually displays the data in graphs, charts and dynamic reports. Sample images of actual defects and colouring can also be viewed. Data is transferred to TallyBI within approximately 30 seconds from image capture by the camera.
In 2021, ThisFish Inc. won seed research funding from the Aquaculture Innovation Award sponsored by Innovate BC and the B.C. Government. Funding was also provided by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster.
“We’re proud to partner with and fund ThisFish Inc., a pioneer in artificial intelligence in the seafood sector. Their OSC project is the first commercialized AI product funded by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster,” says Kendra MacDonald, CEO of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster. “We believe AI can help businesses manage uncertainty and unpredictability in the ocean sector. In fact, we’ve recently announced a new $20 million AI Ocean Program and call for proposals dedicated to AI and the ocean economy.”
TallyVision could prove especially valuable to the aquaculture sector, since fish quality data from processing plants can be linked to farming data to understand what factors such as feeding, fish density, genetics, water quality, animal health and harvesting practices are related to quality issues. ThisFish is seeking research partners in the aquaculture sector.
“British Columbia is one of North America’s most vibrant tech and innovation hubs, and ThisFish Inc.’s TallyVision is a prime example of how our innovators are providing effective solutions across industries worldwide,” says Raghwa Gopal, President + CEO of Innovate BC. “It’s been exciting to see ThisFish Inc.’s continued success in the seafood sector since receiving Innovate BC’s Aquaculture Innovation Award in 2021 and we are proud to play a part in supporting their work improving the social, environmental and financial sustainability of global seafood through the program.”
ThisFish Inc. CEO Eric Enno Tamm will be presenting TallyVision as part of a panel discussion on “Artificial Intelligence for Smarter Fisheries Management” facilitated by the Pew Charitable Trust at Seafood Expo North America on March 14, 2023. For more information on the panel, visit: https://www.seafoodexpo.com/north-america/session/artificial-intelligence-for-smarter-fisheries-management-the-what-how-who-and-when/
