Innovasea’s plankton monitoring software is now being used by two major salmon producers in Canada to deliver unprecedented insight into harmful algae levels in the water.

Innovasea’s new cloud-based software module streamlines and enhances plankton monitoring efforts so fish farm operators can predict when concentrations will be too high and take steps to protect their stocks.

The plankton module is part of Innovasea’s platform of advanced aquaculture intelligence tools that provide unprecedented, real-time visibility into water conditions 24/7, as well as the ability to make data-driven decisions from anywhere via PC, tablet or smartphone.

Algal blooms pose a mortal danger to fish because they can quickly deplete oxygen levels in the water, causing fish to suffocate. In addition, some algae species produce toxins that can harm or even kill fish.

Innovasea’s plankton monitoring solution enables users to easily catalog different types of phytoplankton and input data from water samples or visual inspection to record species, time, location and concentration levels. Using sophisticated visualization technology, the software then shows which phytoplankton are appearing, where they’re showing up and to what degree–effectively serving as an early-warning system for fish farm operators.