Author：Wang, Yu-Chun/Associate Research Fellow,
Planning and Information Section, Fisheries Research Institute

Since 2011, the Fisheries Research Institute has developed test kits for pathogenic bacteria such as vibrio vulnificus, lactobacillus and Edwardsiella. These used to take 1-2 days to confirm the test results. Wang said that these test kits, like the quick screening reagent, are easy to operate, but fishermen need to focus on the change of colors and carefully compare the tone of the colors with the chart provided in the kit to judge with their naked eyes the level of concentration of the pathogenic bacteria.

In the "Smart Aquaculture Technology R&D Project", the research team, by manipulating the discoloration characteristics of reagents in reaction with various bacteria and by integrating I/C technologies, has successfully developed the automatic vibrio vulnificus detection system, which accurately measures the pathogen content within 4-9 hours and shortens the detection time by more than 20 hours. With the system, simply by placing the sampling reagent into detection device, once the detection report is generated, it will then be automatically transmitted to the mobile phone through the Internet of Things.As a real-time monitoring and early warning system, this accurately presents the information of the bacteria content allowing early intervention when there is a crisis of pathogenic bacteria.

Fong Yu Corp., Ltd., located in the Pingtung Agricultural Science Park, mainly breeds and markets Asian sea bass and related processed products. In its effort to enhance management through scientific data and to implement the traceability certification system from the fish farm to the table, it has introduced intelligent water quality monitoring equipment for the oxygen content and physicochemical indicators such as pH values and electrical conductivity. More than that, it also uses the "Aquatic Pathogenic Lactococcus Garvieae Detection Kit" and the "aquatic pathogenic vibrio detection kit" along with the "automatic vibrio vulnificus detection system" for monitoring the pathogenic bacteria in the water. When the concentration of pathogenic bacteria in the fish farm reaches the warning value, precautious measures such as water changing can be taken to reduce the risk and bring labor-saving benefits. This substantially helps to achieve the goal of sustainable farming with safe products and a friendly environment.