Thursday, July 2, 2020

Lasers For Shooting Pests Off Salmon Don't Work As Well As One Might Think

Oh it was looking like the future I was promised back in July 2019:

"Remote-controlled Salmon Farms to Operate Off Norway by 2020" 
"And then Mr. Poisonnier, the robots massage the salmon..."

And it just got better and better:
Also at IEEE Spectrum:
Lice-Hunting Underwater Drone Protects Salmon With Laser

Sadly, The Fish Site reports:
Study shoots down sea louse laser
The efficacy of a laser-firing device that has been designed to reduce sea lice pressures on farmed salmon has been called into question by new research.

Innovative lice lasers developed by Stingray have been deployed by numerous salmon farming companies over the course of the last decade, but this newly published study – which took place at a commercial salmon farm operated by Bremnes Seashore in Norway – suggests they are not always effective....MORE