Vietnam is one of the main worldwide fish producers and exporters. Its annual fish production is approximately 5,699,250 tons, representing an export value of 1.7 billion USD. The main markets are Europe, USA, Mexico, and China. The European Union has already warned wholesalers to establish tougher control measures on fish quality and farming conditions.
Thanh Bình District, Dong Thap Province, Vietnam
PHA Distribution, a leading IoT & ICT distributor in Vietnam, deployed a wireless sensor network at a fish farm in Thanh Bình District, Dong Thap Province, near the Mekong River, using Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform. The project monitors real-time parameters to control water quality and prevent diseases that could affect fish, improving both the quality and quantity of production. This enhances water quality in fish farming and supports healthier stock.
Waspmote Plug & Sense! intallation in a fish farm pond
The deployment emphasizes monitoring fish farm pond conditions to react quickly to environmental changes.
Tran Vinh Phong, Managing Director at PHA Distribution, states: “Real-time monitoring will allow us to help our end clients to be aware of preventable diseases in order to save costs in diseases treatment and keep fish in good health before harvesting job as well as manage fish loss to the minimum rate.”
The company chose Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensors Platform because the hardware has a good design, is easy to implement, scalable depending on demand, and has low maintenance costs.
Fish farm deployment functioning diagram
Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Water has been deployed at the water source and inside the fish farm. Water and fish quality are monitored through the following parameters:
Because supplying grid electricity to pond nodes is difficult, each node includes a solar panel and a battery to ensure a continuous energy supply.
In a second project phase, Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Water Ions will be installed to monitor:
These are key indicators of toxicity created by fish feces.
Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensors Platforms communicate with the Meshlium Gateway via 3G/GPRS and 802.15.4. Meshlium sends collected data to the cloud using 3G, 802.15.4, and WiFi. The visualization platform is PHA Distribution’s cloud-based application, PioT-SW, which enables real-time parameter control and diagrams showing their evolution.
Pha Distribution Application
In a 5,000 m² pond, 4 meters deep, 2,000 kilos of juvenile fish are stocked. After six months, approximately 30,000 kilos of adult fish are harvested at a price of 1.50 USD per kilo. Product losses are about 40% in number of animals, usually due to preventable diseases that can be avoided with proper water quality control.
Real-time monitoring could reduce animal losses by 40–50%, allowing harvests of roughly 38,000–40,000 kilos instead of 30,000 kilos with the same number of juvenile fish. The difference in turnover would be at least 12,000 USD every six months per farm.
“It’s not only potential in fish farming but also for shrimp farming as there they need to monitor DO & pH parameters including ORP beside others to ensure their supply water quality as well as monitor shrimp’s growth life-cycle successfully,” notes Tran Vinh Phong.
Water quality monitoring is essential to meet international regulations that assure water quality in fish farming, fish quality, and farming conditions. Fish farm facilities can demonstrate that companies have implemented new systems, placing them in stronger commercial positions than those still using traditional methods.
Short answer: Vietnam is a major fish exporter to markets like the EU, USA, Mexico, and China, and the EU has warned wholesalers to enforce tougher controls on fish quality and farming conditions. Real-time monitoring helps detect preventable diseases early, keep fish healthy before harvest, reduce losses, and improve both the quality and quantity of production. It also supports compliance with international regulations and, as noted by PHA Distribution, the same approach is valuable for shrimp farming.
Short answer: The current deployment with Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Water monitors temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen (DO), and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) at both the water source and inside the fish farm. In a second phase, Smart Water Ions sensors will add monitoring of ammonium (NH4), nitrate (NO3), and nitrite (NO2), which are key indicators of toxicity from fish feces.
Short answer: Waspmote Plug & Sense! sensor nodes communicate with the Meshlium Gateway via 3G/GPRS and 802.15.4. Meshlium then sends the collected data to the cloud using 3G, 802.15.4, and WiFi. PHA Distribution’s own cloud-based application, PioT-SW, provides real-time parameter tracking and diagrams to visualize trends and evolution over time.
Short answer: Each node is equipped with a solar panel and a battery to ensure a continuous energy supply, overcoming the difficulty of delivering electricity to pond installations.
Short answer: In a 5,000 m², 4 m deep pond stocked with 2,000 kg of juveniles, about 30,000 kg of adult fish are typically harvested after six months, with around 40% losses in number of animals due to preventable diseases. Real-time monitoring could cut animal losses by 40–50%, enabling harvests of roughly 38,000–40,000 kg instead of 30,000 kg. At a price of $1.50 per kg, that yields at least $12,000 in additional turnover every six months per farm.
English English 
Español