Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory, X, has bestowed upon the world many notable projects, such as delivery drones, self-driving cars, and internet balloons. Now, the company is taking another go at delivering technology that can benefit us all, but this time, by helping the environment. The project, called Tidal, is a “moonshot to protect the ocean and feed humanity sustainably.”
What drove the team at X to form Tidal were critical ocean pollution issues, such as acidification killing coral reefs and how there will soon be more plastic than fish in the sea. Not only is the ocean Earth’s natural carbon sink, but it is also a resource that provides livelihoods and food for billions of people. Unfortunately, this essential feature for our survival is at risk. When one area of the ocean is affected, it leads to a chain reaction of damage across ecosystems, which is terrible for aquatic life and threatens human food and economic security. Therefore, Tidal focuses primarily on assisting fishery.
The company writes in a blog:
This is a critical issue: humanity is pushing the ocean past its breaking point, but we can’t protect what we don’t understand. Pollution and unsustainable fishing practices mean that there will soon be more plastic than fish in the sea, while rapid acidification is killing corals and sea creatures. This is driving upheaval in ecosystems all over the world, from coral reefs to the Arctic, leading to chain reactions of damage that are threatening human food and economic security.
That’s why today we’re announcing Tidal: a team at X working on a moonshot to protect the ocean and preserve its ability to support life and help feed humanity, sustainably. Our initial area of focus is on developing technologies that bring greater visibility and understanding of what’s happening under the water.
Little is known about what happens underwater. Most of the ocean – which covers 70% of the planet – is unexplored because it is an incredibly challenging environment for technology. For example, GPS and WiFi don’t work underwater, and saltwater kills electronics, so long-term monitoring is challenging. Hence why more is known about the surface of the moon than the deepest parts of the ocean. The team at X decided to begin by focusing on the underwater world that’s linked to the seafood industry.
From their blog:
We decided to start working on a small corner of this problem: exploring new tools that could provide useful information to fish farmers looking for environmentally friendly ways to run and grow their operations. Fish have a low carbon footprint relative to other sources of animal protein and they play a critical role in feeding 3 billion people today, so helping fish farmers could prove critical both for humanity and for the health of the ocean.
For three years, the team consulted with fish farmers worldwide who were interested in minimizing food waste, reducing their use of chemicals, and monitoring the health of the fish to catch diseases earlier. Meanwhile, they developed an underwater camera system equipped with computer vision and other AI techniques to monitor and track thousands of fish as they grow. The system uses machine perception to interpret fish behaviors not noticeable to the human eye. The electrical components were designed to withstand the crushing pressures and extreme cold of the ocean’s brutal saltwater environment.
The system tracks each fish individually and logs its eating behaviors as well as environmental information such as oxygen levels and temperature. It can track thousands simultaneously. The data collected is used to give farmers the ability to make smarter decisions about how to manage the pens, which the team hopes will reduce both ocean pollution and costs. As a bonus, healthy fish require fewer antibiotics, which is of great concern to environmentalists.
Tidal plans to branch out into other related fields and problems as it makes discoveries and validates its technology.
