New England Fisheries Get Helping Hand From IoT

One of the oldest professions – fishing – is getting a high-tech, futuristic leg up from the innovations in the Internet of Things space. IoT Impact Labs, a Massachusetts-based IoT accelerator from Inex Advisors, has teamed up with the State Department of Fisheries to pilot a real-time monitoring and data collection program for Boston restaurant Island Creek Oyster Bar.

Chris Rezendes, partner at Inex Advisors, said the department contacted IoT Impact Labs to figure out a digital traceability program for shellfish farmers in Massachusetts, which includes Island Creek’s farm in Duxbury Mass., just a half-hour south of Boston.

For ages shellfish farmers have depended on a five-step program in which they race against the clock, constantly monitoring water temperature and pH.

’It’s a cocktail that if you mess up, you lose 20 percent of your revenue in two years. It’s kind of risky,’ Rezendes said.

IoT Impact Labs put together a solution to enable monitoring of conditions in real time, wirelessly.

’There are just dozens of instrumentation opportunities. That means dozens of opportunities for sensors, and firmware, and connectivity, and analytics vendors,’ Rezendes said.

IoT Impact Labs partnered with Analog Devices sensors, Dell and PTC Thingworks.

One part of the solution consisted of replacing human monitoring of more than 60 water pumps with wireless sensors, cutting human effort and freeing up time.

IoT Impact Labs’ pilot sites range from smart cities to transportation markets, all in New England.