But TAP helped the company team up with university researchers to turn a promising fish-sizing device into a sophisticated commercial product for the aquaculture industry. Sizing is a big problem for fish farmers whose market demands fish of a precise size and weight.
Dip netting is labor intensive and inaccurate and the stress of culling kills other stock.
Sigma's expertise lay primarily in manufacturing and developing electronic traffic systems, but the Vancouver Island company wanted to diversify and a portable fish-sizing system that was reliable and unobtrusive would have world wide sales. Fish farmers need a rugged, user-friendly system that will withstand rough handling and weather a salt water environment. As the operator clicks a mouse on an image, analysis software calculates the size, weight and swimming speed of each fish, collating and charting data. Farmers can calculate inventory and determine fish growth to feed ratio, an important aspect when feed is a major expense. It was a lot of work to repackage the software.