# Aquasafe: A Remote Sensing, Web-Based Platform for the Support of Precision Fish Farming
## 1 Introduction  
The marine aquaculture industry has experienced significant growth in recent decades, becoming a vital contributor to global food production. However, it also faces a variety of challenges, both natural and human-induced. As most aquaculture operations take place in the sea with little control over environmental conditions, the industry is susceptible to threats from changes such as reduced oxygen or extreme temperatures that affect the growth and survivability of fammed species and increased costs, events that are more frequent due to climate change [1]. Greece is one of the main producers of European seabass (_Dicentrarchus labrax_) and gilthead sea bream (_Sparus aurata_) in Europe, representing over 60% of the total European production according to the FEAP [2]. Greek aquaculture has a significant contribution to the national economy as it represents 65% of fish production and is expected to keep an annual mean growth rate of 7% by 2030 according to the annual report of the Federation of Greek Maricultures (FGM) and the strategic development plan [3]. Given this context, the promotion of sustainable development in the marine aquaculture industry is crucial, not only for Greece but also for the EU, as it is considered one of the key pillars of the Blue Growth strategy. Apart from the interaction with coastal zone activities, aquaculture operations demand continuous and accurate monitoring. While _in-situ_ data often present inconsistencies in terms of both quality and spatial coverage, remote sensing provides new opportunities for monitoring the ocean through frequent and cost-effective coverage of the entire Earth's surface, even in remote locations. The Sentinel satellite missions are a part of the European Earth Observation Program \"Copernicus\", which offers free data in various spectral regions (radar, optical, infrared) and at various spatial resolutions. The Sentinel missions, along with the CMEMS (Copernicus Marine Environmental Monitoring Service) digital repository, provide data on the oceans through advanced instruments and models, with a wide range of spatial and temporal resolutions. The combination of these data can provide valuable information on the quality of the environment in aquaculture areas. The rapid growth of aquaculture and the continuous pressure the industry faces nowadays are leading to the relocation of facilities to offshore areas. This is carried out in order to minimize the negative impacts to the coastal zone; however, it brings along various challenges and difficulties. To mitigate the challenges and to improve the current practice towards a more sustainable aquaculture sector, researchers have increasingly turned to \"precision farming\" techniques to develop new, innovative methods and tools for monitoring and managing farm operations. The \"precision farming\" approach, which is already well established in land-based farming and has yielded positive results, aims to improve the sustainability of marine farming by reducing costs, increasing data accuracy, and reducing the reliance on human labor [4]. Marine farming, however, presents its own set of difficulties due to the complex nature of the environment, the diversity of species being farmed, and exposure to external threats. Despite the abovementioned challenges, the concept of \"precision fish farming\" has garnered significant attention among researchers, leading to the development of new technologies and methods to improve monitoring and management of day-to-day operations [4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11]. Precision fish farming, as outlined by [PERSON] et al. [4], aims to apply control engineering principles in fish production to boost farm monitoring, control, and document biological processes. This approach allows commercial aquaculture to shift from a traditional, experience-based production method to a knowledge-based method that employs cutting-edge technologies and automated systems to tackle the challenges of aquaculture monitoring and management.