Electronic Monitoring of Fisheries - a Success

28 October 2009 Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

In September 2008 an electronic monitoring (EM) system was installed on 6 volunteering Danish commercial fishing vessels to collect sensor data and images.

The objectives of the one year pilot project were to evaluate the reliability and functionality of an electronic monitoring (EM) system as a tool to give a reliable documentation of catches, catch handling and the discard pattern in order to verify the fishers’ recordings of their fisheries.

The fishers’ views regarding video monitoring and the incentive effect were also evaluated.

The EM system consisted of up to four closed circuit television cameras (providing view of the aft deck and closer views of the fish handling areas and discard chute areas for catch identification), a GPS receiver, a hydraulic pressure sensor, a gear rotation sensor and a system control box.

Until now data from 81% of the trips have been processed and analyzed. This corresponds to a collection of 13,935 hours sensor data, according to the scientist in charge, Jørgen Dalskov, DTU Aqua.

"The electronic monitoring system has proven its functioning. By viewing images from the catch handling onboard an estimate of the total catch amount, the species distribution and the discard of cod can be made,” says project manager Jørgen Dalskov, DTU Aqua.

“The experiences obtained during this trial have shown that the EM system can be applied on almost all types of pelagic vessels and the vessels fishing for sandeel, sprat, blue whiting and Norway pout and on newer demersal fishing vessels, where it can give a 100% documentation of the fishing activities. The analysis of the data collected by the sensors (GPS, hydraulic pressure and rotation of the winches) show that determination of where and when a fishing event takes place can be made with a high degree of accuracy,” says project manager Jørgen Dalskov, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark.

http://www.aqua.dtu.dk/English/News.aspx?guid={D08D3AEB-76E2-413C-9679-3B55B6BEFD7E}