Opportunities to improve fisheries management through innovative technology and advanced data systems

Abstract

Fishery‐dependent data are integral to sustainable fisheries management. A paucity of fishery data leads to uncertainty about stock status, which may compromise and threaten the economic and food security of the users dependent upon that stock and increase the chances of overfishing. Recent developments in the technology available to collect, manage and analyse fishery‐relevant data provide a suite of possible solutions to update and modernize fisheries data systems and greatly expand data collection and analysis. Yet, despite the proliferation of relevant consumer technology, integration of technologically advanced data systems into fisheries management remains the exception rather than the rule. In this study, we describe the current status, challenges and future directions of high‐tech data systems in fisheries management in order to understand what has limited their adoption. 

By reviewing the application of fishery‐dependent data technology in multiple fisheries sectors globally, we show that innovation is stagnating as a result of lack of trust and cooperation between fishers and managers. We propose a solution based on a transdisciplinary approach to fishery management that emphasizes the need for collaborative problem‐solving among stakeholders. In our proposed system, data feedbacks are a key component to effective fishery data systems, ensuring that fishers and managers collect, have access to and benefit from fisheries data as they work towards a mutually agreed‐upon goal. 

A new approach to fisheries data systems will promote innovation to increase data coverage, accuracy and resolution, while reducing costs and allowing adaptive, responsive, near real‐time management decision‐making to improve fisheries outcomes.

Fishermen needs good science and science needs good fishermen.

Research based on accurate data serves the industry best - Gary and Spike keep that flow of data working for Cefas on the market in Newlyn collecting data daily!

The more closely fishermen work with scientists and other the better they industry will be served in creating a solid working environment that respects the work done by both sides. 

This online survey will help that process by improving and understanding better the needs of those in the fishing industry.

This questionnaire should take no longer than 20 minutes and the data that you provide will be remain anonymous. The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between fishermen and the governing and scientific bodies in the fishing industry. To do this you will be asked a series of questions about your role in the fishing industry, your opinion of various governing and scientific bodies, your opinion about various management practices and your interaction with these bodies. This will provide our study with vital information about current issues in the fishing industry and how relationships between fishermen and governing and scientific bodies can be improved for the benefit of all stakeholders.

All information that you provide will remain anonymous, and your details will not be shared in a way that could identify you as an individual.

I'd love to help out, take me to the study please

Eating Blockchain The Food Chain

Blockchain technology has been heralded as the answer to a safer, fairer and more transparent food system. Many companies, from global food giants, to start-ups have begun to experiment with it. 

Although not discussed in the programme, fishermen may well want to look to the technology to use with their catch data as a means to provide, but ultimately own, the data they create.  Mobile technology could make it possible for all fishermen, no matter what size the vessel, to record and store catch data in real time - and, together, challenge the way in which stocks are assessed by being able to use collective data to better inform those that assess socks.

Emily Thomas meets some pioneers of this new technology, who think it will change the way we eat.

BBC Food Programme - The Food Chain

The importance of big data - Maine Fisheries Forum 2018

Podcast of the Maine Fisheries Forum 2018 in full.

Here is the EM session at the Maine Fishermen's Forum in case you missed it. These fishermen understand the intersect between catch accountability and good science. Give them a listen! 






Herer, Red Talbot adds the benefit of his knowledge to the debate:

For the past decade Beyond Data Podcast host, Red Talbot has been a freelance journalist and science writer reporting on fisheries at the intersection of science and sustainability. He frequently uses the hashtag #datamatter because, well, they do. 

But what happens when the data simply don’t exist, are insufficient or unavailable? What happens when so-called alternative facts are considered just facts and people operate under the impression that the plural of anecdote is indeed data? How do we reach consensus when everyone espouses his or her own data—his or her own facts? 

In the Beyond Data Podcast, Talbot and his guests go where he's often been unwilling to go in his reporting--beyond data.

For more on this head for Red'a website here:

Implementing and Improving Electronic Reporting and Monitoring in New England’s Groundfish Fishery

NEW BEDFORD — In a perfect world, Steve Kennelly sees the New England Fishery transitioning to electronic reporting within the next year.

“There’s no reason why that group can’t be formed pretty soon,” the director of IC Independent Consulting said.

The next step would be implementing electronic monitoring within 3 to 4 years.

“It’s silly to talk anywhere beyond five years out” because of how fast technology continues to evolve, Kennelly said.

The New England Fishery Management Council, which concluded two days of meetings on Wednesday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, resides in an imperfect world, though.

Some of the research presented by Kennelly and Mark Hager, of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, was based on establishing electronic reporting and monitoring from scratch. That wouldn’t entirely be the case as some fisheries and vessels are using or testing the electronic systems.

“A KISS approach - keep it simple - didn’t happen,” Kennelly said.

In gathering their research, Kennelly and Hager interviewed 79 fishermen during the last two months of 2017. Of the 79 people they spoke with, 21 were fishermen, 30 were staff from the National Marine Fishery Service and 10 were representatives from fishermen’s associations.


The discussions provided positive and negative notions about electronic systems, which Kennelly and Hager discussed in depth, however, they also revealed a lack of understanding, in their opinion.

Kennelly said some interviews were prefaced by 15 to 20 minutes of explaining the difference between electronic reporting and monitoring as well as what each could provide.

“It’s not because people are being misinformed, they’re just not as aware,” Kennelly said.

During the questions portion, a person asked what the role of councils should be in promoting electronic monitoring. Hager responded with a plea for educating.

“I’d urge the council to take advantage of any educational outreach,” Hager said. ”...I think there’s a lack of understanding.”

Electronic reporting coincides with a vessel trip report to show what species was caught and targeting. Instead of using paper, reports could be submitted through a computer or cell phone. Electronic monitoring involves cameras and/or sensors on the deck.

To work optimally, Kennelly stressed the importance of streamlining the data between each system.


The systems should work in harmony not in confusion.

“The system we envision is a system that incorporates (electronic monitoring, electronic reporting) and (vessel monitoring system) all in one slick system,” Hager said.

The more than hour presentation and months of research didn’t penetrate everyone in the audience. It concluded with a comment from a fisherman from Gloucester.

“This is totally ridiculous. Most fishermen are pretty honest people,” he said. “It’s insulting honestly.”

Follow Michael Bonner on Twitter @MikeBBonnerSCT.

Full story courtesy of SouthcoastToday.com here:

How some fishermen are creating their own database of catch data to protect their livelihoods,

Despite the setback in this years Fisheries Council TAC carve-up - which must have had both Cefas & Defra spitting feathers that the evidence submitted about SW haddock, way above what is the EU norm, was ignored - there are examples elsewhere that show how fishermen can work together, create and most importantly, own their fishing data to argue their case.

Meet Chris Brown. He’s a Point Judith fisherman, adopting game-changing technology to make his catch more sustainable.

There's always been a lag time between getting accurate catch data to the folks who make catch limit decisions – before fish populations change. And that has a serious impact on fishing stocks. But technology and fishermen are changing all that.

Thanks, Chris McGuire, Capt. Chris Brown, Timothy Mooney for help making this come together! 

Fishing boats become citizen science data platforms

Fishermen in South Devon, UK, have turned their boats into "massive data platforms" for a citizen science study. They have become the first commercial fishers to gather data for the Secchi Disk Study, which is gathering data on the state of the oceans' phytoplankton.

To date, there is little scientific information on the health of the tiny marine plants that form the basis of global food chains. The data will also help fishermen manage stocks, a skipper told BBC News.

Skipper Alan Steer taking a secchi disk measurement (Image: Richard Kirby)

Fishermen like skipper Alan Steer recognise the importance of working alongside scientists "We've been working with scientists on-and-off for several years, doing studies on crabs and lobsters, migration patterns and it's been an easy progression to work with the Secchi disk to measure the plankton because nothing has really been done on the plankton," explained Alan Steer, a third generation fisherman and skipper of the Superb-Us.

"Understanding the plankton has a real relevance to what we do because it is the food source for everything in the sea." Mr Steer and other members of the South Devon and Channel Shellfishermen association have been collecting data for the Secchi Disk Study, a citizen science project.

Launched in 2014, the project allows sailors and fishermen to download an app to their smartphone that allows them to upload readings taken from their Secchi Disk.

The white disk measures 30cm (1ft) in diameter and is lowered into the water on the end of a tape measure. When it is no longer visible from the surface, the reading - known as the Secchi depth - is recorded.

Full story courtesy of the BBC Science & Environment.