McGuire thinks that the tuna industry is ripe for more of this sort of deck-to-dish traceability because of its high value. But he cautions that it may take a while to catch on. “Electronic monitoring is tough to explain in the three seconds it takes people to walk past the seafood case.”
A Future Without Human Observers?
Thus far, Muto says he’s fairly satisfied with how the cameras are working. Recently, he was rewarded when regulators granted greater flexibility to the fishermen using electronic monitoring. Now he can respond to what he sees on the water, and shift from fishing for groundfish to fishing for Atlantic Bluefin tuna without having to first return to port and notify regulators.
Alger says that sort of flexibility appeals to fishermen. “A lot of industry groups are starting to see electronic monitoring as a way to go back to the way it was: ‘I’m just going to go fishing.’ They’re seeing electronic monitoring as a way to be more opportunistic when they go fishing, and to provide more info about what’s occurring in the ocean.”
While today, only a fraction of New England dayboat fishermen are using cameras, McGuire is hopeful that the industry will reach a tipping point where use of the technology becomes the norm. “Fishermen talk a lot,” he says. “We just need one or two in every port. Others will find out.”
Full story from CivilEats here:
Full story from CivilEats here: