Without high quality data regarding what’s brought to the dock and what’s thrown back at sea, the sustainable management of many fisheries is out of reach. Good, reliable information about fish health, abundance, distribution and age class structure is vital for both fisheries managers and people who earn their living from the sea.
Unfortunately, traditional methods for collecting and analyzing information on harvest activity can be too expensive or fail to produce credible and useful data
We can’t rely solely on governments to collect all the information needed to guide the management of hundreds of fisheries, especially when natural resource management agencies are already stretched well beyond their capacities.
The good news is that fishing communities can be equipped and empowered to collect much of the data that’s needed for the sustainable management of fisheries, lessening the burden on government agencies. And, fortunately, it’s been demonstrated that technology known as electronic monitoring (EM) and electronic reporting (ER) can help fishermen fill this information gap while producing cost-effective results.
The Past—Logbooks and Human Fisheries Observers
Most fishery management systems rely heavily on data from fishermen’s daily logbooks that include locations, amount of time spent fishing, how many fish were caught, and how many and what kind of fish or other species were discarded.
Until recently, human observers have been the only option to validate logbook data. But the reality is that data from observers can be inaccurate for a variety of reasons, and they also cover just a tiny fraction of global fishing activities—likely less than 2 percent.
The Potential Future—Electronic Monitoring and Electronic Reporting
Electronic reporting (ER). Most data on fisheries is still recorded on paper and then entered by hand into computer systems to allow managers and scientists to track fishing activity. ER enables fishermen to enter data into apps on computers, tablets or smart phones and then share the info with multiple parties, including management agencies.
Electronic monitoring (EM) uses on-board cameras to capture fishing activity. The video is augmented with sensors that detect fishing gear motion and GPS units that supply time and location data. The video and related data is typically stored on hard drives and then reviewed by onshore analysts to extract the desired information.
In addition to improving regulatory compliance, the data EM provides can help managers set sustainable annual catch limits and design fishery management plans to meet diverse objectives. EM also can create more fishing opportunities—there are cases where improved data from EM has led regulatory agencies to extend fishing seasons, increase catch limits or allow fishing in areas that were formerly closed.
In most fisheries, EM systems can achieve monitoring goals more cost-effectively than human observers and can more easily scale to cover 100 percent of fishing activity. Also, EM can provide transparency in the first, critical link in a supply chain that is traceable from supply to plate, giving consumers confidence when purchasing premium-priced seafood that is labeled as “sustainably harvested.”
Standardizing electronic monitoring for commercial fisheries
Today, there are approximately 1,000 EM systems installed on boats worldwide in a combination of pilots and full-fledged programs. EM, however, appears to be at a critical moment in its development. On its current trajectory, EM may be installed only on about 5,000 more vessels in the coming decade. That growth rate is disappointing. With a more concerted effort to promote it, EM has the potential to become standard practice for high-value fisheries in strong governance regions around the world and to gain a foothold in some of the more challenging, but globally significant, fishing regions. This could amount to its use on more than 25,000 fishing vessels in the next 10 years in some of the world’s most important fisheries.
If we can successfully expand the use of EM and ER in the U.S. to include most of the larger, federally managed fisheries, that will help spur cost reductions and accelerate the adoption of this technology around the globe. But it will take investments in order to make this a reality.
It is long past time to bring fisheries monitoring into the 21st century. EM is poised to help managers illuminate the dark spots in fisheries management and create billions in economic upside for fishermen.
Tapping Into Artificial Intelligence (AI)
One of the biggest challenges of catalyzing the growth of EM is the amount of time it takes to analyze video data. To find innovative ways to lower these costs, the Conservancy turned to two “crowdsourcing” competitions to develop algorithms that could automatically count, identify and measure species. The results were very promising. See the winners from the Kaggle community and from DRIVENDATA.
Implement Electronic Monitoring
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Electronic Monitoring Toolkit for Governments
For governmental bodies and fishery managers considering the development and implementation of electronic monitoring programs for fisheries. This toolkit covers the questions and issues that may arise. Get The Toolkit
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Growing Electronic Monitoring
A comprehensive 70-page paper that provides detail and input from more than 40 electronic monitoring experts on how to make fisheries more transparent and accountable while lowering costs. Get the Report
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Catalyzing Growth of EM - 2020 Progress Report
This progress update of the 2018 report revisits the original recommendations, assesses the progress and new innovations, identifies key remaining barriers, and updates the investment blueprint based on what has changed or been learned since 2018. Get the Update
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Explore Further
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California Groundfish ProjectTo address the issues of overfishing and the destruction of ocean habitats, TNC is developing more environmentally sensitive fishing practices for harvesting groundfish and providing consumers with fresh, local and more sustainably harvested seafood.
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Video Technology and Commercial Fishing in New EnglandElectronic monitoring provides fishermen more flexibility and managers with better data for making sound fisheries management decisions.
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Puerto Rico’s Fishermen Pilot New Tech to Help Save FisheriesA new app helps fishermen collect important data easily and quickly.