[ FISHERIES ] The digitalisation of the fishing industry is moving ahead
Obtaining stock data and implementing effective controls Despite many improvements, regional overfishing, bycatches and discards remain unsolved problems for the global fishing industry. Catch quotas, controls at sea and in ports, area closures and fishing bans do help, but are not satisfactory solutions. It would be preferable if unwanted fish did not get caught in fishing gear in the first place. Innovative technologies are giving hope for new solutions. protection priorities. The overall package of required management measures includes many sub-steps, including technical changes to fishing gear as well as fishing area and fishing effort controls. There is a significant need for innovation in this area. Although fishing fleets have reduced globally since the mid-1980s and overcapacity has declined, the construction of new, modern and resource-conserving fishing vessels has remained significantly behind expectations. Because there was a lack of demand and a market for innovative fishing technologies, manufacturers hesitated to make urgently needed investments in improving fishing expertise. The consequences of this are being felt now, as fishing has become significantly less attractive in many Western countries, and there is a lack of young fishers almost everywhere. In order to attract more young people to the profession, qualified crews and resource-conserving vessels with advanced equipment and fishing gear that give the industry a future-oriented perspective are required. It is the younger generation that has the highest levels of environmental awareness and would like to be involved in science-based
Kyle LaFerriere / WWF-US
T
he commercial fishing industry produces over 90 million tonnes of fish and seafood every year and employs many millions of people. But although the fishing industry is heavily regulated in many locations, some problems remain, such as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), overfishing, bycatches and discards. Fish are often caught before stocks have a chance to recover. According to the FAO, approximately onethird of fish stocks worldwide are overfished. There is therefore an urgent need for action to preserve ocean ecosystems, maintain the foundations of the fishing industry and secure attractive jobs. However, these challenges cannot be met with strict regulations and controls alone. Functioning monitoring of fisheries and compliance with all regulations are doubtless important elements in fisheries management. But reliable data for the scientific assessment of stocks in order to be able to determine sustainable catch thresholds is often lacking. However, such data is indispensable in order for the fishing industry to be able to operate sustainably. Unfortunately, no generally accepted universal best practice exists to reach this target and to combine supplying fish to the global population with legitimate environmental
Cameras on board can monitor discarding or whether the obligations of the EUs landing obligation are being complied with which other electronic systems cannot.
fisheries management. However, obtaining high-quality basic data on the fishing industry is very difficult with outdated gear and technologies. In order to enable fishers to act independently and with awareness, they need new kinds of infrastructure, more intelligent fishing technologies, multifunctional catch monitoring sensors and high-performance software for analysis and visualisation of the data collected.
In addition, the monitoring of fisheries must be expanded, because comprehensive controls at sea are not really possible with standard methods. On-board cameras for monitoring catches and discards are just one element of the overall concept, since monitoring objectives can vary significantly from fishery to fishery. It only makes sense to use technologies, sensors, data storage, data transmission devices and software if the
EUROFISH Magazine 6 / 2020
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