Electronic Monitoring
Pilot Project Begins

by Laurie Schreiber

“We’re doing emails all day today, trying to get everybody committed” to the project, Cape May, NJ-based Lund’s Fisheries representative Jeff Kaelin.

DANVERS, Mass.—The majority of the Atlantic herring midwater trawl fleet has committed to a pilot project to install electronic monitoring (EM) systems aboard their boats, as part of efforts to provide transparency about fishing practices.

“We’re doing emails all day today, trying to get everybody committed” to the project, Cape May, NJ-based Lund’s Fisheries representative Jeff Kaelin told the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) at their September meeting. The fleet was ready to begin installations during a lull in summer operations, said Kaelin, but the EM contractor was not ready at that time. Fishing operations had resumed, but fishermen would find time to hook up with the contractor to get the systems installed, he said.

“The industry is committed to going ahead,” said Kaelin.

Earlier this year, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) contracted with Saltwater Inc. to provide and install EM units on up to 12 commercial fishing vessels in the Northwest Atlantic. The purpose of the project is to evaluate the utility of EM for catch monitoring on midwater trawl vessels. It’s expected that the project will help inform the implementation of the Industry-Funded Monitoring Omnibus Amendment and the development of future EM programs. The 16-month project will run through December 2017.

According to its website, Saltwater Inc. is based in Anchorage, Alaska. The company collects data on fisheries and oceans for government agencies, research organizations, and fishermen; designs and implements monitoring programs; and uses new technologies for data collection.

The goals of this program include testing EM in an operational setting, allowing analysis and adjustment of EM program requirements, and development of business practices to support EM; evaluating the utility of EM for monitoring catch retention and identifying discard events in the Atlantic herring and mackerel midwater trawl fisheries; and familiarizing the fishing fleet with EM, gaining industry input on EM operations, and refining industry and NMFS EM cost estimates.

According to information from NEFMC, EM consists of multiple cameras, control box, monitor, GPS receiver, and two sensors (hydraulic and rotation). Cameras begin recording when the sensors are triggered by the drum rotation or hydraulic pressure transducer; cameras target the vessel’s deck and waters surrounding the vessel, including where the cod-end of the net is pulled to the surface and pumping occurs. The system does not record audio. Data will be the property of the government.

Saltwater will supply necessary equipment, and will remove the equipment at the end of the project. NMFS is responsible for costs associated with equipment, data retrievals, data reviewing, data storage, and EM provider overhead. Vessels requiring power upgrades to accommodate the EM system are responsible for those costs.

The project is funded by an initial NMFS grant of $406,400 plus an additional NMFS grant of $588,600, for a total of $995,000. The contract was awarded to Saltwater Inc. in August.

It’s expected that NMFS will receive a final report on the project by November 2017.