The introduction of elog technology to the fishing industry, a case study: Ground fish sector project

Fisheries management is continually frustrated by the lack, or poor quality, of critical data on fishing operations. While quantitative methods for managing fisheries have developed considerably, the quality of available data prevents advances in fisheries management. With the advent of satellite communication systems and broadband on larger vessels, the transmission of reports from fishing vessels has proved manageable and it is clear that more modern means should be utilized for the collection and reporting of data from active fishing operations. In response, OLRAC, a South African company, developed a fisheries data-logging software, Olfish, capable of collecting, analyzing, plotting, mapping, reporting, tracing and transmitting all data related to fishing operations. Data can be compressed, encrypted and digitally authenticated prior to transmission to the company or management authorities. Olfish can be used by skippers, fleet/company managers, scientists, observers, and compliance inspectors and fisheries management authorities. It includes a dynamic report generator, eliminating the need for paper-logbooks. Olfish includes an onboard version (Olfish Dynamic Data Logger: Olfish-DDL), a shore component, and a web-based data management hub (Olfish Reports Management System: Olfish-RMS). Olfish-DDL captures data in real-time and/or in post-event mode. It can read GPS input and incorporates GIS capabilities for viewing of vessel movements and other operational data. Users can collect any type of data in any form, (images, video-clips, numerical and alphanumeric fields, free-text, date, time, location, etc). Olfish is currently installed on hundreds of vessels around the world, including Europe, Australia, Africa and the USA. This paper will focus on one such US case-study, in New England. Olrac and its North-American partner, Olfish-AOLA, were contracted by the Sustainable Harvest Sector (SHS) to customize the Olfish-DDL to meet the requirements of New England Groundfish sector vessels. The Groundfish fleet in New England is managed under a days-at-sea management regime. Previously, they were required to report to the NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) Northeast Regional Office using the paper log sheet (VTR form). As of May 1, 2010 the groundfish fleet has been managed under a system whereby groundfish landings are managed by group allocations (sectors). Vessels are designated to sectors and their landings are then attributed to that sector. The sector will hold a quota for each species of groundfish which it can divide up amongst the sector vessels as it sees fit. Sector managers will need to see effort reports on a weekly basis in order to attribute landings to stock areas and fulfil their sector weekly reporting requirements. The Olfish-DDL SHS project has been initiated to provide the required reports at required intervals. The project is currently operating effectively with two sectors (Sustainable Harvest Sector and Tri State Sector), with plans to expand to other sectors and to Olfish-RMS. The Olfish software is flexible enough to adjust to expected rule-changes each year under sector management.