FNET - real-time FishNet evaluation tool

The ecosystems surveys branch of the northeast fisheries science center of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (NOAA) is engaged in an ongoing effort to more fully characterize, quantify, and understand the behavior of bottom trawl nets while they are being fished. Standardized survey results are critical inputs to population dynamics models of the northeast fishery of the United States. The models contribute to the setting of fishery policy and strongly influence the local economy. In 2003 we began development of a data visualization utility that could assemble, correlate, record, and present the measurements of a subset of the many disparate sensors logged by the scientific computing system installed on NOAA fisheries research vessels. The FishNet evaluation tool (FNET) presents this information in graphical and textual formats for interpretation and use by fisheries scientists and vessel crew in near real-time. FNET can also playback recorded measurements from earlier tows to support post-cruise analysis. Development is continuing and FNET is now undergoing trials on the NOAA Ships Albatross IV and Delaware II. Shipboard use will eventually become standard procedure. System architecture, operation, and early results are reported in this paper. The development of expert system features is planned.