Professional fishermen have been wanting to obtain data that could help them better predict where fish can be found. A solution may be around the corner. They may get a decision-making tool that tells them where fish shoals are located and how their vessels can be operated as economically as possible, report researchers.
Vessel owners Nordnes AS and Havfisk ASA have been in the forefront of work linked to a project called ESUSHI, which is carried out together with researchers from SINTEF. Fishing vessels, the supply industry, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (NMI), and the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre in Bergen are now supplying massive amounts of the data they have acquired as a basis for a decision-making tool.
"This is big," says Tormund Grimstad at Nordnes AS. "It's a great idea that's about to become reality. Future generations simply won't be able to afford to make as many mistakes as we do, but now I know that in a few years my sons will be able to harvest the oceans efficiently."
In a room at SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, researchers are concentrating on a screen in front of them displaying maps, colorful graphs, and columns of numbers. Peter Halland Haro points to the screen and explains: "At the very top is a map showing hauls (net catches) grouped into small squares. Each square represents at least one haul, while the color code indicates the catch for all the hauls in a given area. If I click on one of the squares, I can view details pertaining exclusively to that area. All the graphs and information at the bottom of the screen will be updated to display only data relevant to the square in question."
Project Manager Ståle Walderhaug says researchers constructed an interactive map to search for different fishing grounds and obtain data on the numbers of fish caught in the course of recent months. Information is displayed about catches, dates, fish species, sea temperatures, salt concentrations, phases of the moon, a vessel's energy consumption per haul, and so on.
There has been a lot of willingness among both fishermen and the various organizations to share information, and many terabytes of data have been gathered and systematically sorted. Nordnes AS and Havfisk ASA have provided catch data. The Nansen Centre has shared its data on marine chemical concentrations, and the NMI has contributed information about sea temperatures, wind velocities, wave heights, and salt concentrations.
Dualog AS is providing a system for electronic catch reporting that enables vessels to notify the public authorities of their catches on a daily basis. Moreover, a data center has been constructed at SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture that has been gathering data supplied by 22 fishing vessels since 2006.
Project partners believe all this innovation can lead to a simple and effective tool. Trawler fishermen have computer monitors in their vessels, and the idea is that in the near future they will be equipped with helpful displays of interactive maps and graphs. "Our work now is not only about telling everyone what we've been doing in recent months but also about predicting catches," says Walderhaug. "Our aim will be to use advanced algorithms as a basis for recommending catch locations."
