TECH IN FISHERIES

As mentioned several times,technology has changed the way things are  done and that includes almost every aspect of work and livelihood. Ghana’s landscape is made up of sea and greens but innovation or tech in agriculture and fishing is not catching up as fast as it should. In this series, a parent in the space of fishing, provides information on the use of tech in the space . It should be of benefit to others who have the interest of  fishing, fishers and students who want to take a career in oceanography.

Fishing technology has improved over the years, so has fishing techniques the methods for catching fish. Fishing now involves a lot of tech and research. Hence my saying every fishing company heeds an R&D team. For effective and sustainable fishing, data needs to be analyzed and fishing methods scrutinized to prevent indiscriminate fishing and eventually the depletion of our fish stock as well as protection of the marine habitat. We will be looking at data buoys and how they can be used to improve fishing.

Data buoys have become a very important tool in oceanographic information gathering as well as fishing. The data provided by these fishing buoys are very vital to the fishing operations as well as marine environment protection. Buoys are the eyes and ears of fishing vessels and purse seiners. Taking the reserved pleasure of analyzing data from buoys, providing effective and efficient decision-making parameters for all sea-going vessels. Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD) are also recoverable through effective tracking and monitoring and this helps in environmental protection. These buoys send data which include GPS, acoustic information and more. This information helps the fisherman to tell the location and quantity of biomass as well as the oceanographic conditions of the particular fishing area.

This information helps when it comes to fish stock assessment and also the regulation of fishing activates. Data collected can also help set close seasons (moratoriums) where fishing is banned for some time to help grow their population. The R&D teams of fishing companies can use this data to generate geospatial maps to help them effectively fish and reduce operational costs. Fishing patterns and fishing zones can be will be managed to avoid overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU)

Below are some benefits

Monitoring & Tracking Buoys for Optimized Fishing and Fuel Consumption

• Optimize fishing operations by tracking the location of Fish Aggregating Devices reduced fishing duration.
• Reduce operational cost (fuel consumption and transmission cost) by monitoring and deactivating inactive buoys as well as buoys on land.

Locate Buoy Position and Environmental Protection

• Track buoys to obtain their immediate GPS location for FAD cleaning and repairs.
• Enable buoy recovery as per transmission of last position, reduce entangling and beaching of FAD’s

Monitor Buoys Remotely for Efficient Reporting and Effective Decision Making

• Flag out-of-the-ordinary events through exception-based reporting.

 

 

 

Written by : Mr.Benedictus Ashigbui