Providing the fishing industry with advanced technology for recording, reporting and data management is the objective of the research project developed by the University of Algarve and the technological companies OLSPS International and Imenco AS, whose results were presented this Wednesday, October 12 .
The project, entitled The development of Electronic Monitoring and Reporting (EMR) technology for fisheries in Portugal (EMREP), was financed by the EEA Grants, under the Blue Growth program, through the Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway Grants programs, under the management of the Directorate-General for Maritime Policy.
In addition to the development in the area of smart fisheries, the EMREP comprised the adaptation of the of OLRAC data recording (logbooks) from OLSPS International and the installation of video cameras at strategic locations on fishing and research vessels.
Simultaneously, for validation, researchers from the University of Algarve and the Centro de Ciências do Mar (CCMAR) collected samples of sharks and rays captured by the side and analyzed their physiological condition, in order to assess their survival potential after rejection, which, with current fishing procedures, is only 5% (on average).
O developed by OLSPS International allowed, throughout the test period, fishermen and scientists to record all data associated with fishing efforts, such as weather conditions, water conditions, position of catches, material used, description of catches, etc.
Data collection will allow for more targeted and efficient fisheries
On the one hand, collecting this data will allow fisheries to be targeted and more efficient in the future, with less by-catch of unwanted and vulnerable species.
On the other hand, it will allow researchers to propose conditions so that some species of sharks and rays are not by-catch and that those that are, occasionally, can be returned to the natural environment with the potential to survive.
Contributing to the national Blue Economy and, at the same time, to the preservation of marine ecosystems, this partnership also made it possible to study, in particular, deep sea species, which are not very accessible to research.
This session was attended by the CEO of OLSPS International and principal investigator of the project, Amos Barkai, the person responsible for the EMREP at UAlg, Alexandra Teodósio, and the operational coordinator, Sofia Aranha.
Representatives of the management entity also participated, as well as the regional director of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Algarve, Pedro Valadas Monteiro, who was part of the final discussion panel, where the constraints of the application and acceptance of technology by the fisheries sector were analyzed.
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