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Click here for report in PDF

Executive Summary

In 2013, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association (MCFA), the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) and Ecotrust Canada (‘project partners’) embarked on a three-year pilot project to further the development of electronic monitoring (EM) in the New England groundfish fishery. The overarching goal of the project was to determine if EM technology could be used to collect information on catch and discards that is comparable to existing monitoring and reporting programs in a cost-effective manner. The primary objective was to develop an EM system that could capture high quality video footage for identification of groundfish species and accurate length estimates of individual fish discarded at sea without drastically changing fishermen’s normal operations.

Project partners recognize that high levels of accountability provided through an effective catch and discard monitoring system are critical to the success of the New England groundfish sector management system. However, we also realize that many fishermen cannot afford the current monitoring costs given the significant reductions in their annual revenues caused by low catch limits on several species. A key driver for this project was our strong interest in achieving higher levels of accountability through a robust monitoring program while also minimizing fishermen’s costs.

Over three years, EM systems were installed on three trawl and five gillnet vessels participating in the New England groundfish fishery, and video footage was collected on over 150 fishing trips. Trained video reviewers analyzed a percentage of hauls completed on these trips each year to verify the accuracy of discard estimates reported by the fishermen in their logbooks. The approach of reviewing a subset of hauls and comparing the results to other data sources is known as an audit approach.

The project partners selected this approach because of its potential to provide a cost-effective alternative to the existing fishery monitoring program.

Key lessons learned over the course of the three-year program include:

• EM systems can collect video of sufficient quality to generate discard information similar to data currently being gathered by human fishery monitors;
• Performance of fishermen and EM service providers improved steadily over the course of the project, demonstrating the utility of conducting pilot studies before pursuing broad-scale implementation of new technologies;
• Collaboration and regular communication between fishermen, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), service providers, and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners is critical to long-term success of the program;
• Many costs associated with implementing an EM system are variable and highly dependent on final program design (e.g., audit approach or 100% video review);
• Fishermen can reduce video review costs through careful catch handling and reporting.

The three-year pilot project has provided valuable insight into the ongoing efforts to advance EM at the regional and national level. The dedicated efforts of the project partners, fishermen, and NMFS staff resulted in many of the project goals and objectives being met despite several challenges. This project has demonstrated that EM systems are capable of collecting valuable information on catch and discards that can be used a part of an audit-based monitoring program in the New England groundfish fishery.

Building on the success of this project, NMFS’ approved an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) that authorizes up to 20 fishermen in groundfish sectors to utilize EM systems in lieu of human monitors in 2016. The EFP program differs from the audit-based approach tested in the pilot project in that it requires 100% video review on selected groundfish trips. Despite these differences, this EFP provides an opportunity to further refine EM technology and improve integration of EM information into NMFS’ existing database infrastructure.

Project partners also recognize that additional work is needed to support broader-scale use of EM systems in New England. Key issues to address include: 1) finalizing technical specifications for EM systems; 2) refining data delivery and management systems; 3) developing program design elements for an audit-based monitoring program; and 4) creating new incentives for fishermen to participate. We are confident that the continued efforts of participating fishermen, project partners, and NMFS will advance this promising new monitoring tool in the New England groundfish fishery and beyond.

This report briefly summarizes high-level findings from this project and shares lessons learned for others to consider. For those interested in more information, please go to http://gmri.org/our-work/fishing-industry-innovation/electronic-monitoring/our-progress for detailed annual reports from the pilot program.

Click here for report in PDF

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Next week DFO will release to industry its review of a two-year pilot project that saw cameras installed — starting in 2015 — for the first time in a commercial fishery in Atlantic Canada. The rear-facing cameras are aimed only at fishing activity.

The department, which collects and reviews the data, says it may move to full implementation in the Gulf region for the commercial and charter boat catch-and-release bluefin tuna fishery in 2017.

Full article here

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The goal of the New England Electronic Monitoring (EM) Project was to investigate the potential for using EM within the broader Northeast Multispecies Fishery (NE groundfish fishery) catch monitoring program. EM systems are designed for the automated collection of fisheries data while vessels are at sea. They collect high-frequency sensor data and closed-circuit television (CCTV) imagery during fishing or related activities which are then reviewed post-trip to provide data needed for fisheries management, compliance, and/or science.

Phases I and II of the project were completed and documented in 2010-2013 (Pria et. al., 2011, 2012) and laid the initial groundwork for understanding how EM could best be applied in the monitoring needs of the NE groundfish fishery. These results led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to endorse two basic EM monitoring approaches: an Audit and a Compliance approach (NOAA 2013b). Phase III focused on refining the overall design of these two approaches, conducting field trials and outlining operational and cost elements of both approaches.

This report summarizes the results of Phase III and represents the culmination of the New England EM Project, funded by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and overseen by the Fisheries Sampling Branch (FSB).

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Chatham fisherman Nick Muto is in favor of video cameras installed on his boat to document his catch. One of the three cameras can be seen to his left. Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times

Cape Cod Times, by Doug Fraser, May 28, 2016

HARWICH, CT — On the Dawn T, commercial fisherman Nick Muto inked “Big Brother” next to a switch that turns on a sophisticated video system that will record everything on deck from the time he leaves the dock to his return.

Between 10 and 20 fishermen from Rhode Island to Maine on Wednesday will flip the switch and turn on the cameras. Three Cape fishermen have had the equipment installed on their vessels, and three more are scheduled to be outfitted.

“We all need to take ownership of what we are doing,” Muto said. “If we want to see a future in fishing, we need more accurate information.”

Video: Video equipment installed on Cape fishermen’s boats

While there have already been pilot programs to evaluate video monitoring, this is the first time, under what is known as an Exempted Fishing Permit, that the information gathered by video will be incorporated into the management process. The fishermen, Muto included, volunteered for the program.

Muto smiled at the irony. Once, the idea of any type of electronic surveillance rankled independent-minded Yankee fishermen, but now they’re accustomed to it. From satellite tracking systems they are required to carry, to voluntary programs that tell them where to fish to avoid high levels of unwanted species, New England fishermen operate in a much more electronic and public arena than their predecessors.

Still, nothing rivals video for intrusiveness, and it’s a sign of the times that many fishermen have not only accepted it, but even welcome it. No one likes prying eyes, but it’s become a reality of doing business in a highly regulated field, Muto said.

As soon as he flips the switch, a camera overhead with a wide angle view of the deck begins recording what happens in the stern of his gillnet vessel. It stays on the entire trip. When he activates the hydraulics that power the winches that play out and haul in his nets, a sensor activates two cameras, one focused on the net being hauled up on the side of the vessel and another on the chute where the fish come through after being disentangled from the net and where discards are measured before going back overboard.

When they arrive in port, fishermen remove the hard drive from the onboard computer and mail it to an office in Canada where trained personnel identify and document all discarded species.

Fishermen hope that, in the long run, video surveillance will save them money and aggravation.

As one of the conditions for the 2010 approval of a sector system in which fishermen group together to manage their share of an overall quota, groundfish fishermen said they would pay for at-sea monitors. The observers ride along and document what is caught and what species are discarded. When many species, which include cod, haddock and flounders, fell to historically low population levels, fishermen were faced with declining quotas and revenues and said they couldn’t afford the $710 a day cost for monitors. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries rejected their request that the agency foot the bill.

Many hope an electronic monitoring program will be more affordable for vessels in the long run. In a 2015 analysis comparing hypothetical costs, NOAA projected over $60,000 annually per vessel along with nearly $60,000 in start-up costs for equipment and other expenses. That didn’t compare favorably with an estimated $18,105 per vessel for human monitors.

But the analysis assumed every trip would be monitored while the current permit requires only 14 percent of trips be documented with cameras. Federal grants and money from The Nature Conservancy and the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance helped offset the $6,000 to $15,000 in equipment and labor needed to rig the vessels. And, proponents believe annual costs for video review are too high.

In addition, Cape fishermen have relatively small vessels and it’s hard to accommodate another person, Muto said. He worries about the safety of monitors who don’t have a lot of experience at sea.

Now that information from their vessels can be incorporated into fisheries science, fishermen expect the video will document what they see and help bridge the gap between their impression of the health of fish stocks and the computer models used by scientists.

Cape fishermen have been at the forefront in advocating for the new technology, participating in pilot programs more than a decade ago. They contended the groundfish fleet needed a much higher level of observer coverage to get a handle on wasteful discarding of fish and more scientific information on what was being caught. Electronic monitoring methods, they believed, could be a more cost-effective way to expand coverage.

“It’s taken longer than we hoped or thought it would,” said Claire Fitz-Gerald, manager of the Chatham-based Georges Bank Fixed Gear Sector. This is the first time in the Northeast that NOAA has allowed video surveillance in place of human observers. The permit expires May 1, 2017. Fitz-Gerald sees the first year as a “soft launch” to work out bugs and answer some of NOAA’s concerns, like how well the video reviewers can distinguish between similar species.

“Our goal is for the option (of using electronic monitoring) to continue into the future,” said Chris Maguire, marine program director for the Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts.

The permit could be extended, or fishermen could apply for a new one.

“I think there will always be a little bit of the Big Brother thing,” said Fitz-Gerald. “But, at the end of the day, fishermen are trying to make a living and meet the requirements of monitoring and if a camera can do it better than a human in a way that doesn’t affect the bottom line, then that’s good.”

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Northeast Electronic Monitoring Workshop- Summary Report (Download PDF)

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EM PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

• Fishery: New England Groundfish
• Geographic Scope: Waters off (list states)
• EM Program Purpose: Discard compliance
• Implementation year: 2016
• Number of Participating Vessels: 20
• Questions and Challenges:
  • Participation: The overall state of the groundfish fishery impacts the number of vessels interested in participating in the EM program
  • Cost: How will the system be paid for, long-term?
  • Confidentiality and record-keeping archiving: Fishermen have questions about confidentiality, ownership, and how long to retain video data

New England groundfish fishermen have been interested in using EM for a number of years. Their priority is to create a cost-efficient system that provides timely, accurate catch and discard monitoring. Currently operating under a program that puts human observers on approximately 20% of groundfish trips, they are interested in exploring a less obtrusive, less expensive option. Following an announcement from the National Fisheries Management Service that it would no longer cover the $725/day cost for human observers, interest in an EM program grew more acute.

In this fishery catches and discards must be documented and counted against a yearly weight allocation for various groundfish species and stocks (annual catch limits and annual catch entitlements, or ACLs and ACEs).  A number of EM pilot projects were carried out, which concluded that EM must be tailored to specific monitoring needs and the operations of each vessel.

Impetus to establish this EM program has come primarily from the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance and the Maine Coastal Community Sector. Fishermen in these sectors contacted the NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional Office (GARFO) to push EM as a viable alternative to at-sea monitors. They then worked with The Nature Conservancy, NMFS, and EM service providers to explore a variety of issues related to implementation of EM. Discussions began slowly as relationships were established and concerns shared among all parties. These discussions have been productive but time-consuming, so the target for EM implementation is now May 2016.

Initially fishermen felt they would include EM as part of their sector plans, but a decision was reached to use the Experimental Fishery Permit (EFP) process for the first year of EM implementation. This program will have EM systems on participating vessels that will be turned on when the vessel is chosen for a monitored trip (about 20% of all trips).  During these trips the EM system will be running 100% of the time, and video data will be used to verify compliance with discard requirements. Catch accounting by species and weight will come from dealer reports.

About 20 boats plan to participate in the EFP EM program in 2016 and more vessels will certainly join if funding can be found to cover camera installations.  Twenty vessels will be enough to determine what works and what needs improvement in this critical first year.  Fishermen and managers alike know that they’ll need to make changes “on the fly” to get the monitoring data required in this fishery and to make EM work operationally for all participating vessels.

Program Contacts:

If you want more information about the New England groundfish EM program, contact:

(GDL note – will need to get people’s permission to include)

Barry Clifford, GARFO

barry.clifford@noaa.gov

(978) 281-9148

Brett Alger, GARFO

brett.blger@noaa.gov

(978) 675-2153

Nichole Rossi, NEFSC

nichole.rossi@noaa.gov

508-495-2128

Ben Martens, Maine Coastal Community Sector

ben@midcoastfishermen.org

(207) 619-1755

Claire Fitz-Gerald, Fixed Gear Sector

claire@capecodfishermen.org

(508) 945-2432

Ecotrust ?  – for Maine Coastal Community Sector EM

Service Provider – for CCCFA ( when choose a vendor)

The Nature Conservancy, Maine Chapter

Gulf of Maine Research Institute

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