New figures published by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) show that AST Marine Sciences Ltd has installed more than 85% of all commissioned UK fishing vessels with their electronic logbook (e-Log) solution, which received approval from the UK Fisheries Authorities in May 2010.
The electronic logbook software system is based on eCatch, a real-time electronic catch reporting and management system developed by AST MSL’s partner Dualog, based in Norway. Dualog have worked closely with vessel owners and skippers since 2007, gaining extensive insight into the practicalities of the software to develop a user-friendly, simple-to-use solution.
To date, eCatch has been installed on over 350 Norwegian vessels.
The software, adopted by AST MSL for e-Log, was the first system of its kind approved by Defra for use onboard UK-registered fishing vessels. e-Log provides reporting in accordance with EU Regulations (EC) No 1077/2008 requiring vessels above 24 metres to be installed from 1 January 2010 and vessels above 15 metres from 1 July 2011.
Electronic logbooks have been implemented to record and submit fishing activity electronically which in turn will simplify the collection of recorded information and ultimately replace the current paper-based system.
