Sealord has unveiled prototype ‘smart trawling’ technology that is being developed to provide skippers with a real-time view of the ocean floor and equipment while fishing, to reduce the impact of fishing on the seabed.
As deep sea fishing occurs in depths of over 200m, fishermen cannot see the fish and have to guess how they behave when they encounter fishing gear.
“It will be like driving at night with headlights and full visuals at depths of up to 1000m for the first time, versus navigating only on instruments,” explained Sealord resource manager, Graham Patchell.
“This is the first step in technology to be more accurate with trawls and work towards having a lighter footprint on the marine environment with less coral and sponges caught in nets. Rather than waiting to see what comes up in the trawl, we will see it in real time and be able to take action.”
The equipment is the trawl mounted acoustic and optical system (AOS) further developed to provide real-time data and visuals through an armoured fibre optic cable, deployed from a separate winch but computer linked to the main trawl system.
Sealord has developed this technology over the past five years in partnership with the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation). The partnership is testing the new high definition camera and equipment in a world first trial which set sail from Nelson at the weekend.
Fibre optic cabling is well known for better performance, speed of data transfer and ability to carry larger amounts of visual data. This, along with the powerful lighting equipment will provide Sealord’s skippers a real-time view of the trawl gear and the ocean floor and enable them to target fish and move away from underwater features.
The new equipment has been installed on FV Thomas Harrison and will be used during orange roughy biomass surveys in two fishing areas off the West Coast of the North Island.
By being able to observe the fish in their natural habitats the company will also get a far greater understanding of how fish behave and the equipment will provide the most efficient and accurate tool for stock assessment. Accurate targeting of species also means the ability to catch quota in a way that saves valuable time and fuel.
