Through IIM research groups and within the framework of the Pleamar programme
“Innovative tools applied to the monitoring of populations in the surroundings of a Marine Protected Area: artificial intelligence, genetics and acoustic telemetry (iGENTAC)” will carry out experimental work in the Cíes Islands archipelago in collaboration with the Atlantic Islands of Galicia Maritime-Terrestrial National Park.
“Integration of total catch databases into a spatial infrastructure for sustainable fisheries management (GEOCAP)” involves three fishers’ associations, one from Galicia and two from Andalusia.
“New vision technologies applied to the development of more compact and flexible standardized electronic monitoring systems for total catch (SICAPTOR 2.0)” aims to improve the iObserver system.
Santiago de Compostela, 9 December 2020. The Institute of Marine Research (IIM) is launching three research projects — iGENTAC, GEOCAP and SICAPTOR 2.0 — with the collaboration of Fundación Biodiversidad of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, through the Pleamar Programme, co-financed by the EMFF.
The projects, which will run until November 2021, are “Innovative tools applied to the monitoring of populations in the surroundings of a Marine Protected Area: artificial intelligence, genetics and acoustic telemetry (iGENTAC)”, “Integration of total catch databases into a spatial infrastructure for sustainable fisheries management (GEOCAP)” and “New vision technologies applied to the development of more compact and flexible standardized electronic monitoring systems for total catch (SICAPTOR 2.0)”.
“iGENTAC” is led by Alexandre Alonso Fernández, from the Fisheries Ecology group. It builds on projects funded in previous PLEAMAR calls — TAC, DESTAC and SICAPTOR — which achieved strategic objectives using acoustic telemetry to monitor movement and behaviour patterns of marine organisms and to estimate discard survival rates in the Galician small-scale fleet. Artificial intelligence techniques were also applied to identify and quantify discards from real-time images.
“The project now beginning incorporates tools based on artificial intelligence, genetics and acoustic telemetry for monitoring wild populations in MPAs in coastal ecosystems. Specifically, non-invasive mark-capture techniques will be developed and applied so that they can be included in monitoring plans for marine organism populations and transferred to the Atlantic Islands of Galicia Maritime-Terrestrial National Park, helping it implement or improve its monitoring and management plans. This will also be complemented by the development of minimally invasive mark-recapture tools potentially applicable to discard-survival studies in commercial species,” explains Alexandre Alonso Fernández.
The methodology includes developing an image-based individual recognition system using artificial intelligence, as well as applying molecular techniques to validate the results. The information derived from these methods will make it possible to apply mark-recapture models to estimate population parameters for the target species. An acoustic telemetry network will also be established to monitor the activity of tagged individuals and compare the results with the mark-recapture models.
Citizen-science workshops will also be organised to recruit volunteers to take part in data collection for the models described above. In addition to the Atlantic Islands of Galicia Maritime-Terrestrial National Park, the project also includes the collaboration of the Center for Coastal Research at the University of Agder (Norway).
“GEOCAP” is led by Ricardo Pérez Martín, from the Food Biochemistry group. It builds on previous projects — LIFE FAROS, LIFE iSEAS and SICAPTOR — which developed tools to help implement new aspects of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy, such as reducing discards and quantifying total catch (iObserver, Geoportal).
“The aim now is to develop and implement software capable of capturing total catch data — desired catch, unwanted catch and discards — from fishing vessels operating in the Northwest Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea areas, available through the Web Armador platform of the General Secretariat for Fisheries. The data will then be entered in an orderly way into a Geoportal using an API tool developed for this purpose. Once stored, the data will be processed so that they can be displayed appropriately and usefully for the different end users of the tool. This will make it possible to create a Spatial Data Infrastructure that helps define general guidelines for sustainable fishing activity and minimizes discards,” explains Ricardo Pérez Martín, who notes that the project therefore has technical, environmental and socioeconomic objectives.
The Sanlúcar de Barrameda fishers’ guild, the Lugo Producers’ Organization in Burela and the Carboneras organization in Almería are taking part.
“SICAPTOR 2.0” is led by Luis Taboada Antelo, from the Process Engineering group. It builds on previous projects — LIFE FAROS, LIFE iSEAS and SICAPTOR — that addressed methods for obtaining real data on catches and discards, that is, total catch, by fleets. In particular, these projects developed and optimized the real-time electronic monitoring system for quantifying and identifying species on fishing vessels known as iObserver.
“The aim now is to generalize the use by the Spanish fleet of standardized electronic monitoring systems focused solely on quantifying total catch on the processing deck, avoiding the reluctance that other current systems generate among fishers because they record their activity in different parts of the vessel,” explains Luis Taboada Antelo.
To this end, the iObserver system will be redesigned. This device automatically quantifies total catch on board commercial vessels, and the redesign will seek to minimize its size and maximize its operating performance, thereby increasing the feasibility of widespread installation on board and its acceptance by shipowners and crews in all types of fleets.
The project has the collaboration of the Fishing Producers’ Organization of the Port and Ría of Marín and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.