Electronic Monitoring

Project Summary >

BC Sablefish Seamount Fishery

Purpose: Compliance Monitoring

January 01, 1900 British Columbia, Canada

Sablefish populations on seamounts located within between 100-200 miles offshore are generally thought to be separate from the inshore populations found along the continental slope. The Canadian Department of Fisheries has allowed a limited experimental fishery on seamount stocks under strict monitoring requirements to ensure that permitted vessels do not fish coastal stocks and that only seamount-caught fish be retained on board until the offloading. These measures were put in place to ensure clear separation between the special permit seamount fishery and the lucrative coastal quota fishery. The initialmonitoring program began using at-sea observersand this program was replaced with an analog video monitoring system in 1992. In 2001, Archipelago replaced the older analog system with its digital EM systems. The newer equipment enable very rapid data processing and access to specific imagery. EM equipment is deployed for the duration of the one-month fishing permits to provide continuous recording of GPS, hydraulic and winch activity, and imagery of the fishing deck. The EM systems have proven to be reliable and provide monitoring at 20% the cost of an at-sea observer.

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