Electronic Monitoring

Project Summary >

BC Salmon Seine Fishery

Purpose: Bycatch Monitoring

January 01, 1900 British Columbia

British Columbia’s salmon fisheries were the first fishery group to fall under the Canadian Department of Fisheries selective fishing initiatives. The Selective Fisheries Program is an industry led initiative to reduce by-catch and promote more selective fishing. A pilot study was funded through the initiative to examine the feasibility of using EM systems to monitor catch handling procedures used aboard salmon seine vessels.

An EM system provided on board monitoring on a seine vessel for 62 days and monitored 19 days of fishing operations for a total of 217 fishing sets. Results from this study demonstrated that electronic monitoring was an effective tool for monitoring key fishery issues in the salmon seine fishery. The monitoring system provided the same or better data quality as an at-sea observer for monitoring of time and location of fishing, ensuring that all catch was brailed aboard, and procedures used for handling catch and by-catch. The monitoring system could be used to roughly estimate catch (by brail net counts), and enumerate by-catch. It could also confirm the use of the revival tanks, although it would be limited in assessing fish condition and duration in the tank.

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