An Inside Look at The First Year of LIME

March 2022 marks one year since Archipelago released LIME powered by BRNKL, LIME is a low-cost data collection platform that allows users to collect and access fishery-related activities in near real-time. LIME fits on a variety of vessels, with a minimal footprint that makes it ideal for smaller vessels without the space for a full-scale Electronic Monitoring (EM) system. In 2021, Archipelago continued to work with a diverse array of clients, including fishing industry, NGOs, and regulators. We wanted to highlight a few of our successful projects using LIME.

We used our LIME product in many successful programs throughout the year, including the Washington State Crab Program. The Washington State Crab program has been working with Archipelago to improve the monitoring of the commercial fleet with the use of LIME units. In the first year of the grant, there were four vessels outfitted with LIME units, and with the success of that installation, expanded to twelve vessels the following year. We installed LIME units onboard each vessel to monitor their fishing activity, as well as provide 24-hour vessel monitoring and security for their vessel. The units capture data associated with vessel location using GPS and sensor data to monitor the vessels’ activity while at sea, including trap enumeration and port notifications.

Before working with Archipelago and installing LIME units on the vessels, the Washington State Crab Fishery relied on fisher dependent data with the submission of their skipper log, which is a paper form log that vessels submit at the completion of a trip. They are now also electronically capturing that fisher dependent data sooner with e-log, which is another component of the pilot. Overall, we consider the program a success and there is hope to expand even further.

In early 2021, we installed Lime units on six vessels as part of a pilot project to use EM for the wild geoduck dive fishery. All vessels harvesting geoduck along the east coast of Vancouver Island took part in the pilot with outstanding success. Using EM allows fishers to provide real-time, accurate data which is used alongside their paper logs to maintain the geoduck fishery as one of the most sustainable fisheries along BC’s coast. In the future, we will use Lime units on the West Coast of Vancouver Island to supplement our on-grounds monitoring program.