UCN: Better engines, less bycatch tops US harvesters' tech wish list

Undercurrent News: Better engines, less bycatch tops US harvesters’ tech wish list

By Nick Sambides Jr.

April 19, 2022

Harvesters, Leigh Habegger says, love to fix things.

That's why for the first time in its history the US fishing trade group Seafood Harvesters of America (SHA) surveyed 186 members harvesting 42 species to start a nationwide dialogue with the seafood industries and tech sectors to gather what harvesters want out of today's and tomorrow's technology. The aim is to make their jobs easier or to address their immediate concerns, Leigh Habegger SHA's executive director told Undercurrent News."

The survey will form the basis of a continuing series of discussions and workshops SHA will hold with its members and the tech sector starting next month to start identifying hopefully inexpensive ways that technology can be developed or, if already on the market, delivered to harvesters, Habegger said.

"I think fishermen are great engineers,"" Habegger told Undercurrent. ""They love to problem solve and figure out how to do address a problem that their boats are having, or, you know, to say, 'Hey, I think this could make our net avoid the species, or we could do this. And we would increase our fuel efficiency' -- that kind of stuff. But it's often [only] with their own fishermen, friends and colleagues. And so, potentially, with a little bit of influx of cash or some additional real engineering-type brains, we could solve some of these problems."

Ultimately, the effort will identify government and private-sector investment opportunities and pathways for harvesters and tech companies to produce equipment that makes seafood industries safer, more productive and increasingly sustainable.

The nine-page report has surveyed harvesters naming four areas of focus and gadgetry for technologists to address:

  • Sustainability: bycatch reduction technology and energy-efficient engines, fish finding equipment, and live-feed underwater video;

  • Safety: communication and data systems, and advanced/automated machinery to reduce risks during highly physical operations;

  • Productivity: product tracking tools, gear modification to improve efficiency or product quality, and direct sale networks and apps; and

  • Data: communication and data network systems, weather and ocean monitoring, and electronic reporting and monitoring.

Of the sustainability technologies harvesters identified, most respondents favored specific areas of development including:

  • Energy-efficient engines;

  • Fishing finding equipment (sonars, echo-sounders, etc);

  • Bycatch reduction technology;

  • Live-feed underwater video systems;

  • Net and gear camera systems; and

  • Animal behavior modifiers.

The lists' products might seem basic to the point of obviousness -- why wouldn't people in the seafood industry want these things? -- but that was the idea, Habegger said.

"We just wanted a very broad universe and tried to capture like anything anybody might think about when they think about technology," Habegger said. “We did sort of take a pie-in-the-sky perspective."

Some free-form suggestions from survey respondents included:

  • "[Energy-efficient engines are a] win-win, reduces emissions and saves money."

  • "Bycatch avoidance is paramount to all fisheries.""

  • "Affordable, efficient communication equipment can create a backbone for all safety and navigation systems to run on."

  • "Better and more reliable communication when fishing offshore would decrease anxiety.”

  • "Monitoring [systems on each boat would provide] a window to prevent and address safety concerns like fires, leaks (water, hydraulic fluids, etc.), winches, net drums, ramps, and rails.”

The report, which does not attempt to assess the costs associated with the ideas, acknowledges that harvesters need more insight from the tech world.

“There are clear opportunities for technological advancements in the commercial fishing industry,” it states. “However, technology development must be done in partnership with the industry and be matched to fishermen needs to ensure adoption and a market. We also note a clear need for better access to information about what technology already exists to address industry needs.”

Some areas of potential investment suggested by survey respondents might require government involvement, things the US can do for its seafood industries to make them more competitive and sustainable:

  • “Putting gear in the correct location for the target species eliminates bycatch issues and increases efficiency. [There’s] less wasted time,” one survey respondent wrote.

  • “Many areas where we fish still do not have accurate weather reporting information. This is crucial to safe fishing.”

  • “[There is a] need for more fishermen collected data to support the science that goes into stock assessment. […] this is a big priority for me right now, figuring out how vessel [data collection] programs can become more widely used by scientists.”

The survey was the work of SHA, a national association of several thousand US commercial fishermen representing 22 member organizations, and four other groups.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service’s Midwater Assessment and Conservation Engineering Program at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center; Conservation X Labs, a technology company that creates solutions to stop the extinction crisis; and the Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, a program of the Schmidt Family Foundation focusing on the advancement of novel ocean technologies; and the Alaska Ocean Cluster, a non-profit accelerating innovation through work with the state’s seafood industry and ocean startups.

The report is available here.

Contact the author nick.sambides@undercurrentnews.com.

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