Electronic Monitoring (EM) in the sea scallop fishery
Project leads: Dr. Andrew Corso and Justin Potter
Collaborators: Saltwater, Inc.
CFF and with Kathryn Carovano and Michael Enzenauer at Saltwater, Inc (SWI), began a pilot project, which is funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Electronic Monitoring and Reporting Grant Program, to evaluate the feasibility of using EM systems to collect similar data to observer trips, while also monitoring fishing activity. With six commercial sea scallop vessels voluntarily participating from New Bedford, MA, Barnegat Light, NJ, and Cape May, NJ, this cross-regional project is the first of its kind for the U.S. sea scallop industry. After collaborative agreements were formed with all participating vessels, SWI’s technical team, led by Michael Enzenauer, began installing EM systems to monitor sea scallop catch. Each EM system is comprised of 2 cameras, multiple gear sensors, wheelhouse monitor/keyboard, control box equipped with hard drive caddy, and a GPS antenna. The EM system currently collects sensor and GPS data every 10 seconds while video data is activated by gear sensors which were installed on the fishing dredge winches.
Video paired with winch-mounted sensors and GPS data allows for precise estimates of dredge setting and hauling. This information is important for refining the DAS
calculation, which will be a primary incentive driving buy-in of EM among sea scallop fishermen. In addition to being able to determine exactly when fishing effort begins and stops with sensors and cameras, this pilot project also seeks to improve target coverage of the fishery to improve management, reduce risk for both observers and fishermen, and reduce costs associated with the IFS observer program. To develop novel sources of fisheries dependent data (FDD), CFF outfitted each participating vessel with a dredge-mounted sensor that records ocean temperature and depth during each tow. CFF also partnered with the environmental monitors on lobster traps and large trawlers (eMOLT) program, with plans to install more sophisticated sensors on several of the vessels already outfitted with EM systems in 2025. With these data, CFF plans to link both sea scallop and bycatch abundance with oceanographic conditions to fill in gaps of existing fisheries independent surveys, such as during the winter season. One goal of the project is to integrate these sources of data to more effectively track changes in the fishery associated with changing ocean temperatures.
Caption: Transits of a sea scallop fishing vessel that departs from Barnegat Light, NJ and heads for open area bottom (shown as an “X”) on Georges Bank. With the Vessell Monitoring System (VMS) Demarcation Line (black dashed line), U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ; solid black line), and 2024 sea scallop rotational access areas (blue polygons) shown. In A), the vessel attempts to maximize its limited DAS allocation by declaring out of the fishery before transiting (yellow line) to the edge of the VMS Demarcation Line off Nantucket, before redeclaring a fishing trip and heading for the open area target (red line). B), an idealized scenario in which the vessel can head directly to the open area target (green line) without concern for maximizing DAS or avoiding transit through the New York Bight access area.
Example of O2 Review software created by Saltwater, Inc.