Helicopters: The Most Efficient Way To Spot Free Schools?

04 June 2018

Free-school fishing has become widespread again and continues to increase as more fleets respond to the rise in demand for free-school caught tuna among buyers. The method is considered more sustainable than other fishing techniques as it allows fishermen to catch a large number of mature tuna within one set, avoiding non-target juvenile tuna and other bycatch, which get caught more often when fishing on FADs or with driftnets. However, without the use of FADs and other similar methods to attract tuna, vessels must hunt for free schools and this can be difficult.

Therefore, in order to find a free swimming school of tuna, many vessels use helicopters. They significantly increase efficiency by scoping the seas for free schools from their advantageous birds-eye view. This reduces the amount of fuel and time a vessel uses when travelling, what would be, a much longer distance.

The helicopters work with purse seine vessels and scan the water looking for natural cues such as a congregation of seabirds and/or fast moving groups of dolphins. These signs then direct the vessel towards the free schools of tuna. Mature skipjack usually swim together, as do mature yellowfin and both species hunt for the same prey. Therefore, when these schools of fish are detected, the vessel positions itself and with the help if its skiff, surrounds the school. Once the school is encircled, the fishermen are able to set their net.

The Pacific Alliance for Sustainable Tuna (PAST) which comprises of the four biggest Mexican tuna purse seine companies, tells Atuna this is why 100 percent of the Mexican tuna purse seiners with a gross tonnage of more than 400 tons use helicopters – less than a handful of Mexican-flagged vessels are said to have a lower tonnage than 400.

Helicopters are not only used in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, where the Mexican fleet focuses its fishing activity, but also on a wider scale. Brian Hallman from the American Tuna Boat Association (ATA) estimates around half of international purse seine fleets use helicopters.

While technology develops and aircrafts become progressively proficient, the search to make free-school fishing easier has not stopped at helicopters. Alternatives are starting to be explored such as drone technology. Marine Instruments, a Spanish company which designs and manufactures electronic equipment for the fisheries industry, has already developed a drone specifically for free-school fishing. The General Manager at the firm, Gabriel Gomez, has said the reason behind the development was the market demand for a low cost and more efficient tool to help fisheries find free schools of tuna.

The ‘Tunadrone’ weighs less than two kilograms and thus it can fly beyond sight without the requirement for certification or a certified operator which is something Marine Instruments felt was important for the tuna industry. While Marine Instruments believes there is a need for this technology, Gomez states the drones will not replace helicopters yet, but the Tunadrone has “great potential”.

Despite free school fishing having increased, the use of helicopters has not been described as a growing trend, rather as something that is continuous. Hallman describes their use as a matter of economics, as each vessel must consider using a helicopter according to its own financial situation and fishing method. “On the one hand, helicopters support efficient fishing, while on the other hand, they are expensive”, he states. There are a number of costs involved, including constructing a deck on board the seiner for the helicopter to land.

This is an issue that the Tunadrone or other similar drone technology can mitigate. Drones are considerably less expensive than helicopters and also do not require an operator. The Tunadrone for example, is launched with a catapult and then recovered using a net. Helicopters on the other hand need to be manned which is not only more costly, but also dangerous as some pilots have died as a result of crashes.

There have been some unexplained accidents involving helicopters working with purse seiners over the past few years. The last incident in February 2018, resulted in the death of three people after the helicopter crashed at the San Mateo beach in Ecuador. A mechanical failure was said to be the reason behind the crash. While Hallman acknowledges the use of helicopters can be dangerous and accidents can occur due to mechanical problems and human error, he believes “safety standards have improved over the years and accidents occur less frequently”.

In spite of the risks involved, there are some significant advantages to having a pilot over using unmanned technology. A pilot has a vast view of the water, while the drone (or other types of unmanned vehicles) are operated by someone on the vessel who can only see what the drone sees through a small camera screen. Not only is the screen smaller than the view of a human eye, but a high-quality camera is needed, which can be expensive. More crucially, the pilots are experts in tuna spotting and their performance determines the income they receive.

Due to the benefits of helicopters when free-school fishing, specifically the advantages of a pilot, it is likely to prove difficult for drone technology to replace helicopters in the near future. However, this technology is still in the very early stages and thus it has the potential to eliminate dangers and it could even be a more efficient tool. If free-school operations continue to increase, smaller firms in particular may opt for drone technology to make the method easier but also less costly. Nevertheless, only time will tell if the use of drones is to become a standard in the industry.

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