Is The SeaTube The Definitive Solution For Vessel Monitoring?
Monitoring of activities on tuna vessels is crucial to ensure conservation measures are upheld. Such surveillance can be conducted in various ways, both via technology and through human observers. Spanish firm Satlink believes that its ‘SeaTube’ system brings the best of both worlds.
SeaTube is an Electronic Monitoring System (EMS) that can be installed on both purse seiners and longliners, which combines vessel monitoring, catch reporting and human observers. Depending on the size of the vessel, SeaTube employs between one and eight cameras on board that record high definition footage 24/7. Additionally, SeaTube supplies real-time information on the position of the vessel through Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS).
Back on land, the video footage is analyzed by “dry observers”, observers stationed on shore rather than on a vessel. Satlink explains that these on-land observers are biologists that also have experience working on board fishing vessels.
The footage discloses evidence on the number, size and species composition of the catch, as well as bycatch, gear information and even data on the living conditions for fishermen on board. In addition to making sure that the crew keeps in line with fishing regulations when catching tuna, SeaTube system is also in place to observe waste dumping, discarding of fish, FAD use and transshipment.
“SeaTube records 24/7, it does not need to sleep, it does not get ill, it does not close its eyes and it can be in more than one place at a time,” the firm reiterates.
According to the company, SeaTube brings greater transparency and efficiency to tuna fishing. It gives tangible proof of both good and poor practice on board a fishing vessel, the firm says to Atuna, explaining that it is the combination of different systems that makes SeaTube unique to other monitoring schemes in the tuna industry. “SeaTube is an innovative solution that through technology has enhanced the current ways information on fishing activities is obtained.”
“We now obtain more reliable information, all in a digital format with graphic evidence,” Satlink explains. According to the company, the use of SeaTube is growing in the Pacific and has gilded positive results so far, and that it is more efficient when compared to the use of two other methods; logbooks and onboard observers.
Satlink details that land-based observers can manage 5 to 10 vessels at a time, whereas onboard observers obviously only have the ability to be present on one ship. “This enables tuna fisheries to reach 100% coverage, increasing the current number of observer jobs in a safer and more efficient way.”
There is currently a regulation in place for 100 percent observer coverage on purse seiners in the WCPO. For longliners however, the regulation stretches only to five percent. SeaTube is an essential tool to reach such requirements, according to the company, which emphasizes that working as an observer can be dangerous. The task is particularly challenging on longliners, as their presence can interfere more with fishing activities of the crew, than on a large purse seiner, Satlink says.
The company adds that SeaTube can be both a complementary tool used in correlation with human observers, or employed independently. The firm agrees that there are some drawbacks to using technology alone to keep fishing vessels accountable. Only human observers can for example retrieve tissue samples from fish on board. Satlink however notes that this kind of data can be collected when the fish is landed in port.
The reliability of electronic monitoring has also been questioned in the past, as it can sometimes be tampered with, and electronic systems also require a human to analyze the data, which can create extra costs.
More time is needed to determine the full effects of the SeaTube system, and to see whether it will act as a driver of positive change in the management of our ocean resources, but for now Satlink remains confident that it is moving in the right direction.