Imagine a troller headed out to sea in search of its catch. Logbooks and experience tell the captain where to look. But ocean conditions are changing, and so is fish behavior. Historical knowledge is not as helpful as it once was.
Today’s fishermen need more information, according to Melissa Sanderson, Chief Operating Officer of the Cape Cod Commercial Fisherman’s Alliance.
“We’re looking primarily at salinity, dissolved oxygen, temperature and chlorophyll-a – so how much phytoplankton is in the water,” she explained. “And those correlate really well with what we think are going to be the environmental triggers for when fish change their behavior.”
Enter the robots. Yes, robots. It turns out robots could be the next tool in the toolbox for local commercial fishermen.
“So they’re about three feet long,” Sanderson said. “They’re sort of in the shape of a torpedo. And the fisherman can just toss them overboard when they get out to sea.”
The fishermen program the robots, tell them what data to collect, then get down to work.
“The fishermen just keep doing what they’re doing,” said Sanderson. “They’re hauling their gear. They’re catching their fish. And the robot will come back when it’s done with its assignment. And when it gets onboard they can have all of the data and they’ll know what the temperature and salinity and the other environmental variables are over in that area.”
It’s not science fiction. Sanderson is describing a pilot project the Fishermen’s Alliance will lead if it gets funding from the National Science Foundation. It’s part of a regional collaborative called the New England Seafood Partnership for Innovation Research and Engagement, or NSPIRE.
In fact, this type of data is already being collected on local fishing vessels, through the use of gear-mounted sensors and partnerships with local scientists.
“And long-term, the goal is to have enough environmental data being collected, and enough catch information from the industry, that we can start to build what we’re calling actionable environmental intelligence,” Sanderson said.
Liese Siemann is a Senior Research Biologist with the Coonamessett Farm Foundation. She and her team have worked with the Cape Cod Commercial Fisherman’s Alliance on multiple projects.
“It’s been a great relationship,” she said. “It’s just positive across the board.”
Siemann has found the fishermen to be strong partners in their research.
“I think they’re very enthusiastic about it because they’re fishery matters to them,” she said.
NSPIRE is one of 15 finalists across the country in a National Science Foundation competition called NSF Engines. The winners receive a two-year, $15 million planning grant with the potential of up to $160 million in additional funding. If NSPIRE is chosen as a regional engine, Melissa Sanderson says the collaborative will be working to answer a number of questions:
“How do we bring cutting edge blue technology into the seafood industry, from boat to plate, and really make fishing more efficient, more resilient to changes that we’re seeing in the ocean, more competitive with foreign imports?”
NSPIRE is the only finalist that is focused on the ocean and the seafood industry. Sanderson says she’s hoping that bodes well for the team in light of an Executive Order issued in April entitled “Restoring America’s Seafood Competitiveness.”
First, however, Sanderson says the NSF project needs to secure its own funding.
“One of the things we are also pushing for right now is trying to make sure that this program at the National Science Foundation gets their appropriations for the next year,” she said. “Because if they have no budget then they won’t be selecting any finalists.”
If selected, Sanderson says the pilot project would start next spring.
She added, “So potentially next summer we could have those robots swimming around New England.”
