Optimisation of digital catch monitoring and reporting in European Fisheries

O ptiFish will develop, test and recommend a set of innovative technologies and tools supported by artificial intelligence (AI) that will simultaneously improve the sustainability of fisher’s operations, enhance control processes and strengthen society’s trust in their products.

OptiFish aims to unlock the full potential of technologies such as electronic and genetic monitoring for automated species recognition based on AI and computer vision to reduce discards, unreported landings and unreported fishing activities, ultimately establishing a fisheries control and enforcement system fit for the digital age. The project will place a strong focus on species recognition in different fisheries equipped with distinctly different catch handling facilities and in different European sea basins.

To address stakeholder needs and acceptance, OptiFish will establish Multi-actor co-creation Labs (MALs) that will facilitate and co-create knowledge together with stakeholders, and assess socio-economic and practical vulnerabilities. The OptiFish Academy, a multi-channel capacity building program, will also provide training and information to stakeholders.

To extend these innovations to fisheries control and management OptiFish has participation from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, and has received written support from the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), the Basque, Danish and Belgian Fisheries authorities.