New camera technology enhancing fisheries science and sustainability
New applications of camera technology are being trialled to better understand key fish stocks, marine environments, environmental changes and sustainability measures.
The cameras are being deployed across a number of fisheries, including Western Rock Lobster fishers, who are working alongside government fisheries scientists.
The lobster project utilises data captured from cameras, known as PotBOTS, which have been placed in lobster pots to provide an extraordinary fish-eye view of various species and variations in their common habitats.
The project is a close collaboration with fisheries scientists at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD).
Principal Research Scientist, Simon de Lestang, said the research project is capturing vision, as well as gathering other valuable data, including water temperature, depth and light attenuation.
Dr de Lestang said the PotBOTS provided a highly valuable way to track the impacts of climate change and movement of fish, as well as stock dynamics.
“There is a broad range of vision coming through, whether it’s dozens of lobsters spending a night under a ledge at the Abrolhos Islands or other amazing underwater scenes captured after a pot has been deployed by fishers,” he said.
An onboard application of cameras is also providing valuable insights for WA’s deep sea crab fishery.
Stereo cameras are set up to capture video footage of the onboard sorting station for deep sea crabs. This video data is analysed using special software that records the relative sizes of each crab.
This approach has the longer-term potential to reduce reliance on onboard monitoring and make a significant contribution to sustainable management of the fishery.
On WA’s northern coastline, cameras on Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) are also used by DPIRD researchers to safely collect survey data for stock assessments of the sea cucumber fishery.
This data was pivotal in securing the recent sustainability recertification of WA’s sea cucumber fishery through the Marine Stewardship Certification process.
Dr Strain said the remotely operated cameras were highly versatile and helped reduce the risks for research divers, especially where there were limitations to diving operations like depth, dive time, visibility, or geographical areas. They also remove diver risks from hazardous marine life such as irukandji jellyfish, crocodiles and sharks.