Tag Archives: camera monitoring

New Zealand: Rollout of camera monitoring on commercial fishing vessels confirmed

Up to 300 inshore fishing vessels will be fitted with the technology by the end of 2024, providing independent, accurate information about fishing activity and better evidence for decision-making,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker said. “It will be supported by cutting-edge artificial intelligence software that will help put New Zealand at the forefront of camera monitoring technology. The introduction of on-board cameras is a key component of the Government’s fisheries reforms. It follows the 2019 roll out of cameras on vessels operating in core Māui dolphin habitat, and builds on work initiated in 2017 by the then-Minister, Nathan Guy. >click to read< 10:25

Greenpeace criticises fishing monitor’s connections with industry

Environmental campaigners Greenpeace will take a complaint to the Auditor General after discovering the company responsible for monitoring large chunks of the fishing industry is wholly owned by the industry’s biggest lobby group. The company, named FishServe, has been contracted by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) for the last 20 years to monitor overfishing, take catch reports, manage quotas and decide on licences. A Greenpeace investigation found the company is not only owned by the industry group Seafood New Zealand, but it operates from the same office and shares staff. The revelations follow a series of controversies last year about fish dumping going unprosecuted, and a contract for camera-monitoring also being given to an industry-owned company. continue reading the story here 09:26

Australia’s Fisheries authority considers streaming video from boats to ensure safety of marine life

gelong starAustralia’s federal fisheries authority is exploring an ambitious plan to stream live footage from fishing vessels in a bid to improve its ability to respond to controversial reports that nets are killing endangered marine animals. The plan could also help protect the authority’s on-board observers in rare instances where their daily reports expose them to aggression and threats from the crews with whom they spend weeks or months at sea. Dr James Findlay, chief executive of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), revealed that the agency had started approaching ship-to-shore communication providers to explore the possibility of using streaming video of activity on fishing vessels “as close to real-time as we can”. Dr Findlay revealed the agency’s ambitions during a senate estimates hearing last week. The environment and communications committee was questioning AFMA over its handling of a high-profile brush between a whale shark and the controversial factory freezer trawler the Geelong Star in February. Read the story here 11:47