Scottish science applications of Remote Electronic Monitoring

ICES Journal of Marine Science ICES Journal of Marine Science (2015), 72(4), 1214– 1229. doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsu225 Contribution to the Symposium: ‘Fishery-Dependent Information’ Original Article Scottish science applications of Remote Electronic Monitoring Coby L. Needle*, Rosanne Dinsdale, Tanja B. Buch‡, Rui M. D. Catarino, Jim Drewery, and Nico Butler‡ *Corresponding author: e-mail: Present address: School of Biological Science, University of Aberdeen, Tillydrone Road, Aberdeen, Scotland. ‡ Needle, C. L., Dinsdale, R., Buch, T. B., Catarino, R. M. D., Drewery, J., and Butler, N. Scottish science applications of Remote Electronic Monitoring. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 72: 1214– 1229. Received 6 June 2014; revised 11 November 2014; accepted 12 November 2014; advance access publication 15 December 2014. Part of the European Union (EU) Common Fisheries Policy revision of 2013 is a commitment to implement a land-all policy, under which the practice of discarding caught fish back into the sea will be forbidden. This measure will be applied first to the pelagic fleet in 2015, with a phased implementation for the demersal fleet between 2016 and 2019. As part of trials to determine the efficacy of a land-all policy for North Sea cod (Gadus morhua L.), Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) systems were installed on seven Scottish demersal vessels in 2008. Vessels were permitted additional days-at-sea and cod quota, and were obliged to land all cod caught in the North Sea. This arrangement has been renewed each year as part of the Scottish Cod Conservation Credits scheme, and while the list of vessels involved has not remained constant, the scheme remains attractive to skippers (27 vessels in 2014), has always been oversubscribed, and is likely to remain a key part of the Scottish Government’s approach to land-all enforcement. Marine Scotland Science is granted access to all REM data collected from Scottish vessels. This paper summarizes the scientific analyses carried out using these data from 2008 onwards, including the installation and operation of REM systems for scientific purposes; the programme developed to train REM analysts; systems for combining length measurements with fish counts; the potential use of REM data in management advice; and studies on such aspects as discard-rate estimation, activity mapping, estimating the relative costs of on-board and REM observation, morphometric length inference, and automated image analysis. We conclude that, while further development work is certainly needed, REM provides a rich source of fisheries information for science as well as for compliance and management. However, care will need to be taken to ensure that science monitoring and analysis resources do not become overwhelmed. Keywords: analyst training, CCTV analysis, discard estimation, Remote Electronic Monitoring, Scottish fisheries. Introduction Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) of fishing vessels consists of a number of interlinked monitoring and observing components, including CCTV video cameras to record fishing and processing activity, geographic position systems (GPS) to record vessel location, hydraulic winch pressure sensors, and drum revolution counters to determine when vessels’ nets are in the water, and on-board PCs with linked, removable hard drives to record data. REM systems have been used to augment, and in some cases replace, on-board observers in many fisheries worldwide for several years (for example, see McElderry et al., 2003). These systems were purchased and installed on seven Scottish fishing vessels in 2008 (see Table 1). The intention of this trial period (which carried over into 2009) was to determine the potential efficacy of a land-all policy (or discard ban) for North Sea cod. Participating vessels # Crown copyright 2014. were granted two “free” trips per year (that is, two trips which did not count towards effort or quota limits), but in return were not permitted to discard any cod while fishing in the North Sea. During this trial period, in August 2008, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Richard Lochhead MSP, met with his counterparts from the rest of the UK, Denmark, and Germany, and signed the Aalborg Statement (Scottish Government, 2009), which presented a joint position recommending the use of CCTV in fisheries monitoring. Mr Lochhead’s comment at the time was as follows: The collection of more accurate data would undoubtedly lead to better fisheries management of our seas. Fishermen will have the chance of increasing their income whilst at the same time being able to account for all the fish they remove Marine Laboratory, Marine Scotland – Science, PO Box 101, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen, UK 1215 Scottish science applications of Remote Electronic Monitoring Table 1. Timeline of Scottish trial and non-trial REM programmes. See text for notes on incentives offered to join. Year 2008 –2009 Schemes CCTV trials 2010 2011 2012 Cod Catch Quota Scheme (CCQS) Cod Catch Quota Scheme (CCQS) Cod Catch Quota Scheme (CCQS) Number of vessels Three to four (whitefish) Three (Nephrops) 20 (whitefish) 24 (whitefish) 24 (whitefish) 2013 Cod Catch Quota Scheme (CCQS) Firth of Forth trial Cod Catch Quota Scheme (CCQS) 21 (whitefish) Four (Nephrops) 27 (whitefish) 2014 The next step was the Cod Catch Quota Scheme (CCQS), which commenced with 20 vessels in 2010 (Scottish Government, 2014). This still required vessels to land all cod caught in the North sea, but the incentives for joining were different: participating vessels would receive additional cod quota (initially 30% of their existing quota, relative to the average landings of the preceding 2 years), additional days-at-sea, and permission to fish within the Scottish realtime closures (Holmes et al., 2009; Needle and Catarino, 2011). The application procedure consisted of a bid by the owner of the vessel for how much additional quota they thought they would need to operate the scheme, up to a maximum of 30% of their existing quota. Bids were ranked in reverse order (from low to high) and membership of the scheme was awarded to as many vessels as the national additional cod quota allowance would permit, starting from the top of the list. No specific cognizance was taken of the type of vessel or previous discard patterns, although most participating vessels turned out to be the larger and more successful demersal trawlers, which had the financial resources to lease in additional quota should it prove necessary. Applications were limited to Scottish vessels: that is, those registered in Scotland and administered at a Marine Scotland coastal office. Critically, all participating vessels had to carry REM systems, installed by Marine Scotland (MS), and the resulting data had to be useable and made available to MS Compliance and Science divisions for analysis. Vessels joining the CCQS were required to remain on the scheme for the full fishing year, unless they (...truncated)