Transcript
BUBBA COOK: Currently it may take as long as two years to get some of this current information into the fisheries management system. By the time you get that information in, the fishery could have significantly diminished or you could have change conditions that don't apply. So the goal is to get real time, or at least near real time information for management purposes, for mining control and surveillance services. It's really just bringing fisheries management into the 21st century.
DON WISEMAN: The connection will be via satellite?
BC: Correct. With the observer app it's by satellite and there are several advantages to that. First is that it provides a safety and security mechanism for the observer and they have a direct line of communication through that satellite transmitter to prospective authorities. The second is that it provides that real-time access to data and information to the tablet platform as well.
DW: There's a lot of boats out there so I guess there's a lot of observers needed, so I guess there's a lot of need for devices. Are you providing the devices?
BC: We've provided a large proportion of devices, for Parties to the Nauru Agreement purse seine fishery and with the implementation of our project we’ve secured 100 percent of the satellite transmitters for the vessels fishing in that fishery and we've achieved about 60 or 70 percent of coverage with the tablets. And there's a commitment from the Parties in the Nauru Agreement to implement 100 percent coverage by the end of 2018. It will ultimately be the first large purse seine fishery on the planet to be completely covered by electronic reporting. Both through electronic log books that the skipper and crew members put information into as well as the observer app, which is going to be available to all of the observers in the fishery.
DW: And dependent of course on the information that is being put in is accurate in the first place.
BC: Correct. And that requires good training of your observers - you know hiring the right people to serve as observers and ensuring that they have the right tools and education.
DW: And that they're safe on the boat.
BC: Exactly. If you don’t have safe observers, if they don't feel comfortable inputting the information - that they could be under threat or they're otherwise intimidated or prevented from providing that information then it's a non-starter. But that's what satelite communication device ultimately does. It provides that security. If they feel that they're being intimidated or threatened they have a direct line of communication, and unfettered line of communication with their authorities.
DW: What sort of support is coming from the fishing companies at this stage?
BC: It's slow, but I think the Parties to the Nauru Agreement have vision and they've led in this respect in term of them respecting the value in getting real-time information, or near real-time information. So they've collectively been able to come together and say 'you know what, this is an important aspect of ensuring the sustainability of our industry so we want to do this'. And we have provided the seed funding, we've provided the catalyst to prove that it is possible and that it doesn’t take a huge investment. So the expectation now is that we've provided that proof of concept and now the industry is going to be responsible for picking up the cost for some of this technology.
