Upskilling for Commercial Catches
To improve knowledge on commercial catches, distribution of fish populations and environmental impact due to fishing activities, fisheries observer data is one of the most reliable and unbiased sources. Fisheries observers are deployed on fishing vessels as independent data collectors of fishing activities. As much as their role is not that of the fisheries compliance officers, they are often required to report on compliance issues. The vessel logbook data is among the valuable and continuous sources of information for the management of fisheries. However, the vessel logbook does not paint a clear picture as some information, such as catch composition data that includes the discarded bycatch species and issues classified as non-compliance, may not be included.
Fisheries Observer Data
Fisheries observer data has been the most successful source to uncover what is happening at sea. Shark finning was a myth until fisheries observers provided some evidence of such practices. The fishing logbook data does not provide information on fish discards and target species dumping while the fisheries observer programs have consistently covered this kind of data. The absence of active fisheries observer programs, for any country, can spark the question around the sustainability of fisheries.
Our observers are competent in most RFMOs, and Tuna observers are trained in accordance with IOTC ROS standards and are in possession of IOTC Observer numbers.
We have successfully deployed fisheries observers in the following RFMOs: IOTC, ICCAT, CCSBT, CCAMLR
