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Description
Overfishing is depleting commercial stocks worldwide with many species being adversely affected due to intentional or unintentional catch (“bycatch”). Trawls alone, are responsible for the greatest bycatch rates worldwide1 (40%), and in the south of Portugal, crustacean bottom trawlers (CBT) have an alarming bycatch average of 70%2. This calls for better management and monitoring procedures and technologies. Thus, project EMREP’s main goal is to improve fishing data collection and reporting capabilities by modernizing electronic data management systems to maximize the potential benefits from the Blue Economy. Three main activities will be conducted in this project, namely i) stakeholder engagement and requirement analysis; ii) development and customization of Electronic Data collection and Reporting tools (iEMR); and iii) field testing and application of iEMR for scientific purposes. This will be achieved by, customising, deploying and testing the Olrac electronic fishing logbook from the promotor company OLSPS. Olrac will collect detailed operational and environmental data coupled with gear sensors (e.g. sea temperature, depth and salinity) and synchronize it with video footage and images collected using onboard cameras from the Norwegian partner company Imenco. The collection of this data is crucial to form part of a PhD study from the partner University of Algarve, which will evaluate the bycatch of elasmobranchs from CBT in the south of Portugal. Not only will the customized Olrac iEMR will improve the quality of fisheries data for scientific and control purposes, but fishers will also benefit from a more selective fishery through a bycatch avoidance tool, and a more cost-effective system compared to industry funded at-sea observers, and the existing compliant paper and electronic logbooks.