Tag: digital technology

Pacific interest grows in online fishing tool

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Republished from Radio New Zealand, 8 May 2018

An online reporting tool for fisheries management is gaining popularity in the Pacific, the Pacific Community (SPC) says.

Scenery of the fishing port Photo: mtaira/123RF

OnBoard is free software developed by SPC which works on smart phones and tablets.

It improves the speed and accuracy with which boat captains can record their daily catch and upload data for fisheries managers to access.

SPC data analyst Andrew Hunt said traditional paper recording, which was still widely used, took a lot of time to process and was prone to errors.

Since OnBoard’s release last year there had been growing interest from Pacific countries for it be used on boats operating in their waters, Mr Hunt said.

“We have had nearly a hundred trips that have been reported electronically. Which is quite a good amount considering how difficult it is to get these tablets onto the boats,” he said.

“When we look at the data I think some of the positional information is more accurate because it can use the GPS onboard the tablet. And we have less problems with log sheets that can’t be interpreted.”

OnBoard was being used on boats in New Caledonia, Fiji, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia, Mr Hunt said.

The SPC was also working on translating the interface, currently available in English and French, into Chinese and other languages.

Digitising data a challenge for Pacific fishing industry

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Republished from Radio New Zealand, 30 April 2018

The Forum Fisheries Agency says the Pacific is facing big challenges as it embraces digital technology.

Tuna on the deck of a Pacific fishing vessel.
Tuna on the deck of a Pacific fishing vessel. Photo: RNZI/Giff Johnson

A systems analyst for the agency said that in the fisheries sector, work to digitise information was ongoing and labour intensive.

Ano Tisam said many organisations and governments in the region still used pen and paper.

He said to move ahead, information needed to be accessible in a digital format and properly stored and archived.

FFA Systems analyst, Ano Tisam.
FFA Systems analyst, Ano Tisam. Photo: RNZ Pacific Sara Vui-Talitu

“We used technology to help Pacific governments to move away from what they are doing in terms of paper, and transitioning them over to digital technologies so that they can improve the way that they do things to make things more efficient and more effective.”

Ano Tisam was visiting New Zealand from Solomon Islands as a guest speaker at last week’s Pacific Tech Summit in Auckland.

Mass buy-in needed for new fish tracking technology to work

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 Republished from Radio New Zealand, 16 January 2018

The Forum Fisheries Agency’s deputy director general Wez Norris says there’s huge potential in the new digital technology being piloted to track fish.

Tuna on the deck of a Pacific fishing vessel.
Tuna on the deck of a Pacific fishing vessel. Photo: RNZI/Giff Johnson

But Mr Norris said if the blockchain system was going to work on a fishery-wide basis, it would need commitment and collaboration from companies and governments in dozens of countries.

The system is on trial in Fiji to monitor tuna from the moment a fish is caught up until it’s bought for consumption.

It’s hoped the technology will help ensure more accountability on a global scale and combat illegal fishing practises, but Mr Norris said fish tracking is complex.

“A fish that might be caught in Solomon Islands might be transported to Fiji and it might be transported there and then marketed through a company in Singapore and then eventually end up in the US, and so all of those players need to be part of this system. It is going to take quite some time to build that level of trust and commitment.”

Wez Norris will vacate the Solomon Islands-based FFA director general role this week.