[{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_-kTcRwkqPhQLsqEvdSSyU2XZ3CV5VEleXoE3_xZi2cg.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=hm_theme\u0026include=eJxLzi9K1U8pKi1IzNErSa0oSSxKTdQtSi3OrEoFAJQ3Cqw"}]},{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/15273\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n        \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n  \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea resize-vertical ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ECasting a wider net: digital tools bring Europe\u2019s fisheries into sharper focus\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEurope\u2019s fishing fleets land 3.2 million tonnes of fish a year, worth \u20ac5.5 billion. Yet fishers, scientists and regulators still lack a complete picture of what is happening at sea.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn Belgium, for example, which has only around 60 fishing vessels, onboard scientific sampling currently covers just 1.5% of fishing trips, said Els Torreele. She leads fisheries research at the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) in Belgium.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe don\u2019t have enough data to cover all we need to know about what is going on in the sea or with the stock,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFishers heading out to sea, just like the managers overseeing them, rarely know for certain what they will catch. Traditional monitoring relies on scientific observers on board vessels, a limited, labour-intensive approach that captures only a fraction of activity at sea.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis gap can breed mistrust between fishers and scientists. When data is incomplete, regulators can apply a precautionary cut to quotas \u2013 better safe than sorry \u2013 but fishers often experience these cuts as arbitrary when they clash with what they see at sea.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis same gap in knowledge extends to discards and unreported catches, a small piece of the wider data problem that researchers such as Torreele are trying to solve with a new generation of digital tools.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ESmart tech\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince 2024, Torreele has led OptiFish, an EU-funded initiative developing technology that can automatically recognise fish species and improve how catches are monitored.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022text-center text-blue font-bold text-2xl w-full lg:w-1\/2 border-2 border-blue p-12 my-8 lg:m-12 lg:-ml-16 float-left\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Cspan class=\u0022text-5xl rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n  \u003Cp class=\u0022font-serif italic\u0022\u003EWe don\u2019t have enough data to cover all we need to know about what is going on in the sea or with the stock.\u003C\/p\u003E\n  \u003Cfooter\u003E\n    \u003Ccite class=\u0022not-italic font-normal text-sm text-black\u0022\u003EEls Torreele, OptiFish\u003C\/cite\u003E\n  \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe four-year collaboration involves researchers from eight countries working to improve fisheries monitoring and management across Europe. They combine AI, computer vision, electronic monitoring, genetic analysis and robotic systems to build an integrated digital monitoring system.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe better your data is, the clearer your story is and the more complete your picture becomes of what is happening in your marine environment,\u201d Torreele said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe timing matters. The EU introduced rules to close enforcement gaps that let illegal and unreported fishing go undetected, on the logic that quotas only protect fish stocks if they are being followed. Under the revised Fisheries Control Regulation, electronic reporting is already mandatory for most vessels, with tracking extending to smaller boats by 2028 and digital traceability rules reaching processed fish by 2029.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EData gap\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut digital reporting alone will not close the information gap. Without detailed data on which species are being caught, where and in what quantities, fisheries managers cannot make sound decisions about sustainable catch limits, trace seafood through the supply chain, or help fishers plan fishing trips.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEverything starts with your data,\u201d said Sander Delacauw, a marine biologist at ILVO. \u201cIf you want to manage sustainable fisheries, you need to make sure that all the data you collect is high quality and sufficient for stock assessments that feed into quotas and management decisions.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBut the problem is that a lot of sampling is currently manual, and you cannot send observers to sea 24\/7,\u201d he added. \u201cWhen cameras are used, people often need to watch footage manually, which takes enormous amounts of time.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOptiFish is tackling this by developing a suite of technologies, such as cameras paired with AI algorithms that can recognise and count fish species.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe start by collecting a sufficient amount of training data,\u201d Delacauw said. \u201cIt\u2019s like teaching a child to recognise something \u2013 you need to show them enough pictures, so they actually understand.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team is turning this training material into high-quality image datasets that other researchers can use to teach their own AI models.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAcross Europe, these AI camera systems are being tested on pumping vessels, sorting tables, beam trawlers and small-scale fishing operations. The system is trained to identify species, even when fish overlap or are partially hidden, using quality checks that flag anomalies and help assess the reliability of the result.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne early result comes from OptiFish partner DTU Aqua, which built an AI pipeline to track individual fish as they move along conveyor belts under electronic monitoring, so the same fish isn\u2019t mistakenly counted twice. Tested on six similar-looking species, it correctly matched fish 90.43% of the time\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team is also developing a robotic arm that separates overlapping fish on sorting belts and tables. This will improve image quality for the cameras.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the sea, fish shed DNA particles as they swim, and the project uses this environmental DNA (eDNA) to sample the water and estimate the biomass of a particular stock.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s like humans shedding hair,\u201d Delacauw said. \u201cBy collecting water samples or deploying special probes attached to fishing nets, we can identify which species are present in the water.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022text-center text-blue font-bold text-2xl w-full lg:w-1\/2 border-2 border-blue p-12 my-8 lg:m-12 lg:-ml-16 float-left\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Cspan class=\u0022text-5xl rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n  \u003Cp class=\u0022font-serif italic\u0022\u003EBy collecting water samples or deploying special probes attached to fishing nets, we can identify which species are present in the water.\u003C\/p\u003E\n  \u003Cfooter\u003E\n    \u003Ccite class=\u0022not-italic font-normal text-sm text-black\u0022\u003ESander Delacauw, OptiFish\u003C\/cite\u003E\n  \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGPS sensors, water current monitors and fuel consumption data add further context, such as location and sea conditions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDelacauw explained the logic of combining several technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cManual sampling gives very high-quality data on individual fish, but only occasionally. Cameras can measure 24\/7, but are limited to what\u2019s visible. eDNA can indicate what species are present in an area. By bringing all these methods together, we take the best of each approach to create an overall picture.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOptiFish is now testing and refining these systems across five pilot sites spanning different fisheries and European regions, from the North Sea and the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EWide-reaching benefits\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor fishers, more accurate data about fish stocks and catch composition could support more targeted fishing strategies. This would help them plan trips, cut fuel use and costs, reduce emissions, and avoid catching too many juvenile fish or overfishing vulnerable stocks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere is a practical upside, too. Fishers currently log catches by hand, and automated reporting through digital monitoring systems would simplify this slow process and help ensure compliance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor consumers and EU citizens, better monitoring means more transparent seafood supply chains and greater assurance that fish has been caught legally and sustainably.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMore accurate data also helps fisheries managers make better decisions, supporting healthy fish stocks for generations to come.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBeyond its own four-year run, OptiFish aims to lay the groundwork others can build on. Its consortium is building a shared data platform, a tool that gives fishers real-time updates on their catches, discards, fuel costs and quota use, and a template for building AI-based monitoring into official fisheries monitoring frameworks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSustainable fisheries management depends on accurate information,\u201d said Torreele. \u201cOur work is about building a system that gives us that information in a way that benefits everyone, marine ecosystems, fishers and citizens who want to know where their food comes from.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EResearch in this article was funded by the EU\u2019s Horizon Programme. The views of the interviewees don\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. 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