The Advent of Electronic Logbook Technology - Reducing Cost and Risk to Both Marine Resources and the Fishing Industry
Fisheries management all around the world is
hampered by the lack, or poor quality, of critical data on fish
resources and fishing operations. The main reasons for the chronic
inability to collect good quality data during fishing operations is the
culture of secrecy common among fishers and the lack of modern
data gathering technology onboard most fishing vessels. In response,
OLRAC-SPS, a South African company, developed fisheries datalogging
software (eLog in short) and named it Olrac. The Olrac eLog
solution is capable of collecting, analysing, plotting, mapping,
reporting, tracing and transmitting all data related to fishing
operations. Olrac can be used by skippers, fleet/company managers,
offshore mariculture farmers, scientists, observers, compliance
inspectors and fisheries management authorities. The authors believe
that using eLog onboard fishing vessels has the potential to
revolutionise the entire process of data collection and reporting
during fishing operations and, if properly deployed and utilised,
could transform the entire commercial fleet to a provider of good
quality data and forever change the way fish resources are managed.
In addition it will make it possible to trace catches back to the actual
individual fishing operation, to improve fishing efficiency and to
dramatically improve control of fishing operations and enforcement
of fishing regulations.
[1] Barkai, A. & Bergh, M.,2003,. Use and Abuse of data in fishery
management. Deep Sea 2003: Conference on the Governance and
Management of Deep-sea Fisheries. 27- 29 November 2003. Dunedin.
Theme 4. Technology requirements.
[2] SSP8-CT-2003-502153 SHEEL. 2004. Electronic logbook information
to be exchanged. Report 1.2.Specific Targeted Research Project
(STREP)
[3] A complete solution for the recording, reporting and transmission of
commercial fishing data. (ICES CM 2008. R:01)
[4] COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1077/2008 of 3 November
2008. Official Journal of the European Union. available online at:
http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/control/technologies/ers/index_en.htm.
[1] Barkai, A. & Bergh, M.,2003,. Use and Abuse of data in fishery
management. Deep Sea 2003: Conference on the Governance and
Management of Deep-sea Fisheries. 27- 29 November 2003. Dunedin.
Theme 4. Technology requirements.
[2] SSP8-CT-2003-502153 SHEEL. 2004. Electronic logbook information
to be exchanged. Report 1.2.Specific Targeted Research Project
(STREP)
[3] A complete solution for the recording, reporting and transmission of
commercial fishing data. (ICES CM 2008. R:01)
[4] COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1077/2008 of 3 November
2008. Official Journal of the European Union. available online at:
http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/control/technologies/ers/index_en.htm.
@article{"International Journal of Biological, Life and Agricultural Sciences:51154", author = "Amos Barkai and Guy Meredith and Fatima Felaar and Zahrah Dantie and Dave de Buys", title = "The Advent of Electronic Logbook Technology - Reducing Cost and Risk to Both Marine Resources and the Fishing Industry", abstract = "Fisheries management all around the world is
hampered by the lack, or poor quality, of critical data on fish
resources and fishing operations. The main reasons for the chronic
inability to collect good quality data during fishing operations is the
culture of secrecy common among fishers and the lack of modern
data gathering technology onboard most fishing vessels. In response,
OLRAC-SPS, a South African company, developed fisheries datalogging
software (eLog in short) and named it Olrac. The Olrac eLog
solution is capable of collecting, analysing, plotting, mapping,
reporting, tracing and transmitting all data related to fishing
operations. Olrac can be used by skippers, fleet/company managers,
offshore mariculture farmers, scientists, observers, compliance
inspectors and fisheries management authorities. The authors believe
that using eLog onboard fishing vessels has the potential to
revolutionise the entire process of data collection and reporting
during fishing operations and, if properly deployed and utilised,
could transform the entire commercial fleet to a provider of good
quality data and forever change the way fish resources are managed.
In addition it will make it possible to trace catches back to the actual
individual fishing operation, to improve fishing efficiency and to
dramatically improve control of fishing operations and enforcement
of fishing regulations.", keywords = "data management, electronic logbook (eLog),
electronic reporting system (ERS), fisheries management", volume = "6", number = "7", pages = "427-8", }