INTEGRATIVE VISION SYSTEM OF ON-BOARD SORTING OF EXPLOITED STOCKS AND REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION WITH LAND

Project Information

SEASCANN

Grant agreement ID: 763231

DOI

10.3030/763231

Project closed

EC signature date 23 January 2017

Start date 1 February 2017

End date 30 April 2017

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

SKAGINN HF
Iceland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SEASCANN (INTEGRATIVE VISION SYSTEM OF ON-BOARD SORTING OF EXPLOITED STOCKS AND REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION WITH LAND)

Reporting period: 2017-02-01 to 2017-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Fishing fleets must handle great amounts of caught fish as fast as possible to prevent deterioration of quality and to concentrate on higher-value species. This involves sorting by species and weight to be able to assess the catch’s worth and prepare the next processing steps, and to report to the authorities about catch. Today, this labour-intensive, time-consuming and subjective process is conducted by fishermen.
SKAGINN’s proposition is to sort the caught fish onboard with an automated equipment boasting a vision system, to register and transfer real-time useful information to several stakeholders (fishing companies & processors, authorities).
The objectives of the project are to improve components to achieve a completely-automatic solution, 100% faster than manual sorting with a proved accuracy of 99% in sorting and grading seven North-Atlantic species (current cod, haddock, pollock, + hake, mackerel, herring and redfish), with data being transferred in real-time to standardised databases. We also aim at creating awareness amongst stakeholders in the fishing value chain in Europe.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

SKAGINN has been implementing on HB Grandi’s vessels Engey an automated fish handling system and a SEASCANN prototype which will be a great asset for further development and test stages. A small-scale test has been conducted in SKAGINN’s working facilities to assess the capability of sending sensed information automatically to the captain’s bridge under controlled operation. This assessment revealed certain issues which will be improved in project. We already engaged a subcontractor (Njord Tech) to participate. We have also have assessed the market & analysed the requirements for the optimisation of the solution to achieve a system that is compact, scalable and suitable for vessels’ retrofits. Due to dissemination in Iceland, several commercial agreements have been achieved with leading fishing companies in Iceland, namely HB Grandi and Fisk Seafood, so that their new trawlers will be equipped with future versions of SEASCANN.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

SEASCANN is an important step forward for the value chain of commercial fisheries that makes possible the long-term sustainable exploitation of seafood worldwide. SEASCANN speeds up the sorting and batching process of large quantities of fish, reducing costs, and compiles and makes real-time catch information available, minimising commercial losses and helping adjust further processing operations, which is a game-changer due to the perishable nature of seafood. Also, SEASCANN will enable fisheries turn from single- to more sustainable multi-specific businesses, and will benefit society by allowing for the collection of more reliable fisheries-related data that can be used by decision makers to assess the maximum sustainable yield and decide on annual fishing quotas.
By 2022, we expect to have sold around 700 units and achieve a 100 M cumulative turnover. The support of two of the most important fishing companies in Iceland already achieved will help reduce time-to-market and maximise the impact in the target countries (Iceland, Scandinavia, N-W Europe).

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