Demonstration of an autonomous connected device and digital tools for safety of artisanal fishermen and sustainable management of small-scale fisheries

ended

The STARFISH 4.0 project addresses the small-scale fisheries (SSF) sector of the blue economy, a sub-sector of the extraction and commercialisation of living marine resources. Small scale fisheries play an important role in the European Union from a biological, economic and social perspective, amounting to 85% of all fishing vessels. But SSF are not currently monitored as large, industrial fishing vessels are. To solve this gap, this project helps bring to market an innovative product for SSF. This product includes a solar-powered device with an IoT/ satellite/ GSM communications system and dedicated applications. 100 fishermen in Greece and 50 fishermen in Mauritania will be involved during 18 months to test the product at sea. Various characteristics of the product such as robustness, battery life, ease of use, and data accuracy will be field tested. Their feedback will be collected through several questionnaires, which will be used to further refine and improve the product. As this product also includes mobile applications dedicated to fishermen families, shipowners, distributors and authorities, these stakeholders are involved in the surveys. All along the actions, meetings with fisheries stakeholders will be planned at national and European levels to share information about technical features and STARFISH findings, to consolidate the business model and to leverage regulation risks. As project outcomes, scientists and authorities will be have precious information about SSF fishing activities, which will serve as crucial decision-making tools for sustainably managing resources. The willingness of fishermen to use such system shall be enhanced and the business model refined and de-risked; the outputs of this validated and improved system can be directly transferred to other European countries. New markets and re-seller networks will also have been created in the pilot countries for wider deployment.