At-sea Data Collection in the Salmon Fisheries Using GPS-enabled Android

J.W. Lavrakas, W. Black

Abstract:	Fisheries today are challenged with the overfishing of desired species, catching of weak stocks, and understanding the migration patterns of fish in changing oceanographic conditions. Geospatial techniques and the use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GPS have opened up a new possibilities for data collection and visualization, providing tools to assist fishers, fishery managers, and scientists in better managing the fisheries. Furthermore, fishers are finding that access to geospatial information can lead to significant improvements in cost-effective fishing. Although today’s technologies provides easy access at sea to PNT services for navigation, it is not so well developed in providing easy-to-use positioning capabilities in the collection and reporting of individual fish catches. Over the past several years, systems have been developed to do just that, but they have been bulky, difficult to operate, and pricey. For example, at-sea data collection by commercial salmon trollers using manual methods has already been demonstrated by Project CROOS (Collaborative Research on Oregon Ocean Salmon) to provide a fine-scale (space and time) picture of salmon harvest, including map visualization of catch locations, fishing effort, and sea surface and chlorophyll oceanographic data. With the advent of smart phones and tablets, rich in features such as wireless communications, GPS, and significant processing power comes an opportunity to accelerate the process of data collection, providing accurate, low cost and easy to use products. When combined with technologies such as genetic stock identification (GSI) and satellite remote sensing there are opportunities for near-real-time management, weak-stock avoidance, improved understanding of migration patterns and ocean ecology, and product tracking and marketing. During the summer of 2012, research was conducted to develop and field an automated at-sea data collection system using the Android platform and the various embedded sensors and capabilities. Using devices and technologies such as the Nook tablet ereader, an Android-based smartphone, and wireless technology, this research included using GPS to collect position, smart tablets for entering data, wireless technology for communications, and display of data on digital maps using nautical charts and real-time oceanographic data overlays. This paper provides a summary of the research performed in the areas of integrating GPS-enabled Android technology with wireless communication on board a vessel to provide seamless reporting of fish catch information. It explores the operational issues relating to use of a mobile platform on board a fishing vessel in acquiring and tracking GPS signals and reporting data to land, while conducting normal fishing operations. The paper also explores the usability issues associated with fielding electronic equipment onboard the decks of fishing vessels operating at sea. Finally, the paper will make recommendations for improvements to the positioning and communication technology, operational deployment, and application to data collection at sea.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2013) September 16 - 20, 2013 Nashville Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, TN
Pages:	620 - 630
Cite this article:	Lavrakas, J.W., Black, W., "At-sea Data Collection in the Salmon Fisheries Using GPS-enabled Android," Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2013), Nashville, TN, September 2013, pp. 620-630.
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