Fisheries Minister Dr. Mohamed Shainee said on Thursday that the ongoing bird-tracking radar technology project would help improve the country’s tuna fishery in the future.
He made the remark while speaking about the ongoing experimental trial of an onboard bird-tracking radar to ascertain whether such a system can improve the efficiency of the country’s one-by-one tuna fishing boats. The bird-tracking radar was first installed on a fishing vessel named Julie in September this year. On Thursday, Minister Dr. Shainee visited the vessel and inquired about the trial.
The trial, conducted by the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF) and Furuno USA, is carried out under a longstanding memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreement between IPNLF and the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture.
The IPNLF Data Acquisition Officer, based in the Maldives, accompanied Julie’s crew during the trial to gather data to establish, amongst other things, whether the bird-tracking radar makes a significant difference to tuna catch rates and fishing efficiency, the organisation said. Exploring the potential opportunities for such equipment in one-by-one tuna fisheries, the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF) has teamed up with Furuno USA for the three-month trial programme aboard Julie. As well as providing all the equipment for the trial, Furuno USA has given the crew all the necessary training and advice needed to locate seabirds via radar.
“Furuno, the marine electronics company and market leader in radar systems, fish finders and navigational instruments, developed the world’s first bird radar in 1986. Although the technology is not new, it has not yet been widely applied across all pole-and-line fisheries,” according to IPNLF.