FangstID - Automatisert og digitalisert ressurskontroll

Seafood is Norway’s third-largest export industry, following oil and gas. In 2023, Norway exported seafood worth 171.7 billion NOK, with the wild fish industry contributing 43 billion NOK, and the rest coming from aquaculture. Norway’s natural conditions allows harvesting at this level year after year. However, sustaining this output requires proper knowledge-based management of fish stocks. A well-functioning monitor, control, and surveillance (MCS) of fisheries, to ensure that the industry document their own activity and do not exceed their allocated quotas, is an essential part of this management. In 2019, a government-appointed committee presented a report (NOU 2019:21), advising on how MCS should be organized in the future to ensure compliance with regulations and secure future market access for Norwegian seafood. The key recommendation was to implement a comprehensive automated documentation system based on compliance by design. This approach focuses on developing the digital infrastructure necessary for data collection and exchange between management and the industry. A successful example of such an approach is the tax authorities transition from self-reported tax declarations to a pre-filled tax return. The Directorate of Fisheries aims to adopt a similar approach for MCS, where data is collected and exchanged throughout the value chain using technological solutions. This will help meet various documentation needs, reduce the room to manoeuvre for deliberate misreporting and in general improve data quality. Additionally, it will reduce the administrative burden for the industry, increase trust between industry players, managers, authority, and society by means of a more transparent value chain, increase trust in quota deductions, and provide a better data foundation for stock assessments. Furthermore, the industry can utilize the data to prove that they operate ethically, sustainably, and legally which is increasingly necessary for market access. A prerequisite for realizing an automated comprehensive documentation system is to ensure that verifiable data is collected as early in the value chain as possible. To warrant the development of relevant technological solutions capable of collecting such data (species, weight, quantity, etc.), the Directorate of Fisheries established the CatchID-Program in 2021. The aim of the program is to foster the development of new technological solutions to be used onboard fishing vessels to ensure accurate and verifiable documentation of the catch. Several of the solutions being supported by the program are based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine vision. This is a well-tested and documented technology, currently used in areas such as sorting of vegetables and facial recognition. In the fishing industry, this technology is also being used, for example, in counting of fish and in bleed systems which automatically cut gill arches of fish. Despite the use of such technology, there are currently no commercially available solutions that meet the criteria of the CatchID-Program. Recognizing the lack of commercially available solutions fit for the purpose, funds were applied for and granted by the Research Council of Norway to carry out a pre-commercial procurement, with the aim of developing two or more solutions to be used onboard Norwegian fishing vessels. The project, announced as an innovation call during the autumn of 2022, attracted nine proposals from industrial actors. Following a thorough evaluation, seven actors was funded in phase 1, five in phase 2 and three actors in phase 3. The three remaining actors are Myre Sveis- og Mek. Verksted AS, Optimar AS and a consortium led by Adigo Mekatronikk AS. All have developed prototypes targeting demersal fisheries and have successfully demonstrated proof of concept under controlled conditions. In the coming year, they will undergo field testing to evaluate and document their real-world performance. While the prototypes differ, all utilize machine vision for species recognition, and are designed for different segments of the fishing fleet: one for large trawlers, one for the larger coastal fleet, and one for the small coastal fleet. This reflects the diversity of the Norwegian fishing fleet and highlights the need for solutions tailored to different vessels and gear types. In the short term, these prototypes could address challenges in reporting of catch quantities at sea, a concern raised by the industry on several occasions. In the long term, these types of solutions will become crucial for establishing a comprehensive automated documentation system for the fishing industry.

Korrekt registrering av ressursuttaket er et premiss for bærekraftig forvaltning og høsting av fellesskapets viltlevende marine ressurser. Det er også et premiss for like konkurransevilkår mellom nasjoner og mellom de enkelte næringsaktørene. For fiskerikontrollen er utfordringen å sikre et regnskap over ressursuttaket som samsvarer med virkeligheten. Fiskeridirektoratet har etablert et mål om at kvotene i fremtiden skal avregnes fartøyet mens det er på havet, basert på automatisert innsamling av verifiserte data om høstingen. Det vil sikre at kvoteregnskapet blir basert på det som faktisk er høstet, og ikke det som blir omsatt ved landing. Det vil også bidra til å øke etterlevelsen av fiskerilovgivningen. Videre er det et uttalt mål for prosjektet at fisker ved hjelp av nye teknologiske løsninger skal kunne bevege seg bort fra ikke-verifiserbar egenrapportering av fangst, til automatisert registrering av ressursuttaket og direkte kvoteavregning, hvor verifiserbare data overføres til relevante myndigheter i sanntid fra tredjepartsteknologi. Prosjektets hovedmål er å utvikle og implementere teknologiske løsninger tilpasset ulike fartøygrupper som ar begrenset eller ingen behov for menneskelig interaksjon og som sikrer innsamling av etterprøvbare data. Dette skal skje så tett opp mot ressursuttaket som mulig og gi et objektivt regnskap over ressursuttaket.