Innovation challenge now open to develop automated fisheries monitoring

Innovators are being asked to help develop new ways of monitoring commercial fishing location, effort and catch.

Fisheries Minister Bill Byrne said a challenge had been issued to innovators to develop an affordable automated electronic monitoring system to record information for trawl, net and crab fishing operations in real or near real time.

“The challenge is part of the latest round of the Advance Queensland Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) initiative,” Minister Byrne said.

“The successful applicant will deliver a set of technological solutions which may include vessel tracking systems, sensors on fishing gear (e.g. crab pots and nets), robotic vision, species recognition and/or electronic monitoring.

“This exciting challenge is about making it easier for fishers, improving the accuracy of data and providing information in real time so we can better track catch and effort.

“The new technology has the capacity to reduce red tape for commercial fishers and potentially reduce their overall costs while at the same time improving the way the fishery is managed.”

Minister Byrne said information was currently provided by commercial fishers through a range of mandatory reporting requirements include paper logbooks; phone reporting; and satellite tracking (on some boats).

“With technology moving so fast, we know there are probably new technologies out there that can be combined or repurposed to meet this challenge,” he said.

“A completely automated reporting system for commercial fishing location, effort and catch does not exist anywhere in the world and I’m sure there will be demand from fisheries agencies worldwide for this type of technology.

“Up to $250,000 will be available to prove the feasibility of new technologies, with a further $500,000 available to develop and trial proposed solutions.

“We will work directly with the commercial fishing industry to trial any products that emerge through the challenge over the next 12 to 18 months.

“Applications to the SBIR close at 2:00pm, 25 September 2017, and are open to organisations of any size, provided they can deliver a solution to the challenge.”

Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch said the challenge is part of Round 2 of the SBIR program, an Advance Queensland program to help innovators secure government contracts to develop and test cutting-edge solutions to specific government challenges.

“Importantly, applicants to the SBIR retain any intellectual property they develop within the program, allowing them to take their solution to a broader market, grow their business, and create jobs,” Ms Enoch said.

Minister Byrne said the Palaszczuk Government was committed to ensuring fisheries resources were managed in a sustainable and responsible manner that recognises the interests of all Queenslanders.

“The Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017-2027 was released in June, paving the way for Queensland to have a world-class fisheries management system,” he said.

“Key actions in the strategy include vessel tracking on all commercial fishing boats and trialling novel monitoring technologies.

“To support the strategy, $20 million has been provided over three years which is helping fund this innovation challenge in partnership with Advance Queensland.”

For more information about this challenge and the SBIR, or to submit your application, head to advance.qld.gov.au/SBIR.

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