Acronym NA
Category
Fisheries
Title Development of tools for logbook and VMS data analysis Programme DG MARE
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source European Coordinator J. Rasmus Nielsen Coordinator email rn@aqua.dtu.dk
Coordinator institution
WUR-IMARES - Wageningen University and Research; Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies (Netherlands)
Institutions involved
CEFAS - Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (United Kingdom) ,
FRS - Fisheries Research Services (United Kingdom) ,
IFREMER - French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (France) ,
MI - Marine Institute (Ireland) ,
MIR/SFI - Sea Fisheries Institute in Gdynia (Poland) ,
DTU-AQUA - Technical University of Denmark; National Institute of Aquatic Resources (Denmark) ,
Start year 2009 End year 2012 Funding (€) € 700,000 Website https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/projects/development-of-tools-for-logbook-and-vms-data-analysis-38751 Summary The project “Development of tools for logbook and VMS data analysis” is an EU project under studies for carrying out the common fisheries policy (No MARE/2008/10 Lot2). The project develops a set of standard protocols for coupling and simultaneous analyses of EU logbook and VMS satellite vessel record data. The process begins with the construction of standardized data formats for logbook (EFLALO) and VMS (TACSAT). The software for analysing the data takes the form of a fully documented package called vmstools, built using the freeware package, R (http://cran.rproject.org/). Once the data have been imported into R in the correct format, a series of R programs or ‘functions’, linked by ‘scripts’ enable all tasks necessary to be completed in a single software environment. The software can ‘clean’ data and format input data, estimate distances between VMS positions, and métiers can be identified objectively from species assemblages in catch data using multivariate statistical techniques. We have included a range of complimentary methods for determining fishing activity from VMS position registrations. Positions at sea, for example, can be distinguished from vessels in harbour or erroneous positions on land. Position registrations of vessels actually fishing can be separated from those engaged in other activities (e.g. steaming) using their speed in conjunction with other information such as vessel size and gear being used. Logbook and VMS data can be merged such that high-resolution spatial maps of catches of various commercial species can be generated. Individual vessel tracks can be reconstructed for more realism through different interpolation techniques (both linear and non-linear, i.e. using Hermite spline functions). Further, all the fishing activity indicators required under the Data Collection Framework can be calculated using vmstools. The package can also be used to explore the impact of different spatial (grid size) and temporal aggregations (month, quarterly, annual) which need to be explicitly considered when assessing fishing impact on the sea floor. There are also scripts for displaying results using Google Earth which is a useful aid for dissemination. The combination of all these routines ‘under one roof’ then permits the construction of ‘Regional’ databases (i.e. FishFrame developed by DTU Aqua - a regional database hosted by one of the current project partners) and scripts to produce output suitable for this are included with the vmstools package. As proof of concept, all analyses performed within each work package have been tested, using the vmstools package, against national datasets with contributions from the French, Danish, Irish, UK and Dutch institutes. As an example, FishFrame has been populated with Dutch and Danish combined VMS and logbook data for 2005-2009. The project demonstrates emphatically that logbook and VMS data from disparate countries with often different data collection regimens can be combined and compared using generic tools and that the output can be sent to regional databases permitting more holistic assessments of fishing activity.
Keywords
Fisheries management;
VMS data;
Logbook;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
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