Kameror installeras på trålare för att förhindra illegal dumpning av fisk

Inte i Sverige, inte ens i Europa, men i Nya Zeeland, så installeras för närvarande kameror på alla kommersiella fiskebåtar. Meningen med kamerorna är att fiskebåtarna ska övervakas så att de inte olagligen dumpar fisk. Om två år, i oktober 2015, ska alla fiskebåtar som används yrkesmässigt ha kameror, men redan i år kommer 25% av fiskeflottan i Nya Zeeland att få kameror:

The move comes after reports tens of thousands of tonnes of fish go to waste every year because they fall outside allocated quotas.

The two cameras installed on The Corinthian don’t bother its skipper Flea Reid.

”It’s a bit different, not used to that sort of thing, but if it keeps everybody happy then at the end of the day you got nothing to hide. Just doing our job as usual,” Mr Reid says.

They’re designed to stop illegal dumping, where commercial trawlers get rid of their unwanted by-catch so they fish for more of what they want.

”Potentially provide 24-7 coverage so that we’ll know what’s happening when the net comes on board, what’s been dumped, what’s been kept, different species,” says Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy.

Twenty-five percent of the commercial trawlers will have cameras or observers on board by December 1; the remainder of the fleet will follow by October 2015.

Samtidigt som kameror införs ändras också en del andra regler i det nyzeeländska fisket. Förutom detta utvecklar företag i Nya Zeeland helt nya sätt att fiska:

The system, which has been in development in this country for almost 10 years, uses a large, flexible PVC tube instead of a traditional mesh trawling net.

New Zealand fishing companies Aotearoa Fisheries, Sanford and Sealord are investing $26 million into the commercialisation phase of the technology, called Precision Seafood Harvesting.

The Government is matching industry investment and scientists from Plant & Food Research, a Crown Research Institute, are working with the three fishing firms to trial the system on commercial vessels.

Sanford managing director Eric Barratt said precision harvesting was the ”biggest step forward” the fishing industry had taken in 150 years and could be put to use in New Zealand’s commercial snapper fishery within two years.

The PVC tube is towed behind a fishing vessel like a regular trawling net and contains small portals through which juvenile fish can escape.

It is hauled on to a vessel full of water with the aim of keeping the fish inside alive.

Kameror på fiskebåtar har diskuterats även i Europa men de flesta som kommenterat detta har varit negativa. Men det finns båtar i EU som har kameror. De har i de fallen fått ökade kvoter genom att de frivilligt installerat kameror. En sådan båt är den danska båten HG 306 Tobis:

I EU har båter som har akseptert installasjon av kamerautstyr ombord blitt belønnet med økte kvoter. Samtidig viser erfaringer at kameraovervåkning også gjør at fiskerne bevisst bruker større maskevidde i trålen. Derved blir det mindre  småfisk i fangsten, og størrelsen på fisken som landes blir større

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Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om Utkastförbud, Pelagiskt fiske, Yrkesfiske, Kameraövervakning, Trålare, Fiskebåtar, Fiske, Nya Zeeland