Phare Active acoustics for improved fish selection

Industrial tuna fishing, which takes place in tropical zones in all the world's oceans, employs drifting rafts beneath which schools of tuna gather. These drifting rafts, specifically referred to as Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD), are combined with drifting buoys to make it easier to pinpoint their location and thus for tuna vessels to find them in the ocean using their GPS and a means of satellite communication.

The buoys can be fitted with other sensors such as single or multi-beam sonar to detect the presence of biomass in the vicinity of the device.

The goal of the project is to develop reasonably priced multi-beam sonar for installation in drifting buoys attached to FAD which, uisng appropriate data processing, will enable species of fish to be classified and their varying sizes distinguished. The aim is both to optimise the vessel's fuel consumption and to protect the fishing resource by using intelligent, sensible fishing techniques to avoid catching juveniles.

In addition to tuna fishing, other applications are also envisaged. It will be possible to integrate sonar developed as part of the PHARE project into submerged devices in marine conservation areas to monitor the developments and movements of the surrounding biomass, giving the precise physical details and size of individual fish.