Siad Improving fish-stock data reliability

The SIAD project, officially recognised in June 2008, has achieved its objectives, namely to provide those in the fishing industry with a system for observing and characterising fish activity in order to facilitate decision-making in resources conservation as part of a sustainable development approach to fishing.

The SIAD project has led to three complementary innovations:

- SIAD-Recopesca has perfected new sensors and measuring instruments, installed on board fishing boats and embedded in gear, which are capable of gathering and storing data useful for monitoring fishing activities.

- SIAD-SIH is a system which captures and stores data and transmits information on the state of fish stocks. This processing and retrieval service for the data captured can be accessed by those working in the fishing industry and is already arousing interest in France from the Agence des Aires Marines Protégées (French Marine Protected Area Agency), as well as abroad in the Seychelles and Morocco.

- SIAD-SEALOE is a fisheries management decision-making tool featuring, in particular, resource management scenarios, which incorporate biological and economic parameters relating to the mixed langoustine/hake fishery in the Gulf of Gascony. The model developed will be transferrable to other types of mixed fisheries.

SIAD
SIAD has enabled the project's industrial partners to position themselves on new markets: Italy, Africa, Greece and Korea. Ifremer has been approached by the Seychelles and Morocco concerning the transfer of skills and expertise, while exploratory contacts have been made in other countries abroad. Scientific articles are in the process of being published. The visibility of the SIAD project was increased by several presentations at science symposia, 6 of them international events, and at professional trade fairs.

The theme of the SIAD project responds to the need - acknowledged by international development agencies - to exploit resources sustainably and to protect the marine environment.

The SIAD project partners are currently preparing the product range for export markets.