Developing monitoring technology

Our lab has a combination of extensive field experience at sea and technical skillset that allows us to develop practical methods to collect data that help inform sustainable practices in fisheries, aquaculture, and beyond. We implement data collection methods from grassroots efforts using local ecological knowledge to developing and using state-of-the-art technology to monitor animal behaviour, abundance, illegal fishing practices, and underwater noise.

A few examples of what we do…

Bycatch Monitoring Project

We use local fisheries observers to record bycatch in UK waters. Not only do our observers provide good quality data on bycatch rates of porpoises, dolphins, birds and other species, they also deploy state-of-the-art acoustic recorders on nets allowing us to monitor porpoise.

For more info see the Bycatch Monitoring Project.

Monitoring illegal blast fishing

In 2017 we developed an underwater recorder which could detect the tell-tale signature of and provide location information on blast fishing, an illegal and dangerous practice which severely damages reefs. We developed new software tools to allow us to efficiently process the multiple years of acoustic data collected.

For more info see the East African project page.

Tracking porpoises around static fishing nets

Our group has been developing acoustic monitoring technology that allows us to track the position of porpoises around static nets (e.g., gill nets). Static nets are by far the largest cause of anthropogenic mortality in small cetaceans, but we know very little about the behaviours that lead them to become fatally entangled in nets. This technology answers that question.

For more info see our acoustic tracking page.