Traditional methods for fish size sampling

Nowadays, measurements are performed manually with rulers, paper forms, voice recorders, etc., and this leads to several disadvantages and an accumulation of errors:

• Sampling statistical assumptions are difficult to accomplish by samplers at ports and vessels (e.g. random, stratified sampling, etc.)
• Quality and quantity of the samples are compromised – problems with sample representativeness and accuracy
• Sample problems/errors are only detected a posteriori. Even worse, the samples can't be repeated or errors corrected afterwards
• The measurements information need to be manually copied from paper data sheets to electronic databases – time consuming and prone to errors
  
• Due to the high costs involved and difficulties in sampling programs coordinating (e.g. samplers, landing ports, fish vessels, species), coverage of the programs are highly compromised.

Fishmetrics solution

Fishmetrics comprises an integrated solution using sophisticated portable or fixed hardware, a digital measurement system using computer vision and non-contact 3D metrologic solutions, and a back-end server which aggregates all sampling databases and automates all the required statistical analysis. Fish boxes images are automatically acquired, either at land or onboard of vessels.

The Fishmetrics software allows measurements with high precision (< +/- 1 mm) and may use morphometric relations to automatically extrapolate all the required measurements from a reduced number of actually performed measurements (e.g. Pectoral fins -> Total lengths). It can also automatically catalogue and archive the acquired images so that they can be easily accessed, and processed permanently and/or immediately from anywhere.

Advantages

• Increase of the quality and quantity of the data and coverage of the sampling programs.
• Both priority and non priority species are able to be processed (all species caught including bycatch species are saved in digital images archives – image databank archive in the cloud).
• Remote work, remote maintenance and remote management of the system.
• Measurements of the fish, from anywhere, in a timely and more comfortable manner in a computer terminal (cloud computing, browser).
• Financing constraints do not limit the species and ports to sample – images can be acquire and archived for posterior processing.
• Technicians can concentrate on other tasks (e.g. more inquiries, control discards, biological sampling, etc).
• Fish does not need to be manipulated to be measured.
• The system is simple, flexible and easily adaptable to different situations (e.g at land or on vessels).
• Measurements archived in a database can be downloaded/exported in different formats (e.g. EXCEL, ASCII, etc) and made available more rapidly.
• EU regulations are easily accomplished.
• Images of all landed fish boxes or fish caught can be acquired for posterior sample processing.
  

Other Applications
Fishmetrics can also be used for other applications such as:

• Fishery Inspection Services
• Morphometric studies
• Fish size control in aquaculture
• Intertidal ecological studies