SBIR Phase II: Fisheries Geographic Information Systems

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*** 9530617 Simpson Over the past three decades, US commercial fisheries have experienced tremendous growth and now contribute $50 billion to the GNP. However, although the US ranked fifth in worldwide fishery landings in 1990, imported fishery products valued at $9 billion exceeded exports by 3.4 billion. In order to sustain this economic growth and reduce the trade deficit in the face of the realization that the ocean is not an unlimited resource, sound fisheries management is essential. It is constrained by individual fishing quotas (IFQ's) and limited entry, and must involve strategies for resource sustainability, bycatch reduction, and the development of comprehensive ecosystem models. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project from Scientific Fishery Systems, Inc. will implement and field test a commercially viable software product entitled The Fisherman's Associate. The Fisherman's Associate is a Geographic Information System (GIS) that will integrate all of the available data within a given fishing region including fishery, bathymetric, oceanographic, atmospheric, and navigational data. Windows-based software will be used to create, analyze, manipulate, print, and store maps. The resulting maps will be used by fishermen to determine which areas are the best to fish during a specific time of the year. By employing The Fisherman's Associate, it will be possible for commercial fishermen or fisheries managers to reduce bycatch, increase target catch, decrease operational costs, and maximize their respective profits. An inherent benefit of The Fisherman's Associate is the complete utilization of data collected by survey organizations such as the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the National Oceanographic Data Center. Also during Phase II, an automatic model generation capability based on neural networks will be developed and integrated into The Fisherman s Associate. The inclusion of automatic model generat ion to produce pre-season forecasts will broaden the appeal of this product and will lure fisheries managers to utilize this system as well. Scientific Fishery Systems will be working with two fishing groups during the development and field tests of The Fisherman's Associate. The first group, the F/V Lady Simpson, has agreed to provide data and test the system for longline halibut fishing in the Gulf of Alaska and king crab and opilio crab fishing in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands. The second fishing group is Tyson Seafood Group. Tyson has agreed to provide data, assist in the development, and provide testing for their fleet of 30 trawlers that fish for cod, pollock, and sole in the Bering Sea. This product will contribute to the capability of improving yields and recovering depleted resources thus representing significant potential for facilitating the reduction of the US trade deficit in fishery products. Commercial potential for this product is excellent. The preliminary market analysis has been completed for this product indicating estimated sales by the year 2000 at $12.5 M with a cumulative profit of $10.3 M. ***