SBIR Phase I: Observer's Associate

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*** 9760399 Simpson This is a Small Business Innovation Research Phase I proposal. With the world's fishing capacity at twice the estimated sustainable harvest, accurately assessing fish stocks is an international priority. The federal government requires that North Pacific fishing vessels over 60 feet long have an observer onboard at least part-time and large vessels require a full-time observer. Observers collect a wide range of data on both target catch and bycatch. Scientists and fish managers use this information to set catch limits, close fisheries, revise population estimates, and determine fishing areas. Recently, the observer program has become stressed. Poor conditions, low pay, and the inherent stress of being a fisheries "watch dog" have resulted in high turn-over rates. Furthermore, observers are required to sample from as much as 250 metric ton in 2 hours. Under these conditions, the sample size is as little as 0.08%. Observers, and the fisheries, need help. Scientific Fishery Systems, Inc. (SciFish) proposes to design, build, and test an automated fish stock measurement and identification system entitled Observer's Associate. Observer's Associate will automatically provide whole catch weight and individual fish statistics. At least a 5% sample size under peak conditions is the design goal, resulting in as much as 60 times greater coverage than the current approach. It is conservatively estimated that there are 15,000 commercial fishing vessels over 100 ton (the size of vessel that would use Observer's Associate. World-wide this number increases to 100,000. The target price for the trawler-based Observer's Associate is $50,000 and the smaller unit price target is $5,000. Based upon preliminary projections, 5% of the available world-wide market would result in a $10M product line. ***