SBIR Phase I: Observer's Associate

*9760399辛普森这是小型企业创新研究第一阶段的提案。由于世界捕捞能力是估计可持续产量的两倍，准确评估鱼类资源是一项国际优先事项。联邦政府要求长度超过60英尺的北太平洋渔船上至少有一名兼职观察员，大型船只则需要一名全职观察员。观察者收集了关于目标渔获量和副渔获量的广泛数据。科学家和渔业管理者使用这些信息来设定捕捞限制、关闭渔业、修正人口估计和确定捕鱼区。最近，观察者计划变得紧张起来。恶劣的条件、低工资，以及作为渔业“看门狗”的固有压力，导致了高周转率。此外，观察员被要求在2小时内从多达250公吨的样品中进行采样。在此条件下，样本量低至0.08%。观察者和渔民需要帮助。科学渔业系统公司(SciFish)建议设计、建造和测试一个名为观察者伙伴的自动化鱼类种群测量和识别系统。观察者协会将自动提供整个渔获量和单条鱼的统计数据。设计目标是在峰值条件下至少有5%的样本量，从而使覆盖率比目前的方法高出60倍。保守估计，有15,000艘商业渔船超过100吨(使用观察者协会的船只的大小)。在世界范围内，这一数字增加到10万。以拖网渔船为基地的观察者协会的目标价格为50,000美元，较小的单价目标为5,000美元。根据初步预测，全球可用市场的5%将产生1000万美元的产品线。***

*** 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. ***