A mobile system for the catch reporting on the small-scale professional fishery with the combined use for the assessing of the traceability and the sustainable fishery.

The project was carried out 2017 – 2018 and has ended.

UPDATE 2020: Mobile app was introduced in May 2020 and it is available in Google Play Store for inland commercial fishers. Read more below.

The new Fishing Act provides that a commercial fishers shall keep a journal of fishing in waters other than the sea area and notify the controlling authority of the catches they have taken (the Catch Report) at least once per calendar year. The project aims at developing and piloting a system that enables commercial fishers to send the catch data by a smartphone application directly to the controlling authority’s database.

FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE SUSTAINABLE FISHERY AND THE TRANSPARENCY OF THE FISH SUPPLY CHAIN

Consumers show growing interest in sustainability and origin of food – fish is not an exception. Finland lacks systems of assessing the sustainability of the stocks of fish and the quantity of fishing, both in the inland water fishery and small-scale coastal fishery. The project compares the existing systems of sustainable fishing and their suitability to small-scale professional fishing and the information needs of these systems. Recommendations on the further measures are given as a result of the comparison.

In the project Järvikala.fi, a system developed earlier by this university, will be further developed. When the lot reaches different stages of the supply chain, a consumer will gain information about the progress and temperature of the fish lot through the monitoring system based on RFID and mobile technology. A new facility in the Järvikala.fi system will be developed to transmit the catch information to the authorities. The communication of the sustainable fishing will also be incorporated in the system. This way, the fisher who uses the mobile system could choose if s/he uses it for catch reporting, sustainability assessment, traceability purposes, or for all these functions.

The measures of the project will strengthen the competitiveness of the field, facilitate the preservation and continuity of the fishery trade, and increase the value of the catch. The project will be carried out in co-operation with the National Resources Institute Finland (Luke).