Improved Efficiency
Promoting
smart fishing
Optimization through smart equipment is essential to improving efficiency in today’s fishing industry.
Nitto Seimo is actively introducing IT and IoT to the fishing ground with the aim of promoting smart fishing.
Challenges in Fishery
The potential
challenges of set
nets-a passive
fishery method
In Japan, the practice of set net fishing began in the Edo period. Today, it has developed as a method for catching fisheries resources that come into coastal waters throughout the year. However, no matter how much technology improves, set nets remain a passive fishing technique that involves waiting for the arrival of schools of fish. Unlike fishing methods in which boats travel directly to where the fish are located, with set net fishing, what you’ve caught remains unknown until you actually haul in the nets.
Sometimes you haul
in a net only
to find you’ve caught
nothing at all
In set net fishing, you go out each morning at a set time to haul in your net. Sometimes the catches are large, and other times you might catch almost nothing. And when the amount of fish landed that day is low, it can make your operation unprofitable. Another issue is that as time passes, fish that have entered a set net may find their way back out and escape. Accordingly, fishermen have long wondered if it would be possible to check in real time from shore what kind and how many fish are currently in a set net.
Our Idea
Assess your catch
before you
even leave port
Today, every industry is engaging in smart initiatives to incorporate IT and IoT into their work processes. Having built close relationships with its set net fishing customers, Nitto Seimo took on the task of exploring ways to improve the efficiency of this fishing method through the use of smart technology. Our aim was to make it possible to be able to visualize catches inside the net while still on land. By installing fishfinders inside set nets and sending the results to a tablet, we have made it possible for fishermen to check the status of their catches before they leave port and take appropriate action accordingly.
Solution
The Ubiquitous
Fishfinder
for smart fishing
Our invention, the Ubiquitous Fishfinder, provides a variety of benefits to set net fishing operations. For example, being able to confirm that fish have entered your net from the shore enables you to harvest fish outside of normally scheduled times. The Ubiquitous Fishfinder also makes it possible to estimate the amount of fish that will be caught and in turn adjust the amount of ice to bring onboard. When a catch is expected to be low, the amount can be reduced, cutting costs. Nitto Seimo is also aiming to help further increase efficiency through such future improvements as AI analysis to enhance the accuracy of fish species identification and catch estimation.
Fish species can be determined based on the characteristics of the fishfinder image. Pacific bluefin tuna, for example, have a fast swimming speed, which results in the appearance of intermittent shapes as they swim around the net. Fishfinder image-based fish species identification can also be used for set net resource management.
We have also developed the Ubiquitous Camera as another way of approaching the task of set net resource management. By turning the camera on, you can visually confirm the status of your catches inside the net from a tablet.