Electronic monitoring (EM) is rapidly transforming how fishing vessels around the world collect data, serving multiple purposes for harvesters, processors, markets, and regulatory bodies. It’s increasingly viewed as an integral “first step” in the modernization of seafood supply chains.
The past few years have seen rapid advancements. In the past, fishing vessel captains often had to take hard drives containing video footage from onboard computers and physically deliver them, along with paperwork, to regulatory bodies for manual processing. But those days are largely behind us now. Between digitization, affordable satellite communications, and AI-assisted reviews, those processes are being updated for the digital age.
But EM has never just been about cameras on boats.
Demand is rapidly growing for defensible, standardized data-flows for all supply chain participants: from the harvesting skipper to the processor, to regulators and the marketplace. In this context, weight data plays a major role, especially “first weight,” captured when the harvesting vessel delivers, since it provides the foundational data point against which catch transfers, processing yields, sales records, and regulatory reporting can later be compared.
Drawing on Eilon Engineering’s 50 years of experience in industrial weighing, our team has designed and developed the Ron CraneMaster 2601 (RCM 2601) specifically for the fishing and seafood sector. With the RCM 2601, automated, cloud-connected weighing and near-instant reporting can now bring the same rigor and traceability to catch weights that EM is bringing to catch events.
By capturing and digitizing accurate, motion-compensated weights during offloads and transshipments, and then transmitting that data to the cloud, the RCM 2601 makes detailed reports immediately available to fleet managers, internal decision-making teams, and authorized external stakeholders.
THE PROBLEMS WE ADDRESS
Many EM4Fish readers will be familiar with the six most common pain points encountered in fish deliveries and transshipments that involve the use of crane scales:
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- Instrument breakage
- Unreliable weights
- Math & transcription errors
- Data security & storage
- Delayed decision-making
- Data reconciliation challenges
Below, we’ll illustrate how each of these is either eliminated or dramatically reduced by the RCM 2601 system.
Automated, motion-compensated, cloud-connected
Our new system is comprised of three integrated layers:
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- Rugged, warrantied hardware designed for harsh marine environments
- A structured digital workflow to standardize captured weight data
- A cloud and reporting layer that makes data immediately accessible onshore
THE HARDWARE LAYER
At the heart of the system lies a rugged wireless crane scale covered by a 5-year warranty. Its 5-ton load cell is protected by a glass-fiber reinforced impact shield designed to withstand the knocks and harsh handling common to deliveries and transshipments.
Along with overload prevention, the load cell’s sensors and software actively stabilize the measurement, providing highly accurate, motion-compensated weights regardless of vessel movement, sea-state, and weather conditions. This reduces reliance on operator judgment while still allowing for manual weight-setting if preferred.
STRUCTURED DIGITAL WORKFLOW AND OPERATOR FLEXIBILITY
The RCM 2601 system is operated via a tablet-based Android app, which manages the weighing process from setup through to report completion. From the app, the crane operator or offload observer simply zeroes the scale, sets the tare, and begins the weighing sequence.
The operator can adjust settings in the app and select from two weighing modes. In Manual mode, operators single-tap the app to record each lift individually as it happens. In Auto-Load—particularly useful for long-duration weighing sequences such as those in tuna industry transshipment—the scale automatically detects when a lift begins and when the correct motion-compensated weight has been captured. It then sets that weight into the report and awaits the next lift.
Operators may switch between Manual and Auto-Load anytime, and if connectivity is interrupted, weight reports are stored locally and then synced when connection is restored, allowing weighing to continue uninterrupted.
The result is a standardized, repeatable data capture process that reduces reliance on crew intervention and produces a defensible record of every lift. And since weights are captured and compiled into time, vessel, location, and species-specific reports, the system reduces paperwork and helps eliminate the math and transcription errors that can occur when weights are recorded manually.
CLOUD AND REPORTING LAYER
When a weighing sequence ends, the app generates a complete report and uploads it to the cloud where it is securely stored and immediately accessible via the management dashboard. Throughout this process, there is no need to physically transfer data between devices or notepads, thereby reducing the risk of lost records and improving data integrity. The full report history is available to authorized users through the dashboard, providing traceability across operations.
The advantage of this system is clear: it replaces delayed, siloed paperwork with continuous, structured visibility. With an integrated weighing workflow, you go from lift, to cloud, to reporting.
From delayed batch reporting to real-time monitoring
In most fisheries where crane scales are in use, the data that managers, compliance personnel, and supply chain partners are working with might be hours, days or even weeks old by the time it’s available.
But in a cloud-based system with reports being uploaded automatically as each offload concludes, onshore personnel are informed in near real-time. This reduces the delays traditionally associated with transferring and processing weight records, allowing fleet managers and other authorized personnel to work from the same information shortly after an offload is completed. The Ron 2601 becomes part of operational and reporting infrastructure and enables agile decision-making.
Importantly, the standardized digital records created by the RCM 2601 also establish the foundation for more effective mass-balance reconciliation, making it easier to share and compare landed, transferred, processed quantities—and to identify potential discrepancies.
Supporting compliance, IUU detection, and quota-based fisheries management
Accurate, timely weight data has relevance well beyond the vessel and processing plant. For regulatory and compliance bodies overseeing commercial fisheries, access to structured, verifiable catch records is increasingly central to their work.
Data captured and uploaded in near real-time will reduce the monitoring and reporting burden on fisheries observers and crew who are responsible for estimating weights. It can also support national port state measures and give authorities a reliable basis for verifying declared catches at point of entry. The same records can be provided to compliance bodies as part of standard reporting workflows, reducing documentation burden and producing more timely and defensible submissions.
For stakeholders involved in efforts to combat IUU fishing, the ability to systematically compare actual weighed quantities against reported data adds a meaningful layer of verification to catch documentation. And in those fisheries where management is evolving towards quota-based (or similar) systems, structured weight data provided by the RCM 2601 can assist in both the establishment and enforcement of quantified harvest limits.
Adaptable across fisheries and workflows
The RCM 2601 is designed with a wide range of operational contexts in mind: from straightforward single-vessel dockside offloads to busy port operations and at-sea transshipment scenarios. Different species, different gear types, different logistical arrangements, but the underlying workflows and the importance of “first weight” remain the same.
Manual and auto-load modes give operators flexibility in how they run a session, and configurable activation and completion settings mean the system can be fine tuned to meet event-specific requirements. This, combined with offline functionality and automatic report syncing, results in a field-ready system designed for diverse fishing and delivery operations.
Reviewing those pain points
✔ Instrument breakage
The system’s 5-ton load cell is completely protected by the impact shield, which is warrantied for five years.
✔ Unreliable weights
The load cell’s sensors and software ensure accurate weights are automatically acquired, while manual weight-setting can also be selected for in the app if preferred.
✔ Math & transcription errors
The RCM 2601 dramatically reduces paperwork and eliminates manual math and transcription errors.
✔ Data integrity & storage issues
One click from the observer/operator sends the completed weight report from the app to the cloud for secure storage, while data is secured locally in the event of service interruptions.
✔ Delayed decision-making
As soon as offloads are complete, weight reports are available to inform operational and logistical decision-makers.
✔ Data reconciliation challenges
Traditional scales and paper-based reports silo data and effectively prevent timely mass balance reconciliation. The 2601 enables accurate reconciliation, detection of supply chain anomalies, and true traceability.
Looking ahead—and an invitation for early adopters
EM4Fish readers know far better than most how new technologies are changing fisheries monitoring and management—and how a broader push toward real-time visibility and digital integration is extending through the supply chain. It won’t happen overnight, but if the advances we’ve seen in recent years are any indication, changes will come sooner than we might think.
Over the past year, we’ve partnered with a major seafood company operating in the Atlantic to pilot the RCM 2601, with excellent results. We are now advancing our pilot to the validation stage, which will provide ten early customers with preferred pricing and an opportunity for direct input on the system’s app, dashboard, and reporting formats.
To learn more about the RCM 2601 and our validation-stage pilot, please contact AirScale Marine, our authorized representative to the seafood industry: info@airscalemarine.com / +1 (206) 504-3388.
Jordan Rios is Technical Support Manager at Eilon Engineering Ltd.
Industry Focus is an ongoing series of informational articles profiling companies involved in electronic monitoring and other fishtech pursuits. To highlight your company in a future Industry Focus feature, please drop us a line at info@em4.fish, and to read more articles from this series please visit our Feature Articles Archive.
