Environmental Defense Fund
Smart Boat Initiative
Request for Proposals: 2019 Fisheries Electronic Technology Service Provider
UNDERWATER SMART CAMERAS TO ENABLE REAL TIME BYCATCH AVOIDANCE (PHASE 1)
DATE: April 17th, 2019
POINT OF CONTACT: Christopher Cusack; ccusack@edf.org
EDF is seeking a suitably qualified technology and services provider (provider) to work with us and our fishermen partners to design, implement, and test a set of AI tools and physical technologies that improve the automatic identification of real time bycatch in trawl fisheries. This project encompasses the work outlined in phase 1 in the previous section: the proof of concept and efficacy test for the development of AI for the underwater identification of bycatch species entering or passing through a trawl net. We expect to issue subsequent RFPs for the second and third phases in the future.
The selected provider will analyze existing video footage of salmon passing through a pollock trawl net to quantify the potential of an AI protocol to automatically identify salmon in the Alaska pollock fishery. The provider will also install and maintain an underwater camera system on a single trawl net (in a fishery location to be confirmed) that can record high quality video footage of catch entering or passing through a trawl net, and will further develop an AI protocol to automatically identify species of interest.
