Skippers’ meeting guides new trawl technology

Following the Nor-Fishing Innovation Award, trawl skippers and technology innovators in the business gathered for a two-day seminar in Bergen in November. On the agenda was the development of tomorrow’s catching technology.Representatives from Norwegian trawl companies Nordic Wildfish, Nordnes, Havfisk and Nergård Havfiske dedicated two days in Bergen to give their feedback and ideas on the user friendliness of the Scantrol and Scantrol Deep Vision products. In addition, representatives from Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, along with other innovators in the field, Simrad and Seaonics, were present to discuss future technological solutions that will enhance the efficiency of the trawl fisheries.The seminar was supported by the Innovation Award that Scantrol Deep Vision received at Nor-Fishing in August earlier this year. The use of the prize money was announced at the reception and contacts created at the fair to create a good mix of representatives for the meeting.- We have had very good experiences with this kind of meeting before and the feedback from the users has served as a valuable guide when developing new or existing technology. We immediately knew that we would take the opportunity of the award to organise a similar event, says Managing Director at Scantrol and Scantrol Deep Vision, Helge Hammersland.Enthusiastic discussionsPål Roaldnes (photo), owner and skipper at Nordic Wildfish, was one of the skippers who set aside two days for the discussions:- We need forums like this to bring us forward. There was a good mix of innovators and skippers that gave both inspiration and new knowledge. I have known managing director Helge Hammersland for a number of years and am fascinated by his ability to gather enthusiastic and knowledgeable people around him, says Paul Roaldsnes, who points out that he is particularly interested in cheering forward the Deep Vision system.Deep Vision is a camera system mounted in the trawl that identifies size and species of the fish. Today, the system is used for marine research purposes where fish can be measured without bringing them onboard the vessel. The system is under development for use in commercial trawl fisheries, where the catch will be automatically sorted in the trawl based on preprogrammed species and size of desired catch.iSYM-Deep Vision integrationAt the meeting, plans were discussed for developing an integration with Scantrol’s iSYM trawl control. This will enable the skipper to gain full control not only with the trawl but with the composition of the catch in the trawl.- User friendliness is key for us when developing new functionalities. We received a lot of good input from the meeting that will guide us in the development of the future autotrawl system, says Business Development Manager at Scantrol, Øyvind Hansen.A former employee, Øyvind joined the company again this year as responsible for sales and marketing for the Fishery and Marine Research segments.- The meeting with the skippers has been one of the highlights of the year.Related: