Work to move discarded fishing gear onto a pier is under way in the western port city of Boryeong on July 2, 2020. The waste was retrieved by local fishermen from under seas off the port in a campaign to clean the seas. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — A South Korean research team has developed a new technology that enables remote real-time monitoring of the location and owner of fishing nets via electronic tags.
The Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) said Thursday that it will carry out a marine demonstration test for the commercialization of the automatic fishing net identification monitoring system in the southwestern coastal fishing area for seven months starting in March next year in collaboration with SK Telecom Co. and municipal governments.
Based on marine Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, the new system uses electronic buoys affixed to each fishing net to determine their location.
The electronic buoys can provide not only the location of fishing nets but also other information, including the owner and the type of net.
Neighboring fishermen, management ships and land-based control centers can check the electronic buoys’ information in real-time.
The research team expects this system to contribute to ensuring safe ship operations and protecting the marine ecosystem.
At present, the quantity of fishing nets used in near sea areas per year is estimated at 131,000 tons, about 2.5 times higher than the adequate level, of which 44,000 tons are deserted in the sea.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
