Wireless Networking in Fishery Data Collection

Victor Simon
Northwest Fisheries Science Center/FRAM Division, NMFS

Since 1998, annual West Coast Groundfish Surveys have been conducted by the Fishery Resource Analysis and Monitoring Division of NOAA's NW Fisheries Science Center using chartered commercial fishing vessels varying in length from 70-95 feet. To date, these vessels have been assigned a series of sampling locations along the entirety of the continental US Pacific coast. At these sites, bottom trawl operations take place and two associated sets of data are recorded: operational and catch data. GPS and net-mounted sensors record time series of position, depth, temperature, and net dimension readings during trawling, and other environmental observations are collected manually. At the conclusion of each trawl operation, species composition, fish sex, length, weights and other observations are gathered either manually or by various electronic equipment. All equipment used to record these scientific observations, including real-time sensor monitors, computers, and electronic scales and length meters with accompanying power units, are mounted temporarily in space-limited areas.

In survey season 2003, a new data collection system was implemented that includes a small wireless network. This network connects a 'ruggedized' touchscreen computer to its associated electronic measuring equipment for outdoor catch data collection. Additionally, it connects to an indoor hardwire network to maintain continuity with trawl operation data sets and to provide for catch data backup and follow-on processing. System software consists of data collection applications developed by the NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations group, and customized software tools for controlling work and data flow. The system is compact and portable, and provides several benefits to the entire data collection process. These include a greater level of scientist mobility during the processing of the catch, fewer cable connections exposed to at sea conditions, none of the safety concerns inherent in hardwire networks with long tether distances, explicit assurance of synchrony between trawl operation and catch data collections, and a greater number and immediacy of error correction options. This configuration has performed well over the first half of its inaugural season. Moreover, it presents a solid basis for future software and hardware enhancements in the interest of greater ease of use and data collection integrity.