Problem Statement 15-12: "Develop an autonomous or remotely controlled Electronic Monitoring vessel specifically to address catch accountability."

NOTE: This is a featured problem statement. Featured problem statements have been qualified for post-Fishackathon engagement by both the submitting party and by our expert panel. While all of the submitted problem statements qualify for the prizes, these have vetted for contunuation beyond the event itself.

Background
Successful fishery management typically requires monitoring programs that can inform control measures and ensure compliance with those measures. Monitoring and ensuring at-sea catch accountability often requires human observers. Human observers can be difficult to deploy logistically and are an expensive monitoring option with little opportunity to reduce costs over time. While onboard, observers can be placed in compromising and un-safe situations, particularly if illegal fishing is occurring. Electronic Monitoring (EM) - equipping vessels with passive sensors like cameras and GPS - provides a solution to all three problems. A well built open EM system is the only way to increase accountability in fisheries at a meaningful scale.

Problem Statement
Development of EM solutions is hindered by a lack of [system?] standards. The default is to compare performance of EM directly with human observation rather than create standards that reflect what the best technology can provide. A lack of companies providing EM services has resulted in an environment devoid of competition and innovation with few incentives to reduce costs. We’d like to challenge the hacking community to leverage advances in hardware / software in the consumer (e.g. Dropcam, GoPro) and industrial (Food safety, medical) sectors to build a better EM system. We’d love to participants cover 3 basic principles of EM 1. Design standards (data and otherwise) that are optimized for accountability and current technology. 2. Integrated hardware and software system that integrates cameras, smartphones, GPS, and other relevant passive sensors. 3. Post-processing software for automated review of sensor data that utilize concepts of computer vision, structure from motion, geo-analytics.

Core Category
Fisheries Management; Traceability

Organization Name
The Nature Conservancy

Organization Address
201 Mission Street, 4th Floor San Francisco California, 94105

Organization Point of Contact (Name)
Matt Merrifield

Organization Point of Contact (Title)
Chief Technology Officer

Organization Point of Contact (Email Address)
mmerrifield@tnc.org

Focus Area
Data Collection

Solution Category
Hardware