In the recent world, fishing has emerged as one of the top economic activities. Human beings depend on seafood to supplement their diet. Fishers require timely information and data to exploit the fishing grounds in the fishing process. Remote sensing plays a major role in providing fishers with remote observations of the fishing grounds. Therefore, this technique is essential in the fishing process. To aid the process of fishing, remote sensing technique is employed to carry out various tasks.
This article shall discuss some of the common applications of remote sensing in fishing.
1. Fish Detection
Detecting fishing fleets is one of the major remote sensing applications in this field. Remote sensors are airborne tools, and thus they can be used to take aerial pictures. When analyzed, these images can direct fishers to conduct their fishing operations.
Also, Sonars and echo-sounders used in remote sensing techniques can indicate where fish are located. Therefore, this technique is important to fishermen.
2. Fishing Grounds properties
The optical properties of fishing ground are directly affected by materials or matter. The suspended matter can also affect the number of fish in the water. To curb this, remote sensors are used. Multispectral observation is carried out on the suspected fishing ground to estimate suspended matter. If the visible light penetrates the waters, it is said that the water has no or less suspended matter.
3. Measuring ocean temperature
Fish are cold-blooded, and therefore an increase in temperature would affect them. To control this, remote sensing techniques are used to examine the temperature of the water. Some remote sensors can get in contact with the water, while others just measure the radiation of the water body. In case of a temperature increase, fish can be relocated to another water body.
4. Measuring of Turbidity
The amount of cloudiness in the fishing ground can be measured using remote sensors. Remote sensors are advantageous in measuring the amount of turbidity. This is because they are spaceborne tools. It is believed that fishes found in areas with more turbidity may not be healthy. Therefore, the information from remote sensors can be used to direct fishermen were to carry out their fishing activities.
5. Updating fishery Inventories
For the purpose of keeping records, fishing inventories are important. To create an inventory, various tools are involved in collecting data. The remote sensing technique has proved to be the best method of collecting large fishing information at the same time.
6. Fisheries forecasts
Fishery forecasting is important to fishermen. Remote sensors provide information about the fishing sites, and this can be used to indicate whether there are fish or not. This saves the time and fuel of the fishermen.
7. Oil pollution detention
Oil pollution is hazardous and leads to the death of fish and other sea animals. To control this, remote sensors are used to detect oil pollution and its effect on aquaculture.
8. Measuring the fishing grounds
The remote sensing technique has provided a more reliable method of measuring the diameter of the ocean or lake. Aerial images are analyzed, and the diameter of the ground can also be estimated from this data.
