The TICS-BONITO project addresses technological innovation in bonito fishing to guarantee sustainable fishing gear that respects the species itself and the environment in general, through technological improvements in fishing processes that result in their efficiency.
Bonito fishing is carried out through different procedures: some of them carried out in smaller boats along the coast with the art of the coast, to the most intensive ones that are carried out in fishing grounds around the world.
Today, sustainability is a maxim that automakers have and must have among their priorities.
In this sense, the project is articulated around two bonito fishing gears: coastal tuna fishing and deep-sea purse seine fishing. For the sustainable improvement of deep-sea purse seine fishing of bonito, the project proposes the optimization of floating fish concentration devices (FADs) so that they are non-entangled, biodegradable, modulable and sensorized, to promote more sustainable systems and protect marine species and ecosystems, as well as the coastline and seabed from pollution from abandoned devices.
It is estimated that between 120,000-150,000 devices are thrown into the sea annually for fishing.
To this end, the systematic and standardized design and manufacture of FADs is proposed, unlike the manual production systems that have been traditionally used.
On the one hand, it is proposed to replace with biodegradable materials the nets and/or ropes out of use made of durable plastics in which different species, such as turtles, can be trapped, or can pollute the seabed, coral reefs or beaches.
There are limited options of materials that are susceptible to biodegradation in marine environments, and the formulation of the material, as well as the design of the device, is critical to ensure both its resistance to waves and currents, as well as its correct biodegradability.
As for the coastal fishing gear, the project proposes to address the development of automatic rods and automatic reels, respectively, intelligent, connected and collaborative to carry out coastal bonito fishing.
With this, one of the most sustainable fishing gears, respectful of the environment, with selective fishing and without discards, the “Coastal of the Bonito”, is promoted (made more effective).