Scientists, managers and fishing organisations in the South West of England will work together to create a network of underwater cameras to monitor the habitats of fished species in the region’s coasts and estuaries.
The new project, funded by the UK Government, will fill important knowledge gaps about the essential habitats required by species including European sea bass and grey mullet.
To do that, it will use a recently developed Juvenile Habitat Monitoring Camera (JHaM-Cam) capable of filming the smallest juvenile life-stages of fish to measure the abundance and size of young fishes in the wild.
This smart underwater camera system will be deployed in the Plymouth Sound Marine National Park and surrounding areas using state-of-the-art scientific diving facilities at the University of Plymouth.
The project will also develop an interactive web portal through which recreational anglers can support the video analysis, and contribute critical information about fish living in different habitat types.
Anglers will also get the opportunity to access training in fish identification and monitoring techniques to enable them to participate in fish research in the future.
The two-year project, which has been awarded £530,000 in funding, is one of 12 initiatives - three of which will be led by the University of Plymouth - designed to support sustainable fisheries management that have received funding as part of the fourth and final round of the Fisheries Industry Science Partnership (FISP) scheme, part of the Government’s UK Seafood Fund.
Development of the JHaM-Cam, which has previously been supported by the Marine Management Organisation and Natural England, is being led by researchers at the University, building on the depth of its expertise in marine conservation and fish habitat research.
Benjamin Ciotti
