Practical implementation of real-time fish classification from acoustic broadband echo sounder data - RealFishEcho progress report : Year 2 - June 201

The EU has by means of new policy restricted the discarding of fish at sea. As a result, the fishing industry now requires improved methods to identify fish species and size before the catch process begins. With the introduction of robust broadband echosounders (i.e. downward looking sonar) on the market, active acoustic data now have the potential for improved target discrimination for both type and size (i.e. determine fish species and size).The aim of this project is to develop methods for fish classification and size estimation based on data collected on board commercial vessel equipped with broadband echosounders. These methods will then be implemented into a software package for near-real time viewing. Such a software package would help skippers to take better-informed decisions while fishing.This project runs over three years (June 2016 to June 2019) in collaboration between Wageningen Marine Research (WMR), Redersvereniging voor de Zeevisserij (RVZ) and TNO. Progress made in the second year of the project is presented in this report.Through the course of the reporting period, substantial amount of data have been collected and analysis show promising results. A test version of the classification software is planned to be deployed in the next phase of the project.