In May 2024 Defra released the response to the consultation on the wider use of Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) in English waters (Summary of responses and Government response) and started implementing the outlined plan in collaboration with Cefas and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). The consultation had proposed a stepwise approach to the implementation of REM, starting with volunteer vessels in what was termed an “early adopter” phase, which would provide time to learn how the fishery operates and how to monitor.
This phase started with the installation of REM equipment onboard the Frank Bonefaas, an over 24m fishing vessel targeting pelagic species in 2024. The process of installing the REM equipment was described in our previous Fish, Camera, Action: Early adoption of Remote Electronic Monitoring on UK fishing vessels blog.
Onboard the Frank Bonefaas What have we learnt?At the start of the early adopter phase, the project team including Cefas, the MMO, Defra and the vessel owners, North Atlantic Fishing Company (NAFC), agreed on a number of monitoring objectives. These included:
Verifying catch documentation Verifying full retention Identifying and estimating unwanted catches Identifying and quantifying interactions with sensitive species Investigating opportunities to quality assure and enhance scientific biological dataThroughout this phase of the project, video footage from the vessel’s REM system was reviewed with the aim of meeting these monitoring objectives. There was also an opportunity for Cefas and MMO to join a fishing trip in June 2025, which provided even more insight into fishing operations, providing context to the footage collected by the REM system. A highlight of the trip was sightings of Orca around the vessel, really confirming you never know what you’ll see.
Orca around the fishing vesselThis was the first time a vessel of this type, a freezer trawler that catches, freezes and packages onboard, and size (118 meters is pretty big) had been monitored using REM by the team involved and it provided many learning opportunities. Through review of the data and the trip onboard, we have gained insights into this fishery that we didn’t previously have. Looking ahead, this information will help shape how we can routinely monitor this fishery, which has included talking to other administrations (e.g. Scottish Government and the European Union) about similar plans. With other nations developing measures in parallel for similar fisheries, it has been important to actively engage in conversations to ensure joined up thinking.
Phil Haslam – Managing Director, NAFC, commented, “Responsible and sustainable fishing operations are at the core of NAFC business and the opportunity to participate in the REM trial has given us the opportunity to prove that we “walk the walk as well as talk the talk”. We are confident in our fishing practices and were happy to enable greater understanding of our operations that are so often mischaracterised and criticised. The trial has been a pivotal learning experience and has helped us to prepare for REM installation for operations in Scottish waters. The trial has also shown that fitting cameras is the easy bit, the collation and analysis of, and deriving value from the vast data sets that will be created is where the focus now needs to be.”
Andrew Wills – Head of Future Fisheries, MMO
“Having NAFC participate in the early adopter phase has been tremendously useful, it has enabled the project to enhance our understanding from a practical sense in how REM can be applied and what can be achieved. We thank NAFC for their participation.”
Thomas Catchpole – Head of Domain: Applied Fisheries Research, Cefas
“REM offers the opportunity to transform the way we collect essential scientific data needed to enhance fisheries management in English waters. The early adopter phase has given us valuable space to learn how REM can best be used as part of our monitoring. Success in implementing REM depends on genuine collaboration across industry, scientists, policy and regulators — and this project has shown just how powerful that partnership can be.”
Elinor Brett – REM policy lead, Defra
“When we were designing Defra's approach to REM we wanted to work with early adopters to understand and learn lessons about implementation before bringing in requirements. This first project has delivered that, and so much more. It has flagged important questions and considerations for the next phase of the REM programme, and helped build our capability to analyse, understand and use REM data. Many thanks to NAFC for their collaboration.”
Next StepsAfter nearly 18 months of collecting data from the vessel, the early adopter phase in the over 24m pelagic fishery has come to an end, although data analysis will continue for a while. Next up, we will be looking at how to apply this learning and using it in the next phase of the programme.
seen at 09:57, 19 March in Marine Science.