Ship of opprtunity

Fishing for Data

Citizen Science, Data, Demo, Environmental monitoring, Fishing vessels, Innovation, Platform, Ship of opprtunity / February 10, 2022 February 10, 2022

The ocean is desperately under-sampled. Remember, we cannot forecast what we do not monitor. The problem of under-sampling is often stated about the deep ocean, but it is also very much the fact in the coastal ocean, as well in the marginal ice zone. These regions are characterized by high economical and societal value, and by high biological activity, including fish.

Collecting enough of data to describe these dynamic regions using standard research vessels would be extremely expensive. Robots struggle here as well, because of strong currents, ice, shallow water, risk of collision with vessels, etc. However, where there is fish, there is fishery… Why not employ fishing vessels to collect ocean data? Berring Data Collective is doing exactly that. SCOOT partner SMHI (Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute) is supporting the effort to bring “Fishing for Data” to Sweden. A number of Swedish fishing vessels have expressed interest, stay tuned…

The beauty of Fishing for Data is the cost-effectiveness. Just by attaching some robust sensors, and then doing their usual fishing activity, these vessels put near real-time data into open portals and aggregators, such as EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Services. This is where the computers of operational forecasters (such as SMHI) automatically go to find the data that feed their models. This also where ocean and climate scientists find data.

More about Fishing for Data

Berring Data Collective
Fishing for Data as Citizen Science, demo at SCOOT workshop
Cooper Van Vranken named Ocean Change-maker by The Economist
Frontier in Marine Science, Fishing Gear as a Data Collection Platform: Opportunities to Fill Spatial and Temporal Gaps in Operational Sub-Surface Observation Networks

Technology for Marine Citizen Science

Citizen Science, Data, Demo, Fishing vessels, Innovation, Sensors, Ship of opprtunity, Workshop / December 21, 2021 December 22, 2021

On December 16th SCOOT had invited a passionate group of people to the Kristineberg research station. During an intense and hands on workshop we got demonstrations of new equipment and methods for ocean data acquisition. Not the tools that many professional oceanographers are familiar with, but the kind of technology that open up the field of ocean data collection to many, many more than before. This is citizen science, and there are strong reasons to believe that it will transform marine science. (This workshop was the second event under the banner of Ocean Data for Ocean Health. You may remember the ODOH conference SCOOT co-arranged last year?)

During the workshop we looked at sensors and at apps that are suitable for a wide range of users, including fishermen, boaters and basically anyone in contact with the ocean.

Berring Data Collective demonstrated how local fisheries can put sensors on their gear, collecting data useful both for their own fishery and for oceanographic research.
Deepoid AB demonstrated their miniature loggers for ocean currents, temperature and light. Super easy to deploy on a moored line and endurable thanks to low power consumption.
Sailing 4 Science showed castaway CTD, an easy-to-use instrument that quickly delivers a vertical profile of temperature and salinity.
SMHI presented the app EyeOnWater from MARIS and others. The app allows anyone can upload photos of the sea-surface to help capture the ocean color, an important parameter for determining particle content and presence of algae.
Maranics AB presented an app for the project Algal Blooms Sweden, which invites anyone to share images and observations of blooms in the ocean.

New technologies open new opportunities for observing the ocean, that is wonderful… But that does not immediately translate into action, or impact for that matter! We discussed at length how and why broader groups of our society can be engaged in building knowledge about the ocean. Uta Wehn, from University of Gothenburg and IHE Delft, has long experience in this field and led us in the discussion. We were joined online by John Tumpane from Formas, who pointed out that citizen science has an important role in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for a Sustainable Development.

Marine Citizen Science is about co-creating ocean knowledge, it is about a radically more democratic ocean science and ocean governance. Are the current actors in academia and public agencies ready for that?

Uta Wehn Professor of Marine Citizen Science

More about (marine) citizen science

European Citizen Science Association (eu-citizen.science)
Swedish node for citizen science: medborgarforskning.se
Mission Starfish 2030, expert report from EU’s Mission Board Healthy Oceans, Seas, Coastal and Inland Waters, look especially in the table on p 28: check point for 2025, “20 percent of data collections comes from citizen’s science initiatives”.
Ocean Data Factory Sweden is an open arena for companies, public agencies and academia. ODF Sweden strongly believes in citizen science.
News (in Swedish) from Kristineberg Center where the workshop was hosted.
Post about the workshop on GU web
Post about innovation and the development of ocean loggers by Deepoid AB.
Post about Berring Data Collective as an “ocean changemaker”.
Post about the Ocean Data for Ocean Health conference 29 September 2020.
Post about the Koster Seafloor Observatory.
Post about the Baltic Seabird AI/UX Hackathon.
Post about the Killer Shrimp Invasion Challenge, and the winner!
Post about the citizen innovation project SunChallenger II, a solar powered autonomous vessel monitoring the ocean.
Post about our open data workshop, this is where SCOOT’s interest in open (and eventually also citizen) science started, and where ODF Sweden was initiated.

Ocean Changemaker: Berring Data Collective

Citizen Science, Data, Environmental monitoring, Fishing vessels, Greenland, Innovation, People, Region, Ship of opprtunity / February 23, 2021 December 21, 2021

We are extremely happy to share that Cooper Van Vranken has been selected as an ‘Ocean Changemaker‘ at the World Ocean Initiative, arranged by The Economist Group. Cooper is the founder of the Berring Data Collective. This is indeed a game-changer in ocean observing: Using fishing vessels to bring in high quality data from ocean regions where data is most desperately needed, including around Greenland. Check it out, it is already live!

Cooper was invited speaker at our online conference Ocean Data for Ocean Health in September. Afterwards he joined us for the follow up breakfast webinar on alternative platforms for ocean sensors. Cooper collaborates closely with Patrick Gorringe who works EMODnet Physics and at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. Together they make data collected by fishing vessels available to all users, including ocean and climate researchers, operational forecasters and environmental monitoring agencies. Cooper and co-authors have published their work in Frontier in Marine Science.

Ocean Data conference spurs collaboration!

Animal platforms, ASV, AUV, Breakfast, Citizen Science, Data, Demo, Fishing vessels, Innovation, SeaExplorer, Ship of opprtunity, SP SeaCat, Tuna / October 22, 2020 December 21, 2021

September 29th at Nya Varvet and online

What a day… The conference Ocean Data for Ocean Health covered a lot of the themes SCOOT has been involved in the last two years. We hosted the event on September 29th at SCOOT’s space at Nya Varvet in Gothenburg, and we were happy to gather quite a number of old and new SCOOT people and partners.

The programme scratched on the surface of many urgent topics. SCOOT is committed to contribute to keeping up the momentum of this dynamic environment! (Just hosted breakfast meeting on sensors platforms of opportunity, see below.)

Especially intense for SCOOT was the final Block 4, demonstrating autonomous technology for collecting ocean data, see below.

Jessica just before start of conference.

From block 1, keynote by Robin teigland.

Keynote speaker Jannes Gimsbury, block 3.

Torsten talking to Robert Mertens, block 3.

Robots for ocean science, in the electronics workshop.

Olle shows and tells in the electronics workshop.

Olle explains how diving glider Seaexplorer works.

Seacat approaching Green Pilot, Robert stands by.

Ola explains data collection with Green Pilot.

Autonomous vehicles

VOTO‘s research coordinator Louise Biddle and oceanographic technician Olle Petersson explain how gliders on and below the seasurface monitors the ocean.

Play Video

Next generation ocean observers!

Elsa and Jakob from the Science Club in Lysekil show their drifter Dynamene, built by Science Club and deployed in the morning, retrieving data live!

Play Video

Experimental platforms

Ola Benderius from Chalmers Revere lab and Robert Rylander from RISE Maritime research demontrate how knowledge from the automotive industry can be applied in the maritime domain. (Special appearance by flying drone from MMT Swden AB…)

Play Video

October 21st, breakfast webinar on tuna and fishing vessels

We were 6 persons having our morning coffee at Nya Varvet and another 6 joining the video meeting. Picking up from Sept 29th, we talked at some length about opportunities (and challenges) around data from tagged animals and from sensors mounted on fishing gear/vessels. Take home messages:

These data have huge potential to fill serious gaps in existing ocean monitoring programmes, where other and autonomous methods struggle. These gaps include shelf and coastal seas and marginal ice zones.
The cost-benefit relation is very good!
The infrastructure for collecting and distributing these data is rapidly expanding and maturing.
Challenges include subsurface communication and integration into existing monitoring data flows.

Recording from the meeting.

Ship of opprtunity

More about Fishing for Data

More about (marine) citizen science

September 29th at Nya Varvet and online

Block 4: Demonstration of ocean robots

Autonomous vehicles

Next generation ocean observers!

Experimental platforms

October 21st, breakfast webinar on tuna and fishing vessels