Oceanographic and fisheries data collection and telemetry
from commercial fishing vessels
15 July 1998 - 14 July 1999
Ann Bucklin and Rollie Barnaby (University of New Hampshire Sea Grant)
Program coordination; Partnership building with coastal resource agencies; Outreach to commercial fishermen; Placement of data server; Portland fishing vessel demonstration
Chrys Chryssostomidis and Cliff Goudey (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sea Grant)
Onboard sensor system; software customization
Peter Wiebe, Dave Hosom, Hartley Hoskins, Bob Groman (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Coordination with ocean research community; Consultant for software customization; Data telemetry; Data management and distribution.
Gary Williams (Clearwater Instrumentation, Inc.)
Design of portable sensor system; integration of sensors
Craig Pendleton (Portland Fish Exchange)
Shore-based data distribution; Placement of a data server; Use of telemetered data in marketing.
The proposed partnership between oceanographers, engineers, private entrepreneurs, commercial fish harvesters, and federal agency representatives will develop a system to collect, telemeter, analyze, assimilate, and distribute high-quality, synoptic environmental (hydrography, meteorology, biology) data from the coastal ocean. The data will be integrated into the U.S. GLOBEC database, which is a distributed data management system with open access via the internet. In addition, assessments of fish stocks and proprietary fisheries catch data will be collected and distributed to some partners, and incorporated into some data sets, as appropriate. The goal is to create shared, real-time data management systems that may be used by any individual, program, or agency for a wide variety of purposes: research, education, assessment, management, marketing, regulation, modeling, and/or prediction. The significance of this project lies both in the integrative functions, aimed at uniting these distinct constituencies into functional partnerships for data collection and information exchange, and in the technical functions, aimed at producing an integrated sensor system for deployment on commercial fishing vessels.
There is a need for much better information on weather, sea-state, oceanographic conditions, commercial harvest data, and fishing conditions in the coastal waters of the US. This information is required by the fishermen themselves, resource managers and regulators, and the oceanographic research community. Currently, these data are collected during oceanographic research efforts, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) assessment surveys, operational Navy activities, and National Weather Service coverage. These types of activities cannot provide synoptic coverage of large regions and rarely employ near-real-time telemetry. The widespread temporal / spatial distribution of commercial fishing vessels makes them ideal platforms from which to gather basic information for coastal monitoring, modeling, and prediction. The use of fishing vessels as platforms has been limited to date because of very limited cooperation between the fishing community, government agencies, and the ocean research community.
The proposed effort will work toward building full cooperation among the commercial fish harvesting community, federal and state coastal resource managers, private industry, and the ocean research community for the collection, distribution, analysis, and assimilation of environmental data collected by commercial fishing vessels. The proposed work addresses needs identified in the recent NOAA report, Setting a New Course for U.S. Coastal Ocean Science, which stated that coastal ocean science efforts need to support "strategic issues cutting across the missions, responsibilities, and capabilities of many federal agencies", and named four strategic issues of highest priority: 1) restoring and protecting coastal ecosystems, 2) sustaining coastal resources, 3) ensuring national defense, and 4) integrating priorities. All of these strategic issues entail a predictive ecosystem focus and require an expansion of multi-agency efforts, in order to deliver the best current information and also to ensure the continual improvement in the quality and flow of that information.
The same NOAA report, Setting a New Course for U.S. Coastal Ocean Science, emphasized the "strong need to better coordinate federal activities in coastal ocean science with those of state and local governments, academia and industry". The report states, "The information needs reflect the diverse decisions required for management of the coastal ocean. These decisions involve managers at all government levels as well as businesses, investors, and residents. The decision makers include emergency/disaster management officials, planners, coastal zone managers, fishery managers, port captains and managers, and local zoning officials." The diverse needs for high-quality, geographically-comprehensive environmental data in the coastal ocean can best be met by integration of existing data-collection capacities, as well as the development of new sources of information which can be added to this growing network.
Goal 1: Develop a collaboration between commercial fishermen, private marine industries, oceanographers, and coastal resource managers for the collection, real-time telemetry, analysis, assimilation, distribution, and use of environmental and fisheries data from coastal regions off the northeastern US.
UNH/UM Sea Grant Extension will hold a series of informational meetings to inform members of the fishing industry about the scope and goals of the proposal effort. Input from the industry will be sought on all aspects of the work, including design of the sensor system and user interface, types of data to be collected, and uses of environmental and catch data for improvement of fishing practices and product marketing. Meetings will be held in: Pt. Judith, RI; New Bedford and Gloucester, MA; Portsmouth, NH; and Portland, ME.
UNH Sea Grant will also host a series of five one-day workshops, seminars, and symposia for federal and state agency and program representatives involved in environmental assessment, coastal resource management, marine policy, navigation and public safety, and regulatory and/or enforcement aspects of resource management. The goal of the workshops is to identify common informational needs, overlapping areas of interest and/or concern, and opportunities for shared stewardship among all constituents.
Goal 2: Design and produce an integrated sensor system (including navigational, hydrographic, and meteorological components) for use onboard commercial fishing vessels; assemble, integrate, and test prototype versions of the system on a small number of vessels; establish land-based centers for collection, analysis and assimilation of data.
The on-board subsystem will provide enhanced navigation functions, make continuous meteorological and oceanographic measurements, and allow entry and transmission of confidential fisheries catch data. The NOPP subsystem will consist of environmental and vessel-status sensors, transceiver (T/R) subsystem, GPS receiver, and a microprocessor controller. The NOPP subsystems will be developed from "off the shelf" products and subassemblies requiring only modification, programming, and packaging for sea-going use (Figure 1). A key part of the NOPP system development is to ensure that approaches for hardware flexibility and growth are provided to allow continued system improvements and upgrading with advances in emerging technologies.
The project will also develop a rugged sensor unit to facilitate subsurface measurements for deployment on fishing gear. The gear-based sensor unit will provide a time series of temperature vs. pressure and will be designed to withstand the rigors of use in a commercial fishing setting. Currently-available conductivity sensors will be assessed to determine whether any will meet the demands of accuracy and ruggedness required for gear-based use.
The data telemetry and data serving hardware and software required for data collection and dissemination will be designed and implemented. The data from a variety of meteorological and oceanographic sensors, as well as fisheries catch data, will be collected by the vessel and periodically telemetered from the vessel via a low bandwidth connection.
Two prototype sensor systems (i.e., on-board NOPP subsystem, gear-based sensor package, and software) will be fabricated and bench-tested to facilitate program de-bugging and ensure proper function before deployment. After the laboratory tests, the sensor systems will be installed on two commercial fishing vessels: one Gloucester-based coastal vessel and one Portland-based offshore vessel will be used for the sea tests and demonstration.
Goal 3: Demonstration of system feasibility and function: The demonstration phase of this project will involve one-, two- or three-day trips by the two commercial fishing vessels.
The demonstration will include performance of the entire system, including integration with standard vessel navigation and electronic functions, coordination with the NMFS Vessel Monitoring System (VMS or "black box"), telemetry of environmental data to the U.S. GLOBEC Program Service and Data Management Office, and exchange of confidential fisheries catch data between the vessels and their home ports, the Gloucester Fish Auction and the Portland Fish Exchange.
Follow-up outreach efforts will evaluate the responses of the vessel captains and the personnel of the Auction and Exchange who oversee product marketing efforts. Additional interviews will be conducted as needed to explore uses of real-time telemetered catch and market data to improve fishing practices and optimize marketing strategies.
The full system will include the following sensors:
>From Ship to Shore
Shipboard Science: wind speed; wind direction; barometric pressure; humidity; air temperature; short wave radiation (visible); long wave radiation (IR); precipitation; sea surface temperature; ships position (GPS); time of observation; ship heading (compass bearing)
Shipboard vessel operation/system status (??): bilge water level; engine temperature; engine RPM; onboard alarms/alerts
Trawl Net/Subsurface: pressure; temperature
Fish Catch: TBD
>From Shore to Ship
Images: sea surface temperature; currents; ocean color; position of fronts and eddies; sea state/wave heights
1. Sensors for the prototype system.
Given the project goal to demonstrate that NOPP has the capabilities to collect and report high quality environmental data, I recommend that we use a singe IMET sensor in our prototype. If we use a full IMET sensor set---we are talking a $40,000 problem. (Cliff)
Regarding the number of sensors for ProtoNOPP, I assumed we were proposing to include a realistic suite, as this is the only way for users to judge the utility of the system. I have also been assuming that Dave's sensor packages are of interest (due to the COTS sensors they have identified and included, not for the self-powered, self-logging features that his system dictated). I have assumed that we only need to link or package and link the COTS sensors.
I vote for the priority IMET sensor to be that of wind speed and direction, since it will provide both climatological and navigational data. Dave has described a navigational precision digital compass in this sensor with roll and pitch readouts also. While you may say a compass on the screen is redundant to the binnacle, such a graphic display is often more visually accessible to the captain who may be preoccupied with his LORAN C's and out of eye-shot with his binnacle's compass card. Conceivably we can show graphic vectors representing set due to current and set due to wind. (Ken)
Comments from Dave: While WHOI IMET modules are available self-powered and self-logging, in addition to having the WHOI IMET addressable digital data bus output, they are also available with only the addressable digital data bus output which makes them ready to plug into any computer that addresses different modules to get data. They are available with RS485 linking capability without redesign. The most important feature of the WHOI IMET modules is that they have achieved community recognition over the past 5 to 8 years as the source of climate data that has led to the understanding of global climate processes. The internally stored calibration constants and the re-calibration every 6 to 8 months provides the accuracy required for climate change. Storing this data every one minute provides the data sampling frequency required for climate change.
Available IMET sensors (From Dave):
Wind Speed and Direction:
(*) wind speed - R.M. Young wind monitor outputs pulses proportional to speed.
(*) vane direction - we replace the potentiometer (analog) with a digital encoder (RS232)
(*) direction - Precision Navigation RS232 compass
Note: We have electronics that amplifies the speed pulses, counts them, samples the vane and compass, does the vector averaging algorithm, and provides a digital output to a buffer that is available when polled in RS485 to the data collector. The unit also outputs max and min gust speeds as well as x and y tilt.
Relative Humidity:
(*)The Rotronic MP101 outputs 0 to 1 volt dc for humidity and temp - analog.
Note: We have electronics that powers on the Rotronic, samples the humidity and temperature voltages, does a D/A conversion, applies the stored calibration constants, and provides a digital output to a buffer that is available when polled in RS485 to the data collector.
Barometric Pressure:
(*)The AIR SB-2 that has a digital RS232 or TTL output that is continuous when powered up.
Note: We have electronics that powers on the SB-2, takes the digital data, and provides a digital output to a buffer that is available when polled in RS485 to the data collector. Calibration constants exist inside the SB-2.
Sea Surface Temperature:
(*)The PRT (platinum resistance thermometer) has a resistance of 1000 ohms at 20 deg C.
Note: We have electronics that measures the resistance of the PRT, a -10 deg C reference resistor, and a +25 deg C reference resistor. These measurements are digitized, have an algorithm applied, and combined with the calibration constants to obtain a (0.005 deg C accuracy) digital output etc.
Precipitation:
(*)The R.M. Young Self-Syphoning Rain Gauge outputs 0 to 5 volts for 0 to 50mm of collected water.
Note: We have electronics that powers up the Gauge, samples the analog voltage, does the D/A, applies the calibration constants and provides a digital output etc.
Shortwave Radiation:
(*)The Eppley Laboratories PSP provides 0 to 5 millivolts analog output.
Note: We have electronics that powers up the PSP, amplifies the voltage, samples the voltage, does the D/A, applies the calibration constants and provides a digital output etc.
Longwave Radiation:
(*)The Eppley Laboratories PIR provides 0 to 50 microvolt analog output from the thermopile, and two internal thermistors (for external electronics).
Note: We have electronics that powers up the PIR, amplifies the thermopile voltage, amplifies the thermistor voltages, does the D/A on all three, applies the calibration constants, applies the conversion algorithm, and provides a digital output etc.
Comments from Gary:
I am planning to stick with the original equipment proposal, with the addition that there will be two versions of Met equipment which will appear to be the same to NOPP in a communication sense. That is, NOPP can ask both units for wind speed using the same command. One unit will be climate quality equipment provided by Dave Hosom. These units will have flash ROM memory to store data required for climate research. As Dave points out, and he should know, climate quality data is not required real-time, nor is collected real-time. The other units will not have the same calibration record, but will provide near-real time information on weather for use by fishermen.
Dave has offered to provide a set of IMET instruments to NOPP at below cost to demonstrate climate data capability.
Clearwater's plans for the gear equipment still are the same: temperature, depth, and time stamp. Whatever ends up being the overall instrumentation specification, still needs to be done within the allotted budget. So I will be looking for some solidification of the technical specs which effect Clearwater, since I must then adjust to our allotted budget.
2. Sensor interfacing.
For the gear-based system (trawl, trap or dredge), I propose a VHF wake-up call to the gear module from the boat, at which time the gear module transmits its time-series to a buffer in the wheelhouse in preparation for uplink. That is, the gear module can only receive its wake-up call when it surfaces, and consequently transmits. (Ken)
There is general agreement on using a single IMET RS485 bus for all sensors and also a compatible sensor software/protocol. This approach will allow various sensor types, consistent with this project's documented goals and constraints. Flexibility can be achieved by using the present IMET RS485 bus and type of software protocol. If all sensors are designed to interface to this single RS485 bus, then IMET and or lower-cost sensors could be used for at sea data collection. For this application, sensors are polled once a minute to comply with worst case data collection needs.
Dave is going to provide a IMET RS485 specification which defines the details needed to ensure we can achieve a successful hardware interface, software interface, and installation design the first time. [In response to this note from Joe: The National Instru. Catalogue describes a generic RS485 bus and does not give specifics of IMET/COT interface. Detail interface spec. should clearly define data rates/slew rate, bus loading, connector type/Manufacturer, bus address assignments, input impedance (or stub lengths limits) and device register protocol/bit assignments. If there is no standard interface to cover this level of detail for all sensor, then an interface document for each sensor, which is to be designed for NOPP bus, is required.]
One of Dave's best points was that the "climate quality" data which is not time-sensitive would be stored on flash ram, while real-time, operational data could be sent over the satellite link. This allows the IMET sensors to be treated like a set of NOPP sensors. For operational purposes, it would make no difference whether the sensors were IMET's, or less highly calibrated NOPP sensors. Since the climate data would be contained in the flash ram which would be accessed when the instruments were serviced, there would only need to be software written to obtain the operational real-time data. Dave and I also agreed that the NOPP quality sensors would be stand-alone, instruments with self-contained calibration coefficients.
With this note from Ken: It seems to me that "climate quality" data is time sensitive and should be up linked with the real-time operational data. This obviates the need to build flash ram only accessed at calibration time. I submit that the main repository for shipboard data (prior to uplink) should be on the hard drive of the wheelhouse system, and not squirreled away on remote flash ram.
3. Data telemetry
For more particulars, see separate files on the internal NOPP web site on transmission options.
From Bob Groman:
Data will be telemetered from the fishing vessels via a low- bandwidth connection. There are several options for duplex circuits: Inmarsat C ($0.01/character, 600 baud), Inmarsat M ($3/minute, 2.4 kbaud, or 0.02/character), packet radio (30 to 150 miles dependent on radio frequency, and boat and coast station locations). Ship terminals for Inmarsat C cost $9,000 each; ship terminals for Inmarsat M cost $3,000 plus $25/month account fee; packet radio costs vary depending on configuration but are less than $10,000. An E-mail protocol is flexible; IP connections are more complicated.
It is anticipated that the vessels will be linked to shore automatically once per hour for one to ten minutes per transmission. The frequent updating of information is an essential objective of this service. The down-link will be via UNIX or NT (to avoid difficulties resolving 16-and 32-bit MSDOS microprocessor incompatibility).
Assumptions
1. Data collected automatically via ship's instruments is "packaged" with metadata (e.g. date, time, position) aboard ship and held for one hour, or until next transmission.
2. These packaged data are transferred to the telemetry system for telemetry ashore as email messages. [Hartley left me a magazine called Ocean Voice, October 1996, which on pages 7-9 talks about sending and receiving email via Inmarsat-C.] It is important that these telemetry sessions occur automatically, without the need for human interaction. Doing this within a Unix environment would be easy; I don't know offhand, how I would schedule a recurrent task within a PC/Windows environment, but believe it can be done.
3. The receiving system (call it lena.whoi.edu) is a Unix based machine located at WHOI that will have three functions:
o Web (data) server - to serve the collected data and information. This is just like the U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank server but dedicated, and separate from, GLOBEC data. It will use standard Web serving software (e.g. Apache's httpd server) and the JGOFS data management system software. We can tie globec and NOPP data together if this is necessary, however.
o Data receiver - telemetered data will be received by lena.whoi.edu as email messages (or perhaps ftp files), parsed into appropriate data files and automatically made available via the JGOFS software as appropriate.
o Data repository - data received and "processed" will be stored on lena.whoi.edu for serving via the Web using the JGOFS software (see above). This does not preclude other sites from being data servers, however, as the JGOFS system supports distributed data servers.
Open Issues
1. Will the Fish Exchanges be JGOFS data servers and if so will they be able to connect to a phone line 24 hours per day? This seems unlikely so we will have to investigate whether an ISP (Internet Service Provider) will be willing to install the necessary JGOFS software to enable serving. This is possible, but I'm sure the ISP will charge more than the standard $20 per month charge.
2. Data will need to receive quality control and in some cases post-acquisition processing. We need to identify the resources to accomplish these tasks.
3. We need to select a data transmission "vendor" based on cost and throughput capabilities. The vendor must provide global coverage.
Note: There are three entries on the internal NOPP web site:
http://globec.whoi.edu:8181/nopp/design_details.html
These entries include the following:
1. Charlie Anderson (email: charlie.anderson@state.ma.us) and David McCarron (email: david.mccarron @state.ma.us), both at Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (Contact: Joe)
Related projects:
a) Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) is a cooperative effort among federal and state fisheries managers, scientists, and commercial and recreational fishermen to coordinate and improve data collection and data management activities on Atlantic coast. Key to this effort is fish catch data as well as vessel take out weight. This is an on going multi year program which is close to finalizing a working agreement between all its members.
b) Massachusetts Fish Auction Project is directed at setting up standards to be used by. Fish Auction Houses to enable standardized fish prices and availability data to be reported on the WEB by some TBD method. There has been interest show by commercial fish buyers and government organizations to purchase this data as part of an on-line service.
At this point, Dave could be available to give the NOPP partners a presentation on his work on FISH Auction and Charlie would be available in late summer to cover ACCSP. I have agreed to discuss NOPP with their group members, once it is clear what NOPP information , if any, is not acceptable for open distribution. Charlie is to coordinate with Joe for when he would like me to give a presentation on NOPP and Ann or Joe can contact them when we would like presentation on their work.
2. Susan Inches (Maine Department of Marine Resources) (Contact: Rollie)
3. Don Perkins, at the Portland (ME) Aquarium (Contact: Rollie)
Related project:
Funding from Kendall Foundation for work with commercial fishing industry
4. Craig Pendleton, of the North Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA)
Related project:
Surveys of attitudes and goals of NE commercial fishermen
5. David Mountain, of the NMFS Woods Hole laboratory
Related project:
Overview on data incorporated into NMFS environmental analyses. Possible pathways to ensuring NMFS use of our NOPP data.
6. Merlin Miller, Physical Sciences Inc, 20 New England Business Center, Andover MA 01810. Tel. 978-689-0003; fax -3233 (email merlin@psicorp.com). (Contact: Ann)
Related project:
I am interested in this type of system and have been working with folks at CMAST (UMass/ Dartmouth) to define such a system. Would very much appreciate any information you could provide on your system.
7. Tom K. Houston, President, International Society for Ocean Monitoring and Research, 3002 3rd Street, Suite 210, Santa Monica CA 90405. Tel: 310-399-0850; fax 310-396-1571 (email: isomar@ix.netcom.com) (Contact: Ann)
Related project:
ISOMAR seeks to involve the international yachting community in monitoring and protecting the health of the world's ocean and seas, and the early detection of conditions hazardous to the health or safety of yachtsmen, fishermen, swimmers, and residents of coastal areas. They are working on an ocean testing module which would automatically test water temperature, salinity, turbidity, water color (CDOM), HABs, etc. Units would be installed on 85'+ yachts.
8. Stewart Toshach, NMFS, Northwest Fisheries Center, Seattle WA. Tel. 206-860-5604 (email: stewart.toshach@noaa.gov) (Contact: Ann)
Related project:
Working on an electronic fish-catch log book for commercial fishermen, with funding from the National Performance Review. The goal is to integrate environmental data from sensors and fish-catch data from commercial vessels. Referred to us by Jim Eckman.
9. Andy Maffei (Contact: Bob Groman)
| INMARSAT C | World wide communication access |
| MSAT | 100 miles offshore access only Canadian service provider |
| AMSC | 100 miles offshore access only American service providerd Financial stability questionable |
| Iridium | Eventual world wide access Slow speed access (2400/4800 baud) Uses ~50 low orbit satellites Operational now in some areas See Jim Irish or Walter Paul (WHOI) for more details. |
Andy is working on several projects that might have tie-ins with our project. The SEANET Project is working on the ability to provide full network access to ships and buoys using whatever communications paths exists. There current test system is using the INMARSAT B systgem, which is a high end, high band-width and therefore high cost systems designed to be used on UNOLS vessels. There next step (in the 2nd year) will be to implement the functionality using cell phones and the AMSC/MSAT systems. Beginning Auguest 10, they are doing a test run of the system in Woods Hole, a 10 day "cruise" from the Smith Building to the Smith Building.
The second project he called "Wiring the Sound Project". This project calls for providing data communication services for WHOI's buoy farm and Vineyard Sound using Spread Spectrum 900 MHz radio technology. Using this frequency does not require licensing and yet can provide 100kbit/second line-of-site transmissions.
His third project is a NOPP funded project with Brad Butmann (USGS) and Dan Frye (USGS) to design and construct a low cost, expentable buoy that also transmits data. This project uses the idea of "data pipes", a data transmission abstraction, that attempts to hide the details of exactly how data are transmitted. A "data pipe" can thus be created using an IP (internet, TCP) connections, xmodem or even a serial interface.
The forth project is his GeoBrowser Project which attemps to offer Web access to on-line geographical data, stored (conceptually) on index cards.
I think all of these projects share the view that a web user interface is the best to use.
Andy offered to prepare a table of transmission options, including costs and capabilities. We are meeting again July 15th.
NOAA
DOD
State and Regional Coastal Zone Managers
Academic scientists
Commercial Fishing Industry
Recreational boaters
Commercial shipping companies