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Dom Talijancich, bussinessman and fisherman, shows the screens that receives data from the camera attached to his trawl net.
Dom Talijancich has every available sensor technology on board his 24-meter trawler, FV Mako.
Everything but a camera and AI system that identifies what type of species are entering his net during a tow.
If the technology were available, the Nelson fisherman and businessman would have got it immediately.
But there was gap in the market for a piece of equipment like that, and it led him to developing his own company and the technology to do the job.
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James Bell
Victoria University researchers have discovered previously unseen ‘sponge gardens’ in nine deep water reefs off Wellington’s South and Kāpiti coasts.
Talijancich’s tech company Advanced Conservation Solutions (ACS) have tech that can improve the sustainability of commercial fishing using artificial intelligence (AI).
ACS’s ‘DeepSet’ technology is a system using a camera with machine learning algorithms to identify in real time the species of fish that enter a trawl net.
The tech was used as an exemplar in Fisheries NZ (FNZ) Industry Transformation Plan (ITP) to showcase one initiative that supports more environmentally friendly fishing.
A part of the Plan looks to review settings and regulations around barriers to fishing innovation.
For Talijancich, having a camera that sees in real time what fish are going into the net is an idea he has been “obsessed with” since he started fishing.
After looking into the concept deeper and doing market research, Talijancich found that the best technology out there was only transmitting one frame a minute.
ANDY MACDONALD / STUFF
Talijancich said DeepSet is the first piece of sensor tech that relays data back to the bridge in real time. (File photo)
Talijancich said that was the main limitation, and he decided “it just wasn’t good enough”.
It was at a course on trawl efficiency and bycatch reduction that Talijancich got sent to by Talley’s in 2020 with a group of 12 other fishermen, to learn how to fish more sustainably, that he came up with the idea for DeepSet.
DeepSet isn’t yet at a point where the data knows every species of fish but every fish the camera sees and recognises, that data is transmitted to the bridge.
“We’re continuously developing and making the AI better and updating the software to make it more efficient.”
Knowing what fish are coming through his nets allows Talijancich to move to different locations, change his speed to avoid or target different species, and he can avoid areas of thick coral, sponge or seaweed.
The response from various skippers, companies and agencies has been “good”, Talijancich said.
All the development for DeepSet has been self-funded, through a loan from Callaghan innovation which has put Talijancich at some financial risk.
Talijancich said he went through with the risk as he thought the tech needed to be developed as fast as possible to benefit the sustainability of commercial fishing.
MARTIN DE RUYTER
Seafood NZ’s Deepwater Council has long been in support of reducing the ban on fishing technologies, like a data transmitting cable. (File photo)
If FNZ can reduce some of the barriers around fishing innovation and have a structure that allows fishermen to have these ideas vetted and developed, Talijancich said he thinks a lot more fishing innovation would emerge.
Seafood New Zealand’s head of Deepwater council Aaron Irving urges FNZ to proceed with its proposal to reduce fishing technology barriers.
The Deepwater council has been asking the government to lift the ban on technologies, like data transmitting cable, for many years.
“New Zealand is the only fishing nation where the use of enhanced trawl sonar equipment is prohibited,” Irving said.
Since January 2022 FNZ have consulted the fishing industry on revoking the ban on sonar cables on trawl nets.
Irving said, the deepwater fishing industry’s support has only “deepened” since then and better equipment allows fishers to catch the same amount of fish “more sustainably”.
FNZ’s deputy general director, Dan Bolger said the ITP builds on “promising initiatives already underway to develop precision fishing gear”.
Talijancich’s Deepset technology is one system that Bolger said improves and innovates to support more environmentally friendly fishing.
Public consultation for the ITP is currently under way with submissions closing on June 11.
Removing those barriers for innovation will be a massive step forward for the industry, said Talijancich.
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