Roughly 40% of the global fish catch comes from small-scale fisheries. It’s one of the food production systems most vulnerable to climate change, and governments are lacking data to help fishers adapt. To help address that gap, the global research partnership CGIAR recently launched its Asia Digital Hub at WorldFish’s headquarters in Penang, Malaysia.
The Hub brings together policymakers, scientists, communities and the private sector to develop and scale digital solutions for food systems. One of their key tools is Peskas, an open-source system that allows near real-time monitoring of small-scale fisheries.
In Zanzibar, WorldFish scientist Pascal Thoya is working with the government to integrate Peskas with the existing system. Currently, 100 fishing boats out of Zanzibar are equipped with trackers and at 30 landing sites, data collectors use tablets to record catch information including species, weight and length, Thoya said. Peskas then analyzes the data and displays statistics automatically. Before Peskas, data were recorded on paper and only reported annually.
“Initially, there is always a challenge to know where fishermen really fish,” Thoya told Mongabay in a video call. Peskas displays fishing grounds along with their productivity.
Arthur Tuda, the executive director of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association, a WorldFish partner in Zanzibar, said in an email, “This integration fills a big hole. It gives decision-makers the timely, reliable information they need to manage fisheries better and meet their reporting duties at home and abroad.”
First developed in Timor-Leste in 2016, Peskas is now being expanded to Zanzibar, Malawi, Kenya and Mozambique, with interest from Brunei, Djibouti and Ethiopia, according to WorldFish.
WorldFish also piloted Peskas in Malaysia, in collaboration with a local NGO, the Malaysian Inshore Fishermen Association for Education and Welfare (JARING). JARING’s deputy chairperson, Mohd Faizal Mohd Zabri, said by phone that such information could help the government verify fishers’ operations for licensing and prevent abuse of subsidized fuel and living allowances.
Alex Tilley, the digital and data science lead with WorldFish, said the Hub looks beyond catch monitoring to integrate data on aquatic animal health, aquaculture, household nutrition and women’s empowerment.
“We need to be able to manage those in one data environment, to see how they relate to one another,” Tilley said in an interview.
It also promotes access to information through a compact genome sequencing tool kit and open-access courses.
Tuda said in an email, “This [Hub] will have effects beyond Asia. We expect that it would lead to better cooperation between countries in the South, encourage open-source solutions, and help Africa’s fisheries monitoring and climate adaptation efforts grow.”
He also noted that successful digital transformation goes beyond technology. “For these tools to work, they need to be based on the needs and realities of the people who will be utilizing them. Small-scale fishers shouldn’t just give data but also help design things.”
Banner image: Fishers at Ataúro Island, Timor-Leste. Image by Cymo Tome via Unsplash.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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