High-tech fishing, outstanding efficiency

Fishing boats use technology to automatically detect fish flows, detect and warn of obstacles, and even steer automatically...

Pioneer

Fisherman Tran Minh Tam, owner of fishing boat BD 94707 TS in Vinh Loi fishing village (An Luong commune, Gia Lai ) is a person who specializes in "hunting for technology" to equip his fishing boat to serve fishing activities.

"When fishing boats are equipped with modern equipment, fishing activities become easier and more effective," said Mr. Tam, adding that in the past, purse seine fishing had to let the boat wander around the sea to find driftwood. When seeing a piece of driftwood on the sea, it was considered as finding a school of fish, because schools of striped tuna often move based on the shade of the driftwood. Now, Mr. Tam's fishing boat is equipped with modern detectors, so finding large schools of fish is very easy. Mr. Tam's fishing boat has gone through 3 generations of detectors, from the Kaijo 3,500 series detector that costs 1.5 billion VND, then to the super detector of the same Kaijo 5221z series that costs 4.1 billion VND and now the FURUNO brand that costs up to 6 billion VND.

The FURUNO super-detector screen (far right) on Tran Minh Tam's fishing boat is capable of detecting schools of fish within a radius of 4.5km. Photo: V.D.T.

“You get what you pay for. Cheap equipment can only detect fish within a radius of 1km, but with the FURUNO brand I am currently using, it can detect schools of fish within a radius of 4.5km. Looking at the icons on the screen, I can tell if the school of fish is big or small. For example, a thumb-sized icon in light yellow means a few tons, a yellow icon means 4 tons, a red icon means a school of fish is about 10 tons, and a purple-red icon means 20 tons,” Mr. Tam illustrated.

Mr. Tam's fishing boat is also equipped with an automatic steering device. Not only Mr. Tam's fishing boat, 90% of fishing boats of Vinh Loi fishermen (An Luong commune, Gia Lai) are equipped with this device. The operating mechanism of the automatic steering device is that when the captain connects this device to the locator, presses the destination point of the boat, the boat automatically runs, the captain only observes the radar to see if there are any obstacles in front of the boat or not. When operating the automatic steering device, the captain can comfortably eat or walk around on the boat. When approaching the destination, the captain turns off the automatic steering device and steers manually.

“We operate the autopilot even for a few kilometers. My purse seine fishing boat uses the autopilot for 90% of the time during a trip,” said Mr. Tam.

In addition to the super detector, Mr. Tam's fishing boat also has many other modern devices installed. Photo: V.D.T.

Assistive technology

According to Mr. Tam, his fishing boat is currently using a modern radar device that costs 600 million VND and can scan a diameter of up to 25 nautical miles. The radar device allows the captain to see if there are other moving ships in front of his boat, avoiding collisions at sea.

“The radar will display on the screen icons the size of rice grains, paddy grains or jackfruit seeds. Looking at the icons, you can guess that the rice grain is a fishing boat of a friend or that jackfruit grain is a large transport ship so you can proactively avoid it from a distance,” Mr. Tam explained.

In addition, Mr. Tam's fishing boat is also equipped with a flow meter. This device tells the fishing boat whether the water flow at that location is suitable for fishing. "If the flow meter shows that from the depth of 100m up to the surface, all three water levels have the same flow, that is the best fishing," said Mr. Tam.

Not only that, Mr. Tam's fishing boat is also equipped with more modern equipment than a GPS. With a GPS, when you press a point, the device displays that point, but with this device, the screen displays hundreds of points for you to choose your destination.

Mr. Tam's fishing boat BD 94707 TS is docking at De Gi Fishing Port (De Gi Commune, Gia Lai) to sell products. Photo: V.D.T.

Those are the main equipment on Mr. Tam's fishing boat. In addition, the boat is also equipped with vertical detectors, small positioning devices, and format devices. "When a fishing boat installs a format device, the screen of this device will display the 10 nearest targets (fishing boats or cargo ships). Looking at the screen, the captain can see what kind of fishing boat each target is, because the format device of each fishing boat is set to the profession that the boat is doing. For example, my boat is set to purse seine fishing. The format device tells me how many nautical miles away the above targets are from my boat so that I can avoid them. I also know what other boats are doing so that when I cast my net, I can avoid getting entangled in the fishing gear of other boats and damaging my boat's net," said Mr. Tam.

According to Mr. Tam, fishing gear from any profession can be dangerous for purse seine fishing, such as trawling, dragnet fishing or crab trapping. Thanks to the format machine, his boat can calculate the time it takes for his boat to finish casting the net to avoid the time when those "nemesis" fishing boats move to the position where his boat is standing.

“Thanks to the support of the above equipment, fishing boats can detect obstacles, measure the flow speed or run while pressing the detector, wherever there are fish, the detector will report the exact coordinates for the boat to run to cast the net to catch fish. Thus, saving fuel when running to find schools of fish, reducing fishing time and improving exploitation efficiency. For example, on the trip before storm No. 13, my boat caught 200 tons of fish, earning about 6.4 billion VND,” said Mr. Tran Van Tam.

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/danh-bat-thuy-san-ung-dung-cong-nghe-cao-hieu-qua-vuot-troi-d783470.html