CONSULTING.

The Bird Scaring Line (BSL) is accepted as part of the recommended best practices for the protection of seabirds during commercial fishing activities. Although BSLs are effective and user-friendly, it has not been easy to determine if they are actually being deployed by fishing vessels with an increasing number of reports indicating that they aren't.

 

Mr Sihle Victor Ngcongo, the founder of Imvelo Blue Environment Consultancy, took it upon himself to develop a solution. He approached us with the idea for a device to monitor the deployment of bird scaring lines on fishing vessels. He needed the device to collect data independently at regular intervals and he needed it to be tamper-proof.

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Together with Dr Miranda as the technical and scientific developer of the device, the two companies came up with the Imvelo Blue BSL Monitoring Device to assist fishing companies who are committed to the conservation of marine ecosystems. The data collected from the device are measured against the official log book data and clearly identify sets where a BSL was or was not deployed as well as an indication of optimal deployment. This will also release some pressure off the observers so they can focus on other tasks that need their attention but can rely on the device to ensure that the vessel is compliant.