In early 2022, The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has funded “Project Fisheye”, an initiative by SafetyNet Technologies’ (now called CatchCam Technologies) to fast-forward the development of CatchCam, a gear mounted underwater camera for commercial fishing.
Fishing Blindly
CatchCam was born from real feedback from fishermen who, until then, had no reliable way to see how their gear performed underwater.
As a result, fishing crews were essentially fishing blind, unable to assess net performance or observe fish behaviour, leading to gear damage, reduced efficiency, and unintended bycatch.
Project Fisheye
Gear mounted underwater cameras have been available to commercial fishers for some time. However, at present, these cameras have not been adopted by UK fishermen because they are expensive (>£50k), bulky, and difficult to use. Therefore, “Project Fisheye” is developing CatchCam to be a low cost, fit-for-purpose alternative. Furthermore, “Project Fisheye” will also support the creation of a phone app to compliment CatchCam. The app will filter through hours of video to show the most beneficial footage to save fishing crews time and effort.
“Being able to see what my nets are doing underwater takes the guesswork out of fishing."
Darren, the skipper of Golden Ray, is a dedicated fisherman who is constantly improving his fishing practices to be more sustainable and efficient. “Being able to see what my nets are doing underwater takes the guesswork out of fishing. Using the cameras I’ve got a much better idea of how the fish behave in my nets and how my gear can be tweaked and improved.”
Between January and March 2022, “Project Fisheye” will enable six trials of CatchCam on leading commercial fishing boats in the UK. By giving fishing crews CatchCam to use, SafetyNet Technologies is ensuring that the camera is rugged enough to withstand the intense fishing environment. Furthermore, it’s the only way to make sure CatchCam is easy to deploy, recover and review footage from.
Where we are now: 2025 Update
Three years on, CatchCam has evolved from prototype to proven tool, now trusted by commercial fishing fleets, fisheries scientists and researchers across Europe and beyond. The original goals of Project Fisheye — low-cost, user-friendly underwater visibility — remain at the heart of our product line.
CatchCam is now available in multiple configurations:
CatchCam for commercial fisheries
CC-Bio for biodiversity monitoring and marine research
Live-streaming and scheduled capture options for long-term deployments
Explore the CatchCam product page or contact us at contact@catchcam.tech.
