CASE STUDY

Project Fisheye: Underwater Camera for Commerical Fishing

Collaborators:

Marine Management Organisation (MMO)

Duration:

January 2022- March 2022

Location

Objective:

Project Fisheye was launched to address a long-standing challenge in commercial fishing: the inability to see how gear behaves underwater. SafetyNet Technologies, backed by funding from the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), set out to develop CatchCam, a low-cost, robust, and practical underwater camera that crews could easily deploy and recover. The project also supported the development of a companion mobile app to help filter through hours of video footage and surface the most useful clips—saving valuable time and helping crews quickly understand what’s happening beneath the surfac

GEAR TYPE:

Creel, Bottom Trawlers

Technology used:

Project Summary:

Fishing vessels operate in extreme conditions, and until recently, they’ve had no direct visibility into how nets, creels, and traps perform underwater. This knowledge gap has contributed to gear damage, unwanted bycatch, and inefficiencies in operations.

Funded by The Marine Management Organisation (MMO), fast-tracked the development of CatchCam by putting prototypes directly into the hands of UK fishermen.

Over three months in early 2022, six trials were carried out aboard commercial vessels operating in different fisheries.

By deploying CatchCam in fishing trials, the project helped shape a camera that’s:

Robust withstand the harsh fishing environment
Simple to deploy and recover
Effective in capturing useful footage that crews can act on

Today, CatchCam has evolved from prototype to proven tool, now trusted by commercial fishing fleets, fisheries scientists and marine researchers across Europe and beyond.

Project gallery

related TRIALS

Promising results for salmon bycatch reduction in the Bering Sea Pollock fishery

Trialling Pisces in the Canadian Scallop Fishery

Exploring how Precision Fishing technology could work in Peruvian artisanal fisheries

We work with fishermen to ensure our devices are tailored to their needs