OBSERVERS
WANT TO BECOME A FISHERIES OBSERVER?
General Requirements:
1) Degree in Marine Biology or related areas;
2) Proficiency in the English language;
3)Passport valid for a minimum period of 6 months from the date of departure;
4)Computer skils from the users perspective;
5)Have your own laptop;
6) Mastery of sampling and species identification techniques;
7) Medical certificate of physical and psychological strength;
8) Preferential – Basic survival course at sea – STCW;
9) Preferential – Previous work experience at seaExpert as a fishing observer
TYPES OF FISHERIES OBSERVERS:
With the marine resources high decline, as the result of some misfit fishing management policies, is increasingly crucial to intensify the fisheries monitoring operations. Experienced in several fishing activities, seaExpert gathered important internal knowledge during the years to execute all kinds of fisheries monitoring operations. seaExpert delivers a professionaly done work at all levels, mastering fishing technical languages and operations, producing all kinds of reports (pre-operational, daily, weekly and final) according to the protocols and specific regulations.
Besides all the security gear on board, the Monitoring Observer will have all the legal documents needed to fullfil the job. This documentation can include the monitoring-susceptible fishery operational manual, field guides and specific forms according to the current regulation.
The Fisheries Observer Programs are one of the most important tools to obtain high quality scientific information, besides being one of the key activities for a fisheries’ sustainable management all over the world and the gathered data a point of extreme importance for biology and fishing ecology. Considering seaExpert’s vast experience monitoring fishing activities, it’s guaranteed that the service will be done by certified professionals, ready for the fishing activities linguistic and operational specifics and, simultaneously, producing reports (pre-operational, daily, weekly and final) according to the desired format and rules.
Besides all the security and scientific data gathering equipment (ictiometer, gauge, Secchi disk, thermometer, among others), the Scientific Observer will have all the legal documents needed to fulfill the job. This documentation can include the monitoring-susceptible fishery operational manual, field guides and specific forms according to the current regulation.
Certificates:
1. Graduation, or higher education level, in Marine Biology or similar areas;
2. Physical and mental aptitude cerficate.
Qualifications:
1. Sea experience, preferably due to fishing activities;
2. Knowledge about the fishing world and its communities;
3. Ability to understand specific laws and regulations.
The Observer’s work goal is to ensure a good fishing activity performance according to the established regulations, fulfilling a deterrent role when it comes to illegal practices. To comply with the share values, minimum catch sizes, by-catch, fishing apparatus configurations, among other features, it’s important to master and be familiar with the current legislation related to the monitored fisheries.
This service uses Fisheries Observers to monitor coastal and long distance fishing activities and doesn’t give any authority to the Observer to hold or punish any illegal action, being limited to describe and report the events, normally at the end of the mission.
The monitoring service can also include the gathering of all the information, at each moment, about the fleet’s activity, conditions and results of that same activity, both in quantitative and qualitative, economic and social terms. All the gathered information will serve as a support when it comes to monitoring good practices in the fishing activity.
Certificates:
1. Graduation, or higher education level, in Marine Biology or similar areas;
2. Physical and mental aptitude cerficate.
Qualifications:
1. Sea experience, preferably due to fishing activities;
2. Knowledge about the fishing world and its communities;
3. To master several sampling techniques for data collection and registration.
When is not possible to get reliable data inland, it’s vital to resort on other methods to get it, like in situ observation. This data registration allows to know the captured species’ posture, growth, fertility and migration areas and seasons, being crucial for the types of fishing with capture processing (beheading, fillet, etc.). Fisheries Observers are used for this service to collect scientific data on coastal and long distance fishing activities.
Scientific data registration collects all the information gathered that allows a deeper knowledge of the captured species biology and ecology, the fishing activity they are submitted to, biological samples and the determination of specific values in order to study fishery activities relations with the environment and ecosystems. The collected data allows to estimate several values which indicate the fisheries health state and are fundamental to the fisheries biology development. Among the most important values we highlight the fishing effort, defined by the amount of fishing apparatus of a certain type used in a limited time frame, like, for instance, the dragging daily hours , the daily fish hooks used or the daily number of fish hauls. The fishing effort allows, for instance, to determine the MSY (maximum sustainable yield) or the fishing activity operational costs.
The final goal is to collect data with quality, made coherently and in time as demanded by the professionals in this sector, serving as knowledge base support to make the necessary decisions for the fishery management.
ONGOING PROGRAMS:
Recruitment, training and coordination of the Observers’ daily boarding missions for the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna fishery monitoring through the frames located in South Portugal. The observer guarantees 100% coverage of the frames activity from the fishing season’s opening until its end. From that moment on, the Observer only monitors the stabled Atlantic Bluefin Tuna collection operations. Among the Observer’s roles, there’s the fisheries quantification in terms of weight and length, the net rising operations monitoring and the Tuna consequent housing, the scientific data collection for IPMA, among others.<br><br>Since 2012, 11 Observers were hired for these missions. 48 reports were made in 2012, 166 in 2013 and over 300 in 2014. This way, it was assured the near-total coverage of Portugal’s Atlantic Bluefin Tuna share in the last years.