The mitigation options in-use in the Baltic and North Sea fisheries are insufficient to reach EU Biodiversity 2030 bycatch and habitat objectives. Promising technologies and gears are not deployed to scale due to low TRL maturity. ECO-CATCH will deliver a Catalogue of 10 technologies incl. Digital Tools, Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRD) & Alternative Gears to TRL7-8 maturity. Real-time AI-detectors in-trawl & on-vessel will feed decision-grade data into Wheelhouse Visualisers for fishers to optimise catch efficiency & avoid vulnerable habitats. Alternative Gears will offer economically viable options, where BRDs are ineffective. Following a 3yr R&D Phase, Demonstration & Exploitation in yr. 4-5 will showcase the 10 technologies/gears in commercial conditions, integrate the best pilots in existing production lines, and support 4 Pilot fleets with adopting new Business Models. SMEs and Industry Organisations within the consortium will capture the market value of best technologies. Conditions for scalability & replicability of business models to other regions will be supported by streamlining the certification audit process with 4 operational market access schemes. The consortium spans the entire fisheries value chain, from gear manufacturing to R&D tech companies, fish producers & suppliers, and certification schemes. The consortium track record on Government Advice is the first pathway to long-term policy impact. Project outputs will directly empower fishing industry to deliver to EU Green Deal target on “protect 30% of EU marine areas to reverse biodiversity loss”, and support UN SDG Target 14.4 on “regulate destructive fishing practices”. ECO-CATCH will Cluster all 3 Sister Projects under the Call, to optimise co-delivery & co-demonstration, and add flexibility to resolve uptake & commercialization bottle necks in project Phase “Demonstration & Exploitation” (years 4-5 of the project).

OptiFish will strive to provide technological solutions that will simultaneously improve the sustainability of fisher’s operations, enhance control processes and strengthen society’s trust in their products. OptiFish will develop, test and recommend a set of innovative technologies and tools supported by artificial intelligence (AI) to provide the management, the fishing sector and the scientist with data on catch volumes, catch compositions and the fishing environment. The goal is to unlock the full potential of technologies such as electronic and genetic monitoring for automated species recognition based on AI and computer vision to reduce discards, unreported landings and unreported fishing activities, ultimately establishing a fisheries control and enforcement system fit for the digital age. The technologies are not enough alone, it is also critical to consider the combination of technologies and the integration of computer vision models, the wide range of data sources and their subsequent formats, while also addressing stakeholders needs and acceptance. This goal cannot be achieved by a single project, which is why the aim of OptiFish is to lay a solid foundation for full technological development from which other projects and initiatives can be built. The project will place a strong focus on species recognition in different fisheries equipped with distinctly different catch handling facilities and in different European sea basins. To ensure that these innovations are relevant to fisheries management, OptiFish has participation from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, and has received written support from the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), the Basque, Danish and Belgian Fisheries authorities.