Structure of the FindFish Knowledge Transfer Platform

Abstract

Abstract As consumer awareness increases in Poland, fish consumption is on an upward trend. While new technologies permit meeting increasing demand, they significantly increase the pressure on fish supplies. As a result, many fish stocks are over-exploited, which threatens marine ecosystems. Declining fisheries, increasing fishing operating costs, and the necessity of making longer fishing expeditions at greater distances that often end with catches of fewer or less valuable fish mean that in some fisheries sectors are currently running at the margins of profit or at a loss. At the same time, the European Union’s fisheries policy aims to create more selective and sustainable fisheries, to implement limitations through fishing quotas, and to ban the recognition of discards. The aim is to ensure that individual fish species are protected while providing the European Union with stable, secure supplies of fresh fish. The FindFish Knowledge Transfer Platform project was launched to provide solutions for challenges facing commercial fisheries. Its purpose is to provide fishers with a knowledge transfer platform and a numerical forecasting system for the marine environment of the Gulf of Gdansk. By combining in-situ research, environmental data, fish catch data, and numerical calculations, this tool will improve the accuracy of targeted fishing while reducing by-catch. The system will provide more reliable data on fish stocks and facilitate more efficient resource management.