Electronic monitoring is a tool used to collect fishing data including:

• The number of fish that are caught
• Fishing effort (e.g., number of hours or days spent fishing)
• Bycatch

These data support and improve stock assessments and ensure that catch limits are sustainable in the long term. NOAA Fisheries is investing in technology that fishermen use to track their catch. These new technologies hold promise in making data collection more timely, accurate, and cost-efficient.

This on-board camera is fliming activities on a fishing vessel. Technologies like this and new softrware capable of identifying and measuring different fish species may supplement human fishery observers.