POLARIS

POLARIS is an end-to-end decision support tool for precision polar fisheries that optimizes navigation routes and identifies the most sustainable fishing grounds. Polaris enables fishermen not only to dynamically locate optimal fishing grounds – both for target species and to avoid sensitive bycatch species, but also to chart optimal routes between fishing grounds and/or ports.

The aim of POLARIS is to increase polar fishing profitability by 15%, due to reduced operational costs related to fuel consumption and time at sea. Simultaneously some of the key environmental impacts related to fishing are reduced: carbon emissions and the catch of sensitive bycatch species.

POLARIS is built from satellite services such as Earth Observation data, essential to determine the optimal route and best fishing grounds, Satellite Navigation, for accurate positioning of the vessel and route planning, and Satellite Communications to transmit data between the vessel and the POLARIS service platform. Additionally, the system includes in-situ data from temperature and salinity sensors attached to fishing gears to measure ocean conditions at depth. These in-situ data work in synergy with EO data to identify fishing locations but are also sent back to the infrastructures that provide ocean forecasts in those regions. Therefore, POLARIS directly improves forecasts exactly where the fishermen are fishing. POLARIS will be the result of collaboration between Deep Blue Globe and Berring Data Collective.