A new observing system for the collection of fishery and oceanographic data

The remark about the great potential offered by fishing boats for the continuous and repeated observations led ISMAR-CNR to develop the Fishery Observing System (FOS) within the framework of the EU research program Mediterranean Forecasting System: Toward an Environmental Prediction (MFSTEP). Eight fishing vessels were equipped with FOS instrumentation to collect fishery and oceanographic data. The vessels belonged to different harbours of the central and northern Adriatic Sea. Anchovy and sardine were chosen as the target species. Geo-referenced catch data, associated with in situ temperature and depth, are the FOS products. This system (built in 2003) is still working and collects daily very important data in order to evaluate the fishing effort and the influence of the environment on the abundance distribution of the target species.