CONSULTING.

The Bird Scaring Line (BSL) is accepted as part of the recommended best practices for the protection of seabirds during commercial fishing activities. Although BSLs are effective and user-friendly, it has not been easy to determine if they are actually being deployed by fishing vessels with an increasing number of reports indicating that they aren't.

 

Mr Sihle Victor Ngcongo, the founder of Imvelo Blue Environment Consultancy, took it upon himself to develop a solution. He approached us with the idea for a device to monitor the deployment of bird scaring lines on fishing vessels. He needed the device to collect data independently at regular intervals and he needed it to be tamper-proof.

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Together with Dr Miranda as the technical and scientific developer of the device, the two companies came up with the Imvelo Blue BSL Electronic Monitoring Device to assist fishing companies who are committed to the conservation of marine ecosystems. The data collected from the device are measured against vessel log book data and clearly identify sets where a BSL was or was not deployed as well as an indication of optimal deployment. The device works autonomously and has IoT capabilities - this means it has the potential to cover all relevant fishing operations worldwide and monitoring can be done remotely in real time. 

 

This is a South African invention. It is a tool for scientific observers, environmental organisations, government and fishers. It completes any BSL to ensure safe operation and conservation of endangered marine birdlife.