THE COASTAL SUBSURFACE DATA GAP
The Fishing Vessel Ocean Observing Network (FVON) tackles the problem of subsurface coastal data gaps. While existing methods of data collection—including buoys, drones, and satellites—work well for monitoring the open ocean, they struggle to operate in coastal and shelf seas due to complex bathymetry and dynamic currents. These near-shore waters are critical for blue economy activities and for the 2.4 billion people around the world who live within 100 kilometers of the ocean. Filling these data gaps at scale is key for complementing the capabilities of other GOOS networks.
FISHING FOR DATA
Fishers and their fishing vessels are the ideal partners for data collection in shelf and coastal seas because they are already operating profiling platforms in these areas. With more than four million fishing vessels globally and most fishing already occurring in the relatively data-sparse nearshore areas of oceans, fishers can “fish” for data while conducting normal operations. As fishing gear deploys, sensors attached to the gear go along for the ride, collecting water column profiles while the gear catches fish. Such a design allows for cost-effective and scalable data collection. This, along with a fundamentally inclusive collaboration with fishers, is at the crux of FVON’s mission: to democratize ocean observation.
STEERING COMMITTEE
MEET THE TEAM
Patrick Gorringe
SMHI
… in Australia and teams in Europe by setting up, leading and motivating platform-oriented ocean observing Task Teams and linking their activities to global networks, programs and initiatives such as EMODnet, GOOS, the UN Ocean Decade and more.
Michela Martinelli
CNR-IRBIM
… programs of important fishery resources, such as Norway lobster inthe Adriatic Sea. Since 2009 she has been involved in the use of oceanographic sensors on fishing vessels, and since 2013 she has been responsible for the Adriatic Fishery & Oceanography Observing Systems (AdriFOOS) infrastructure and related activities in EU projects. She is a founding member of the Fishing Vessel Ocean Observing Network.
Moninya Roughan
FishSOOP
…on the oceanography of the East Australian Current. She has led major projects for industry, government, the Australian Research Council and the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. She has held continuous leadership roles in Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) since 2007, leading the design and implementation of the observing and modelling efforts for the East Australian Current System. As the inaugural director of the Moana Project, she was instrumental in the conception, design and implementation of the Moana Sensor program in New Zealand which was a precursor to her leadership in the FishSOOP program in Australia and the wider Pacific.
Miguel Santos
CCMAR
…in Marine Sciences. He is the National Focal Point for the Argo Program, National Delegate Advisor for EMSO, IPMA’s representative to EuroGOOS, and the President of the Portuguese Oceanographic Society. His research interests are the physical-biological interactions in the ocean through an end-to-end approach, the development of ocean observing systems, the impact of global change in the ocean (especially in upwelling systems), fisheries oceanography, fish ecology and the applications of satellite remote sensing to marine fisheries and oceanography. He has more than 100 publications with more than 3250 citations and an h-index of 29 (Scopus)
Cooper Van Vranken
ODN
…systems around the world. Cooper grew up on a small island in Maine and fished commercially both in the Maine lobster fishery as well as the salmon purse seine fishery in Prince William Sound. Cooper started his career as a mechanical design engineer, engineering robotic systems for aerospace manufacturing, before focusing on fisheries and getting an MSc in Fisheries Oceanography from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU-Aqua).