Monitoring and assessing fish stocks, other pelagic species and habitats with an automated, non-invasive, opto-acoustic system.

Proposals should develop a non-invasive, opto-acoustic system which can simultaneously quantify fish abundance, biomass, and diversity (at least 4 species) as well as other MFSD-relevant parameters through a further set of environmental instrumentation which can be linked to these data. The optical part should use low light levels. Mechanisms should be developed that translate information from the near field and far field and to effectively blend the data. The complete system should work autonomously, continuously and non-invasively over extended periods of time to enable the collation of representative data sets. The system should be tested in at least two underwater observatories and comparable data should be used for validation and calibration. The system should be developed to a pre commercial stage (TRL6). The monitoring systems data should comply with European and international standards and respond to the needs of organisations performing fish stock and marine or freshwater biodiversity assessment.

Efficient implementation of EU marine and fisheries policies relies on the provision of adequate, accurate and timely data on the diversity and abundance of marine species and the functioning of marine ecosystems. Legislation such as the Data Collection Framework Regulation for the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) as well as international agreements on biodiversity require effective monitoring and reporting to assess abundance and diversity of fish stocks and to support the definition of a good environmental status and progress towards its achievement. Conventional marine monitoring though sampling and the use of research vessels is costly and often invasive or lethal for the targeted biota. Progress in remote sensing and image processing technology offers the potential possibility to characterise and quantify pelagic fish species more efficiently using a non-invasive, automated opto-acoustic system which could be deployed in a single location without the

Proposals will:

• Improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of data collection concerning fish stocks and measurement of underwater biodiversity.
• Support data collection and monitoring to address the implementation of European marine policies including the CFP and MSFD.
• Advance the opto-acoustic technologies and their application in the field of autonomous underwater environmental monitoring, bringing them to at least technology readiness level (TRL6) to be used by monitoring performers.
• Improve the quality of measurement and monitoring techniques available to assess fish stocks, biodiversity and possibly other MSFD descriptors.
• Improve fish stock assessment and the related scientific advice offered to the EU.
• Improve the professional skills and competences of workers in European industry and in particular SMEs within the marine and maritime sectors to develop and commercialised new technologies
• Improve the provision of open