THEME 4: MARINE BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES - FISHING AND FISH FARMING

The concept has been devised in response to the comments and demands of its potential target market, namely boat-owning skippers belonging to the joint Pesca-Cornouaille group. In order to guarantee catch-related financial stability within their industry, they need to develop the economic potential of their product to the full. The business solution involves selling as quickly as possible at the best possible price particularly on the ultra-fresh market by integrating their businesses into the food distribution chain from the point of catch. The technical solution lies in on-board Internet connectivity.

Whilst the cost of a satellite link may be acceptable for a tuna purse seiner, it is prohibitive for a vessel of less than 25 metres. The fishing industry has therefore asked the Quimper Cornouaille Technopole to find the appropriate partners in science and industry for perfecting low-cost Internet tools. It will allow the creation of services adapted to the marketing as well as safety needs of fishermen, providing links with weather forecasting services, harbours, net regulation information and family onshore.

Three SMEs and four research centres have undertaken a study into a potential system of interest to coastal fleets on every continent. Internet Pêche will use radio frequencies available in grounds fished by small vessels within a 150 to 200-nautical mile strip off the coast of Cornouaille in Brittany in an experimental phase before testing the system between Spain and Northern Ireland.

INTERNET PECHE BAS COUT PROJECT PARTNERS

Companies 

• Kenta Electronic in Quimper specialises in manufacturing maritime radio communications equipment – filters, amplifiers and decoders – acting as supplier in particular to the Centres régionaux opérationnels de surveillance et de sauvetage en mer (CROSS – Marine Operational Surveillance and Rescue Service). 
• Nasca Géomarine in Brest is an economic and maritime geography consultancy and research business and a subsidiary of Nasca Géosystemes, a company specialising in land and undersea geographical information software, GPS and Internet cartography.

Research centres 

• IFREMER in Brest includes the socio-economic development of the maritime environment among its missions.
• LEST–UBO Brest is an electronics and telecommunications systems lab. 
• ENST-Bretagne in Brest specialises in radio propagation phenomena and their characterisation. 
• INSA, National Institute for Applied Sciences, in Rennes, is working on systems of radio wave propagation. 
• Associate partner: CETMEF, Centre d’études techniques maritimes et fluviales (Centre for Study of Maritime and River Technology), in Compiègne.

Professional bodies supporting innovation 

• Quimper Cornouaille Technopole supports the creation of innovative activities and businesses in the Quimper labour market area. 
• Pesca Cornouaille in Concarneau is a professional organisation involving 7 fishing ports in south Finistère, home to 650 vessels less than 25 metres which land 70 000 tonnes of fresh fish a year.

Contacts

jean.boucher@pole-mer-bretagne.com
rachel.sellin@pole-mer-bretagne.com