The shrimp stock in Argentina is phenomenal. The picture below indicates typical catch rates. Rarely do vessels have any issues catching shrimp. However, this large biomass does pose some issues in terms of trawl damage and quality. Trawls can be ripped open and shrimp crushed if the vessel tows just minutes too long.

The Notus Trawlmaster has provided a very good solution. Notus’s unique Activ-Omni technology gives the Captain incredible accuracy in the wheelhouse. Data is not filtered nor averaged, so fast changes of even 1m in spread can be easily seen.

The Captain of Madre Maria from the port of Rawson, Argentina describes his experience with Notus sensors. They use Notus sensors on their double rig shrimp trawl to monitor double spread, trawl wire length and door angle. Typical display below.

Captain JURADO says “In less than an hour towing, the doors closed at 12.5 meters...I turned and 1,000 boxes came. Without the sensors it might have broken the trawl or crushed the shrimp.” In this fishery, it’s all about knowing that the trawl gear is performing and when it’s time to haul the trawl.

Captain JURADO really has his Notus sensors dialed in. He adds: “If the doors close between 1 to 1.5meters there are 200 to 250 boxes in the bag. If it closes 2.5m I have about 400 boxes in the bag. If it closes from 4 to 4.5m, I have between 600 and 800 boxes."

Thanks to Captain JURADO for sharing his Notus experience!

Nephrops (aka Norwegian Lobster, Prawns) are some of the most valuable species in European fisheries. One of the overwhelming issues in the fishery is Captains have no idea where they are catching Nephrops.

As seen on the FV Glittfors, the Notus Echo finally gives a way to detect where Nephrops are being caught.

Echo listens for the sound of prawns hitting the grid and transmits the data back to the vessel wirelessly to be displayed on a graph. The Swedish vessel FV Glittfors installed Echo this past Fall to detect Norwegian Lobster.

Captain Thomas says "We installed Echo to see where we are catching Norwegian Lobster. The Echo is becoming a very useful tool. We are finding the areas on our tow with more Norwegian lobster.”

Analysis of the Echo data (example below) indicates that Nephrops congregate in “hives.” That is, they are not spread out over the fishing ground. They congregate together in specific areas. Echo allows the Captain to locate these hives - the sweet spot and tow back over them

The above graph is from a Nephrop tow. Areas A and B are the best catch rates (the sweet spot). In area C and D the vessel towed out of Nephrops. Echo data for this 2 hour tow indicated the vessel was only catching Nephrops for 30 mins (25%) of the tow. With Echo, the vessel can now target areas A & B.

The Captain makes an overall comment: “We can also see when we are not catching anything and wasting fuel. We are very glad for the Echo sensor it is working very good."

Echo is sure to be the same game changer for prawns as it was for shrimp!

New trawl technology helps fleets fish smarter and managers track biomass, despite Covid disruptions.

Notus was selected as the award winner for Baird Maritime's Work Boat World Best Trawl Monitoring Equipment Award 2019. The Work Boat World Best awards are given to clients who have supplied to the most amount of units to new build vessels throughout the year that they have reviewed.

Notus will be exhibiting at Atlantic Canada's All-Encompassing Commercial Marine - Event:

Fish Canada - Workboat Canada (January 24 - 25, 2020)

Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Website:  http://www.fcwc.ca/ 

We have been developing videos for years to keep everyone informed about new products, exciting installations and how to use our equipment.

The below video has more than 3.8 million views. We thought to resend the video for everyone’s enjoyment.

The video shows Notus equipment used on a Danish twin trawler. This was developed in cooperation with a Danish Captain Mads Nielsen. Mads has since passed but this video has been informative to thousands.

Compagnie Francaise Du Thon Oceanique (CFTO) is based in France and operates a large fleet of tuna seiners. CFTO installed a Notus Seinemaster for real time monitoring of their tuna seine. This video focuses on the vessel and how the Seinemaster is used.

See Notus at these shows in 2019

DanFish International Fisheries Exhibition – Aalborg, Denmark: October 9 - 11, 2019

ITECHMER The International Fishing Industry Trade Fair - Lorient, France: October 16 - 18, 2019

International Cold Water Prawn Forum – St. John's, NL. Canada: November 14 - 16, 2019

China Fisheries & Seafood Expo – Wenquan Town, Shandong Province, China: October 30 - November 1, 2019

Pacific Marine Expo – Seattle, WA, USA: November 21 - 23, 2019

This is an excerpt of a larger presentation given by Mr. Nick Edwards at the International Cold Water Prawn Forum in Reykjavik, Iceland. Nick explains how the fleet is using Echo to detect shrimp. The presentation also gives a wonderful introduction to the Jordani shrimp fishery on the US west coast.

Every year, the largest commercial fisheries magazine in the USA, National Fisherman, makes a list of the best new technologies over the past year. Notus is proud to have two new technologies on this year’s list: Echo and Dredgemaster. Short excerpt’s from the original article are below.

Echo

National Fisherman excerpt: “A product that employs listening devices attached to the grate in a shrimp trawl. Interestingly enough, shrimp make a specific acoustic signal when they hit the grate, and this feedback can be sent to the pilot house. Measuring the signal allows the captain to calculate catch rates and avoid water tows. Go from fishing blind to fishing a certain number per hour.”

Dredgemaster

National Fisherman excerpt: “Newfoundland-based Notus introduced Dredgemaster which uses wireless sensors to measure [warp length], pitch and roll angles for improved dredging. With sensors mounted on the tow bar pitch can be adjusted.”

Captain Simon McDowell of the FV Daroni in New Zealand has been using the same Notus system for almost 20 years. They use Catch Sensors to determine when to take back the trawl. On occasion, they even use their sensors to locate a lost trawl (due to the Notus Active Technology).

See an interview with Captain McDowell here compliments of Marintec.

Over the last 25 years, Notus has recognized the importance of local support for its net monitoring systems. Local installation and repair by trained/qualified dealers is key. With that in mind, we are proud to announce two new dealers: GCB Marine in the USA and Pochon Pro in France.

The smallest boat ever to fit Notus!

The smallest boat to install Notus is the 9.8 meter trawler Millie-G FH21 owned and operated by Paul Blewett of Camel Fish in Padstow.

Seafield Navigation, the Scottish distributor for Notus fitted the Trawlmaster. Fran West, owner of Seafield, comments: “The challenge with boats this size has been maintaining the balance in these small doors. Larger heavy sensors upset the door behavior by adding drag and toppling the doors.”

Millie GNotus sensors weigh just 1 kg in water which means that they do not add extra drag or unnecessary weight to the doors.

The Millie-G uses 4 1/2 foot Dunbar doors on a light single bottom trawl, and midwater doors/trawl for seasonal pelagic fishing. Working in water as shallow as 5 or 6 fathoms with wire lengths out to 175 fathoms meant an innovative approach was needed. On the doors, the Millie G monitors doorspread, wire length and door angle. Also door depth is used on the midwater gear to ensure the optimal door attitude.

The addition of Headline Height and Footrope sensors give: net opening, distance to the bottom and footgear clearance. While the catch sensor allows early detection of a good catch or an early warning of a bag of jellyfish which prove very difficult to handle on boats of this size.

Notus ‘s past experience with high length/depth scope ratios proved invaluable in getting the hydrophone installation right the first time. Nick Plant at NJP welders made an excellent job of forming the hydrophone into the glass fiber hull.

After initial shakedown sea trials, the rapid 5 second updates from the Notus system removed the guesswork from the job. The headline height was found to agree with the netmakers design and the doorspreads are responsive to the changing water depths and bottom conditions including snag detection.

The below video is a perfect example of how Notus can contribute to the overall fishing operation. The video was created by Marintec, the Notus distributor in New Zealand. This is mainly an interview with Captain Ant Smith of the FV Donna Maria out of Port Chalmers, New Zealand. Many thanks to Captain Smith and Marintec for sharing their knowledge!