Its a long time since fishing vessels were preconceived as a sector anchored in the past, where advances and new technologies were unwelcome.  In recent years many of the barriers have been crossed and new rules have been established to improve onboard working conditions  and the wellbeing of the operator, giving them greater resources and increased efficiency in fishing operations.  At the same time, the more conservative segments among fishing fleets as far as the introduction of new technology is concerned in deck machinery, are beginning to overcome their reticence towards new, innovative solutions.

This sentiment is becoming visible every day.  Both in new constructions as well as refurbishment of new fishing boats, clients no longer wish to repeat the old designs and functions of equipment on similar vessels.  There has been a continuous and  empirical process of improvements in technical characteristics and the realization that sustainability and rentability are not necessarily opposed, efficiency being the one element which balances the equation.  In this sense, a case by case study of the application, establishes the suitability of the solution.

On the subject of efficiency, the use and re-use of energy will determine the degree of system efficiency.  At the moment when we talk about regeneration or recuperation of energy, this is not only the administration of use in real time, but is also about the advantages of storing for conditions of higher demand.  Following this line of development, projects have already been developed for the fishing industry and oceanographic vessels for fishing investigation, where energy storage systems have been evaluated with batteries (ultra capacitor banks when the loading and offloading operations are carried out in short periods of time) or mechanical energy storage systems (KERS) with which we are already familiar in the automobile sector.

Moreover, today, control systems supplied to almost 100% of new constructions allow monitoring in real time of the operations carried out by fishing winches.  If the main advantage of this service is to telematically assist with and resolve any problems which may arise, it also allows for the registry of real performance data.  Also in a bid to optimize functionality, technologies such as "Edge Computing" allow for intelligent analysis of data and the ability to give performance diagnosis of the deck machinery before sending the data to the cloud, which will improve, where possible the monitoring of system performance.  

All of this information can be used to establish predictive maintenance, individual performance analysis on each winch or feed a new concept which is gaining more and more ground, for digital twins.  The creation of a digital twin of a fishing boat, or one of its systems, can offer substantial improvements in three groups.  Firstly the best analysis of a global solution, seeking sinergies and better efficiency of the process.  Secondly the indentification of errors during the early phases which gives great  benefits in costs and time. Thirdly, the introduction of changes before construction of the real model, allowing evaluation of the impact they suppose.  However, the definition of a digital twin which precisely reflects said systems, means the construction of complex models and the introduction and updating of an enormous amount of data.

In summary, it is important to introduce all the means and solutions acquired during this iterative process of continuous improvement to the industry,  and for the client to evaluate its application.  In this way, the long deserved renovation and renewal of fishing systems will achieve the results we all hope for. 

Source: Industrias Pesqueras