Community-Led Catch Data Monitoring
Post
1 year ago by kara_birkenmayer
ABALOBI and DFFE Join Forces to Pilot Digital Small-Scale Fisheries Data Collection using ABALOBI MONITOR

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) is a branch of the South African government. Its mission is to safeguard, preserve, and enhance the country's environment and natural resources. Established in 2019, the DFFE was formed by merging the Department of Environmental Affairs with the forestry and fisheries divisions of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries.

Through its Working for Fisheries Programme, DFFE and the Marine Living Resources Fund (MLRF) is in the beginning phases of implementing a Catch Data Monitoring Project for the commercial, small-scale and recreational sectors for three years. In the 2024/25 financial year, the DFFE aims to employ 800 people to assist with catch data monitoring of all fish landed in these sectors. Data collected in the monitoring process is used to make informed management decisions, including fishing rights allocations.

The Catch Data Monitoring Project will entail the capturing of landings of small-scale fishers along the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal coasts.

Historically, all catch monitoring has been done manually - monitors stationed at ports, harbours, and landing sites are equipped with pen and paper and painstakingly record landings data by hand. Collecting data in small-scale fisheries in particular has always been a formidable task.

In this groundbreaking collaborative effort, ABALOBI has co-designed its MONITOR platform to suit government requirements in order to trial digital catch data collection in South Africa. This platform is a digitised catch monitoring tool that greatly enhances the efficiency of data collection, visualisation, feedback, and reporting; and massively reduces the potential for erroneous data entry by bypassing manual steps altogether.

The ABALOBI MONITOR platform is currently being trialled with 20 DFFE monitors from 5 communities, and holds immense potential to improve DFFE’s efficacy in making management decisions based on trustworthy data if it were to scale nationally.

Training Workshops

The first step in this pilot project was to equip DFFE monitor teams with the necessary skills and confidence to collect fisheries data with ABALOBI’s MONITOR platform. Two training workshops were hosted in May: one in the Eastern Cape and another in the Western Cape. 10 DFFE Monitors from Port St Johns, and two from Kalk Bay, Lamberts Bay, Arniston and Struisbaai respectively, completed the course. The training programmes took place over two days in each of the two provinces, and both cohorts demonstrated strong digital literacy and a high level of education.

The training workshops highlighted the importance of data, which resonated with the participants. The monitors in attendance clearly understood the significance of their roles as part of the community: the data they collect becomes incredibly important in facilitating early conversations between fishers and government representatives, and monitors understand the pivotal role their work plays in this conversation.

Participants gathered some hands-on experience in capturing data during a practical - this section of training cements the realistic flow of data collection in the midst of fieldwork challenges.

Feedback and Future Steps

The feedback from the workshop was overwhelmingly positive. A DFFE Regional Coordinator commented on the ABALOBI Monitor App, saying, "The ABALOBI Monitor App is the tool, the vehicle to get us (DFFE) there to collect data in the shortest amount of time… It is ideal for the management of the resource”. Monitors also expressed eagerness to apply their newly acquired skills and knowledge in the field.

ABALOBI looks forward to continuing this collaboration, ensuring that the tools and data provided will have a lasting impact on South African fisheries and their communities, and supporting DFFE with their aim of ensuring that marine stocks are properly managed through appropriate management measures based on good quality data.