Have you ever wanted to take a peek below an estuary’s surface? Join us for an evening with the FinVision Team to introduce an exciting new project that aims to identify important habitats for juvenile fish of recreationally important species like bass and mullet, using hi-tech cameras.
Thursday, November 30 – 18:00 – 19:30 GMT Online. Please book here.
Understanding which types of habitat are essential for juvenile fish is vital to promoting sustainable fisheries and safeguarding the future of our sport. Recreationally important species like bass, grey mullet and flounder rely on inshore and estuarine areas for the first years of their life. FinVision aims to identify which habitats in these areas are important for which species. With these findings we can better advocate for policy decisions and decisive action that protects these vulnerable early life stages, such as through Essential Fish Habitat Mapping and Fisheries Management Plans.
You, colleagues and friends can get involved with FinVision by joining in analysing the videos, counting the numbers and size of fish living in different types of habitat via a specially-developed interactive website. Through FinVision the partnership will deploy a ‘smart’ underwater camera system (known as a JHaM-Cam unit), capable of seeing the smallest juvenile life-stages of fish, in a range of inshore habitats.
FinVision is a collaborative partnership led by the University of Plymouth with the Angling Trust, Southern IFCA, the Institute of Fisheries Management, Bass Anglers’ Sportfishing Society, National Mullet Club and the Association of IFCAs, funded by Defra’s Fisheries Industry Science Partnership which will deploy underwater cameras in key coastal and estuarine habitats in the south west, such as Plymouth Sound Marine National Park. FinVision aims to learn more about the preferred habitat of recreationally important species during their juvenile life stages.