The lack of data has been an excuse for inaction. That excuse will no longer exist.
SEASCANN's automated system digitally classifies fish by size, species, and quality in real-time aboard Icelandic fishing vessels, replacing manual labor and improving data accuracy. EcoScope takes a holistic ecosystem approach across 18 countries, mapping interconnected factors affecting marine health and making data freely available to scientists, policymakers, and the public.
- SEASCANN digitizes fish by size, species, and quality in real time aboard Icelandic fishing vessels
- EcoScope involves 18 countries and makes all marine ecosystem data freely available to the public
- Overfishing persists in the Mediterranean and Black Sea despite EU fishing reforms since 2013
- EU aims to recover ocean health by 2030 using these data-driven management systems
EU-backed projects like SEASCANN and EcoScope use advanced digital technology and machine learning to collect precise data on fish populations and marine ecosystems, enabling better-informed policy decisions for sustainable fishing and ocean preservation.
Off the jagged coast of Iceland, five fishing vessels are running an experiment that could reshape how the world monitors its oceans. The machines they're testing—built by a company called Skaginn 3X—do something that has never been done before at industrial scale: they digitize wild fish the moment they're caught, recording size, color, quality, and species with the precision of a laboratory instrument, then beam that data in real time to the crew and to scientists on shore.
The system is called SEASCANN, and it exists because the world's fishing industry has a data problem. For decades, fishermen have sorted their nets by hand, a slow and imprecise task that leaves policymakers and marine biologists working with incomplete information about what's actually in the ocean. The European Union, alarmed by signs of ecosystem collapse in waters from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, has begun funding a suite of research projects designed to change that. If SEASCANN and its companion initiatives succeed, they could provide the foundation for a fundamental shift in how humanity manages the sea.
Axel Freyr Gíslason, the product development chief at Skaginn 3X, describes the moment when the company realized what it was building. "We live in an age where everything is being digitized and recorded in databases," he says, "but as far as I know, this is the first time it's happening with wild fish." The technical challenges were immense. The machines sit on open decks, exposed to salt spray and humidity that corrodes ordinary electronics. The company had to engineer computers, high-definition cameras, and sensors from scratch, teaching the system's machine learning algorithms to recognize different species under every conceivable condition. It took years of training data before the system could work reliably.
But SEASCANN is only one piece of a larger puzzle. A second EU-backed project called EcoScope takes a different approach entirely. Rather than focusing on individual species, EcoScope treats the ocean as an interconnected whole—mapping currents, tracking nutrient flows, monitoring the health of other marine life, and recording the impact of human activity. The project involves 18 countries and partners ranging from universities to environmental organizations to tech companies. The team is building a single online platform that will make all this data freely available not just to scientists and policymakers, but to fishermen, divers, surfers, and anyone else who cares about the sea.
The stakes are clear. Overfishing persists despite a European Union fishing reform in 2013, particularly in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Chemical runoff from farms has created dead zones where algae blooms consume all the oxygen, suffocating other life. For decades, the standard response has been to manage one species at a time—setting catch limits on cod, then on tuna, then on something else—while the broader ecosystem deteriorated. Athanassios Tsikliras, a marine biologist at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the coordinator of EcoScope, believes the problem has been simple: nobody had good enough data to do anything else. "For a long time, the lack of data has been an excuse for the lack of action," he says. "That excuse will no longer exist."
EcoScope is designed to be more than a database. It includes an educational academy with online courses and webinars for young scientists and policymakers. It has a smartphone app that lets ordinary people report environmental concerns—pollution, dead fish, unusual algae blooms—with GPS coordinates and photos, routing those reports directly to local authorities. The platform will include real-time information about wave height, local marine life, and ocean heat waves alongside the research data. By the end of 2023, a simulation tool for maritime spatial planning in the eastern Mediterranean will be ready, allowing policymakers to test different management scenarios before implementing them.
What both projects share is a conviction that precision and transparency can change behavior. When fishermen see exactly what they're catching, when scientists have access to real-time ecosystem data, when policymakers can model the consequences of their decisions before making them, the incentives shift. The European Union has committed to recovering ocean health by 2030 as part of its broader climate and biodiversity goals. These projects are the infrastructure that makes that commitment real—not as a slogan, but as a measurable, data-driven objective. The question now is whether the technology can keep pace with the urgency of the problem.
Citas Notables
We live in an age where everything is being digitized and recorded in databases, but as far as I know, this is the first time it's happening with wild fish.— Axel Freyr Gíslason, product development chief at Skaginn 3X
For a long time, the lack of data has been an excuse for the lack of action. That excuse will no longer exist.— Athanassios Tsikliras, marine biologist and EcoScope coordinator
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does it matter that fish are being digitized the moment they're caught? Isn't catch data already recorded somewhere?
It is, but usually by hand, weeks later, and with a lot of guesswork. SEASCANN records the actual fish—its size, species, quality—instantly and objectively. That's the difference between a rough estimate and a precise measurement.
And EcoScope is different—it's not about individual fish, but the whole system?
Exactly. For decades, we've managed fisheries by saying "catch no more than X tons of cod." But cod don't live in isolation. They eat smaller fish, they're eaten by seals, they depend on water temperature and oxygen levels. EcoScope tries to see all of that at once.
Who actually uses this data? Is it just for scientists?
That's the radical part. It's free and open to everyone—fishermen, surfers, divers, students, policymakers. A young scientist in Portugal can download data for free to run experiments. A fishing community can see what's happening in their waters in real time.
What happens if the data shows something the fishing industry doesn't want to hear?
That's the gamble. The theory is that if everyone has access to the same facts, it becomes harder to deny what's happening. You can't argue with a photograph or a real-time measurement.
Is there a risk that this just becomes another database that nobody actually uses?
Possibly. But the designers seem to understand that. They're building education into it—courses, games, simulation tools. They're making it accessible, not just technically but culturally. And they're giving people a way to report problems directly through their phones.
What's the timeline? When does this actually change how fishing is managed?
The EU wants ocean recovery by 2030. These systems are supposed to be the foundation for that shift. But that's only seven years away, and the ocean's problems didn't develop overnight.