The closing event of the CUSTODIAN project, in which ISEL participated, took place on April 23rd at TERINOV - Terceira Island Science and Technology Park, in Angra do Heroísmo, Azores.
Within the scope of this project, in which the group of teachers Future Internet Technologies (DEETC/ISEL) participated, with Professor Carlos Mendes as the responsible researcher, an innovative system was developed that allows fishing vessels or a system placed on land to receive, at all times, the location of fishing gear, as well as receiving personalized warnings and alerts about equipment position drifts and sea conditions. It also allows the exchange of bidirectional land-sea messages, thus making up for the lack of connectivity between fishermen and land using classic mobile communications, which occurs at moderate distances from the coast.
Standing out for its impact and innovation in the field of environmental sustainability, CUSTODIAN aimed to face contemporary environmental challenges, proposing solutions and practices that aim to support fishermen and local authorities in preserving marine habitats, through, for example, enhancing reducing the loss of fishing gear, reducing the time and fuel spent on collecting or recovering them or generating alerts when entering protected areas.
This project, financed by the Blue Growth Program of the EEA Grants Portugal, is the result of an international consortium led by the company SOLVIT - Innovation on Telecommunications, in partnership with the AIR Centre - Atlantic International Research Centre, LOTAÇOR - Serviço de Lotas dos Açores, S.A, the Docapesca - Portos e Lotas, S.A., ISEL, UAVision,, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and TERINOV - Science and Technology Park.
