Smart Fisheries in Norway: Partnership between Science, Technology, and the Fishing Sector

The Research Council of Norway recently funded the Centre for Research-based Innovation in Marine Acoustic Abundance Estimation and Backscatter Classification (CRIMAC). The centre has smart fisheries as one of its main pillars, and will address reliable catch quantification, sizing, and species identification of individual fish. It builds on a long tradition of science-industry partnership in Norway. In this essay, we review how this science-industry partnership has formed through long standing collaborations between marine science organizations, innovative fishing companies, and the marine-tech industry. The results from this collaboration have led to instruments and methods being used worldwide for smart fishing operations and monitoring the marine environment