My Research

Recreational fishing waste, such as offal and carcasses discarded into the water, can result in a highly predictable food source for wildlife. This novel food source can have positive (easy access to food, increased breeding performance) and negative impacts (dependency, increased aggression) on marine wildlife. This project aims to quantify recreational fishing waste and assess the potential ecological impact the waste could have on different species (fish, invertebrates).  Artificial intelligence (AI) at fish cleaning tables, will be used to identify and measure fish to help infer the quantity of waste produced. This project's goal will not interfere with recreational fishers and their practices. Only fish will be recorded with the AI, no data will be collected on the fishers. This research is funded by the Recreational Fishing Trust and in collaboration with the tech company In2ition.