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DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING

COLLEGE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM

Smart Fishing Innovative Solutions for Effective Conservation and Sustainability of Tanzania Blue Economy

  • 16 Jul
  • 2023

Smart Fishing Innovative Solutions for Effective Conservation and Sustainability of Tanzania Blue Economy

Research Project Name: Smart Fishing Innovative Solutions for Effective Conservation and Sustainability of Tanzania Blue Economy

Reg Number: CoICT-ETE23023   

Principal Investigator: Dr. Abdi Abdalla

Funding Agency: University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM)

Amount TZS: 198,880,000

Start Date: Mar 20, 2023             

Description: The National Five-Year Development Plan of 2021/22 – 2025/26 (FYDP III) emphasizes Blue Economy as one of the strategic plans to realize competitiveness and industrialization for human socio-economic development. This emphasis, which builds on the fourteenth sustainable development goal (SDG 14, life under water), resulted into the formulation of the Zanzibar Blue Economy Policy in 2020. Supporting these efforts, which perfectly align with the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) agenda of 2018/19 – 2028/29, we recently engaged UDSM students to develop the ICT (information and communication technology) solution that promotes smart fishing. The motivation for this initiative originated from our observation that the traditional fishing methods necessitate frequent visits of the fishing sites. This time consuming

and inconvenient activity increases potential risks for loss of fishers’ lives and properties, and does not guarantee maximum harvesting of fish. In addition, absence of intelligent fishing mechanisms and robust tools may cause fishers to unintentionally catch untargeted types of fish. Challenged by these issues, we intend to extend our previous work that has generated promising results. In essence, the project team developed a prototype as a proof of concept, but the ultimate goal is to perfect and commercialize the solution. Prospects for commercialization may be validated from the positive remarks that we received when our preliminary results were presented on 28th October 2022 at the Tanzania Annual ICT conference (https://taic.ictc.go.tz/), Zanzibar, where we emerged the first winner of best academic paper on Blue Economy. Finalizing the current development may, therefore, address SDG 14 and facilitate realization of the national FYDP III on conservation and sustainability of marine resources.

Expected Output: In this project, we will generate three types of products: smart fishing gear, vessel tracking and emergency reporting system, and mobile application for localizing fish and controlling other hardware components of the system. In addition, we will develop processes and guidelines for smart fishing as a strategy to promote Blue Economy. Lastly, the project intends to establish services to facilitate government institutions to collect data for research purposes.

Expected Completion Date: Mar 20, 2024

Team Members:

  1. Angelina Misso
  2. Baraka Maiseli
  3. Ellen Kalinga
  4. Eva Shayo
  5. Kwame Ibwe
  6. Moses Mchome Rahab
  7. Mwang'amba
  8. Rukia Kitula
  9. Salim Yahya
  10. Nelson Kimaro

Contacts

Please contact the Principal Investigator for all matters related to the project.

Email: abdit@udsm.ac.tz

Mobile: +255(0)776 188 588

You may also reach the department:

Email: ete@udsm.ac.tz

Telephone: 022 241 0500 (Ext. 2537)