How we work with impact
Reinventing seabed harvesting is more than just a new piece of equipment for picking scallops, it means understanding what happens on the bottom before, during and after we fish. At Ava Ocean, we’ve made our impact work an integral part of the fishing operation itself. Alongside harvesting Arctic scallops, we collect data that helps us understand the seabed, measure the effects of our operations and improve how we work.
Measuring more than the catch
Ava Ocean's commercial research licence for Arctic scallops requires us to continue building knowledge about both the scallop population and the environmental effects of harvesting, working closely with fisheries authorities and research institutions.
A central part of this work is our Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) programme, developed in collaboration with the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research.
The research looks beyond the target catch. We monitor bycatch and the wider benthic environment, including the species living on and around the seabed. Over time, this allows us to build a clearer picture of how harvesting interacts with the ecosystem.
The research follows a design known as BACI: Before, After, Control and Impact.
The Ava Ray is both a harvesting system and a tool for collecting this information. Samples from defined transects can be combined with camera footage of the seabed, while the vessel’s dynamic positioning system allows us to return to the same areas with high precision.
This gives researchers a detailed picture of what the harvester collects, what it leaves behind and what changes can be observed after harvesting.
Building knowledge together
The data collected at sea also helps build knowledge about the scallop population, including size, age and distribution across the fishing grounds.
This work is carried out in close collaboration with the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research and is part of a PhD by Ava’s internal Chief Impact Officer. Data from the commercial research fishery can also contribute to the development of how we manage the resource in the future.
Learning and improving
Monitoring is not simply about documenting impact. The findings feed back into the operation.
Data and experience from previous harvesting have already helped improve the Ava Ray, including its sorting and selectivity. As the fishery continues, new data can help us improve both the technology and how we operate.
What this does is take some of the luck out of fishing, replacing it with knowledge, precision and a better understanding of the ocean from the seabed up.