Mobile Device Fisheries Program in Solomons Wins Science and Technology Prize

Fishing communities and vendors in the Solomon Islands are using mobile phone technology to develop a real-time database to manage their fish stocks. The project was recently named one of the Grand Prize winners in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Science and Technology Pioneers Prize contest.

The Pioneers Prize recognizes USAID projects that successfully apply science and technology to solving development challenges.

The USAID-funded Hapi Fis, Hapi Pipol! (Happy Fish, Happy People!) mobile app helps government officials capture information from fishers and fish vendors about the country’s major fish markets and landing stations. Using software and surveys designed to gather data on inshore fisheries, the mobile application enables surveyors working under the Solomon Islands Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources to transmit collected information to a cloud-based server. The system automatically combines and analyzes the data to support government decision-making and help manage and protect the nation’s vital fisheries resources.

Previously, fisheries management in the geographically dispersed island nation was exceptionally difficult due to the lack of precise and centralized data. Paper entries were often wet, illegible, and not consolidated into a usable database.

The program, one of the first complete online platforms for inshore fisheries of its kind in the world, is part of U.S. support for the six-nation Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security. According to USAID Coral Triangle Support Partnership program manager Rene Acosta, the project originated from a Solomon Islands’ request for assistance to safeguard their inshore fisheries. The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources wanted to explore whether existing mobile data-gathering applications could be adapted for their needs.

The project began in earnest in October 2012. “For resource management programs, and to support fishing communities, we need accurate data on production, species, origin, and how, when, and by whom the fish are being caught. Now we have all this information literally at our fingertips,” said Solomon Islands Government chief fisheries officer Ben Buga.

The project contracted the non-governmental organization Ecotrust and its for-profit subsidiary Point 97 (pointnineseven.com) to custom-design the software for the Solomon Islands, where technological infrastructure is basic and fishers use 28 main landing ports and hundreds of smaller landing sites and markets across 1,000 islands.

“The Solomons was an ideal site to test this technology. They have all the logistical challenges,” said Acosta. “We knew that if we could make it work in the Solomons, we could make it work anywhere.”

The application architecture of the Solomon Islands mobile platform is based on open-source software and is available for adaptation in other countries.