An international initiative involving fishers and researchers aims to enhance fishing practices and improve forecasts for significant weather events, including marine heatwaves, cyclones, and climate phenomena like La Niña and El Niño. This collaboration has led to the installation of sensors that record water temperature and depth on fishing gear used by boats operating in New Zealand, Australia, the Southern Ocean, and the Western Central Pacific. To date, over 3 million temperature recordings have been collected, creating a valuable dataset that provides insights into conditions beneath the ocean's surface, particularly in some of the world's most remote areas.

Professor Moninya Roughan, an oceanography expert at the University of New South Wales, co-designed the sensors and leads the Fisheries Ships of Opportunity Observing Program, known as FishSOOP. She noted that while most global ocean temperature data is gathered via satellites, these only measure the top layer of water. Understanding temperature variations below the surface is crucial for studying water circulation, heat absorption, marine extremes, and the distribution of marine life. "The oceans are on average 4 kilometers deep, so they are a vast reservoir," Roughan explained. "We can get 10 to 15 to 20 degree temperature changes through the water column down to the bottom of the ocean."

Roughan emphasized the importance of this sub-surface temperature data for short-term decision-making at sea. It can assist fishers in determining where and when to fish, the optimal fishing depth, and the amount of bait to use. Additionally, this knowledge can enhance weather forecasting on various time scales. "An extreme example of how the atmosphere is connected to the ocean are tropical cyclones; they feed off the heat content of the ocean," she said. Improved estimates of ocean heat content could lead to better cyclone predictions, potentially saving lives and property.

The data collected could also inform long-term management plans for fishers and help predict the impacts of climate phenomena like La Niña and El Niño on rainfall and water supply. Roughan stated, "Then you've got multi-decadal predictions, what does it look like in 10 years, 50 years, 100 years time, what is the rate of ocean warming in my region, what is the impact going to be?" She described the FishSOOP program as transformational, enhancing collaboration between scientists and the fishing industry while improving ocean measurement and observation.

In Western Australia, the Western Rock Lobster Council's CEO, Matt Taylor, reported that 10 boats from Mandurah to Kalbarri are participating in the program by attaching sensors to their lobster pots. "We're quite keen to understand what's happening at a pot level, rather than what's happening on the surface," he said. Taylor expressed interest in understanding how various parameters affect rock lobster catchability and the relationship between conditions at the ocean floor and surface measurements. Currently, the sensors record temperature and depth, but future plans include measuring dissolved oxygen, pH levels, and salinity to build a comprehensive profile of physical parameters.

Roughan highlighted that the collaboration with commercial, recreational, and indigenous fishing industries broadens the geographical range of data available to scientists. "Ocean observing is difficult, but our planet is 70 percent ocean. So we need to partner with industries to really be able to measure the ocean; we can't do it with research funding alone," she said. The program, which began in New Zealand and expanded to Australia in 2022, is now collecting data from fishers in the Southern Ocean and the Western Central Pacific. It also collaborates with partner organizations in the U.S., Japan, and Europe that are working on similar initiatives. Despite the progress, Roughan hopes to recruit more fishers to join the FishSOOP program to fill existing data gaps.