Nemo, a tracking device with distress alerting for small boats now piloting in the EU

[Sailor John]

*This is primarily a tracking device to gather data from small-scale fisheries. It runs on a hybrid of both satellite and mobile phone towers. There's no voice communication facility available via satellite. When in range of mobile towers, they have apps etc for the usual stuff that's already implemented here in India primarily by the MSSRF and later by many other state govts and agencies. They also have some catch data collection both voluntarily and otherwise.

NEMO is solar powered as the video shows and fits conveniently on the gunwale of the boat. The satellite facility also provides a position indicator so when a distress alert is transmitted, the SAR people will get the position of the vessel in distress like an EPIRB of sorts. nothing new again except that the EU is implementing it and making sophisticated noises. Right now it's only in the pilot stage so they've gone overboard with the PR etc (even the video) and one has to sift through the rhetoric to figure out what's going on. Pls follow the links below to read further.

Small-scale fisheries account for 85% of all fishing vessels in the EU but they are currently not monitored: it is difficult to know where and when they fish, and how much. This represents a challenge  to manage fish stocks in a sustainable manner. The EU-funded project STARFISH 4.0 has developed the NEMO technology to address both the issue of sustainability and safety at sea. 110 local traditional fishers in Greece and Mauritania tested the system during 18 months, with success. NEMO is now ready to market.