A ground-breaking Framework for Integrated Data-Driven IntelligEnce in Fisheries Monitoring, ControL and Surveillance
Overview
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing remains one of the most serious threats to marine ecosystems and sustainable food systems in Europe and beyond. Despite EU regulations mandating catch reporting and landing obligations, the vast majority of small-scale fishing vessels still rely on paper-based systems that are slow, error-prone and difficult to enforce.
FIDEL is a Horizon Europe Innovation Action that addresses this challenge head-on. Bringing together 24 partners from 14 countries, FIDEL develops a comprehensive digital framework that equips fisheries operators, inspection authorities and scientific bodies with the tools they need to monitor, verify and control fishing activity in real time. The project integrates artificial intelligence, blockchain-based distributed ledger technologies, DNA-based species identification, satellite surveillance, IoT sensor data and electronic logbooks into a single interoperable platform. Four pilot campaigns across European and international seas – covering small-scale, recreational and long-distance fisheries – will validate the solutions in real operational conditions, ensuring the framework is practical, scalable and ready for wider EU adoption.
Objectives
Design and develop a holistic framework combining ground-breaking data collection tools, AI-driven monitoring systems and incentivised reporting mechanisms for fisheries operators.
Equip inspection authorities with advanced, cost-effective monitoring, control and surveillance capabilities to identify and combat IUU fishing activities in real time.
Advance data quality and interoperability by improving catch-reporting data collection, harmonising datasets across EU Member States and aligning with international standards such as UN/FLUX.
Validate FIDEL technologies through four pilot campaigns in real-life operational settings across different European seas —small-scale Mediterranean and Atlantic fisheries, recreational fisheries and EU long-distance fleets — engaging fisheries stakeholders and competent authorities.
Consolidate international and European links, raise awareness, promote multi-stakeholder cooperation, ensure technology transfer and contribute to the long-term sustainability of marine ecosystems through policy recommendations and standardisation activities.
eBOS Role in the Project
eBOS Technologies participates in FIDEL in a dual capacity that spans both technical leadership and consortium-level strategic management.
On the technical side, eBOS leads the development of the project’s energy-efficient Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and blockchain infrastructure (Task 4.1), designing and implementing the secure, tamper-proof data-sharing platform that enables fisheries data to be exchanged reliably between vessels, operators and competent authorities. This work builds on eBOS’s proven blockchain expertise from previous EU-funded projects, including MARSAL and Block.IS, and targets advancement from TRL 5 to TRL 7 by project end.
At the consortium level, eBOS serves as Innovation Manager and WP6 Leader (Impact Maximisation and Ecosystem Building), taking responsibility for the overall exploitation strategy, IPR management, market analysis, business model development and individual partner exploitation planning across the full consortium. eBOS also leads Task 6.3 – Innovation Management, Exploitation and Commercial Pathway – ensuring that FIDEL’s results translate into commercially viable products and services that reach the European fisheries market beyond the project’s lifetime.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
