What’s in your fishing net? The best answer is one that identifies the fish before the net comes out of the water.

That’s the goal of a new research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The idea is to develop a robotic camera system that monitors what fish swim into a fishing boat’s net. Such a system would alert the captain and crew to “bycatch,” the unwanted harvesting of protected species, and overfishing of fish subject to quotas. Data could then be stored for later review if necessary for enforcement purposes. Developing the robotic camera system falls under the auspices of the School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), a unit of the University of Massachusetts.

The NSF also is funding another project that would use autonomous robots to detect adverse conditions like high water temperatures and pockets of low oxygen, a condition called hypoxia, that develop with the overgrowth of certain types of algae. That’s of particular concern to the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, the funding recipient. Hypoxia means traps are full of dead lobsters.

It’s hoped that the $15 million NSF “Seafood Engine” will help revitalize New England’s fishing industry, which has been decimated in recent years by changes to the local environment that have resulted in lower catches and the closing of several fish processing operations.

“The NSF Seafood Engine will leverage cutting-edge resources including AI, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, robotics and more to strengthen the New England seafood supply chain, from harvesting to consumer delivery, supporting businesses up and down the coastline,” said Brian Stone, acting director of NSF.

The NSF has faced its own challenges under the direction of the Trump administration. In 2025, NSF suffered through waves of DOGE-led staff reductions, calling into question the agency’s ability to assess, award, and administer grant proposals. Thousands of NSF grants were terminated and the number of grant opportunities available was halved. Many scientists also chafed at what they perceive to be the political requirements attached to NSF grants.

Nonetheless, technology is illuminating some of the challenges faced by fishermen. This month, AI analysis revealed that floating algae blooms are spreading across much of the world’s oceans. Scientists at the University of Florida and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say the expansion is likely being influenced by changes in ocean temperature, current, and coastal economies.

AI also delivered a major advance in ocean monitoring earlier this year by using satellite data to create highly detailed maps of small-scale, fast moving ocean currents that were previously impossible to observe directly. The GOFLOW research was led by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The ocean currents circulate nutrients that support marine ecosystems.

Additional sea monitoring is coming from private industry. For example, in the UK, startup Oshen is increasing production of its C-Star ocean-going drone vessels that carry sensors for weather and ocean monitoring duties for six-month stretches.

Also earlier this year, the Nature Conservancy launched an AI open source monitoring system meant to verify catches at sea in near real-time. The system is able to monitor onboard ship activity for incidents of illegal fishing and make fish management more data-driven. The system uses edge computing to analyze onboard video with summary reports transmitted daily via Starlink terminals. The summary includes AI predictions on species-level catches. Large fishing vessels have been required to report their catches but those accounts were largely unverifiable or only available months later. The Nature Conservancy fish monitoring software is available for free.