In early September 2026, Caecilia Manago from ICES traveled to Praia de Mira, on Portugal’s Atlantic coast, to film with the help of Claudio Brandão, the testing of innovative fishing technology as part of the project’s communication and dissemination activities.
Arte Xávega: A Traditional Fishing Method
The filming shown Arte Xávega / beach seine fishery, one of Portugal’s most distinctive coastal fishing traditions.
In this method, a boat launches directly from the beach, deploys a large seine net in a wide arc, and returns to shore. Both ends of the net are connected to ropes hauled in by tractors from the beach, gradually closing the net and concentrating the fish towards a central bag, which is brought ashore with the catch. The fish are then sorted manually by species and size, often sold directly on the beach, maintaining a short route from sea to consumer.
Technology Being Tested
As part of MarineGuardian, acoustic deterrent devices designed to prevent marine mammals to enter fishing gear (pingers), are being tested in the Arte Xávega fishery in collaboration with CCMAR (Centre of Marine Sciences, University of Algarve).
The filming documented the pingers and beach-seine net during an actual fishing operation, providing visual evidence of how the technology is integrated into an established fishing practice.
Underwater Filming
A key objective of the mission was to capture underwater footage of the fishing gear and pingers. A 3D underwater camera, provided by the coordinator of the ECO-CATCH project, was mounted directly on the beach-seine net, close to the flotation buoys and pingers.
The camera recorded the gear throughout the operation from deployment, underwater movement, to hauling and retrieval, under real operating conditions. This type of footage is particularly valuable because the behaviour of fishing gear below the surface is normally invisible to observers on the beach. The 3D footage makes it possible to visualise the position and movement of the net and pingers during an actual fishing activity.
To watch the videos and be onboard the boat with us check our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MarineGuardianproject or scan directly the QR code below !