A FISHERMAN from West Dorset will travel to the USA to help develop a mobile phone application to protect the Lyme Bay Fisheries and Conservation Reserve.

Jon Shuker, based in Lyme Regis, is taking part in an exchange trip with the working group behind the conservation area to the Morrow Bay in California to see how fishermen in America are fishing sustainably.

The American fishermen have agreed to innovative measures to help prevent the collapse of fishing stocks in the Californian seas, such as particular areas where fish may be caught and the use of a mobile phone app, called E-Catch, which records and tracks catches plus other key data for fishermen.

Now Mr Shuker, chairman of the Blue Marine Foundation Charles Clover and a scientist will see how the technology used in America can be adapted for use in the United Kingdom, particularly in the Lyme Bay area, and to go alongside the app that is already being developed by the group.

Mr Shuker said: “I am looking forward to meeting like-minded people involved in the Morro Bay fishery so we can learn how they manage their fisheries, exchange ideas regarding sustainable fishing and hopefully meet some scallop divers.

“The E-Catch app will be a valuable tool to help us manage discards by sharing information between other fisherman and fishing authorities. It will also be useful to record shellfish landings electronically, saving time and dreaded paperwork.”

The week-long trip, between today and October 25, has been funded by GAP2, a European Commission-backed international research project, and by the Blue Marine Foundation.

The app that the trip will help to develop will be one of the final steps towards the Lyme Bay reserve becoming the UK’s first inshore ‘fully documented fishery’.

It is a hugely significant step for the reserve as it will enable fishermen, conservationists and scientists to monitor an inshore fishery at a spatial, temporal and fishing effort level, which in turn can enable best practice management, helping to ensure a sustainable future for the fishery and marine environment.

Charles Clover has welcomed the opportunity for local fishers, scientists, and fishery-managers to gather knowledge from the other side of the Atlantic.

Mr Clover said of the trip: “This visit will give our fishermen and experts the chance to compare notes at first hand on state of the art techniques for reporting catches in real time, which can help fishermen to avoid catching over-fished stocks and keep fishing for other species.”