AIS Awarded NOAA Fisheries Contract to Support West Coast Electronic Monitoring
North Dartmouth, MA — September 29, 2026 — A.I.S., Inc. (AIS) is pleased to announce the award of a new contract with NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) to provide electronic monitoring support for West Coast fisheries. The contract includes a one-year base period and three one-year option periods.
8/20/20261 min read
North Dartmouth, MA — September 29, 2026 — A.I.S., Inc. (AIS) is pleased to announce the award of a new contract with NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) to provide electronic monitoring support for West Coast fisheries. The contract includes a one-year base period and three one-year option periods.
Under the award, AIS will support the Fisheries Observation Science program within NWFSC’s Fishery Resource Analysis and Monitoring Division. The program collects essential, high-integrity, fishery-dependent data used to inform stock assessments and support sustainable fisheries management.
Electronic monitoring systems use high-definition cameras and sensors aboard commercial fishing vessels to collect verifiable information about fishing activity, catch, effort, and discards. These technologies supplement traditional data-collection methods while expanding the amount and quality of information available to fisheries scientists and managers.
AIS personnel will perform primary video reviews to document fishing events and estimate catch. They will also conduct secondary quality-control reviews to verify data quality and accuracy.
AIS will also support NOAA Fisheries’ Machine Learning Assisted Scientific Electronic Monitoring pilot for of West Coast Fixed-Gear Fisheries. The pilot is exploring the use of machine-learning tools to automate the identification and measurement of fish in video footage, accelerating the review process, and increasing data throughput.
As part of this effort, AIS will support the development of vessel monitoring plans, provide dedicated technical and operational support during pilot implementation, and review/ annotate video footage. AIS reviewers will document fishing events, identify species, and estimate the lengths or weights of observed catch and discards.
“Electronic monitoring is transforming how fisheries data are collected, verified, and reviewed,” said Christi Smith, Program Manager of Electronic Monitoring Services at AIS. “We are proud to support NOAA Fisheries by combining AIS’s fisheries expertise with rigorous video-review and quality-control processes while contributing to the responsible evaluation of emerging machine-learning tools.”
This award expands AIS’s support for technology-enabled fisheries monitoring and reinforces the company’s commitment to delivering accurate, unbiased data that strengthens the science-based management of the nation’s marine resources.
About A.I.S., Inc.
A.I.S., Inc. is a leader in marine science and environmental services, with fisheries observing and monitoring as its foundation. AIS delivers technical excellence and operational support for coastal, fisheries, and ecological research across the United States. By partnering with federal
agencies, academic institutions, industry, and local communities, AIS helps ensure the sustainability of the nation’s marine and coastal resources.
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