Threatened by overexploitation of resources, the tradition of bichique fishing can only continue if a balance is found between the fishing effort and the rate of renewal of the fry. For that, you need to know the flow of fish entering the river. BichiCAM was designed for this. The tool is broken down into a physical part in the shape of a vault (traditional trap), which supports a waterproof camera filming migrating does in the water, and a computer part, which automates the recognition and counting of individuals of the two species of bichiques (Sicyopterus lagocephalus and Cotylopus acutipinnis) having crossed the camera field during a sequence. The tool is the result of a collaboration launched in 2019 between the company OCEA Consult’ and the Research Institute for Development (IRD). The main long-term objective is to generalize the use of the BichiCAM tool in rivers of various sizes and profiles to monitor the flow of post-larvae of fish as they arrive in the river.. A complementary tool has been developed as part of this program : it aims to recognize other species of larvae which come up the rivers of Reunion.
