MARINE INSTRUMENTS and NAUTICAL,
a global reference relationship at the service of the tuna sector

MARINE INSTRUMENTS-NAUTICAL

Marine Instruments reaches its 20th anniversary this 2023 and is world leader in the development and manufacture of technology for the tuna sector, furthermore, its products are distributed worldwide through NAUTICAL, a company with a 50 year history which provides global technological assistance solutions for fishing, navigation and safety at sea. Both companies belong to Grupo Arbulu one of the largest worldwide specialised groups in marine electronics and satellite communication, sharing an unwaiverable commitment to protecting and preserving the oceans via responsible sustainable management of natural resources.

The success of this union is based on product know-how and technology provided by Marine Instruments fitting in with the market knowledge, customer contact and global distribution capacity provided by NAUTICAL. They have played with this competitive advantage right from the very beginning and maintain it today as a benchmark offering a complete solution with satellite buoys: sensor, satellite communications, software, platforms where all the information is represented, and now AI in the latest version.

Marine Instruments, technology with high added value at the service of the tuna sector

At the beginning of 2022, the company with head office in Galicia launched M3iGO, the first satellite buoy incorporating AI for fishing, on the market. A veritable milestone for the Galician company and by extension for the fishing sector: it meant the introduction of disruptive technology whose arrival means a qualitative leap forward in terms of efficiency and sustainability. Nautical has deployed this development in the major fishing ports around the world after 4 years of uninterrupted work and investment by Marine Instruments R+D department, an area where 40% of the staff work, namely 160 employees at present.

Thanks to the new digital probe and AI, the M3iGO buoy filters critical information important for the skippers, such as the tonnes of tuna among the total biomass detected. In other words, analyses the information captured and delivers valuable information from among the immense amount of data it’s capable of collecting from the ocean, for the benefit of tuna vessel efficiency. These satellite buoys facilitate route planning for the tuna fleet, helping reduce time and fuel besides significantly reducing environmental impact.

In recent years, besides fishing Marine Instruments has begun operating in two sectors like Aquaculture and Safety & Defence as part of their diversification strategy. In the former, it’s present in Ecuadorian shrimp farms, a sector undergoing modernisation where we’re working on an intelligent feeding system called MASS which automatically calculates feed quantity and frequency to optimise the shrimp production cycle to the maximum. Thanks to this system the animal growth rate is increasing along with important feed cost savings.

At the same time, Marine Instruments is developing the Tunadrone, a drone for industrial tuna fishing which takes off and lands on the moving vessel, and is capable of transmitting HD video images in real time to a vessel within a range of 18 nautical miles. The prototype is in its final stage and is expected to undergo its first tests on tuna vessels at the end of 2023.

All these updates respond to a business model based on ongoing improvement, where the customers are always at the centre to offer them innovative profitable sustainable solutions. This search for excellence and innovation in their products has been rewarded with the 2022 National Innovation Award, awarded by the Spanish Government and handed out by the Monarchs in February 2023.

Nautical, global benchmark in technological solutions and communications for the tuna fleet

NAUTICAL is a benchmark not only in the tuna fleet but also in the trawl, longline and purse seine fishing fleet, the auxiliary vessels and in the other fishing gears of the sector. Not to mention it also provides solutions and equipment for public bodies, customs surveillance service and the Navy. Furthermore, it renders services for new construction projects for all kinds of vessels.

Its equipment and service portfolio includes the best technology on the market, combining innovation and contrasted solutions. Synonymous with NAUTICAL are: advice, cutting-edge technology, offers adjusted to each vessel, integral supply, global assistance and quality technical service.

It’s no coincidence; NAUTICAL has a highly qualified and specialised human team, together with its own vast service network in Spain, Panama, Ecuador, Seychelles and Ivory Coast; all of which enables them to implement solutions where vessels operate and provide the fleet with a rapid efficient response anywhere in the world. NAUTICAL places advice, technology, assistance and integral supply at the disposal of its customers in the major fishing ports around the world.