Researchers are hoping fishing nets scanned by high resolution sonar, underwater cameras and unmanned aquatic vehicles can help paint one of the most accurate assessments of current fish stocks to date – a key challenge in preventing exploitation of our marine ecosystems.

‘Fishers typically operate huge structures, like enormous nets, which are underwater where they can't see them,’ said Dr Lars T. Kyllingstad, a scientist at SINTEF, a marine research institute in Norway. ‘And they try use these (nets) to catch things that they also can't see.’

They may be practically invisible, but the amount of fish swimming within these giant nets possess a data-rich snapshot of the health of our marine ecosystems.