Balfegó begins fishing for bluefin tuna by improving its communications.
Balfegó, a company specialized in fishing, aquaculture and trade of bluefin tuna, has chosen Satlinkin order to provide mobile connectivity via satellite to17 of the 29 ships that make up its fleet for the annual fishing campaign for this species that has just begun. Thanks to this agreement, the vessels of the fishing company participating in the campaign will have a main communication system to streamline and optimize your operations, as well as to digitize control procedures of fishing activity, such as the record of catches, carried out manually in previous campaigns.
For this, Spanish engineering has installed in each boat a portable satellite terminalserving as a Wi-Fi hotspot to provide satellite coverage to up to five mobile devices simultaneously, be they smartphones or tablets, in areas beyond the reach of terrestrial communications networks. The solution, called Iridium GO!, allows you to have worldwide voice and data coverage at speeds of up to 2.4 Kbps. Likewise, it allows you to locate connected devices using GPS and notify emergency services thanks to its SOS functionality.
The terminal is compatible with Apple and Android operating systems and automatically connects to the constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites Iridium LEO. The user only has to download an application on their terminal to make and receive calls, manage email or access content on the Internet.
According Pedro Vigil, commercial director of Satlink, “We have looked for a versatile solution that adapts to Balfegó’s needs in terms of ease of integration, ease of use, robustness and high resistance. With it, we guarantee 100% satellite coverage in a work environment as demanding as a boat on the high seas in the middle of a bluefin tuna fishing campaign and, therefore, a safer and more efficient activity in terms of communication and management ”.
It should be remembered that Satlink has maintained a collaboration agreement with the Spanish Fisheries Confederation (CEPESCA), of which Balfegó is an associate, to develop and implement advanced technology applied to sustainable fishing practices, optimization of operational costs and communication services for crews in the Spanish fishing fleet.
