Uncertainty Label-Driven Automated Tuna Catch Counting with Robust Object Tracking for Occlusion Fishing Vessels

Accurate and automated catch counting is crucial for modern fishery management, particularly in pelagic longline tuna fisheries where traditional manual methods are inefficient and error-prone. While computer vision offers solutions, its performance in complex, occlusion-heavy deck environments remain challenging due to severe occlusion and motion blur. This study proposes an uncertainty label-driven method for automated tuna counting to address these issues. Our approach introduces a closed polygonal counting region for improved coverage, an “uncertainty” label to handle classification ambiguity, and an enhanced ByteTrack algorithm for consistent target tracking. A lightweight YOLOv8-based model, optimized with efficient modules, ensures real-time operation. Experimental results demonstrate that the improved model achieves a [email protected] of 0.958 and [email protected]:0.95 of 0.829, outperforming the baseline while reducing parameters and latency by 18.9% and 25.0%, respectively. In practical deck scenarios, the system reached 92.78% counting accuracy, a 14.43 percentage-point improvement. These findings validate the method’s enhanced robustness and stability under challenging conditions, offering a viable solution for automated catch monitoring and supporting further fishery informatization.