A patent was registered in 1991 for using bar codes to make up fish measuring board. Collection of data such as the length of the captured fish and sometimes their ages are required in order to manage fishery resources. It is a time-consuming operation as this work is usually carried out throughout the year for each species. The computerization of this phase has been the subject of much research work. Electronic fish measuring boards have been developed in Scotland, Canada, and Spain but they have not spread for a number of reasons. Going beyond these developments, IFREMER designed a more efficient and new open-ended fish measuring system - the ichthyometer - which features higher flexibility by using the bar code principle