Watching out for the sharks
p. 43 · Read in the full issue
Vessel-monitoring system to guard against illegal fishing or violations by foreign boats
By Bernadette Hussein
m ior several years, member coun ty tries of the South Pacific Forum ML Fisheries Agency have been con sidering the research, development and implementation of a satellite-based Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) in the central and western Pacific.
Following the production of a VMS business plan in 1995, FFA member coun tries developed a VMS business require ments baseline plane.
The baseline form of the FFA member countries’ VMS, in accordance with the stated preference of FFA member coun tries, will enhance the effectiveness of several other measures being implement ed to assist with the sustainable develop ment and management of the tuna resources of the central-western Pacific.
The VMS will assist with monitoring the position, speed and direction of Distant Water Fishing Nation vessels that are fitted with approved Automatic Location Communicator (ALC) devices.
The VMS will be simultaneously mon itoring the positions of up to 1000 fishing vessels, with the potential to monitor up to 2000 vessels. It will also be capable of securely transferring vessel positions to each FFA member country, as required, on a timely basis, enabling individual mem ber countries to track the movements of vessels in their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ).
Almost immediately following the contract signature for the FFA Member Country VMS Project on November 4, 1996, between FFA and Aspect Computing Pty Ltd of Australia, a team of four personnel representing the VMS con tractor and sub-contractor visited the FFA headquarters in Honiara, Solomon Islands
for three weeks to commence the VMS
project implementation.
A confidence trial, commenced on January 2, will run until later this month. , This will help FFA staff to -become familiar with the operational characteris tics of the VMS. During this period, sev eral fishing vessels carrying ALCs have been tracked by using the tracking soft ware. According to the FFA, the VMS will have the scope to monitor commer cial tuna vessels on its regional register, and local tuna vessels if, and when, required by an FFA member.
Future enhancements to the baseline will enable the system to provide critical information on other fisheries resources as well as the transfer of fisheries man agement information on a close-to-real time basis.
The VMS will support enhance moni toring by assisting with the detection of
illegal fishing and/or potential fishing
violations and proving near-real-time and historical analysis, the FFA said.
Operators of foreign vessels licensed to fish in the region will be required to install FFA-approved Automatic Location Communication devices at their own cost to enable a two-way communication sys tem with FFA headquarters and for emer gency uses. â–