Two articles on Global Fishing Watch and the second on the proposed use of drones for Pitcairn Island MPA
Global Fishing Watch – Using Satellites to Assist Fisheries Management
In November 2014, Oceana unveiled the prototype of a new tool that will enhance transparency and accountability in commercial fishing fleets around the world. A public version is set to launch this year, but Global Fishing Watch has already been put to the test. Near real-time data, as well as historical data dating back to 2012, allows Global Fishing Watch to illustrate the progression of fishing activity in any region of interest, as long as vessels are consistently broadcasting signals via the Automatic Identification System (AIS), a collision avoidance unit that transmits VHF signals to satellites, other ships and terrestrial receivers. Commercial fishing fleet activity is shaped by many factors, from economics, shifting weather patterns, and fish migration routes to changes in seafood market structures. The creation of new marine protected areas or changes in fisheries management policy can also significantly change fishing activity. And as countries create more and more “mega-parks,” in attempts to protect large swaths of ocean habitat from human disturbance, monitoring how marine boundaries are enforced is more important than ever.
With numerous seamounts in the middle of an expansive ocean, the Phoenix Islands, situated in the central portion of Kiribati’s exclusive economic zone are an ideal habitat for tropical bigeye and yellowfin tuna. Though Kiribati established the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) as one of the largest protected areas in the world in 2006, the designation offered little protection to tuna and other pelagic fish species due to a lack of fishery management regulations, enforcement and fishing fleet compliance. As a result, the historically productive fishing grounds were severely depleted. To restore abundance, commercial fishing was banned from 12 percent of the area in 2008, a regulation the Kiribati President Anote Tong announced in 2014 be extended to 100 percent on January 1, 2015.
An ocean-going drone will be helping to spot illegal fishing in the world’s largest, continuous marine reserve.
The UK said it would establish the 834,000-sq-km (322,000-sq-mile) zone around the Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific in 2015. Data gathered by the drone will be beamed back to a satellite watch room to help prosecute unauthorised trawling. The drone will patrol areas in the reserve designated as no-fishing zones.
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