Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is one of the greatest economic, social and environmental threats to the world's oceans. Commonly referred to as ‘poaching’, IUU fishing costs the global fishing industry tens of billions of dollars each year—impacting the sustainability of fisheries and the livelihoods of local communities that are dependent on fishing as a source of food and income. The Southeast Pacific is among those most affected, with fishing stocks drastically depleted because of increased consumption and IUU profitability.
This periodical examines the critical need for improved IUU monitoring and enforcement, and demonstrates how Radiant Solutions comprehensive analysis and methodology can augment these anti-IUU operations. To continue reading how Radiant Solutions is implementing unique geospatial applications and harnessing the power of big data, enforcement agencies and interagency partners to more effectively disrupt and deter IUU fishing operations, please subscribe to our exclusive monthly periodical, the Radiant Spotlight here.
Sneak Peek:
Vessel Tracking
The identification and tracking of potential IUU vessels is a critical component to monitoring and enforcing IUU fishing is. Most IUU fishing is dependent upon transshipments, which is the practice of combining IUU loads with legally caught fish by transferring illegally caught fish to large refrigerated vessels (or "reefers") outside of territorial waters on the high seas.
Many fishing vessels (and almost every reefer vessel) possess an Automatic Identification System (AIS) transceiver for navigation purposes. Each AIS signal provides valuable data on its vessel's location and movement. IUU vessels demonstrate unique spatial-temporal signatures that are critical to monitoring real-time activity as well as predicting future events. As mentioned, AIS data is also fully integrated in Radiant Solutions' InsightExplorer platform. The map below provides a snapshot of AIS data collected on October 7, 2018 and highlights overall vessel activity and density in the Pacific.