Fishing vessels must be equipped with electronic devices, or “blue boxes”, which form part of the satellite-based vessel monitoring system (VMS)

Combatting Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing through Innovative Technologies and Partnerships

CANADA
Wednesday, July 24, 2024, 06:20 (GMT + 9)

The Canadian government has announced that for the first time this year, Canadian, Japanese and Korean fisheries inspectors boarded a Canadian surveillance aircraft to conduct surveillance activities against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the North Pacific Ocean, based at New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido.

Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 long-range patrol aircraft (Source: Ministry of National Defence of Canada)

BACKGROUND

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada is now concluding some of its initiatives under the G7 Charlevoix Blueprint for Healthy Oceans, which included CAD 11.6 million in funding to develop new technologies to track and analyse illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; develop a Pacific intelligence-sharing network; and work with NGOs to combat IUU fishing around the world and improve high seas fishing vessel transparency.

This included a CAD 7 million investment in the research, development and test-deployment of satellite-based technologies to remotely identify and track IUU fishing vessels, resulting in the creation of the Dark Vessel Detection (DVD) platform.

The DVD platform has now been used in partnership with coastal developing states, such as Ecuador, and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency to help address important IUU fishing concerns.

Dark Vessel Detection Platform monitoring the Ecuador region. © Fisheries and Ocean Canada, Conservation and Protection International Enforcement Team

The platform is currently illuminating fleet activity for developing countries in the South Pacific, as well as helping Ecuador protect the Galápagos Islands.

CHALLENGES

It is worth noting that there is significant mission pre-planning required to carry out these patrols. In particular, there is an important need for relationship-building with officials in other nations who can assist with patrol planning. For example, this is crucial to develop the missions, gain access to programs and obtain permits in another nation.

These challenges were overcome via the constant, evolving development of relations with strategic enforcement and governmental contacts to mutually facilitate Canada’s goals and the goals of the country of concern, for example, arranging unmanned aerial vehicle permits to conduct drone missions in Senegal and Costa Rica.

Clic image to enlarge it

RECIPE FOR SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION

Successful implementation would require funding, significant planning, and the building of training and capacity development relationships with partner countries.

Relationship and trust-building is a very important components of tackling IUU fishing, particularly when dealing with enforcement concerns and ensuring data are available and able to be shared.

These projects can and should be replicated to help equalise the disparities in enforcement capacity between developed and developing nations.

Source:  World Resources Institute

[email protected]
www.seafood.media

Print