Oceana Analysis: More Fishing Vessels Should Use Public Tracking Devices
An analysis of federal requirements for transparency of fishing vessels conducted by the conservation entity Oceana concludes that the United States’ requirements for such transparency fall short of that of other countries and the European Union.
The Oceana report notes that public vessel tracking, enabled by an automatic identification system, which was originally developed to increase maritime safety, reduce vessel collisions and enhance awareness of vessel locations at sea, but it has also become an invaluable tool for monitoring fishing vessel activity at sea.
These devices broadcast a vessel’s location, speed, direction and other identifying information, providing details that, when analyzed, can demonstrate when a vessel is fishing and infer what type of fishing it is engag...
