Evaluating Electronic Methods of Fisheries Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance

Abstract

Management of the world's fisheries has become an increasingly important issue over the last several decades as numerous stocks have begun to decline, some more rapidly than others. Electronic Technologies encompass a suite of new technologies that can be used to monitor catch, gear usage, reporting, bycatch, and vessel activity. Within this paper, I summarize findings from a three-part study on the evaluation of electronic technologies in fisheries monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) world-wide. In Part I, I focus on the various electronic methods that are currently employed within managed fisheries. Further, I describe the distribution of programs that use these methods across the globe, focusing particularly on Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) and Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS). Part II is an extensive literature review on the utilization of REM within fisheries management. Specifically, I analyze successes and failures of the use of REM in fishery MCS programs. Additionally, I make recommendations on the application of the technology to fisheries management worldwide in support of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) Fishery Solution Center's Global Electronic Monitoring Project. In Part III, I take a deeper look into VMS by analyzing VMS data from mid-water trawling vessels in Sierra Leone. I use a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) to spatially distinguish between fishing activity and non-fishing activity to 1) determine the distribution of mid-water trawling effort of 16 vessels in Sierra Leone waters and 2) determine if industrial vessels may be fishing illegally in the Inshore Exclusive Zone (IEZ) limited to artisanal fishing only.