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At least 6% of global fishing ‘probably illegal’ as ships turn off tracking devices

November 3, 2022 — Up to 6% of global fishing activity is hidden because commercial vessels disable their tracking systems, a practice that can be used to hide illegal fishing, according to a new study.

Ships use automatic identification systems (AIS), tracking beacons that enable them to be located on global shipping maps. Researchers applied a machine learning algorithm to a dataset of fishing vessel activity compiled by the non-profit Global Fishing Watch, which included more than 3.7bn AIS messages from fishing vessels between 2017 and 2019.

They discovered geographical hotspots for ships disabling their trackers, including west Africa, the coast of Argentina and the north-west Pacific – suggesting these are locations where illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is likely to be taking place.

Read the full article at the Guardian

AI may help authorities track ‘ghost’ fishing boats

November 3, 2022 — In February 2019, the 60-meter-long South Korean fishing vessel Oyang 77 slipped into Argentinian waters and deployed its trawl nets, hauling in more than 140 tons of hake, skate, and squid. The ship did not have permission to fish those waters, according to Argentine officials, and to avoid detection the crew turned off a beacon that sends a vessel’s precise location via satellite to maritime authorities. But the coast guard caught the Oyang 77, confiscated the catch, and destroyed its nets.

Now, researchers have used artificial intelligence to help authorities more easily decipher what vessels like the Oyang 77 might be doing when they go dark and whether they might be fishing illegally. The approach is already guiding some enforcement agencies in planning their patrols.

Illegal fishing accounts for hauls that are worth about $25 billion per year and include endangered species such as sharks. Some vessels have been caught with enslaved crews. Although there is increasing political awareness of the problem, governments have not taken enough action, says Rashid Sumaila, an ocean and fisheries economist at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. “This paper is showing some of the possibilities that we can achieve,” says Sumaila, who was not involved. “I think there’s hope.”

Read the full article at Science.org

Smart buoys offer hope for reducing environmental and economic damage caused by lost fishing gear

September 28, 2021 — Lost fishing gear — be it nets, lines or pots — continues “ghost fishing” forever, causing a slow death for countless marine creatures and financial losses to fishermen.

Now new “smart buoys” can track and monitor all types of deployed gear and report its location directly to a cellphone or website.

Blue Ocean Gear of California created and builds buoys that also can track ocean temperatures, depth, movement, even how much has been caught. The small, 3-pound buoys are just 7 inches in diameter, don’t require special training to use and are tough enough to handle the harshest ocean conditions.

“All the information is collected in a database,” said Kortney Opshaug, company founder and CEO. “We have both a mobile app that you can access from your phone or a web interface that allows you to see more of the data, charts and things like that. Most of the buoys have satellite transmission, but some also have radio transmission and we’re working more and more with that. They’re slightly more cost effective, and we can create networks out on the water that are talking to one another.”

Opshaug and her Silicon Valley team of engineers and product developers were motivated primarily by the impacts of lost gear on the marine environment and the costs to fishermen.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

 

Land Mines of the Sea: Movement to Clean Up Fishing Gear Lost at Sea

April 14, 2016 — They are the land mines of the sea, killing long after being forgotten.

Abandoned or lost fishing gear, including traps, crab pots and nets, litter the ocean floor in coastal areas around the world. Many continue to attract, entrap and kill fish and other marine life in what’s called “ghost fishing.”

Groups, governments and companies around the world are engaged in efforts to retrieve and recycle as much of the abandoned gear as they can get their hands on. The goal is to protect the environment, prevent marine life from being killed, remove threats to navigation, and in some cases, generate energy.

Pascal van Erp, a Dutch diver who was horrified by the amount of abandoned fishing equipment he encountered, founded the Ghost Fishing Foundation to tackle the issue.

See more at NBC Philadelphia

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