Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) Project

The FFA VMS uses satellite technology to pinpoint a vessel's position and then relays that information to an FFA member monitoring station. At the core of the system is an ALC, a transponder that every fishing vessel operating in FFA territory is required to have onboard. This device, about the size of a car radio, consists of an integrated global positioning system unit and an Inmarsat transceiver, and monitors the vessel's position, speed, and course. The information is beamed up from an inbuilt aerial to an Inmarsat satellite, which is fixed in geostationary orbit above the Pacific. The satellite transmits the data to a Land Earth Station in Australia, from where it is carried by telephone lines to the VMS hub computer at the FFA Secretariat in Honiara, in the Solomon Islands, for further processing. This computer identifies any vessels violating fishing regulations and generates alert reports. The reports are downloaded via an encrypted Internet connection by the FFA members in whose exclusive economic zone (EEZ) the vessels are operating. In July 2004, for example, FFA members used the system to track the activities of 1,012 foreign fishing vessels.

Here is an example of the way in which officials might draw on the VMS project to protect the environment. A Constable in the Vanuatu Police Maritime Wing would log on to the Internet and download a report showing a satellite map of the EEZ of Vanuatu and the coordinates of all fishing vessels currently navigating its waters. One ship - say, a foreign tuna fishing vessel - may not be following routes stipulated in its fishing agreement with the island state. Instead of directly leaving the EEZ from the port where it cleared customs, this vessel, say, has stopped off en route, in all probability to catch extra fish illegally. This Constable then alerts colleagues; the Police Maritime Wing's patrol boat prepares to intercept and inspect the suspect ship.

Environment, Economic Development.

In July 1979, 12 of the current 17 members of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) created the FFA to help them manage and develop their living marine resources, and in particular the highly migratory species like the tuna stocks of the western and central Pacific Ocean.

According to organisers, the Pacific tuna fisheries, which support an industry worth $1.8 billion per year, currently account for one-third of global tuna catches. Approximately 50-60% of the total tuna catch is taken within the EEZs of FFA members, which cover about 30 million km² of ocean. To stem the increase in illegal fishing vessels in this vast area, most FFA members have reserved their 12 nautical-mile exclusion zones for fishing by artisanal and subsistence fishermen, while other islands have put in place 40 nautical-mile exclusion zones that are off-limits to all foreign fishing vessels. FFA says that intruders are always on the alert for good fishing opportunities and, increasingly, can only be controlled with the help of advanced information and communication technology (ICT) systems such as the VMS.

The FFA claims that the VMS has proven to be a cost-effective means of providing support to the region's compliance and monitoring programme. The organisation indicates that reported cases of illegal fishing have remained at a consistently low level since its introduction. Annual ongoing operating costs, estimated at $845 per vessel, are recovered from the participating tuna fishing vessels. The FFA believes that the system shows strong future potential - it could, for example, be applied to track other vessels, such as those that illegally transport live coral reef fish.