Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 197

THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 2018
vessel traffic ser vices ( V TS). AIS transceivers
automatically and at reg ular inter vals broadcast
information such as vessel identit y, position,
speed and navigational status via a built-in ver y
high frequency ( V HF) transmitter over public
airwaves using unencr ypted radio signals. These
messages are then received, recorded and
rebroadcast by communication stations including
ships, shore stations and search-and-rescue
aircraft. Although the maritime AIS system was
primar y developed to increase safet y at sea, it
also provides maritime authorities a better way to
monitor water traffic and movements and to
identif y vessels. broadcast ever y day (ORBCOMM, 2018). Luckily,
in parallel with vast advancements in cloud
technolog y and infrastructure, various
organizations are now able to process and
analyse such immense amounts of data. In
fisheries, the use of AIS data through applied
machine learning and artificial intelligence
provides new ways to estimate fishing effort,
socio-economic indicators and fishing patterns.
AIS may also open the arena for developing
products in support of the Agreement on Port
State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate
Illegal, Unreported and Unreg ulated Fishing
(PSM A).
The IMO International Convention for the Safet y
of Life at Sea (Reg ulation V/19) requires ships of
a certain size (and all passenger ships) to carr y
AIS. Fishing vessels are exempt from this
reg ulation, but those of a specific size may be
required to carr y AIS by national reg ulations (for
example in Norway, the United States of America
and the European Union). Challenges and risks
New technologies in the fisheries sector offer
opportunities for improved fishing practices (e.g.
more selective targeting of species or reduced
losses of fishing gear). However, if abused, they
can also be used to facilitate IUU fishing or, if
not taken into account in fisheries management,
can increase fishing power in general and result
in overexploitation of resources. This is a risk
with blockchains, for example, as they make it
possible to gather more information and to use it
more efficiently and effectively, thus increasing
predictive capacit y. Some new technologies have
also created barriers for fisheries that lack the
capacit y or financial resources to adopt them.
These risks highlight the importance of ensuring
that effective management is in place so that
emerging technologies are used to improve rather
than undermine the sustainabilit y of fisheries.
Similarly, it is essential to address barriers to
fishers’ and fish farmers’ access to new
technologies, and to build their capacit y to take
advantage of disruptive technologies. The
machines will march on, and it is a great
responsibilit y to keep the disruption of social and
environmental networks in check. If well
managed, disruptive technologies offer immense
opportunities to enhance the technical and
financial efficiency of the sector, to create new
work opportunities, to improve food securit y and
livelihoods and to contribute to the 2030 Agenda,
especially SDG 14. n
Vessel monitoring systems ( V MS), which rely on
satellite communication, are also used in
commercial fishing to allow environmental and
fisheries reg ulator y organizations to track and
monitor the activities of fishing vessels as an
integral part of national and international
monitoring control and sur veillance programmes.
With the combination of AIS and VMS, a wide
range of applications are being developed in the
areas of collision avoidance, vessel traffic services,
maritime security, aids to navigation, search and
rescue, accident investigation, ocean current
estimates, infrastructure protection, fleet and cargo
tracking and fishing fleet monitoring and control.
Detection of AIS signals from space is also
possible. Unlike traditional communication
stations, satellites are not limited by the
horizontal range of signals. They are able to relay
AIS communications over vast distances. The
number of satellites relaying AIS information has
grown steadily over the years; it is estimated that
at present more than 28 million messages are
| 181 |