Nearly 60 satellite scans of Tuvalu’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) have been obtained since December 2021 as part of a pilot project under the World Bank-funded Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape Program (PROP).
This initiative, designed to chart the extent of fishing activity by non-authorised or non-reporting vessels, is a collaboration between the Tuvalu Government’s Fisheries Department and New Zealand company Starboard Maritime Intelligence.
‘What Tuvalu is doing here is important, because access fees paid by foreign vessels fishing their waters represent more than fifty-five per cent of government revenue,’ said fisheries compliance advisor Francisco Blaha, who has worked in Pacific Island fisheries for over 30 years and collaborated with Starboard in this project.
‘Anyone fishing illegally causes a direct hit to the economic viability of the country,’ he said.
Fisheries are of critical importance to the region. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing for tuna in the Pacific region is estimated to amount to almost 200,000 tonnes annually. For many Pacific Island nations the licence fees from vessels fishing in their EEZ is a major part of their annual income.
Each satellite scan, covering up to 80% of Tuvalu’s 750,000 square kilometre EEZ, uses cutting-edge technology and is applied for the first time in this region. Different types of satellite sensors are used and provide independent means of detection, including mapping the locations of navigational radars aboard ships, and imaging of the ocean surface using synthetic-aperture radar.
Satellite detections and the positions of known vessels are automatically matched in the Starboard digital platform. Any vessels detected that are not also reporting their locations using the mandated identification systems are highlighted as being ‘dark’ – that is, potentially fishing illegally in the area and trying to evade identification.