A nonprofit group says its new live satellite system will help regulators deter illegal fishing, a problem federal regulators say costs more than $9 billion around the world every year.
"Project Eyes on the Seas" was launched in January and uses multiple sources of satellite tracking data to monitor vessels, according to Washington, D.C.-based Pew Charitable Trusts. The system then links to information about the vessels' ownership history and country of registration, said Tony Long, director of a Pew project to end illegal fishing.
Long said the information alerts authorities to "suspicious vessel movements" on the ocean.
The system itself is a video wall with a map of the world that has colored dots that show the location of vessels. Pew hopes to convince regulators to tap into the system remotely via the Internet, Long said.
Chile and the island nation of Palau are signing on, and the nonprofit hopes to work with the United States, England, and other nations, Long said. He declined to say how much the nonprofit will charge for use of the service.
"If the U.S. closes down on illegal fishing, it forces change," Long said.
The global value of illegal fishing is estimated to be between $9 billion and $12 billion annually, according to federal statistics.
In New England, one of the U.S.'s most active fishing areas, between 12 and 24 percent of the total catch of species such as cod, flounder and haddock was taken illegal in 2010, according to a study in the journal Marine Policy. Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, said Pew's project could potentially be a "way to use technology to try and deal with an issue that we have been having a hard time figuring out."
Pew Charitable Trusts is a public policy organization that focuses some of its efforts on protecting marine resources and curbing overfishing. Recently, the organization has opposed proposals to reopen closed New England waters to commercial fishing.
Pew plans to present the technology to the federal Department of State, which has led efforts in deterring illegal fishing, Long said. The state department released a statement that the agency "is committed to combating illegal fishing and we encourage the development of innovative tools to fight this enormous international problem."
The technology will also be available to private industries, seafood producers and fishery managers, Pew officials said. German retailer Metro Ag is considering using the technology. Company vice president Jürgen Matern said the technology will help "guarantee legally-caught, healthy and sustainable fish."
British company Satellite Applications Catapult built the technology, which Long said cost about $1.5 million.
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