#global #analysis #shows #fishing #vessel #identification #occurs
SANTA CRUZ, CA, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A new analysis uses Automatic Identification System, or AIS, data to provide information on global fishing activity, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Originally designed as a collision avoidance tool, AIS can be intentionally disabled – sometimes for legitimate reasons and sometimes to hide illegal activity.
The new study “Hotspots of invisible fishing vessels‘, published in Science Advances on November 2, presenting the first global dataset of AIS deactivation in commercial fishing, obscuring up to 6 percent of vessel activity.
Lead author Heather Welch, project scientist at the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), worked with researchers on the study Global fishing watch and NOAA Fisheries. While maintaining a record of vessel activity, Global Fishing Watch has developed a machine learning method to…
Read on GNW: A global analysis shows where fishing vessel identification occurs
