MFish – Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS)

25 August 2009

Tags: productivity, economy, report, government

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy -  Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

GPS is used by MFish as part of the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) to monitor fishing activities in the New Zealand fishing zone. VMS was introduced in NZ in 1994 and New Zealand currently operates a VMS involving up to 200 fishing vessels.

VMS systems use electronic transmitters called Automatic Location Communicators (ALC) that are placed on fishing vessels to transmit information via satellite about the vessel's position to authorities. This information is useful in near real time for ascertaining whether a vessel is fishing in closure zones where fishing is either temporarily or permanently prohibited. The transmitted information can also be monitored to assist with verifying catch effort activity reported by commercial operators. A number of ALC devices have been vetted by MFish as compliant with Ministry of Fisheries Type Approval Standards, in part due to their resistance to tampering.[1] 

VMS is seen by MFish to be a cost effective means to monitor the activity of fishing vessels and assists with targeting compliance efforts in commercial fisheries for greatest effectiveness.[2]

 

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References

[1]   http://www.high-seas.org/docs/hstf_vms_final1.pdf

[2]    Review of Sustainability Measures and other management controls for 2007/08 (1 October) fishing year Volume 1: Final Advice Papers and Summary of Recommendations  24 May 2007