#FISHING IN THE DARK TAB HOW TO#

But many vessels operating in the Spratlys have transceivers and should be using them but choose not to so that they can hide their activities. The absence of signals is due in large part to the small size and age of many fishing vessels, especially in the Philippines and Vietnam.

The Spratly Islands, in particular, are devoid of Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals. CSISįor a region where so much fishing is reported, boats are surprisingly difficult to identify in the South China Sea. Automatic Identification System (AIS) AIS signals detected in the South China Sea in June 2018.

But several different technologies-AIS, VIIRS, SAR, and optical satellite imagery-can be combined to monitor this activity.

#FISHING IN THE DARK TAB HOW TO#

How to read AIS, VIIRS, and SAR data (2:09 min)Īttempting to monitor fishing activity remotely is uniquely difficult in the South China Sea. In fact, some states actively encourage and even subsidize fishing in disputed waters to assert their claims. Tracking the BoatsĬonducting accurate stock assessments and managing fisheries in the South China Sea is all but impossible because of the overlapping territorial and maritime disputes, which prevent effective enforcement of domestic fishery laws or cooperation among regional states. The results tell a worrying story about the scale of unseen fishing activity in the region, massive overcapacity in the Spratlys, especially on the Chinese side, and the stunning scale and expense of the maritime militia. To provide a clearer picture of the size and activities of these important players, CSIS undertook a six-month-long project in cooperation with Vulcan’s Skylight Maritime Initiative to leverage previously underused technologies and data sources to analyze the size and behavior of fishing fleets in the most hotly-contested part of the South China Sea, the Spratly Islands. And that has become even more likely as a significant number of fishing vessels in the area forgo fishing full-time to serve as a direct arm of the state through official maritime militia.

(John McManus, February 2016)Īs they race to pull the last fish from the South China Sea, fishers stand at least as much chance of triggering a violent clash as do the region’s armed forces. (John McManus, February 2016)Ī reef flat, approximately 1.5 nautical miles away from Thitu Island, destroyed by Chinese clam harvesters. (Taiwan Ministry of Internal Affairs)Īn overfished reef flat surrounding Thitu Island, occupied by the Philippines. A relatively healthy reef flat around Itu Aba Island, occupied by Taiwan.

Fishing in the dark tab