Satellite Applications Catapult (Chile) Illegal Fishing
Satellite Enabled Maritime Domain Awareness for Chile
Aerial view of vessels near Chile. Credit: Sattelite Applications Catapult.
Project Title
Satellite Enabled Maritime Domain Awareness for Chile (SEMDAC)
Target Country
Chile
Project Lead
Satellite Applications Catapult
Project Consortium
N/A – No other consortium members
International Partners
Chilean Navy – providing resources and assets and is the ‘customer’
Project Summary
Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fishing is estimated to cost the global economy $20bn annually, and is a cover for other illegal activities such as slavery and smuggling. It is directly contradictory to UN sustainable goals on ocean development. It robs legitimate fishers and governments of revenue; undermines the accuracy of fisheries’ stock assessments and thus thwarts efforts to responsibly manage marine fisheries, damaging their productivity and in some cases precipitating their collapse; and ultimately threatens the stability of coastal communities that rely on the legal trade. The tools and techniques being developed and demonstrated in this project will assist in tackling all these issues.
Chile is the 10th largest fishing nation in the world at 1.5% of the world’s global catch and is estimated to lose $150M in lost revenues per year due to illegal fishing. Any substantial increase in detection and prosecution will therefore make a significant contribution to the Chilean economy.
The project’s aim is to demonstrate the efficacy of using satellite data and algorithms in detecting Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in Chile’s Marine Economic Zone. The purpose is to evaluate the cost effectiveness of the techniques and to estimate the socio-economic impact of implementing a sustainable service.
Objectives
- Undertake a trial to detect Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing within Chile’s Marine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
- Demonstrate effectiveness of using satellite data and algorithms to detect IUU