Monitoring and enforcement of large Marine Protected Areas within EEZs and on the High Seas

Progress towards international targets for marine protection has gained momentum, largely a result of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) encompassing large swaths of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Yet, the realization of benefits... [ view full abstract ]

Progress towards international targets for marine protection has gained momentum, largely a result of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) encompassing large swaths of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Yet, the realization of benefits envisaged for biodiversity and stock conservation requires development of vessel monitoring and enforcement capacity at equally ambitious scales. Demonstrating such capacity is critical to High Seas protection, a pathway to which is envisaged through ongoing negotiations for a new Implementing Agreement for UNCLOS.

Using OceanMind, a technology program for monitoring fishing vessel activity, we draw together over three years of data on large commercial fishing fleet movements in the Atlantic and East Pacific; data sources include satellite AIS (sat-AIS), Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), SAR satellite imagery, fishing vessel databases, oceanographic data, and coordinated at sea patrols. We draw out trends in vessel behaviour and compliance in response to both EEZ and on High Seas spatial protections. Use of SAR, in addition to sat-AIS, permitted assessment of ‘dark’ vessels, the scope of whose activities are generally unknown.

The high level of compliance to protection suggests remote MPAs should not be dismissed as impractical. Areas with elevated risk are however implicated, particularly where vessel activity aggregates along borders. Satellite surveillance provides a viable foundation to remote vessel monitoring, extendable to both protected and fished areas. Yet, its utility is geographically variable and dependent on the quality of attendant vessel data. In developing viable monitoring and enforcement solutions we emphasize where capacity must also be built into management infrastructure, governance and policy.