Fishing Vessel Monitoring Systems: Past, Present and Future

VMS: Past, Present and Future 10
3.0 VMS the weaknesses
In the area of fisheries protection, there is a growing file of documented cases
whereby, with the assistance of VMS, vessels fishing illegally have been brought to
justice. Furthermore, a number of fisheries officers have already observed a
deterrent effect of VMS in that vessels participating in a VMS scheme would appear
to be less likely to engage in detectable illegal activities, such as fishing in forbidden
zones or at forbidden periods (source: presentations of Australian Fisheries
Management Authority, New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries and United States
National Marine Fisheries Service). There is no reason that this trend should not
continue, so long as the VMS data received by fisheries authorities is reliable.
These are the principal advantages of VMS: as authorities are aware in near realtime
of the accurate positions of all licensed fishing vessels, the efficiency of
protection and compliance activities is improved. Furthermore, license vessels are
aware that they are being tracked, thus changing the mentality of their operators
and crew as to whether operating outside compliance with a fisheries’ regulations is
profitable. Furthermore, having timely access to the positions of all licensed
vessels gives an authority a considerable advantage in detecting non-licensed
vessels.
Nonetheless, it is important to note that VMS provides only position, speed and
course of vessels and is, thus, nothing more than a tool that is used to enhance
MCS in the broader sense. It is, therefore, not an end in itself. If VMS is an asset,
that status is gained as a result of the value of its supporting role.
On the face of it, then, there might appear to be little source for concern. The
equipment used aboard vessels to transmit VMS data has proved to be both
reliable and accurate. To assume that it will always be so, however, would be
impossibly complacent. It is, in fact, the role of VMS in fisheries protection which
raises the question of the reliability of the data gathered: with thousands of
vessels already fitted with VMS equipment, and the number of fittings scheduled
to accelerate in the years to come, it was always inevitable that some fishing
vessel operators would endeavour to find a way to corrupt the data transmitted
by the VMS terminal in their vessels, so as to undertake illegal fishing activities,
without fear of detection.
3.1 Vulnerability of shipboard equipment
A cursory assessment of the likelihood of an operator to be able to corrupt the data
sent from his vessel is worrying. To begin with, in most VMS systems the vessel
operator is permitted to select the specific equipment that will be used on his vessel