Illustration. (Antara/Regina Safri)

In collaboration with Global Fishing Watch, a partnership between SkyTruth, Oceana and Google, the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry on Friday announced its plan to make the nation's commercial fishing data more transparent.

According to Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, the collaboration is an initial step toward good fisheries governance that will allow a smarter use of existing data by applying a high tech approach to global fisheries management, which at the end of the day will help fight illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUUF).

"To put an end to the illegal activities, we have to use all the tools we have to ensure that all fishing efforts in our waters are seen and recorded," said Susi in Jakarta on Friday.

Oceana Vice President Jacqueline Savitz added that Indonesia was the first country to work with Global Fishing Watch to analyze national data on fishing practices. "This will improve enforcement of national fishing policies and help end illegal fishing, thus improving the health of Indonesian fish stocks and protecting the livelihoods of their fishermen," she said.

SkyTruth founder and president John Amos said Global Fishing Watch technology will allow fisheries managers to quickly and easily visualize their data, providing a powerful tool to monitor and measure fishing activity. "We are excited by this opportunity to work with Indonesia to enable greater transparency," said John.

Expected to be publicly available in 2016, Global Fishing Watch works by analyzing data from the automatic identification system (AIS) network, which broadcasts a ship's identity, location, speed, direction and more. AIS was primarily designed as a safety mechanism to avoid collisions at sea, but information about vessel behavior, such as fishing activity, can be derived by Global Fishing Watch.

While the vessel monitoring system (VMS) is used specifically by governments to monitor commercial fishing activity. Indonesia is the second largest capture fisheries producer and has one of the largest VMS in the world. Making these data available through Global Fishing Watch will allow Indonesia to better manage its fisheries. (bbn)(+)

Popular

Kadin urges stability after Constitutional Court ruling

Jokowi says transition to new government to begi

BCA loan disbursement surges 17.1 percent yoy in first quarter