Navy News
Direct from the front-line, the official newspaper of the Royal Navy, Navy News, brings you the latest news, features and award winning photos every month.
Royal Navy teams up with environmental experts to protect world fishing stocks
4 December 2024
The Royal Navy has teamed up with the international fishing community to help clamp down on illegal activity and preserve stocks.
It’s agreed to share information it gathers from the seven seas relating to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing around the globe to raise awareness of – and prevent – illegal activities.
The Royal Navy Maritime Domain Awareness Programme based at Portsdown Technology Park overlooking Portsmouth will share some data with Global Fishing Watch.
Global Fishing Watch seeks to harness technology to monitor the oceans, sharing information with authorities, scientists and fishing communities around the world to protect biodiversity, fisheries and livelihoods.
It uses open-source information such as the Automatic Identification System (AIS) carried by ships, Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), satellite imagery/data, and other information to create a live, searchable map, showing global fishing activity.
It’s thought as many as one in five fish sold on world markets – including the UK – has been caught illegally.
Such illegal activity deprives fishing communities of income, lawful authorities of tax or sales revenue, and it denudes stocks of fish – to a point where, if it continues unchecked, global fishing stocks could be depleted beyond sustainable levels within a generation.
The formal link-up with Global Fishing Watch follows a successful pilot project involving the organisation and UK Government's Integrated Security Fund focused on illegal fishing activity in and around the Philippines.
And on a practical level, patrol ship HMS Tamar has worked with the Royal New Zealand Navy and authorities in Fiji to conduct fishery protection patrols around the Commonwealth islands to help police an area of the Pacific five times the size of the UK where illicit activity is thought to cost Fijians £200m a year.
The focus on the information sharing is the Indo-Pacific – hence the Foreign Office Minister responsible for the region, Catherine West, commenting on the agreement saying it underscored the UK’s on-going commitment to security, prosperity and sustainable economic development across the vast area.
Global Fishing Watch’s CEO Tony Long said the information sharing with the Royal Navy would be “help prevent and address potential incidents before they occur” and lead to “better ocean stewardship”, supporting local economies, safeguarding marine habitats, and combating illegal fishing for the good of all.