Components and related activities
MCS has aspects distinct from fisheries management, although there is overlap. According to the 2003 FAO paper on Recent Trends, fisheries management consists of: *Data collection and analysis * Participatory management planning * Establishing a regulatory framework ** Input controls ** Operational and output controls * Implementation While MCS, in the basic FAO definitions, does not include enforcement, that category will be included here as part of the means of implementing MCS operations. In MCS discussions, there is a strong emphasis that the success of MCS is not to be measured in number of arrests, but in the level of compliance with presumably reasonable frameworks (i.e., the "control" part of MCS). If a sense of participation in the development of controls, as well as peer pressure, leads to meeting the fisheries management controls without a single arrest, the MCS program is successful.Monitoring
A 1981 Conference of Experts defined monitoring as " the continuous requirement for the measurement of fishing effort characteristics and resource yields." This was expanded, in a 1993 workshop,"Community-based fishery management: towards the restoration of traditional practices in the South Pacific", ''Marine Policy'' 17(2): 108-117 1993 to include the measurement of: * catch * species composition * fishing effort *Control
According to the 1981 Conference of Experts, control is the "regulatory conditions under which the exploitation of the resource may be conducted." This is usually considered to consist of legislation, regulations, and international agreements. Each of these should describe the management measures required and the requirements that will be enforced. The actual enforcement mechanisms are not part of control. Management criteria include: * Establishing designated fishing areas in which no fishing, fishing by vessels with permits, or open fishing is allowed. * Restrictions on fishing gear, including the banning of certain types on vessels in give areas, or controls on such parameters as the mesh size of fishing nets. These restrictions can be enforced only by physical inspection at sea or at dockside. * Catch and quota controls, by species or total take ** Days at sea ** Daily time at sea ** Seasonal catch limits ** Per-trip catch limits ** Limits on catch within certain areas ** Individual (vessel) transferable quotas ** Minimum or maximum fish sizes ** Bycatch * Vessel movement controls ** Into areas ** Exiting areas ** Sightings in areas * Onboard observers * Licensing Vessel inspectionsSurveillance
Surveillance, according to the 1981 Conference of Experts, are "the degree and types of observations required to maintain compliance with the regulatory controls imposed on fishing activities." The Ghana workshop termed it the "regulation and supervision of fishing activity..." This definition does not clearly include enforcement. Through surveillance, overfishing by authorized fishers and poaching by unauthorized fishers can be detected. Many systems are involved in the technical process of surveillance. Radar, including coastal, airborne, and spaceborne systems, may be intended for national security or law enforcement, but can simultaneously provide information to fisheries management and environmental protection authorities. Vessel monitoring system principally intended for fisheries surveillance can provide critical information toEnforcement
Enforcement ranges from self-regulation to onboard observers to patrol platforms (vessels and aircraft) to law enforcement activity.Spatial Components
MCS implementation has sea, land, and aerospace aspects. Monitoring systems, such as Vessel monitoring system, may operate in all three of these regimes. These aspects also affect other maritime systems that can cooperate with VMS, such as Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) with their specialized Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), radar surveillance of the seas, and pollution tracking mechanisms.Sea components
Perhaps the most basic component, aboard fishing vessels, are the logs and catch reporting completed by the fishers themselves. Closely associated are reports prepared by onboard observers. Also on the fishing vessel can be the shipboard components of vessel monitoring system (VMS). These can be independent systems involving navigational and time input, embedded and dedicated computer, and radio transmission of reports. The transmission is usually via satellite, but some countries are using coastalSurface components
Catch inspectors, as well as electronic or hard copy filings of catch and other reports, are basic land components of MCS. Fisheries management authorities who make real-time decisions about opening or closing restricted fishing areas are usually on land, and will communicate their decisions on paper, using websites or electronic mail, and by voice radio. Within a vessel monitoring system (VMS), the Fisheries Management Center (FMC) components are on land. Minimally, this is a regional or national center of the nation in whose waters the fishing is happening. Under the Flag Principle, the VMS of a vessel registered in a nation other than the coastal or EEZ nation of the fishing area will transmit to its national FMC, which will then relay the information to the FMC where the vessel is operating. Patrol vessels may do visual or electronic surveillance of fishing vessels at sea, or may board them for spot inspections. Fisheries management vessels also may independently monitor fish densities in the areas of interest, water conditions, or other observations of interest for operations or research.Aerospace components
Low-flying aircraft can visually identify fishing vessels, and, with reasonable navigational skills, determine whether a given craft is in an authorized area. This is aided if the fishing craft display distinctive identifiers. Higher-flying aircraft using radar and other sensors can determine which vessels are in a designated open or closed fishing area, and the ashore FMC can correlate these observations with VMS data. Communications satellites, in bothExternal links
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monitoring Control And Surveillance Fishing industry Fisheries science Navigation Water transport