Blue Belt Surveillance & Intelligence Mang. Hub -UK-OTs

Background

The UK has 14 Overseas Territories (UK-OTs), which are internally self-governing territories that have constitutional links to the UK. The Governments of the UK-OTs are constitutionally responsible for the management and protection of their maritime environments.

The maritime environments of the UK-OTs extend out to 200nm from their coastlines, unless this distance meets another countries waters, in which case a median line is established.

Most of the UK-OTs are isolated oceanic islands in diverse locations ranging from the tropics to the Antarctic. The combined UK-OT maritime environment is in excess of 5million km2 and is internationally recognised for its biodiversity.

It is estimated that the UK-OTs contain 90% of the UK’s biodiversity and, due to their isolated locations, often have high numbers of endemic species . The oceans surrounding the UK-OTs contain a wealth of natural capital which their Governments and communities rely on. Natural capital is the stock of natural assets, such as fish stocks or geological resources, that humans derive services from and make human life possible.

Under articles set out in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) the UK-OTs have declared Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) or other designations such as a Maritime Zone (MZ) in the case of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI). In all cases these designations comprise the maritime area out to a 200nm limit, or median line with another State. The coastal State has the rights to exploit natural resources, particularly fish stocks within this area. Areas beyond the 200nm limits of coastal States are termed “high seas” and are not under the jurisdiction of a State and are managed using different mechanisms.

The maritime environment of the UK-OTs faces multiple threats, with the two principal ones being:

a) Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing

b) Pollution events caused by commercial merchant vessel traffic

The term “IUU fishing” covers the different ways a fishing activity fails to comply with conditions or relevant legal requirements. The concept was developed by the Fisheries and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and is an internationally recognised term .

In practice the activity is either in breach of the law or is outside of the law. Although largely unquantified for the UK-OTs, the global loss to IUU fishing has been estimated to be between USD$10-23 billion annually .

The UK-OTs’ maritime environments are at varying, but at times significant, risk of IUU fishing. Typically the IUU fishing threat to the UK-OTs is that posed by vessels from other States fishing within the EEZ without a licence or authorisation to do so.

It is important that the Compliance and Enforcement (C and E) activities undertaken by the UK-OT Governments are capable of detecting this type of IUU activity over the large maritime domains the Governments are responsible for. Currently the best methodology for conducting large scale maritime surveillance is through the use of satellite surveillance, either by using tracking system broadcast from vessels themselves or by using a variety of satellite imaging techniques.

The starting point for this type of surveillance is the Automatic Information System (AIS). AIS is an automated tracking system that broadcasts information on a vessels identity, location and speed. AIS is transmitted via Very High Frequency (VHF) radio messages and can be received by other vessels, shore stations or via satellite. The tool is primarily used for at-sea collision avoidance but is an important part of maritime surveillance for IUU fishing activity.