June 13, 2019 — A South Korean-flagged fishing vessel with a history of illegal fishing and involvement in human rights abuse cases, repeatedly stopped transmitting its public tracking data while off the coast of Argentina, Oceana says in a brief report released Thursday that identifies several suspicious activities observed with the help of the recently enhanced Global Fishing Watch (GFW) program.
Oceana said GFW detected 77 gaps in Automatic Identification System transmissions by the vessel, which it doesn’t name, over a nearly five-year period, including four inside its national waters. One gap lasted almost 12 days, ending when the Argentine Coast Guard captured the vessel for fishing illegally inside Argentina’s waters.
GFW — a program started by Oceana, SkyTruth and Google — uses a combination of satellite and radar technology and vessel monitoring system data to support the enforcement of laws that prohibit fishing out of season or in protected areas. The group now reports maintaining about 20 staff distributed globally, with individuals and small teams spread across the US, Asia, Europe, Central and South America.