November 3, 2022 — In February 2019, the 60-meter-long South Korean fishing vessel Oyang 77 slipped into Argentinian waters and deployed its trawl nets, hauling in more than 140 tons of hake, skate, and squid. The ship did not have permission to fish those waters, according to Argentine officials, and to avoid detection the crew turned off a beacon that sends a vessel’s precise location via satellite to maritime authorities. But the coast guard caught the Oyang 77, confiscated the catch, and destroyed its nets.

Now, researchers have used artificial intelligence to help authorities more easily decipher what vessels like the Oyang 77 might be doing when they go dark and whether they might be fishing illegally. The approach is already guiding some enforcement agencies in planning their patrols.

Illegal fishing accounts for hauls that are worth about $25 billion per year and include endangered species such as sharks. Some vessels have been caught with enslaved crews. Although there is increasing political awareness of the problem, governments have not taken enough action, says Rashid Sumaila, an ocean and fisheries economist at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. “This paper is showing some of the possibilities that we can achieve,” says Sumaila, who was not involved. “I think there’s hope.”

Read the full article at Science.org