The overexploitation of marine stocks often happens with complex and opaque dynamics facilitated by poor regulations and governance in countries where resources are limited to prevent and tackle Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.
This innovation will provide a ground-breaking, nearly real-time and automated space-based maritime surveillance solution for illegal fishing. It will be based on a prototype developed by Surrey Space Centre that can classify ship types through powerful remote sensing imagery and detect “dark” ships potentially partaking in illegal fishing activities.
In partnership with the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council, Mauritius will be able to detect illegal fishing activities within its marine protected areas and Exclusive Economic Zone, which is also a step forward in building ocean resilience by addressing the risk of overfishing, particularly for some tuna species, in the Western Indian Ocean.
