Transparency at Sea: The United States Lags Behind

The public tracking of vessels using systems like the automatic identification system (AIS) is occurring on a global scale and shines a light on what is happening on our oceans. The high seas — areas outside any national jurisdiction — and the far edges of a nation’s exclusive economic zones (EEZs) were once out of sight where suspicious behaviors like illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing could hide. AIS now provides more visibility of fishing activities wherever a ship operates. Despite the technological developments of these devices, the United States is falling behind on global standards of transparency in the commercial fishing sector. Current U.S. regulations on the use of AIS devices limit the visibility and accountability of vessels on the open ocean. The United States has the opportunity to be a leader in maritime security by expanding transparency to protect the oceans by increasing the number of vessels required to broadcast AIS for their entire time at sea in the U.S. EEZ and on the high seas.

AIS was originally developed to increase maritime safety, reduce vessel collisions, and enhance awareness of vessel locations at sea, but it has recently become an invaluable tool for monitoring fishing vessel activity at sea. These devices broadcast a vessel’s location, speed, country of origin, and other identifying information, providing key details that, when analyzed, can demonstrate when a vessel is fishing and infer what type of fishing it is engaged in. As AIS is an inexpensive, easy-to-implement technology, it should be required on more U.S. fishing vessels, and the United States should require similar transparency of seafood imports. Expanding transparency will help bring to light suspicious behaviors, protect ocean habitats and wildlife, and discourage illicit activity like illegal fishing and human rights abuses.

The limited requirements for AIS use in the United States fall far behind other fishing nations.^1,2 Currently, only U.S. fishing vessels 65 feet or longer are required to carry AIS devices, and they are only required to broadcast their signal when they are within 12 nautical miles from shore. U.S. fishing vessels can also use Class B devices with weaker signals. There are two types of AIS devices, Class A and Class B, with Class A transmitting data more frequently and with a more powerful signal. Oceana found U.S. AIS requirements only apply to approximately 12% of the more than 19,000 registered commercial fishing vessels in the U.S. fleet. By comparison, the European Union requires vessels 49 feet (15 meters) or longer to carry more powerful AIS devices and to continually broadcast signals when at sea. Nearly 65% more vessels would be required to carry AIS in the U.S. if we mirrored the EU, covering more than 1,500 additional vessels.

Oceana recommends that the current U.S. AIS requirements be expanded to all vessels 49 feet or longer and mandate that these vessels continuously transmit their AIS signal for the entire duration of their trip. Expanding AIS requirements would provide more transparency of fishing vessel activities. By embracing transparency in domestic fisheries, the United States can demand more transparency globally and enhance the suite of tools the United States can use to combat IUU fishing. Expanded transparency will help ensure that only safe, legally caught, responsibly sourced, and honestly labeled seafood enters the U.S. domestic market.