Vessel & Catch Monitoring

In seeking to balance conservation with commercial fishing activities, many countries have adopted sophisticated regulations defining where vessels may fish and limiting the amount of catch. However, many productive fisheries are located in remote areas so finding an efficient method to monitor compliance is imperative.

Traditional approaches to this problem have emphasized aerial and sea surveillance. These methods are expensive and it becomes difficult to police large areas effectively. To improve fisheries compliance a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) is now used in many countries to monitor over 25,000 vessels electronically with GPS and satellite. On-board each vessel a satellite terminal reports the vessel's location — securely and privately — to a government agency at programmable intervals.

Absolute is the most recognized supplier of software solutions in fisheries. Our products are used by government agencies to automate monitoring of large fleets; with sophisticated algorithms to automatically detect deviations from normal fishing behavior. These alerts are directed to appropriate personnel for at-sea intercepts, followed by the subsequent production of legal and casework documentation.

Vessel operators are able to replace manually intensive paper logbook entries with an electronic logbook (e-Logbook). In many cases weather and safety information can also be provided to the e-Logbook via satellite; enhancing maritime safety. Our E-Forms Logbook package is fully integrated with leading Inmarsat & Iridium based VMS terminals. Engineered to be compact in size and inexpensive to update over the air, Electronic-Forms offer a unique ability to better manage catch data and produce traceability documentation.

Absolute provides Fisheries Monitoring services to over 35 countries and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations — covering in excess of 50 million square miles of fishing territory worldwide. Our depth of experience in this field is unmatched and demonstrated by the most complete series of Vessel and Catch Monitoring products available. We can assist your organization across the entire spectrum of surveillance, management and enforcement needs.

We are proud to announce the release of our latest fisheries platform.
The Fleet Information System is a secure on-line application including
modules for registering and tracking vessels, entering fisheries
boundary polygons, generating reports and managing permits and
licenses; all operating within a state-of-the-art Web 2.0 application.

Learn more about The Fleet Information System.