On the 21 and 22 November 2022, Global Fishing Watch (GFW) with support from TMT organised a workshop to provide training on vessel tracking platforms and identity analysis skills with Taiwanese NGOs, academics and police officers. This included familiarisation with the GFW map, AIS vessel tracking techniques, understanding fishing vessel identity challenges, and analysing ownership in distant water fishing operations.
The key concepts of effective fisheries intelligence gathering and analysis in relation to Illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing (IUU) were discussed, including ensuring wherever possible to source information from more than one source, and cross-referencing information. This requires an understanding of the strengths and limitations of different sources and understanding how they can complement each other for a more robust analysis of fishing activities and risks. Another key discussion was that IUU fishing is perpetrated by companies and individuals, not vessels, which requires an understanding and ability to identify a vessel’s ownership as an essential step in any investigation of IUU, or assessment of the risk of a fishing operation.
Participants were also given the opportunity to practise on the tools and skills developed in the training, and discuss and exchange experiences based on each organisations’ priorities and activities.
