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The Project Eyes on the Seas, health a Pew Charitable Trusts project in partnership with a United Kingdom government initiative called Satellite Applications Catapult, pharm is an innovative system designed to help governments monitor, generic detect and end illegal fishing activities in the world’s oceans.
On January 21, 2015, the system was officially launched and made available to the governments of Palau, Chile and the UK as a tool in the fight against illegal, unregulated, and unlicensed (IUU) fishing activities.
The program is part of Pew’s Ending Illegal Fishing campaign.
Aiming to create the world’s largest marine sanctuary by closing off nearly 80% of its waters to commercial fishing, this system is a crucial tool for the Palau government who normally depends on its lone patrol vessel to monitors and catch illegal activities.
Since declaring to create this sanctuary, President Remengesau’s administration has been working to identify technologies that would help the Republic deal with poaching and illegal fishing issues, replace lost revenues from fishing licenses and implement activities such as sports fishing to create new sources of income – all of which are also in line with the President’s vision of high-value or high-end tourism.
The Project Eyes on the Seas in online and operational in Palau since launching. The system is operated by the Bureau of Marine Law in partnership with Pew.
The system proved its effectiveness shortly after launching when it assisted the Republic in monitoring and essentially capturing a Taiwanese longliner vessel engaging in illegal activities.
(Video credit: OTV and Pew Charitable Trusts)
