AIS data to inform small scale fisheries management and marine spatial planning
Abstract
Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) are collision avoidance devices used on-board both commercial and leisure craft. These systems report the position, track and speed of the vessel through Very High Frequency radio transmissions which are accessible to any suitable receiver. This paper explores the potential to use AIS data to inform small scale fisheries management and marine spatial planning. First, the propagation and reception of the line of sight AIS transmissions was modelled around the coast of Scotland to identify areas where the use of AIS may be compromised. Using open source Geographic Information System and relational database software, computationally efficient methods of processing and analysing AIS data were explored. Three months of AIS data derived from 274 Scottish small scale fishing vessels were used to provide spatio-temporal analyses of trip duration and distance travelled, location of fishing activities, and vessel dependency on fishing grounds. The coverage, opportunities and challenges of using AIS are discussed together with broader applications and future developments.
Citation
James , M , Mendo , T , Jones , E L , Orr , K , Mcknight , A & Thompson , J 2018 , ' AIS data to inform small scale fisheries management and marine spatial planning ' , Marine Policy , vol. 91 , pp. 113-121 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2018.02.012
Publication
Marine Policy
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0308-597XType
Journal article
Rights
© 2018, Elsevier Ltd. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2018.02.012
Description
This study was funded by the 2014/15 European Fisheries Fund ‘Evidence Gathering in Support of Sustainable Scottish Inshore Fisheries’ (Grant Number: MI-NC-3-0093). Mark James, Tania Mendo, and John Thompson were supported by the MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland). Their support is gratefully acknowledged. MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions.Collections
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