Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment Behavior
Transshipment at sea, the offloading of catch from a fishing vessel to a refrigerated vessel far from port, can obscure the actual source of the catch, complicating sustainable fisheries management, and may allow illegally caught fish to enter the legitimate seafood market. Transshipment activities...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2018.00240/full |
| _version_ | 1818552186890616832 |
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| author | Nathan A. Miller Aaron Roan Timothy Hochberg John Amos David A. Kroodsma |
| author_facet | Nathan A. Miller Aaron Roan Timothy Hochberg John Amos David A. Kroodsma |
| author_sort | Nathan A. Miller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Transshipment at sea, the offloading of catch from a fishing vessel to a refrigerated vessel far from port, can obscure the actual source of the catch, complicating sustainable fisheries management, and may allow illegally caught fish to enter the legitimate seafood market. Transshipment activities often occur in regions of unclear jurisdiction where policymakers or enforcement agencies may be slow to act against a challenge they cannot see. To address this limitation, we processed 32 billion Automatic Identification System (AIS) messages from ocean-going vessels from 2012 to the end of 2017 and identified and tracked 694 cargo vessels capable of transshipping at sea and transporting fish (referred to as transshipment vessels). We mapped 46,570 instances where these vessels loitered at sea long enough to receive a transshipment and 10,233 instances where we see a fishing vessel near a loitering transshipment vessel long enough to engage in transshipment. We found transshipment behaviors associated with regions and flag states exhibiting limited oversight; roughly 47% of the events occur on the high seas and 42% involve vessels flying flags of convenience. Transshipment behavior in the high seas is relatively common, with vessels responsible for 40% of the fishing in the high seas having at least one encounter with a transshipment vessel in this time period. Our analysis reveals that addressing the sustainability and human rights challenges (slavery, trafficking, bonded labor) associated with transshipment at sea will require a global perspective and transnational cooperation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T09:09:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8ed1d456c7ca485d894a94ea0b166e0b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T09:09:54Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-8ed1d456c7ca485d894a94ea0b166e0b2022-12-22T00:29:33ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452018-07-01510.3389/fmars.2018.00240379659Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment BehaviorNathan A. Miller0Aaron Roan1Timothy Hochberg2John Amos3David A. Kroodsma4SkyTruth, Shepherdstown, WV, United StatesGoogle, Mountain View, CA, United StatesGlobal Fishing Watch, Washington, DC, United StatesSkyTruth, Shepherdstown, WV, United StatesGlobal Fishing Watch, Washington, DC, United StatesTransshipment at sea, the offloading of catch from a fishing vessel to a refrigerated vessel far from port, can obscure the actual source of the catch, complicating sustainable fisheries management, and may allow illegally caught fish to enter the legitimate seafood market. Transshipment activities often occur in regions of unclear jurisdiction where policymakers or enforcement agencies may be slow to act against a challenge they cannot see. To address this limitation, we processed 32 billion Automatic Identification System (AIS) messages from ocean-going vessels from 2012 to the end of 2017 and identified and tracked 694 cargo vessels capable of transshipping at sea and transporting fish (referred to as transshipment vessels). We mapped 46,570 instances where these vessels loitered at sea long enough to receive a transshipment and 10,233 instances where we see a fishing vessel near a loitering transshipment vessel long enough to engage in transshipment. We found transshipment behaviors associated with regions and flag states exhibiting limited oversight; roughly 47% of the events occur on the high seas and 42% involve vessels flying flags of convenience. Transshipment behavior in the high seas is relatively common, with vessels responsible for 40% of the fishing in the high seas having at least one encounter with a transshipment vessel in this time period. Our analysis reveals that addressing the sustainability and human rights challenges (slavery, trafficking, bonded labor) associated with transshipment at sea will require a global perspective and transnational cooperation.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2018.00240/fullfisheriestransshipmentrefrigerated cargo vesselIUU fishingreefer |
| spellingShingle | Nathan A. Miller Aaron Roan Timothy Hochberg John Amos David A. Kroodsma Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment Behavior Frontiers in Marine Science fisheries transshipment refrigerated cargo vessel IUU fishing reefer |
| title | Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment Behavior |
| title_full | Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment Behavior |
| title_fullStr | Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment Behavior |
| title_full_unstemmed | Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment Behavior |
| title_short | Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment Behavior |
| title_sort | identifying global patterns of transshipment behavior |
| topic | fisheries transshipment refrigerated cargo vessel IUU fishing reefer |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2018.00240/full |
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