The Blue Marine Foundation is concerned about the inconsistent use of Automatic Identification System (AIS) by Spanish and French-flagged tuna purse-seine vessels operating in the Western Indian Ocean. We have included an analysis of AIS usage by 14 Spanish and 11 French vessels over 850 days (1 January 2017 to 30 April 2019), conducted by OceanMind. These vessels were authorised to operate in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) area during this period, though other vessels on the same list were not.
AIS is required by the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and EU regulations for fishing vessels over 15 meters, with limited exceptions for safety reasons. Despite confirmation from DG MARE that the European Commission would address non-compliance, Blue Marine Foundation has received no response regarding the vessels’ failure to adhere to these regulations, despite numerous follow-up requests. We are particularly concerned about the significant gaps in AIS transmission, which cannot be explained by piracy High Risk Areas, especially those observed outside such zones.
