Ocean sentinel albatrosses locate illegal vessels and provide the first estimate of the extent of nondeclared fishing

Abstract

With threats to nature becoming increasingly prominent, in order for biodiversity levels to persist, there is a critical need to improve implementation of conservation measures. In the oceans, the surveillance of fisheries is complex and inadequate, such that quantifying and locating nondeclared and illegal fisheries is persistently problematic. Given that these activities dramatically impact oceanic ecosystems, through overexploitation of fish stocks and bycatch of threatened species, innovative ways to monitor the oceans are urgently required. Here, we describe a concept of “Ocean Sentinel” using animals equipped with state-of-the-art loggers which monitor fisheries in remote areas. Albatrosses fitted with loggers detecting and locating the presence of vessels and transmitting the information immediately to authorities allowed an estimation of the proportion of nondeclared fishing vessels operating in national and international waters of the Southern Ocean. We found that in international waters, more than one-third of vessels had no Automatic Identification System operating; in national Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), this proportion was lower on average, but variable according to EEZ. Ocean Sentinel was also able to provide unpreceded information on the attraction of seabirds to vessels, giving access to crucial information for risk-assessment plans of threatened species. Attraction differed between species, age, and vessel activity. Fishing vessels attracted more birds than other vessels, and juveniles both encountered fewer vessels and showed a lower attraction to vessels than adults. This study shows that the development of technologies offers the potential of implementing conservation policies by using wide-ranging seabirds to patrol oceans.

Tracking the response of industrial fishing fleets to large marine protected areas in the Pacific Ocean

“…Complementary technologies are being explored to improve remote detection of IUU and vessels that lack AIS, ranging from additional satellite data sets (e.g., Synthetic Aperture Radar) to “animal sentinels” equipped with loggers that detect vessels (Weimerskirch et al. 2020).…”

Satellite Tagging and Photographic Identification Reveal Connectivity Between Two UNESCO World Heritage Areas for Reef Manta Rays

“…While satellite tracking of tagged animals provides new insights into movements and habitat use, the integration and application of such data to conservation and management remains underutilised (Hays et al, 2016). Recent studies have showcased examples where movement data has informed aquatic conservation and management issues (Hays et al, 2019), including species stock boundaries and structure (Neilson et al, 2014), fishing mortality estimates (Byrne et al, 2017), identification of illegal and non-declared fishing vessels (Weimerskirch et al, 2020), and species behaviour and area utilisation (Schofield et al, 2013;Queiroz et al, 2016;Daly et al, 2018). Knowledge of species movements thus has the potential to provide valuable supporting information for the effective management of marine species.…”

Timely poacher detection and localization using sentinel animal movement

“…Elucidating the hitherto hidden information in the behavior of animals with cutting-edge technology can help us gauge the conditions of life on Earth 44 . More specifically, this approach can expose illicit human activities, such as illegal fishing 45 and, as shown here, poaching. Our study is the first to document the use of untargeted sentinel behavior as an early warning against wildlife crime, yet our approach is generalizable beyond animals as sentinels.…”