Vessel Monitoring System

Vessel Monitoring System

Vessel monitoring systems (VMS) are used in commercial fishing to allow environmental and fisheries regulatory organizations to monitor, minimally, the position, time at a position, and course and speed of fishing vessels. They are a key part of monitoring control and surveillance (MCS) programs at the national and international levels. VMS may be used to monitor vessels in the territorial waters of a country or a subdivision of a country, or in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) that extend 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) from the coasts of many countries.

Detail of VMS approved equipment and operational use will vary with the requirements of the nation of the vessel's registry, and the regional or national water in which the vessel is operating. Fisheries followed by VMS fall into two main categories:

• Local/regional fish such as scallops in the Northeast U.S., anchovies in Peruvian waters, or rock shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico
• Highly migratory species (HMS) such as tuna and billfish, or Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) in the Antarctic. which can be caught in multiple regions

In this discussion, VMS relates specifically to fisheries management systems. VMS is sometimes used as an informal synonym for other such things as the Automatic Identification System (AIS) or Vessel Traffic Service (VTS). AIS and VTS are quite different from VMS, although they may be complementary may apply to marine oversight and sensing programs that deal with the safety of navigation, hazardous material spills, and environmental threats such as algal blooms. VMS uses different radio technologies, is long-range, and handles commercially sensitive information.

Since VMS components are expensive, most countries subsidize the purchase of equipment, although the vessel owner may have to pay for installation, maintenance, and continuing communications costs. The communications service used can optionally support other functions such as voice, electronic mail, and other applications over which the communications cost can be amortized. VMS cost is a significant obstacle to its use in developing countries, but there are a number of subsidy programs to encourage VMS use. VMS from marine electronics suppliers may also offer a variety of other optional functions that can help in navigation, economic analysis, safety, and finding fish to harvest.