Integrated Vessel Tracking Decision Support Tool
Regular surveillance of territorial sea areas is increasingly important for coastal nations. Signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) can establish a territorial sea out to 12 nautical miles from the coastline and an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of up to 200 nautical miles. These marine areas are then an economic resource for a coastal state (e.g. for fisheries or oil extraction), but that state must then take responsibility for the administration, law enforcement, environmental protection and sustainable management of this frontier.
Today the predominant strategy for monitoring vessels moving within the EEZ is using combination of transponder based systems such as Automatic Identification System (AIS), Vessel Management System (VMS) and Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) as well as coastal radar and airborne surveillance. Satellite based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is also an attractive technology as it offers wide area surveillance coverage day and night, independent of cloud cover and weather conditions.
The Integrated Vessel Tracking (IVT) DeST provides the capability of monitoring vessels movements based on both transponder information (such as AIS) as well as vessels detected using SAR data and provide notifications when vessels are within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
Related news articles:
CSIR’S SeaFar Aiding Authorities to Protect SA’s Exclusive Economic Zone – https://www.csir.co.za/csir%E2%80%99s-seafar-aiding-authorities-protect-sa%E2%80%99s-exclusive-economic-zone
CSIR Technology “Sees” Vessels Even if Automatic Identification Systems are Off – http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43768
CSIR’S SeaFar Detects Massive Bilge Dump – https://www.csir.co.za/csir%E2%80%99s-seafar-detects-massive-bilge-dump
CSIR AIMS to Expand its SeaFar Maritime Domain Awareness System –
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45128
South Africa Tackles Crime at Sea With Ship-Spotting Satellites
https://www.nature.com/news/south-africa-tackles-crime-at-sea-with-ship-spotting-satellites-1.22977
