The paper documents the application of the services of International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat) to responsible fisheries. Currently known as International Mobile Satellite Organization, offers an increasing array of telecommunication services to business travelers, landmobile, aeronautical, and maritime users, etc. For the maritime industry Inmarsat provides satellite vessel monitoring. The position reports, which optionally may include course and speed, from one or more fishing vessels may be incorporated into a system comprised of hardware and software at a shore-side control station

August, Frank

The paper documents the the application of the services of International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat) to responsible fisheries. Currently known as International Mobile  Satellite Organization, offers an increasing array of telecommunication  services to  business travelers, landmobile, aeronautical, and maritime users, etc. For the maritime industry Inmarsat provides satellite vessel monitoring. The position reports, which optionally may include course and speed, from one or more fishing vessels may be incorporated into a system comprised of hardware and software at a shore-side control station

Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Training Department Institutional Repository

INMARSAT’S ROLE IN RESPONSIBLE FISHINGbyFrank AugustMaritime Market Manager London, U.K.1. BACKGROUNDThe International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat) originally offered satellite communications services including voice, facsimile, telex and data to oil tankers, large transport vessels, and the offshore oil industry. Times have changed quite a bit since the early days 15 years ago! Now renamed the International Mobile Satellite Organization while still keeping the abbreviation most familiar to the maritime community, Inmarsat now offers an increasing array of telecommunication services to business travelers, landmobile, aeronautical, and more and more maritime users as well.All of these services are offered via the same four geostationary satellites that provide communication services that cover nearly 99% of the inhabitants of the earth. Since Inmarsat maintains an extremely international ownership, any of the 79 member countries or signatories may offer any of these services through their own land earth stations or agreements with other countries which have decided to offer them.2. INMARSAT SERVICESInmarsat’s high quality services continue to be available via the Inmarsat-A and Inmarsat-B equipment and services. Inmarsat-M offers similar service, but with a slightly slower speed at a more affordable cost. Inmarsat-E, offered for commercial service in early 1997, provides vessels owners with a second IMO-approved option for Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs). And Inmarsat’s Mini-M service has revolutionized global, mobile communications on land. In the second half of 1997, the hardware necessary for maritime operations will be available to potentially provide the lowest cost maritime voice service yet, with only some limits to coverage in the Southern hemisphere. Low speed facsimile and data service will also be available.But the most significant Inmarsat service within the fisheries community has been Inmarsat-C, with a “key” role in responsible fishing. Inmarsat-C is certainly not exciting. It is simply a small, low-cost e-mail terminal with three particular features that have thus far served the fisheries industry quite well.Firstly, the fisheries enforcement community has the ability to request position reports from any or all fishing vessels within their management control. These position reports may be requested manually, one-at-a-time at various times during a vessels’ voyage. Or they may be requested to be sent automatically at some frequency, say once every two hours, until otherwise canceled. Critically important to fisheries authorities405has been the completely remote control over each Inmarsat-C equipped vessel. The Inmarsat-C sends these position reports without the need for any action on the part of the fishing vessel’s crew. All commands issued by shore-side authorities are received by the Inmarsat-C and acted upon by the Inmarsat-C. For instance, commands to set­up automatic position reporting every two hours, to change the frequency to every four hours, to stop position reporting completely, or to request an ad hoc position report at any moment require no effort, acknowledgment or knowledge by the fishing vessel crew.When authorities do wish to communicate with the fishing vessel, they may use Inmarsat-C’s second feature of messaging to send and receive text and data messages at any time. Of course, anyone may communicate with the vessel in this manner, so the commercial benefits to the fishing vessel owner can be significant. (And if the owner so chooses, he may also receive each of his vessel’s position reports, too.) Most significant with this service offering is the recent connectivity by many Inmarsat Land Earth Stations (LESs) to the internet for simple email messaging.Finally, the fact that certain Inmarsat-C models are qualified to meet the rigorous requirements of IMO’s Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) provides a powerful impetus to owners and authorities to provide the ideal communication device for safety reasons. One of the main features that make Inmarsat- C an ideal communicator for safety services is the enhanced group call service, which is fundamentally a broadcast service to groups of Inmarsat-C users. The SafetyNet service is a free broadcast to all users, and only sends safety messages, e.g., distress, meteorological, or navigation warnings, to those users in a geographic location to benefit or assist. FleetNet is the commercial equivalent broadcast service which allows fisheries authorities and commercial owners to send the same message to many vessels for one very low cost.3. SATELLITE VESSEL MONITORINGThe position reports, which optionally may include course and speed, from one or more fishing vessels may be incorporated into a system comprised of hardware and software at a shore-side control station. Several considerations exist for the Inmarsat-C shipboard side of the system:which Inmarsat-C manufacturer to choose,whether to install laptop/PC for messaging capability (position reporting works without a laptop/PC),whether to choose GMDSS compliant model or not,whether to require “black box” solutions that offer battery back-up, additional tamper-proof features, and local storage of position reports for shore-side retrieval, for instance.406A second consideration that should be considered during research into Satellite Vessel Monitoring is the services offered by various Inmarsat land earth stations that might be used in the final system. Not all stations offer position (or data) reporting, and Internet connectivity, for instance. Also, retail prices may vary somewhat, and distance from the station to the satellite vessel monitoring shore-side control station could affect access costs.Finally, the decision probably with the most variables revolves around the shore-side analysis of position reports and depends upon the exact requirements of the fisheries authorities. Naturally, a series of position reports from even a small number of fishing vessels on a regular basis requires some data processing for interpretation. Key issues to consider at this stage are:hardware processing and storage to handle an order of magnitude more data and activity than initially planned, for local expansion and possible future regional cooperation.management by exception, so that shore-side personnel are alerted when certain criteria are reached, for instance, low (fishing) speed operation in a prohibited fishing zone, two cycles of missed position reports indicating that the Inmarsat-C might be switched OFF, or no movement at sea for a minimum period of time indicating a possible illegal transshipment.post processing capability allowing one or more staff to review and analyze historical records without affecting current operations.convenient visual mapping tools to allow easy interpretation.user interface allowing point-and-click messaging, ad hoc position reporting and simple FleetNet broadcasting.4. ARCHITECTUREThe simplest system may offer a PC-based geographic information system for mapping all position reports received by the control station. Variations in architecture may be driven by post-processing requirements in a single country’s control station or by the degree that countries and regions wish to cooperate with each other for satellite vessel monitoring. Cooperation for a regional system has many benefits, such as:one single fishing vessel “position reporting” registration shared by all authorities,one shipboard system accepted by all authorities,no blind spots since regional satellite vessel monitoring could include international waters within region but between individual EEZs,407economies in selection and operation o f shore-side software and hardware.Although integrated shore-side control stations offer the most utility amongst cooperating nations, political obstacles and differing priorities may prevent realistic progress in this direction. However, cooperation doesn’t necessarily require the sharing of information, but could also include one or more of the following initiatives:Selection of the same satellite network, such as Inmarsat, that provides a “level playing field”, where security, integrity, privacy, and reliability are identical, and imbalances or “impressions” of imbalances are removed.Requirement for vessels of the same size or tonnage operating in similar geographic and fishing situations to comply with satellite vessel monitoring.Determination of position, and course/speed at the same frequency under similar circumstances.If a higher degree of cooperation between countries and regions is realized, three basic architectures could be implemented:Centralized regional control station with autonomy over all countries enforcement. All vessels send position reports to one central location (probably too ambitious at this stage),Centralized regional control station that forwards flag data (own vessels) and coastal data (vessels in individual EEZ) to each participating authority for local enforcement. All vessels send position reports to one central location (the Forum Fisheries Agency [FFA] model),D istributed control stations in each country (preferably, but not necessarily) running the same shore-based software, with identical forwarding rules that result in sharing of flag data with each coastal authority. Each vessel sends position reports to their own flag authority (the European Pilot Project model).5.  GETTING STARTEDThe Inmarsat-C system is loaded with powerful features, and offers a high degree of flexibility. However, rather than trying to pull a solution together alone, authorities may wish to access certain resources available in the marketplace:408One of the best places to begin is to request feedback and guidance from authorities already operating satellite vessel monitoring systems.Discuss technical capabilities available to fisheries authorities with the software developers and integrators involved in satellite vessel monitoring for the fisheries industry.Consider discussions and contracts with fisheries consultants familiar with satellite vessel monitoring and systems analysis techniques that may illustrate the costs/benefits of certains ways forward.Inmarsat is familiar with many of these resources and will be glad to provide contact information to individual authorities upon request. Please direct all queries to:4094104114 1 24 1 34 1 44 1 54 1 6

Inmarsat's Role in Responsible Fishing

Aquatic Commons

INMARSAT’S ROLE IN RESPONSIBLE FISHING
by
Frank August
Maritime Market Manager 
London, U.K.
1. BACKGROUND
The International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat) originally offered 
satellite communications services including voice, facsimile, telex and data to oil 
tankers, large transport vessels, and the offshore oil industry. Times have changed 
quite a bit since the early days 15 years ago! Now renamed the International Mobile 
Satellite Organization while still keeping the abbreviation most familiar to the maritime 
community, Inmarsat now offers an increasing array of telecommunication services to 
business travelers, landmobile, aeronautical, and more and more maritime users as well.
All of these services are offered via the same four geostationary satellites that 
provide communication services that cover nearly 99% of the inhabitants of the earth. 
Since Inmarsat maintains an extremely international ownership, any of the 79 member 
countries or signatories may offer any of these services through their own land earth 
stations or agreements with other countries which have decided to offer them.
2. INMARSAT SERVICES
Inmarsat’s high quality services continue to be available via the Inmarsat-A and 
Inmarsat-B equipment and services. Inmarsat-M offers similar service, but with a 
slightly slower speed at a more affordable cost. Inmarsat-E, offered for commercial 
service in early 1997, provides vessels owners with a second IMO-approved option for 
Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs). And Inmarsat’s Mini-M 
service has revolutionized global, mobile communications on land. In the second half of 
1997, the hardware necessary for maritime operations will be available to potentially 
provide the lowest cost maritime voice service yet, with only some limits to coverage in 
the Southern hemisphere. Low speed facsimile and data service will also be available.
But the most significant Inmarsat service within the fisheries community has 
been Inmarsat-C, with a “key” role in responsible fishing. Inmarsat-C is certainly not 
exciting. It is simply a small, low-cost e-mail terminal with three particular features 
that have thus far served the fisheries industry quite well.
Firstly, the fisheries enforcement community has the ability to request position 
reports from any or all fishing vessels within their management control. These position 
reports may be requested manually, one-at-a-time at various times during a vessels’ 
voyage. Or they may be requested to be sent automatically at some frequency, say once 
every two hours, until otherwise canceled. Critically important to fisheries authorities
405
has been the completely remote control over each Inmarsat-C equipped vessel. The 
Inmarsat-C sends these position reports without the need for any action on the part of 
the fishing vessel’s crew. All commands issued by shore-side authorities are received 
by the Inmarsat-C and acted upon by the Inmarsat-C. For instance, commands to set­
up automatic position reporting every two hours, to change the frequency to every four 
hours, to stop position reporting completely, or to request an ad hoc position report at 
any moment require no effort, acknowledgment or knowledge by the fishing vessel 
crew.
When authorities do wish to communicate with the fishing vessel, they may use 
Inmarsat-C’s second feature of messaging to send and receive text and data messages 
at any time. Of course, anyone may communicate with the vessel in this manner, so the 
commercial benefits to the fishing vessel owner can be significant. (And if the owner so 
chooses, he may also receive each of his vessel’s position reports, too.) Most 
significant with this service offering is the recent connectivity by many Inmarsat Land 
Earth Stations (LESs) to the internet for simple email messaging.
Finally, the fact that certain Inmarsat-C models are qualified to meet the 
rigorous requirements of IMO’s Global Maritime Distress and Safety System 
(GMDSS) provides a powerful impetus to owners and authorities to provide the ideal 
communication device for safety reasons. One of the main features that make Inmarsat- 
C an ideal communicator for safety services is the enhanced group call service, which 
is fundamentally a broadcast service to groups of Inmarsat-C users. The SafetyNet 
service is a free broadcast to all users, and only sends safety messages, e.g., distress, 
meteorological, or navigation warnings, to those users in a geographic location to 
benefit or assist. FleetNet is the commercial equivalent broadcast service which allows 
fisheries authorities and commercial owners to send the same message to many vessels 
for one very low cost.
3. SATELLITE VESSEL MONITORING
The position reports, which optionally may include course and speed, from one 
or more fishing vessels may be incorporated into a system comprised of hardware and 
software at a shore-side control station. Several considerations exist for the Inmarsat-C 
shipboard side of the system:
which Inmarsat-C manufacturer to choose,
whether to install laptop/PC for messaging capability (position 
reporting works without a laptop/PC),
whether to choose GMDSS compliant model or not,
whether to require “black box” solutions that offer battery back-up, 
additional tamper-proof features, and local storage of position reports 
for shore-side retrieval, for instance.
406
A second consideration that should be considered during research into Satellite 
Vessel Monitoring is the services offered by various Inmarsat land earth stations that 
might be used in the final system. Not all stations offer position (or data) reporting, and 
Internet connectivity, for instance. Also, retail prices may vary somewhat, and distance 
from the station to the satellite vessel monitoring shore-side control station could affect 
access costs.
Finally, the decision probably with the most variables revolves around the 
shore-side analysis of position reports and depends upon the exact requirements of the 
fisheries authorities. Naturally, a series of position reports from even a small number 
of fishing vessels on a regular basis requires some data processing for interpretation. 
Key issues to consider at this stage are:
hardware processing and storage to handle an order of magnitude more 
data and activity than initially planned, for local expansion and possible 
future regional cooperation.
management by exception, so that shore-side personnel are alerted 
when certain criteria are reached, for instance, low (fishing) speed 
operation in a prohibited fishing zone, two cycles of missed position 
reports indicating that the Inmarsat-C might be switched OFF, or no 
movement at sea for a minimum period of time indicating a possible 
illegal transshipment.
post processing capability allowing one or more staff to review and 
analyze historical records without affecting current operations.
convenient visual mapping tools to allow easy interpretation.
user interface allowing point-and-click messaging, ad hoc position 
reporting and simple FleetNet broadcasting.
4. ARCHITECTURE
The simplest system may offer a PC-based geographic information system for 
mapping all position reports received by the control station. Variations in architecture 
may be driven by post-processing requirements in a single country’s control station or 
by the degree that countries and regions wish to cooperate with each other for satellite 
vessel monitoring. Cooperation for a regional system has many benefits, such as:
one single fishing vessel “position reporting” registration shared by all 
authorities,
one shipboard system accepted by all authorities,
no blind spots since regional satellite vessel monitoring could include 
international waters within region but between individual EEZs,
407
economies in selection and operation o f shore-side software and 
hardware.
Although integrated shore-side control stations offer the most utility 
amongst cooperating nations, political obstacles and differing priorities may 
prevent realistic progress in this direction. However, cooperation doesn’t 
necessarily require the sharing of information, but could also include one or 
more of the following initiatives:
Selection of the same satellite network, such as Inmarsat, that provides 
a “level playing field”, where security, integrity, privacy, and reliability 
are identical, and imbalances or “impressions” of imbalances are 
removed.
Requirement for vessels of the same size or tonnage operating in 
similar geographic and fishing situations to comply with satellite 
vessel monitoring.
Determination of position, and course/speed at the same frequency 
under similar circumstances.
If a higher degree of cooperation between countries and regions is 
realized, three basic architectures could be implemented:
Centralized regional control station with autonomy over all countries 
enforcement. All vessels send position reports to one central location 
(probably too ambitious at this stage),
Centralized regional control station that forwards flag data (own 
vessels) and coastal data (vessels in individual EEZ) to each 
participating authority for local enforcement. All vessels send position 
reports to one central location (the Forum Fisheries Agency [FFA] 
model),
D istributed control stations in each country (preferably, but not 
necessarily) running the same shore-based software, with identical 
forwarding rules that result in sharing of flag data with each coastal 
authority. Each vessel sends position reports to their own flag 
authority (the European Pilot Project model).
5.  GETTING STARTED
The Inmarsat-C system is loaded with powerful features, and offers a high 
degree of flexibility. However, rather than trying to pull a solution together alone, 
authorities may wish to access certain resources available in the marketplace:
408
One of the best places to begin is to request feedback and guidance 
from authorities already operating satellite vessel monitoring systems.
Discuss technical capabilities available to fisheries authorities with the 
software developers and integrators involved in satellite vessel 
monitoring for the fisheries industry.
Consider discussions and contracts with fisheries consultants familiar 
with satellite vessel monitoring and systems analysis techniques that 
may illustrate the costs/benefits of certains ways forward.
Inmarsat is familiar with many of these resources and will be glad to 
provide contact information to individual authorities upon request. Please 
direct all queries to:
409
410
411
4 1 2
4 1 3
4 1 4
4 1 5
4 1 6


Inmarsat's role in responsible fishing

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