Nieuwsbericht 13 May 2022

Drones in the fight against illegal fishing in the Tanzanian Exclusive Economic Zone

Proof Of Concept study on using drones for aerial surveillance of the Tanzanian Exclusive Economic Zone Fisheries.

Tanzania has a coastline that stretches over 1.424 km and its Exclusive Economic Zone is around 223.000 km².
The Deep Sea Fishing Authority (DSFA) of Tanzania is responsible for monitoring, control and surveillance activities within this Exclusive Economic Zone in order to combat and deter illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.
With this proof of concept study, VITO, together with its partners XSUN and Tanzania Flying Labs, will show how airborne drone technology can help in achieving these objectives. 

 

NEWS_Illegal_fishing_boat

 

Two demonstrations are defined with a different focus:

  • The first demonstration took place in the week from 27-29/4/2022 and was organized together with DSFA and Tanzania Flying Labs, a locally-led organization which uses robotics to support sustainable development.
    Tanzania Flying Labs performed drone flights with the senseFly eBee Plus drone platform. The demonstration focussed on best flight practices and image analysis tools to meet the requirements for monitoring, controlling and surveillance.
     
  • A second demonstration will be organized at the end of June 2022, together with XSUN, an autonomous drone manufacturer. During this demonstration, the focus shifts from obtaining initial insights on best drone operation procedures towards large scale operational monitoring. This is possible with the XSUN SolarXOne drone platform, with an endurance of up to twelve hours.
     
NEWS_Illegal_fishing_processingflow

 

VITO Drone data processing workflow to detect, position and dimension vessels located in the area of interest.


The derived drone data will be processed and analyzed to detect, position and classify the vessels within the area of interest. The results, lessons learned, cost/benefits, gaps and opportunities of the drone technology will be discussed with DSFA during a workshop and compiled in an assessment study report.

This project is part of the framework of the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Governance and Shared Growth Program (SWIOFish). SWIOFish is a long term regional program of the World Bank that aims to increase the economic, social and environmental benefits from sustainable marine fisheries for the countries of the South West Indian Ocean.