A plan to put tracking devices on Belize’s fishing boats has run into concerns from some fishers. The devices, known as vessel monitoring systems, or VMS, show a boat’s position at sea. While concerns from some fishers have prompted government to slow the, officials say the technology is already proving its value, with dozens of local fishers voluntarily using it for more than a year. CEO in the Ministry of Blue Economy and Marine Conservation, Beverly Wade, says the system is becoming a global requirement and offers benefits ranging from improved fisheries management and market access to greater safety at sea.
Beverly Wade
Beverly Wade, CEO, Ministry of Blue Economy and Marine Conversation
“We’ve noted the considerations from fishers where we have decided that it is worthwhile for us to postpone, go back to those fishing communities, try to understand a little bit better their primary concerns and to show them and to work together how we’ve been working before with the fishers who have volunteered. We’ve gathered from them and I saw on the media, primarily from the media and from the public consultations that we’ve had, that their two major concerns are one of privacy,and the other one is I believe it was termed as an confidentiality. We’ve been working with fishers already, and we don’t ne- we don’t have any issues with that. No fishers have had an ex- experience of us sharing data. Data is primarily for official use. Or to look at us I heard one fisher saying that there’s an issue of privacy because they use their boat for other activities. That’s something that we’ll have to have a discussion in the fishing community about because if your vessel is fi- is licensed for fishing, then we have to monitor that activity properly at the end of the day. So we decided to take a step back to go back in those communities to, again, to document and to understand those issues that they have – to look at what is required from them in terms of being, having a s- a certain level of trust and comfort in terms of their considerations and to explain and to work with them that this is something that we will be moving into. It is not something that we’re going to postpone indefinitely. As I said, it is becoming a requirement and it’s a best practice in fisheries management.”
The recent proposed Vessel Monitoring System mandate targeted stone crab and shark fishers. The device was available free of cost as part of a Taiwan funded regional pilot project.
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