Ship: Seahorse
Name: Heidy M.
Date: 18/04/2023
Ship’s Activity: Monitoring
Table 1. Small fishing boat counting was done during the night of the 18 th of April from 20:00 to 23:59 with radar observations. The hours not represented in this table correspond to hours when no pangas were seen in the ZTA or outside.
| Hour | Boats in the ZTA | Boats in the Buffer Zone | Boats in the VR |
| 20:00 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 21:00 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| 22:00 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 23:00 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Table 2. Small fishing boat counting was done during the 18 th of April from 00:00 to 23:59 with radar observations. The hours not represented in this table correspond to hours when no pangas were seen in the ZTA or outside.
| Hour | Small fishing boats ZTA | ||||
|
Total |
Net Fishing | Divers | Potential Net Fishing | Crossing | |
| 08:00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 11:00 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12:00 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17:00 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 18:00 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 19:00 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Hour | Small fishing boats ZTA Buffer Zone | |||
|
Total |
Net Fishing | Divers | Potential Net Fishing | |
| 00:00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 08:00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 09:00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 10:00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11:00 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 12:00 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 13:00 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 14:00 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 15:00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 16:00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 17:00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 18:00 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 19:00 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Hour | Small fishing boat Outside ZTA | |||
|
Total |
Net Fishing | Divers | Potential Net Fishing | |
| 09:00 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 10:00 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 11:00 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 12:00 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 13:00 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 14:00 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| 15:00 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| 16:00 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| 17:00 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| 18:00 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 63 |
| 19:00 | 64 | 0 | 0 | 64 |
Total number of different Small fishing boats fishing today in the ZTA: 7.
Total number of different Small fishing boats fishing today in the ZTA Buffer Zone: 24.
At 08:17, a small boat was inside the ZTA, dropped a flag/net inside, and then left towards the buffer zone. At 08:22 the Navy was contacted. A small boat without an ID or registration number then approached the MV Seahorse asking for the coordinates of the ZTA buoys but began taking photos of the security and ship. They then left in the direction of Santa Clara. We then had to leave the area due to high small boat activity.
We circled back to the dropped flag/net. The warship arrived shortly after at 09:31 as well as the interceptor. The interceptor made contact with the small boat and the small boat began pulling in their nets. Both left the ZTA by 10:26. By 10:52, 4 small boats were fishing inside the ZTA. The Navy was contacted and both the interceptor and warship arrived at the scene, removed 1 unattended net in the water, while the other 3 small boats began retrieving their nets. By 12:44, both Navy ships left and there was no pangas in the ZTA.
Around 17:00, the MV Seahorse was patrolling the southeast area of the ZTA when the radar showed targets crossing inside the ZTA and stopping in the north area.
We approached the area where the small boats were, and when we were 2 miles away we launched the drone and confirmed that the fishing boats were pulling nets inside the ZTA. The Navy was contacted immediately and they sent the interceptor and the Vallarta warship to the location. Two of the small boats pulled their nets and left right after we arrived to the scene. Two more remained until the interceptor arrived and removed the boats from the area. The warship, and the interceptor continued patrolling the north area while a big number of small boats potentially fishing outside of the ZTA.
Figure 1. Small fishing boat activity in the ZTA today 18th of April.
Figure 2. Radar screenshot at 12:00. It shows all 4 small boats inside the ZTA with both Navy vessels on scene (target 82).
Figure 3. Radar screenshot at 12:01. Shows the same information as in figure 2 but at 6 NM.
