Ship: Seahorse
Name: RPH
Date: 21/04/2023
Ship’s Activity: Monitoring
Table 1. Small fishing boat counting was done during the night of the 20 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 |
22:00 | 4 | 5 | 24 |
21:00 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
22:00 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
23:00 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Table 2. Small fishing boat counting was done during the night of the 21 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 boat Inside ZTA | ||||
Total |
Net Fishing | Divers | Potential Net Fishing |
Crossing |
|
14:00 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
15:00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
16:00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
18:00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Hour | Small fishing boats in the Buffer Zone | |||
Total |
Net Fishing | Divers | Potential Net Fishing | |
12:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
14:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
15:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
16:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
17:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
18:00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
19:00 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Hour | Small fishing boats in the VR | |||
Total |
Net Fishing | Divers | Potential Net Fishing | |
00:00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
05:00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
12:00 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
13:00 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
14:00 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
15:00 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
16:00 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
17:00 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
18:00 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
19:00 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
Total number of different Small fishing boats fishing today in the ZTA: 1.
Total number of different Small fishing boats fishing today in the ZTA Buffer Zone: 2+5.
Around 14:00 hours the MV Seahorse detected a small fishing boat inside of the ZTA, we sent the drone to confirm the illegal activity and approached the area, at the same time navy was contacted and responded to the report. As we approached the fishing boat started to pull the floats with flags and left the area. We confirmed no net was being pulled by the fishing boat, so with the help of the navy we patrolled the area in search of nets under the water with the sonar. After some minutes patrolling the area, we confirmed a small plastic bottle floating suspiciously in the water, with the drone we confirmed the bottle was attached and being used as a buoy. The Navy interceptor started to pull and remove the net in the interceptor.

Figure 1. Small fishing boat activity in the ZTA today 21th of April.

Figure 2. Radar screenshot at 15:07 target 14 shows the interceptor and the plastic bottle used as a buoy to mark the net inside the ZTA.