A commercial satellite operator has established that Chinese fishing vessels routinely turned off their automatic identification system (AIS) tracking system hundreds of times to "go dark" in waters near Ecuador, contradicting assertions of the Chinese ambassador to Ecuador to a parliamentary committee in Quito.
U.S.-based HawkEye 360, which specializes in radio frequency (RF) geo-analytics, published new data which – contrary to what Chinese Ambassador Cheng Guoyou said in August – reveals the Chinese vessels deactivated their AIS. The ambassador confirmed to a parliamentary committee in Quito that 350 Chinese vessels were in the waters near the Galapagos but were observing the rules set down by regional fishing governance bodies like Organizaciones Regionales de Ordenacion Pesquera (OROP).
“China is a responsible fishing country,” Cheng said, who added his office was monitoring AIS signals from the vessels and hadn’t noticed any blackouts.
HawkEye 360 also conducted a joint RF and SAR collection with partner Airbus Defence and Space Intelligence. By fusing multiple forms of intelligence, they found many dark vessels “and a better understanding of fleet activity,” said the company in a statement to SeafoodSource.
“Of greatest concern, HawkEye 360 discovered multiple instances of dark vessels within the EEZ boundary that didn’t correlate with AIS records – raising suspicion of illegal fishing without notice,” said the statement.
HawkEye 360 plans to launch its second cluster of satellites aboard a SpaceX ride-share mission by December. The firm – which counts several U.S. government departments among its clients – said it “conducted our own analysis of the Chinese fishing fleet to demonstrate the value of RF geospatial intelligence. HawkEye 360 supplies RF geospatial data to a variety of customers so they can conduct similar analysis and maintain awareness of maritime activity.”
Asked by SeafoodSource as to whether surveillance of the Chinese fleet is part of an ongoing project, the firm responded: “We collect unique RF geospatial data every day across large regions of the globe. But this particular project, where we intensively analyzed our own data concerning the Chinese fishing fleet at the Galapagos, is now complete.”
The company added that it is constantly monitoring data, some of which corresponds with Chinese fleet operations in other areas.
“Since we are always collecting maritime data; some of that data may be relevant for monitoring the Chinese fishing fleet in other locations,” the firm responded to SeafoodSource.
It’s not clear if Chinese fishing companies or officials are aware of the Hawkeye monitoring.
“We launched our first set of satellites in 2018. Since then, we’ve been providing a new layer of RF geospatial data for various applications around the world, including maritime awareness,” the company said. “We don’t know to what degree any particular fishing company knows about HawkEye 360.”
Photo courtesy of Mark Vyz/Shutterstock
