A Case Study Analysis of VMS and Its Implementations in Small Scale Fisheries

Abstract

The fisheries sector is really difficult to produce the catch quantities of small-scale fisheries because of lack of proper monitoring. Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) is an important tool that allows the government to monitor small-scale fishing vessel activities. Implementation of VMS in small-scale fisheries is a powerful solution for unauthorized data. VMS provide economic benefits as most of fishermen are nowadays equipped with smartphones. With the recent technological advancements, the VMS has improved and it allows integrated fisheries management. The present study focused on the role of VMS in small-scale fisheries and how the government is helping small-scale fishermen to implement such technologies through subsidies. The knowledge of small-scale fishermen about the technological advances in fisheries and the role of government in helping them to implement such technologies was analyzed through a questionnaire. This study seeks to explore the challenges faced by fishermen for implementing such technologies, whether they are aware of the government schemes and subsidies and their overall opinion about government services. It is observed that access to new technologies by small-scale fishermen is limited by their financial difficulties. The operating and maintenance cost of the VMS system depends on the functionality requirements of the specific system. The higher the functionality, the more expensive will be the system. Policies and programmes are developed by Fisheries Department and implemented through proper organizations to ensure the access of small-scale fishermen to new technologies. The future of fisheries management will depend on a whole ecosystem of new technologies. Keywords: VMS in small-scale fisheries, IUU fishing, fisheries management, small-scale fishermen, government schemes and policies