Use of VIIRS boat detection data in identifying illegal commercial fishing in restricted municipal waters in the Philippines Christopher D. Elvidge, Ph.D. Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute Colorado School of Mine celvidge@mines.edu Eduardo B. Gongona, Undersecretary for Fisheries, Philippines Rommel Adolf Diciano, Director of Enforcement, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippines Clint S. Dampar, Enforcement Division, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippines Aletta Nunez, Fishright, Philippines Rebecca Guieb, U.S. Agency for International Development, Philippines February 19, 2019
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) primary mission is weather prediction.
Low light imaging data are collected at night to enable detection of moonlit clouds. Electric lighting is also detected. Manila, March 23, 2016
Mindoro Strait March 23, 2016 High moon DNB data. Mindoro Island Boats Busuanga Island Flare Boats Boats
Algorithms run on images, output points, vast data volume reduction VIIRS day/night band (DNB) nighttime image data Boat detection data (points) 300 GB 3-5 MB
Three temporal aggregations with open data access Nightly Monthly Annual
Nightly global data with product release target of four hour from observation
Use Cases in the Philippines Commercial fishing is banned in: Four BFAR seasonal closures. 814 local government unit (LGU) municipal waters which extend 15 km from shore.
In the Philippines, purse seiner and ring net capture boats work with specialized light boats carrying strings of bare metal halide bulbs 100,000 Watts Bare bulbs
Small scale fishing boats are too dim for VIIRS detection 168 watts Shielded
VBD alerts sent by email, SMS, and Telegram Coverage map +=== 1 / 12 UTC_Time: 2019-02-08 16:37:33 Local_Time: 2019-02-09 00:37:33 Latitude: 10.946325 Longitude: 123.054108 Color: red Quality flag= 2 (Medium) +=== 2 / 12 UTC_Time: 2019-02-08 16:37:33 Local_Time: 2019-02-09 00:37:33 Latitude: 10.952414 Longitude: 123.061989 Color: red Quality flag= 1 (Strong)
The alerts are being used by Philippines BFAR to plan enforcement patrols for commercial fishing boats operating illegally in municipal waters. BFAR Region 6 reported more than 20 apprehensions credited to VIIRS in 2018.
Summary of VBD alerts in Philippines
Annual Summary Maps of MWs
Look who cleaned up their MWs starting in July 2016!
Summary VIIRS detects boats using lights at night. The product is global every night with a nominal temporal latency of four hours. File sizes are modest, readily downloaded, open access. Alerts can be sent for individual zones of interest, such as MPAs. Federal, provincial, and local government units in the Philippines use the alerts to plan and conduct enforcement actions for illegal commercial fishing boats. In Asia, VIIRS detects vastly more numbers of vessels than AIS or VMS. By a factor of nine in Indonesia. Temporal records extend back to 2012, making it possible to monitor trends, outline fishing grounds, and assess the effectiveness of enforcement and management efforts.
For more information: celvidge@mines.edu