1. 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
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

2. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) primary mission is weather prediction.

3. Low light imaging data are collected at night to enable detection of moonlit clouds. Electric lighting is also detected.
Manila, March 23, 2016

4. Mindoro Strait March 23, 2016 High moon DNB data.
Mindoro Island
Boats
Busuanga
Island
Flare
Boats
Boats

5. 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

6. Three temporal aggregations with open data access
Nightly
Monthly
Annual

7. Nightly global data with product release target of four hour from observation

8. 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.

9. 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

10. Small scale fishing boats are too dim for VIIRS detection
168 watts
Shielded

11. VBD alerts sent by email, SMS, and Telegram
Coverage map
+=== 1 / 12 UTC_Time: :37:33 Local_Time: :37:33 Latitude: Longitude: Color: red Quality flag= 2 (Medium)  +=== 2 / 12 UTC_Time: :37:33 Local_Time: :37:33 Latitude: Longitude: Color: red Quality flag= 1 (Strong) 

12. 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.

13. Summary of VBD alerts in Philippines

14. Annual Summary Maps of MWs

15. Look who cleaned up their MWs starting in July 2016!

16. 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.

17. For more information: