NextGen Day

MANILA, Philippines — The Integrated Marine Environment Monitoring System (IMEMS) Project was implemented by the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, with the goal of improving the government’s capability in the monitoring, control, and surveillance system over its maritime domain while intensifying the campaign against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The IMEMS project is a cutting-edge, optimized, and integrated monitoring system that complements and enhances the current DA-BFAR program.

The DA-BFAR can now track and communicate with Philippine-flagged fishing vessels on a national scale in real-time, integrating communication, licensing, and law enforcement functionalities to ensure compliance with various conservation and management measures being implemented in Philippine waters, exclusive economic zones (EEZ), and other coastal states, thanks to the IMEMS project.

“Implementing the IMEMS project allows us to benefit from technological innovations for better fisheries management practices while also empowering our fishermen to become responsible resource users,” said Cheryl Natividad-Caballero, Agriculture Undersecretary for Agri-Industrialization and Fisheries.

The project is part of Agriculture Secretary William Dar’s “One DA Approach,” which seeks to harness information and communications technology (ICT)–enabled advisory services and vessel monitoring systems to effectively connect farmers and fisherfolk in the regional and global value-chain, according to Caballero.

The DA-BFAR is building six of the 15 Port and Coastal Monitoring System-Type 1 (PCMS-Type 1) towers and has installed 25 of the 117 coast stations (PCMS-Type 2) in identified sites across the country as part of the new project.

The Bureau’s National Data Center in Navotas City, which has been active since March 2020, will receive real-time data on commercial fishing vessel activities from these control towers and coastal monitoring equipment.

Integrated vessel monitoring, licensing administration, Enhancing Local Government Operations through e-Governance (E-LOG), and automated identification of unlawful, unreported, and unregulated activities will all be handled by the National Data Center.

The system also gathers pertinent oceanographic, meteorological, and fish harvest data that can be used for disaster recovery, scientific study, and climate change mitigation.

The IMEMS ensures that data gathered from fishing vessels is safeguarded using up-to-date encryption technology and made accessible to DA-BFAR partners to ensure data transparency utilizing a low-cost technology that combines terrestrial and satellite systems on vessel data collecting.

In accordance with the Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) 266, or the Rules and Regulations on the Implementation of Vessel Monitoring Measures (VMM) and the Electronic Reporting System (ERS) for Commercial Philippine Flagged Fishing Vessels Amending FAO 260 Series of 2018, the fisheries policy that supports the implementation of the IMEMS project, over 491 Philippine-flagged commercial fishing vessels have now been equipped with Vessel Monitoring System transceivers (VMS-100).

All commercial fishing vessels with a gross tonnage of more than 3.1 gross tons operating in domestic waters, the High Seas, or other remote waters must henceforth equip VMS-100 transceivers, according to the recently modified FAO 266.

362 of the 491 Philippine-flagged vessels with newly installed VMS-100s are commercial fishing vessels operating in local seas, while 117 are fishing in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s High Seas Pocket 1 (HSP1) (WCPFC). The remaining 12 VMS-100 are installed in the floating assets of the DA-BFAR.

By the end of 2021, the DA-BFAR hopes to have installed roughly 5,000 Vessel Monitoring Systems on commercial fishing vessels.

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