Tracking Platform Proves Belize’s Seriousness in Detecting Illegal Activity at Sea

As Alyssa Noble, the Communication Director for OCEANA Belize, explained to News Five, the platform tracks the movement of fishing vessels in real time, enabling Belize’s fishing authorities to study trends and to have a comprehensive view of the fishing fleet. This, she said, is a demonstration of Belize’s leadership and commitment to transparency and good governance of high seas fisheries.

Alyssa Noble

Alyssa Noble, Communications Director, OCEANA Belize

“Belize in 2012, 2013 was given a card by the E.U. which resulted in a ban on exports to the E.U. The High Seas Fisheries Unit has since introduced a revised Fisheries Act and has taken significant steps to ensure Belize’s leadership on the issue. We have been working on the back end to transfer data, make sure it’s uploaded, and make sure that that data is live and visible on the Global Fishing Watch map, which it now is. So anyone who is interested in seeing the information can go on to the Global Fishing Watch site and be able to see the commercially-flagged fishing vessels or the commercial fishing vessels flagged to Belize as well as for other countries that are using the platform.”