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BACKGROUND

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) is a term coined, at the turn of the millennia, by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). High economic incentives combined with minimal risk of being caught have lured a multitude into illegal fishing. It is estimated that IUU fishing amounts to 26 million tones valued at €10-23 billion annually. Scarcity coupled with excess demand spurs the prices higher for certain fish varieties. Very soon a Teufelkreis emerges, where depletion of fish stocks combined with poor enforcement at the local and national level fuels even higher prices and more overfishing. The European Commission Regulation No 1224/2009 and the implementation guidelines described in EU No 404/2011 break this vicious cycle nourished by environmentally unsound market forces. Monitoring and controlling fishing activity in EU territorial waters with the help of satellite-tracking devices and electronic recording and reporting systems will repopulate overexploited fish varieties and pave the way for sustainable development.

Fishery

OUR SOLUTION

IKH’s mandate was to make the European Commission’s regulation a reality for Greek territorial waters. Our team of engineers designed the digital infrastructure needed – the Electronic & Reporting System (ERS) - for the fishermen to complete and transmit the logbook, declare landings and transshipments. The ERS serves as a two-way communication channel. The activity of Greek flagged vessels in foreign territorial waters is reported to respective member-states, while the activity of all EU fishing vessels in Greek territorial waters is reported to the local maritime authorities in accordance to EU standard interoperability. Specifically, IKH designed and engineered:  

  • Integrated subsystem for monitoring and administration. The fishermen log and transmit all necessary information related to their activities.
  • Monitoring subsystem for the tracking of fish products. The system includes a registry of buyers and sellers as well as the relevant declarations which the first buyer is obliged to submit to Member state authorities.
  • Monitoring, controlling, and reporting subsystem. It records inspections and reports all related activities (type of catch, sales etc.)
  • Digital certification. It issues all certifications of pertinent fish products.
  • On-line application forms. Manages applications of all stakeholders; electronic submission is conducted through standardized forms.
  • The portal of Greek DG Fisheries serves as a single point of information for all interested parties as well as an entry point to the systems applications.
  • The document management and workflow subsystem manages and monitors all electronic paperwork.
  • The business intelligence subsystem processes primary and secondary data and produces reports for the decision-makers.
  • Interoperability with the middleware system FLUX, a system of communication and transmission of information between EU member-states.
  • The Hellenic registry of fishing boats, a revamped digital registry where all Greek fishing boats are listed.

Technologies