MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Real-time positions of fishing vessels available on-line

The Undersecretariat of Fishing and Development Activities of the Delta Area is now publishing on its web site maps that show the real-time positions of fishing vessels equipped with satellite monitoring devices, the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs (MAA) reported.

The use of the Satellite Positioning System (SPS) is compulsory for every vessel granted a provincial, commercial, maritime or fluvial fishing license. This equipment controls licensed fishing vessels operating in the waters of Buenos Aires province from entering banned or closed areas. Likewise, the SPS is very useful for the Argentine Naval Prefecture as a tool for navigation safety. The Undersecretariat of Fishing and Development Activities of the Delta Area stated pictures revealing fishing vessel positions are published daily in the morning and in the afternoon. "The monitoring system is prepared to update its records automatically every day, every 30 minutes, although that time is relative as it depends on the vessels updating their positions," the organization stated. SPS provides the chance to monitor the position of every vessel granted a fishing license by the Buenos Aires province and to identify and enlarge a maritime area. Buenos Aires province is the first province in the Argentine maritime area to offer this service to the vessels under its control. The initiative was developed with the help of the Undersecretariat and Ministry technicians