MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Monitoring of all Falklands licenced vessels from July

All vessels operating under a Falkland Islands fishing licence will be required to use a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) as from July, reports Penguin News.

VMS has been around for a number of years and in the Falklands it has been used to track all Falkland Islands-registered fishing vessels and any licensed for the Loligo fishery. Director of Fisheries John Barton put the proposal to the Fisheries Committee last Wednesday. He said it is seen as having a number of benefits with few downsides. "The use of VMS on all licensed vessels will make the management of the fishery more efficient and should allay most allegations and suspicions of illegal, unregulated and unreported activity within the Falklands Conservation Zone".