What makes tracking fishers at sea hard?

MANILA, Philippines – Violations and legal challenges hound the Philippines’ implementation of vessel monitoring system, or VMS.

The Philippines mandated VMS through the amended Fisheries Code to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The government was then responding to a yellow card warning that the European Union had issued against the Philippines, threatening a ban on fish exports.

IUU fishing is a global problem that exacerbates food insecurity and fish loss. Vessel monitoring is a standard worldwide, seen as one of the solutions against this problem. Rappler’s Iya Gozum reports. – Rappler.com