Jul 18, 2011 14:29 GMT  ·  By
German police testing access to satellite-based maritime surveillance aboard a patrol vessel
   German police testing access to satellite-based maritime surveillance aboard a patrol vessel

Nearly three quarters of Earth's surface is covered with water and it's very difficult to monitor and control such a vast surface. In recent times, experts began realizing that satellites are the way of the future, and they are now moving forward with creating a surveillance networks.

Some of the most common problems on the open seas include the trafficking of human beings and endangered animals, illegal fishing and piracy. Overfishing is one of the main reasons why fish populations of all species and across the world are now dwindling.

No state or group of states can muster the necessary resources and vessels to police the whole ocean, so experts are turning to the eye in the sky. Instruments aboard satellites are currently so sensitive that they can even detect small avalanches.

As such, keeping the seas safe should be no problem. Some of the applications for satellite imagery include monitoring ports and beaches, detecting illicit fishing and oil exploitations, as well as locating and tracking both legitimate and illegitimate vessels.

For the former, the system would provide a backup in case the ships drift off-course or are damaged or attacked. For the latter, authorities could monitor their activity, until the proper task forces can be set up to deal with the problem.

Though satellite-based maritime surveillance capabilities already exist and are operational, not all countries can access them. The goal of new talks initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA) is to remedy this flaw.

A recent discussion on the issue took place at the ESA Center for Earth Observation, in Italy. One idea that was thrown around was combining satellite-based vessel detection with identification information.

“By fusing satellite imagery with standard Automatic Identification System (AIS) information from both terrestrial and space systems, we could get a more detailed picture of what vessels are doing,” US Coast Guard official Guy Thomas explained.

“This would allow us to react earlier where we see something suspicious,” the official went on to say. ESA officials said that improved maritime surveillance is not a problem, since many international missions are already taking it into account.

These include the ESA Sentinel-1 satellite, the Canadian Radarsat constellation, the Japanese ALOS-2 spacecraft, the German TerraSAR-X satellite and the Italian Cosmo Skymed spacecraft. “There are situations, such as piracy, illegal fisheries and trafficking in open waters where conventional techniques cannot guarantee adequate coverage,” Captain Leopoldo Manna of the Italian Coast Guard said.

“In such situations, satellites can often provide useful information to help optimise the deployment of conventional assets,” he added.

“The workshop represents the start of a process by which different organizations worldwide engaged in maritime safety and security can agree on how to ensure systematic access to satellite-based surveillance,” the Italian official concluded.