Satellite imagery can contribute to the
to the monitoring and sustaining of marine
resources, and features in the plans of SDG 14
custodian agencies and supporting activities. This
includes the monitoring of Coastal Eutrophication
and Floating Plastic Debris Density, as well as the
regulation and monitoring of illegal fishing
activities. Satellites can help to address the
challenges of the vast scale, and the difficulty in
accessing many areas of the world’s oceans.
Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area
The eReefs Marine Water Quality
Dashboard provides operational near real-time
information on water quality for Australia’s Great
Barrier Reef. Remote sensing provides measurements
of marine indicators (e.g., chlorophylla levels,
suspended sediments and dissolved organic matter)
that can help marine park management assess
ecosystem health and inshore water quality.
Observations from NASA’s Aqua satellite have
provided accurate, regionally tuned water quality
information, allowing managers and policymakers to
inform, assess and improve the outcomes of their
management decisions.
Satellites
routinely and systematically provide observations of
chlorophyll-a on the ocean surface. Chlorophyll-a is
a key indicator of microscopic green algae
(phytoplankton), and while phytoplankton are a
natural part of the reef ecosystem, elevated levels
signal elevated nutrient levels, especially
nitrogen. These increased nutrient levels can
interfere with the balance of the ecosystem, and can
lead to coral bleaching and die-off. Typical sources
of nitrogen include runoff from excess fertiliser
being applied to crops and sewage contamination from
urban areas.
Satellites contribute to
informed decisions around the management and
regulation of fertiliser usage and sewage
management, meaning the overall health of the Reef
can be managed for preservation and assessed on a
systematic, quantitative and transparent basis.
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated
fishing
The annual value of Illegal, unreported,
and unregulated (IUU) fishing is estimated to be up
to $US23.5 billion with a catch totalling 26 million
tonnes – one-fifth of the total annual catch
worldwide. IUU undermines efforts to enforce
regulations intended to conserve the ocean
ecosystem. For example, species of fish that have
been over-exploited are thus in short supply, which
increases the price and in turn increases the
incentive to circumvent limits put in place to
protect stocks.
Ensuring compliance with
the rules and regulations can be time and resource
intensive or infeasible. Maritime patrols are
costly, inefficient, often dangerous, and can be
ineffective. Land-based monitoring is unable to
mitigate vessel-to-vessel transfers at sea and can
be circumvented. Satellite-based monitoring offers a
synoptic solution and, when combined with a number
of different data sources, can be an effective means
for detecting IUU fishing.
Satellite
monitoring is used by OceanMind, a not-for-profit
organisation working to increase the sustainability
of fishing globally through actionable insights into
fishing activity and vessel compliance. OceanMind
combines position and heading information from
ship-based Automated Identification Systems (AIS),
satellite imagery and details about a vessel’s
history, licenses and ownership. It employs machine
learning to rapidly and automatically assess vessel
behaviour using these observations, flagging
suspicious activities for follow-up by enforcement
authorities. Both optical and radar satellite
imagery is employed, providing an all-weather,
day-and-night monitoring capability in support of
Indicator 14.6.1.
