Use of VIIRS DNB satellite images to detect jigger ships involved in the Illex argentinus fishery

Sensing the Same Fishing Fleet with AIS and VIIRS: A Seven-Year Assessment of Squid Jiggers in FAO Major Fishing Area 41

“…In the databases analyzed here, GFW has more resolution at all levels since it provides data on individual vessels (MMSI, maritime mobile service identity) and works on a daily basis. In addition, GFW is not subject to visibility barriers imposed on VIIRS-DNB detection by atmospheric conditions, which are frequently cloudy in the area [12] or while lunar illuminance is high under full moon conditions, when the current algorithm produces large numbers of false detection [9]. These barriers are probably the reason that have prevented an even better correlation between VIIRS-DNB and GFW signals, as evident in the several dots of Figure 4 where GFW is high whereas VIIRS-DNB is zero.…”

“…Based on previous examination of the fleet distribution [12] and a preliminary assessment of an entire mission composite of available radiance data, three regions of interest were differentiated as zones where the jigger fleet tends to cluster in FAO Area 41 ( Figure 1). The first region (R1 in Figure 1) includes slope waters just at the border of the Argentine exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between parallels 44 • S and 48 • S and concentrates the majority of jigger activity.…”

“…Remote sensing is again useful to this aim, in particular for gear whose mode of operation makes it visible to satellite-borne radiometers [9,10]. This is the case of the jigger fleet since it uses powerful lights for night fishing [11,12]. These lights are visible to highly sensitive instruments such as the VIIRS (visible infrared imaging radiometer suite), implemented through the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP), which is part of the system for Earth observation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) [9].…”

“…One of VIIRS spectral channels is DNB (day/night band), specifically designed to capture low light levels during the night. VIIRS-DNB is sensitive enough to capture the light of some fishing vessels while they operate their gear at sea [9,10,12].…”

Detection of Fishing Boats in the Northwest Pacific Using Satellite Nighttime Image

“…This VIIRS is a 22-band visible/infrared sensor that offers a wider swath width (3,000 versus 2,330 km) [6]. NPP crosses the equator at about 0130 and 1330 local time, with VIIRS covering the entire Earth twice daily [7]. VIIRS also has a day/night band (DNB) that is sensitive to very low levels of nighttime visible light such as may be produced by moonlight reflecting off low clouds, fog, dust, ash plumes, and snow cover.…”