Over the past century, marine animal populations have seen great declination due to illicit poaching and encroaching industrialization. Marine life is critical in sustaining habitable climates for both land and aquatic creatures alike through processes such as the filtration of air and the provision of a stable food source: fish. Both sharks and salmon have been heavily pursued by numerous fishermen all over the world; sharks being killed for their highly-valued fins and salmon for their precious scales. Nearly 100 million sharks are killed yearly for sport or black market transactions, and these numbers have worsened over the past year due to social media where people post glory reels and poachers can easily communicate with one another.
The dangers of this epidemic are most apparent in Somalia, where for the last several decades fishers from all around have indiscriminately harvested fish and completely decimated the sensitive habitats of the 3,333 kilometer coastline – the longest coastline in all of continental Africa. This issue compromises the livelihoods of the local inhabitants who rely on the sales of the scarce fish to keep warm food on the table. Fishing vessels have scoured the Somalian coast to the point where the market for fish, one of the largest constituents for the GDP of the country, was on the brink of collapse until political intervention was imperative to further enforce fishing regulations and to monitor mass fishing transactions.
Fast forward to 2020, researchers in France have revealed an ingenious way of tracking illegal fishing at quick rates and in a cost-effective way: albatross cameras. The French National Center for Scientific Research (FNCSR) released around 200 birds outfitted with cameras and tracking beacons to roam the vast seas at incredible rates with outstanding mobility as they spotted unwarranted ships and relayed the radar information to a satellite for the researchers to pinpoint the ship’s location and alert law officials. The birds also have a natural eye for fishing boats and tend to land along the rails to observe the men idling on the deep sea. However, it may be a concern for the safety of the albatrosses as they too have a declining population, and painting a bullseye on their back for criminals to see may only make matters worse. The researchers, fortunately, thought ahead for this very situation and made sure to make the GPS tracking device as compact and dull as possible with its small scale and neutral color. The albatross would also be roving amongst many other birds that also visit ships in flocks on a daily basis. This innovative technology may finally be the solution to a near-century old problem and could be massively beneficial in getting certain countries back up-and-running for the sake of the global economy.
Works Cited
“Albatrosses Fitted with Loggers Patrol the Skies to Find Illegal Fishers” Radio New Zealand. RNZ Environment. Jan. 31, 2020, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/408566/albatrosses-fitted-with-loggers-patrol-the-skies-to-find-illegal-fishers.
Makoni, Munyaradzi. “How Rampant Illegal Fishing is Destabilizing Somalia”. Hakai Magazine. Feb. 6, 2020, https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/how-rampant-illegal-fishing-is-destabilizing-somalia/.
Salama, Jordan. “Drones, Hooks and Blood: Secrets of the Shark Fishermen of Long Island” The New York Times. Sept. 6, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/06/nyregion/shark-catchers-long-island.html
