John Masefield's "lonely sea and the sky" is now a fiction - and that's a fact. Permanent satellite surveillance for ships at sea ensures that Big Brother is always watching and you are never quite alone. A satellite has been keeping tabs for some time if you are a skipper of an ocean-racing yacht or a merchant ship under commercial pressure. Fishing vessels over 24 metres in length must also comply with satellite surveillance in the European Union.
Nicknamed the "spy in the sky", the system is about to embark on its second phase of development at Naval Service headquarters in Haulbowline, Co Cork. Since early this year, the Fisheries Monitoring Centre (FMC) at Haulbowline has begun tracking the position of larger fishing vessels within the 200-mile limit.
Irish fishing vessels over 24 metres overall in length, or over 20 metres between perpendiculars, working outside the 200 mile zone have also been monitored.
The aim is to provide a position report every two hours, which is treated as confidential by the authorities. About 230 vessels working in the Irish zone are now logged on, with colour coding on screen to identify nationality at a glance.
Apart from EU fleets, those of "third countries" such as Norway are also monitored under international agreement, and the FMC is currently receiving about 300 reports an hour. A chain of control centres across Europe exchanges information about vessels on respective registers.
The Vessel Monitoring System, or "Lirguard" as the project is called, has been installed and commissioned for the Naval Service by Racal Tracs Ltd, which is part of Racal Radar Defence Systems Ltd. Fishing vessel owners have received Government grants to install the transponders, at a cost of up to £6,000 per vessel. The vessel's Global Positioning System latitude/longitude is transmitted by the transponder, using Inmarsat or EMSAT satellite links.
An alarm system notifies the FMC if a vessel has missed transmission. There have been some "glitches" in the early stages, however, with at least one vessel tied up to a quay in the southwest finding that it had been identified by the system as being in the Bay of Biscay.
Ireland was one of the first to take the system on board as part of a feasibility study with Portugal, according to Lieut Cdr Gerry O'Riordan of the FMC.
Initially, two Castletownbere fishing vessels took part in trials, which proved to be successful and a pilot project was commissioned by the EU, he said. Now an integral part of EU regulations since January 1st of this year, Lirguard allows for optimum use of limited resources in terms of Naval Service/Air Corps equipment, he explained.
This summer's albacore tuna fishery presented the first real test, as all 18 vessels applying for licences were instructed to install the "black box" transponder as a precondition. The controversy generated by Naval Service detentions of south-west vessels up to 400 miles off the Irish coast was a measure of its success.
"We know exactly where the vessels are, though it doesn't tell us what their activity is," Lieut Cdr O'Riordan said. "That's why a physical presence is still necessary, and there can be no substitute for boardings by Naval Service personnel." Given the prevalence of logbook infringements in detentions, the information also allows for crosschecking of such data.
The second phase involves fitting terminals on patrol ships and on the Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft which police the 132,000 square-mile exclusive economic zone. Ships upgraded to Inmarsat Standard B - to improve data transfer - will be given updated information six times a day, while Air Corps crews will be able to download before and after flights.
"This tool will really come into its own when there is a greater application by the EU of exclusion zones and protected areas for conservation reasons," Lieut Cdr O'Riordan said.
What do the fishermen think? "We are in favour of anything that improves control and surveillance in Irish waters," according to Mr Jason Whooley of the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation. "Obviously, the owners have had to invest in this, and it is substantial even with grant-aid. But if it allows for more even-handed monitoring, we can only support it."