CASA aircraft 13 |
permitted to fish in those waters.’ Every target in a patrol area has
to be identified and to achieve this the crew must operate as a team. Firstly the SAROs identify a target from 14kms away using the aircraft’s forward-looking infrared electro-optical camera. The pilots then descend to 1,000ft. Once the SAROs have a clear picture of the vessel, the pilots then drop down to 500ft and then to 200ft in order to perform an inspection pass. During this pass, the photographer takes a picture of the vessel, clearly recording its name, registration,
position (via data from the aircraft’s navigation system), date and time. The radio operator relays situation updates back to the Communications Centre (Comcen) in Baldonnel. A standard patrol lasts six to
seven hours but the time passes quickly as the CASA ascends and descends from target to target. ‘We are essentially a sensor,’ says Capt Moore, ‘gathering as much information as possible before relaying it to the Naval Service’s Fisheries Monitoring Centre for analysis. If necessary, they can then
dispatch a ship to the area and board a particular vessel if needed.’ Some of the vessels out there
are not the relatively small fishing boats you see leaving Killybegs but huge factory ships, registered from as far away as Japan. These huge ships literally swallow up thousands and thousands of fish, and then process and package them all onboard. ‘These ships can linger along the border of EU Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) where they gather up any fish that come their way,’ Capt Moore told us, ‘and if ourselves and the Naval Service
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