Transparent Asia-Pacific Waters: EO Data Helps Uncover Ocean Crimes
Pelican™ first light image Laem Chabang Port, Thailand, captured on March 12, 2025. © 2025, Planet Labs PBC. All Rights Reserved.
TechJune highlights two key dates that raise awareness on global maritime issues, the International Day against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing on June 5 and World Oceans Day on June 8.
Covering 70% of the planet, oceans are vital to global health and food systems. More than half lie within the Asia-Pacific region, where vast stretches of the Pacific and Indian Oceans are increasingly vulnerable to IUU fishing and other maritime crimes that threaten national and food security in the region.
The “Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA)”, enforced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations since 2016, equips port States with legal tools to inspect and block vessels involved in IUU fishing. Denying access to ports makes it harder for illegal operators to profit or move freely.
A number of Asia-Pacific countries have ratified the PSMA, including Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Vanuatu, Vietnam. This regional cooperation signals determination to eliminate IUU fishing and protect their maritime territories from illicit activities. But ratification is just the start. Full implementation, given the diverse coastal states and island nations, and changing geopolitical dynamics, requires continuous monitoring of ports and vessel behavior.
Maritime Domain Awareness in Asia-Pacific
Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) involves monitoring and understanding global maritime activity that impacts security, safety, economic interests, and the environment, across open waters and strategic ports of interest. For MDA to be effective, defense and intelligence agencies need timely, reliable data to support rapid, informed decision-making and response. Enhanced MDA supports Asia-Pacific countries in strengthening the PSMA in their ports and maritime territories.
Traditional maritime intelligence methods, such as relying on automatic identification system (AIS) signals and marine patrols, leave significant gaps to monitor broad ocean areas, even those relatively close to shores, due to their limited reach and slower response times. Today, this challenge is compounded by expansive and often inaccessible maritime territories, complex legal frameworks, limited system interoperability, and the growing demand for real-time situational awareness, all of which make it increasingly difficult to track thousands of vessels worldwide each day.
Planet Earth observation (EO) data, combined with machine learning, empowers national and international security teams with enhanced MDA. This approach offers reliable, cost-effective insights to help security operators to detect threats early and respond quickly.
With frequent satellite revisits and global port-to-coastline coverage, users gain consistent access to critical maritime visuals through our cloud platform. Planet’s API also makes it easy to integrate this data with AIS feeds for even deeper intelligence.
In the first episode of the APAC GeoGov webinar series, AI-Powered Maritime Intelligence: Enhancing Open Water Awareness in Asia-Pacific, Vasudeva Rao Vemana, Planet’s Senior Presales Engineer for APAC, highlighted a core component of MDA: vessel detection.
The Planet Vessel Detection Feed covers global coastlines, up to 15 kilometers offshore, giving a persistent visibility of coastal activities. It focuses on vital global open water areas where tracking vessels is critical including the South China Sea, East China Sea, Sea of Japan, Gulf of Thailand, Arabia Gulf, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and parts of South America. This broad and strategic coverage supports better decision-making by offering timely, reliable insights into vessel movements across strategic maritime areas of interest.
Before-and-after PlanetScope® imagery of the warship at Chongjin Port, North Korea, captured on May 20, 2025 (left) and May 24, 2025 (right). © 2025, Planet Labs PBC. All Rights Reserved.
Planet’s maritime satellite monitoring can empower naval intelligence analysts to:
- Track a wide range of vessels including fishing boats, cargo ships, oil tankers, and military fleets.
- Identify and respond to oil spills and ocean pollution.
- Safeguard marine conservation zones.
- Detect and monitor suspicious activities including IUU fishing, drug smuggling, and trafficking.
Ready to see what you thought was unseeable in the open waters? Connect with the Planet team to get started or sign up to join our conference to meet and get inspired from Earth observation leaders and maritime experts at On The Road Bali 2025.
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