Smart technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), are being applied at Da Nang's Tho Quang Fishing Wharf and Port in a bid to enhance the management work and fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.

Images from the camera system at the Tho Quang Fishing Wharf and Port are transmitted to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Son Tra District to monitor and supervise environmental protection work. Photo: HOANG HIEP

The Tho Quang Fishing Port is recognised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as a fishing port with a sufficient system to confirm the origin of aquatic products from exploitation (certificates of exploitation and export of aquatic products).

Recently, the city has coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to put into operation the first stage of the project to upgrade and expand the Tho Quang Fishing Port, as well as and start construction on the second stage of the project. The purpose is to turn the fishing port into a fishing service centre associated with tourism.

As part of a project to build Da Nang into a smart city over the 2018-2025 period, with orientation to 2030, voyage monitoring equipment has been installed for fishing vessels at the Tho Quang Fishing Wharf and Port.

Deputy Head of the Tho Quang Fishing Wharf and Port Management Board Pham Trung Thanh said a total of 70 vessel monitoring cameras have been installed, contributing to ensuring security and order, environmental sanitation and professional management. The cost of the cameras comes from the budgets of the city and the management board.

For example, the Tho Quang Fishing Wharf is designed and built to only be able to accommodate 493 fishing vessels safely anchoring during storms and 552 ones anchoring during normal weather.

In reality, it is a storm shelter for more than 1,000 fishing vessels, of which, the number of fishing boats from other provinces and cities accounts for approximately 2/3 of the total.

In conditions of heavy rain, strong winds and loud noise, the surveillance camera system, wireless FM speaker, and Icom communication device (M710) are used by the Management Board of the Tho Fishing Wharf and Port to promptly notify relevant information to captains and serve the dispatching and arranging of fishing vessels at the wharf.

In addition, the Tho Quang Fishing Port and Seafood Wholesale is identified by local authorities as a complex area in terms of security and order because it receives 142 turns of fishing ships, 350 - 450 turns of trucks and cars, and 3,000 - 5,000 people every day.

The Management Board has coordinated with functional forces to retrieve camera data, detect and handle 19 cases of theft, 8 fights causing disorder, and 16 trucks illegally discharging waste.

Mr. Pham Trung Thanh further shared that the central management server system and graphics card were newly invested, ensuring the application of AI to identify ships, motorbikes and cars entering and exiting the area.

The storage system is also being built with a NAS solution to replace the current overloaded recorder, which is capable of expanding integration, meeting 30-day recording requirements for the current camera system and 200 cameras in the future.

The unit has also deployed a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) for online management and monitoring, as well as sharing video data for other agencies to exploit and use.

In the coming time, the Management Board will upgrade new vessel identification software using deep learning / neural networks for more detailed and accurate identification.

Along with that, AI will be applied to intelligently identify and monitor ships moving through the channels under Man Quang Bridge as well as vehicles entering and exiting the Tho Quang Fishing Port.

With smart management and monitoring solutions and technologies being applied at the Tho Quang Fishing Wharf and Port, Da Nang has been doing well in combat combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

At the same time, the city targets to well implement the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang in Notice No. 539/TB-VPCP about the inspection and control of fishing vessels, strengthening the application of information technology in local and extra-provincial fishing vessel management, applying information technology to confirm and certify the origin of exploited aquatic products, tracing the origin of exploited aquatic products, and ensuring transparency and legality.

Reporting by HOANG HIEP - Translating by M.DUNG