New Technologies 



tion and transfer of available surveillance data 

 for one specific region. Some precedent for 

 such a project already exists at the Naval 

 Ocean Surveillance Information Center where 

 the Coast Guard has recently detailed one 

 officer to work on data which are of interest to 

 the Coast Guard and have not, in the past, 

 been processed by Navy personnel. 38 



The Office of Technology Assessment has 

 not investigated the feasibility of using a 

 specific system in any region, but it appears 

 that the Navy's west coast network could be a 

 likely pilot region. Any pilot project should 

 begin with an indepth investigation of the 

 Navy's existing system and its ability to pro- 

 vide information needed for fisheries enforce- 

 ment. 



Some funding would be necessary to add 

 personnel who would coordinate the transfer 

 of fisheries -related data from the Navy to the 

 Coast Guard district in charge of fisheries en- 

 forcement in that zone. 



After a period of operation, the pilot project 

 should be evaluated with special attention to 

 determining the completeness of coverage 

 provided, the cost, the timeliness and useful- 

 ness of data provided, and a comparison of 

 this method with other methods of sur- 

 veillance. 



On one hand, there may be difficulties in 

 working with and protecting classified infor- 

 mation and there may be a danger that this ex- 

 tra task might not receive adequate attention 

 in a facility oriented to an existing military 

 mission. However, such an information-shar- 

 ing program could ultimately cut costs sub- 

 stantially by reducing duplication of effort 

 and facilities. It could also provide cooperative 

 experience which might lead to sharing of 

 other services and resources needed for en- 

 forcement and the opportunity to evaluate 

 new technology which may be of use in fish- 

 eries enforcement. 



Use of new technology, particularly 

 remote-sensing devices, may make it possible 

 to improve enforcement of fisheries regula- 

 tions in the future by better coverage, better 

 performance, and a reduction of the need for 

 expanding conventional ship and aircraft 

 patrols. Although it may be possible for 

 several agencies (such as the Coast Guard, the 

 military, and NASA) to share the cost of new 

 remote-sensing devices, these systems are ex- 

 tremely expensive and their use should be 

 thoroughly evaluated before any one system 

 is adopted. Any analysis of benefits and costs 

 of remote-sensing systems should not ignore 

 the argument that national security could be 

 compromised by making some of these 

 systems available for other than military mis- 

 sions. Most of the security risks and financial 

 costs of remote-sensing systems could be con- 

 sidered now; however, a clear analysis of the 

 benefits or improvements that could result 

 from the use of such new technology is not 

 possible until overall strategies of enforce- 

 ment and specific regulations are defined. 

 When these strategies and regulations have 

 been drawn up, it will be desirable to prepare 

 a long-range plan; for example, a 5- to 10-year 

 plan that would include specific analysis of 

 the introduction of new technologies and 

 techniques into enforcement plans. 



The Coast Guard is presently in the process 

 of formulating a research and development 

 program for future enforcement of fisheries 

 laws. 39 Such a program could make good use 

 of an improved version of the existing com- 

 puter model or a new model such as the one 

 suggested in an earlier section for joint prepa- 

 ration by NOAA and the Coast Guard. The 

 research program is expected to include plans 

 for studying hardware and procedures for im- 

 proving monitoring and surveillance, com- 

 munications, data integration and analysis, 

 and general operations. 



45 



