Case Study: ETNECA achieves reduced illegal fishing and real-time vessel monitoring in Thailand with ORBCOMM

How ORBCOMM technology helps to tackle this global challenge in Thailand

ETNECA, Thailand’s leading maritime satellite communications provider, faced a national challenge when 2015 regulations required all commercial fishing vessels over 30 GT to install a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, protect marine environments and improve safety. The Thai Department of Fisheries and Royal Thai Navy needed a centralized, easy-to-install VMS that provided real-time position, route and fishing-zone reporting plus geofencing and alerting, so ETNECA partnered with ORBCOMM to meet these requirements.

Using ORBCOMM’s two-way IsatData Pro satellite service and terminals (IDP-690 and ST 6100), ETNECA implemented a programmable VMS delivering continuous position, course, speed, catch reports, geofence alerts and messaging (including an ETNECA E-Chat app). The ORBCOMM-based solution now monitors more than 3,500 vessels—giving ETNECA the largest Thai VMS market share—improving compliance, reducing unregulated fishing, enabling enforcement actions and enhancing maritime safety and rescue capabilities.

ETNECA

Chatri Petchor

Overseas Manager