MONICAP

MONICAP™ originated from a pilot project launched in 1988, whose results have revolutionised worldwide the fishing surveillance techniques. MONICAP is a monitoring system for the fishing activity inspection that uses Global Positioning System (GPS) for the vessel location and Inmarsat C technology for the satellite communications between ships and a terrestrial control centre.

The MONICAP system has a “black box” design that allows the land-based monitoring of the position and speed of ships in which a special MONICAP box is installed. The MONICAP box uses a satellite positioning system together with communications technology for continuous and automatic transmission of the position, course and speed of the ship to the Control Centre. Using computer and information technologies, this Control Centre provides the real time surveillance of the fleet activity.

The communication capacity provided by the system goes beyond the basic monitoring task, including:

• Inspection and protection of the fishing activities
• Maritime traffic control
• Acquisition, reception and transmission of the meteorological data
• Fast and precise location of ships in danger

Os potenciais utilizadores finais do sistema MONICAP são entidades responsáveis pela inspeção das atividades da pesca tais como a Marinha, Guarda Costeira, Autoridades Portuárias, Marinas, Armadores e institutos de investigação.

Tendo alcançado um avançado nível de operacionalidade tecnológica, o sistema MONICAP foi transferido para a empresa Xsealance.