During a recent delivery across the Bay of Biscay, I came across some funny AIS beacons called “BOUEE SI”. In NavimetriX the icons displayed are those of Class B ships, and these ships being almost immobile, I never stopped wondering about it, in the greatest perplexity. Back home, so I investigated.
These are floating buoys equipped with an AIS transmitter which mainly serve as electronic markers for fishing equipment.. Marine professionals use small waterproof AIS transponders installed on surface buoys for several reasons :
- Location of fishing equipment :
They allow fishermen to easily find their fixed nets on the screen of their radar or plotter, their drifting longlines or traps without depending solely on a visual cue.
- Maritime safety
By emitting a continuous AIS signal, the buoy appears in real time on the navigation MFDs of nearby commercial and pleasure vessels. This prevents other vessels from clipping or becoming entangled in fishing gear.
AIS driftnet marking system
But then, Who owns this BUOY? ?
In this case (screenshot above), the holder of this specific buoy is a professional fishing vessel or maritime operator registered in Greece. Indeed, the MMSI number (241200457) – unique maritime identity code 9 numbers (¹) – starts with the prefix 241, which is the official country code (MID) attributed to Greece. But curiously, three other SI BUOYs nearby had MMSI numbers beginning with 250, maritime code assigned to Ireland. And no Irish ships, even less Greek, didn't come across in the area.
At any rate, the presence of these AIS beacons in the Bay of Biscay is simply explained by deep-sea fishing campaigns : trawlers and longliners from several countries frequently crisscross these fish-rich waters off the coast of France and Spain to place their equipment there.. QED.
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(¹) Vessels MMSI MID codes
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If you go for a little walk, I have a bad memory of the Strait of Malacca, fishermen aim their nets by activating MOBs, fillets and maybe something else. At first, I said to myself... Then you get used to it
Finally, sometimes it’s just their little “prames” that they leave on a buoy.. To have been there 2 time, I checked a little, there are many, not just Strait of Malacca, all of Indonesia, Borneo and all these exotic seas, after that it finally helps a little, because Loupiotes question, not obvious.
After, if you have the chance to go, I recommend it to you, it's a little exotic... but... if you like Conrad and a change of scenery
Good evening Francis,
Thank you for this useful information.
I just had a similar experience in Corsica, AIS beacons to locate fishing nets. Except in my case, the tags had the name of the fishing boat so the boat's mmsi was used for the nets too. There were as many fishing boats as there were beacons. After investigation, It turns out that this practice is not authorized , maritime affairs are hunting there…
Personally, if it saves me from the girls, I'm a taker.
Sincerely
JP Jaouen
Many thanks for this article.