Albania’s expensive coastline is regularly immersed in fishing activity. Due to this phenomenon, it is imperative that the Albanian Government is able to provide accurate and compliant fishing vessel reporting throughout the country. Doing so requires a reliable electronic system for monitoring commercial fishing vessels that pass European Union Regulations.

The Albanian government awarded EMA Group (EMA) a contract to install Iridium-based BlueTraker^® Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) on more than 200 Albanian commercial fishing vessels. The BlueTraker VMS is an intelligent hybrid tracking transponder that uses the Iridium satellite Short Burst Data^® (SBD^®) service to transmit vessel coordinates when the ships are out of range of shore-based wireless networks. The contract, issued by the European Union (EU) Delegation to Albania, together with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Water Administration of the Republic of Albania, provides for monitoring and control of the fishing vessels in accordance with the requirements of the EU Commission.

Iridium’s partnership in creating the EMA BlueTrackers has enabled robust and dynamic monitoring capabilities that allow Albanian fishing vessels to be traced anywhere at any time. This provides the Albanian government with accurate reports that facilitate safe and efficient maritime traffic control.