The knowledge accumulated by fishermen during many expeditions over many years, and often over many generations, about different coastal locations, the tides, the weather conditions, the different seasons, the species that they’re after, and the price they’ll receive for their catch have a huge influence on how, when and where they cast their nets.
Guarding this information carefully has always been crucial in stopping competitors from taking advantage of the opportunities that you’ve learned are out there – but in a world where, by law, vessels have to let the authorities know where they are at all times, it’s getting harder and harder to maintain this level of confidentiality.
Security consideration
Data security was a key consideration in the design of Succorfish SC2 Gen 2 Inshore Vessel Monitoring System (I-VMS), which late last year became one of only four devices to successfully complete the Marine Management Organisation’s extensive accreditation process for technologies that could be used to monitor the location of fishing boats within the UK’s coastal waters.
Succorfish recognised the wider importance of data security to operators in the offshore fishing industry
Succorfish recognised the wider importance of data security to operators in the offshore fishing industry and, as the only technology provider in this market with the industry-leading ISO 27001 information security management system (ISMS) accreditation, benchmarked Succorfish work in this area to the same level required by the clients in the military sector.
Features
The system provides an easy-to-use, secure, cloud-based monitoring platform that is accessible from tablets, desktop computers or a smartphone app via satellite and Bluetooth, and also includes free cloud-based monitoring software delivered by a bespoke platform that Succorfish developed which enables users to historically see all their fishing tracking data in graphical form.
The SC2 Gen 2 is the only one of the accredited devices that are fully integrated into the Marine Management Organisation’s Government Gateway software, while all data sent to the MMO is fully encrypted to the highest AES-256 accreditation standards.
Storing information
Succorfish uses UK-based data centres for storing the information that customers can access through a unique login process Unlike Succorfish overseas competitors, Succorfish also only uses UK-based data centres for storing the information that customers can access through a unique login process about the locations that they’ve visited, while Succorfish has been successfully sending secure vessel data to the MMO since 2016.
All of these measures mean that Succorfish customers know where their data is stored, that it is stored securely and that the details it contains about their operations are fully safeguarded.
In an age where knowledge is more powerful than ever before, data security has to be an essential consideration for anyone in the fishing industry that wants to be sure that the knowledge on which their commercial success is based is stored as safely as possible.