The Impact Of Satellite Technology On Maritime Legislation

EARTH OBSERVATION

This image was acquired by Envisat�s Advanced Aperture Radar (ASAR) on 31 July 2002, in support of rescue efforts in Antarctica. The ASAR wide swath image shows a 400 km stretch of the Antarctic Coast in Queen Maud Land. See larger image. At this time of year, a belt of sea ice up to 1100 km wide surrounds the Antarctic Continent and its ice shelves and gives the sea in this image a textured grey appearance. At the time of this acquisition, the supply ship Magdalena Oldendorff was sheltering in a bay known as Muskegbukta on the Eastern side of the Jutulstraumen Ice Tongue. Her location is visible on the very edge of this scene (marked in blue). The icebreaker Almirante Irizar�s course through the ice-infested waters is shown as a series of GPS location measurements, one of which was made within minutes of the acquisition (shown in yellow). She will continue to skirt the ice shelf until reaching safer waters in the vicinity of the Astrid Rise (longitude 12E, off the image) in order to make her return to Buenos Aires. The Muhlig-Hofmann Mountains are visible in the bottom left corner. Glaciers flowing from the mountains feed the Fimbul Ice Shelf, visible as a bright white swath bordering the South Atlantic Ocean. Credits: ESA 2002.

Paris (ESA) Feb 08, 2005
The results obtained over the last ten years thanks to the interpretation of data from remote sensing satellites have demonstrated the possibilities afforded by space-based techniques for research and applications in oceanography.

Encouraging results leading to operational use (GEOSS and GMES initiatives) have been established in research and environmental studies and also in areas more closely connected with industry such as fishing. Background

The purpose of the conference "New space services for maritime users: the impact of satellite technology on maritime legislation", which will be held in Paris at the UNESCO on 21-23 February 2005, is to bring together scientific and technical experts, the legal and administrative experts and the user community to express their needs and possible solutions, look at what is available already and what new developments will be arising in the near future, review the status of implementation in the light of technical developments and see what new legislation at regional and national level may be needed to implement and expand the recommendations made at the Vigo Conference.

This Symposium indeed follows the conference jointly organised by EURISY and INTA in Vigo, Spain, in 2003, that formulated a series of Conclusions and Recommendations addressed to the decision-makers of the European Union, its Member States and relevant international organisations.

These Recommendations included the development of an appropriate legal framework including legislation admitting space-based information in court, and ensuring better law enforcement across national boundaries.

The Symposium focuses on two objectives:

Assessing the state of the art: using remote sensing technologies for maritime transport security and safety and resources exploitation;

Providing recommendations for the preparation of a legal updating on maritime transport in Europe.

Assessing the state of the art

Remote sensing satellites are generating information for the benefit of maritime users: transport companies and operators, public authorities, coast-guards and fisheries. These data are merged with data from other sources: satellite navigation systems (GPS, Galileo) and traditional maritime security and safety data gathering. Satellite communication links connect the data sources in real-time.

ASAR assists Antarctic rescue mission

The symposium will focus on scientific research in the maritime milieu and will contribute to identify the space facilities and systems, which could be used in the future in order to control the compliance with legislation, and the way they are integrated into global information systems like a global automatic identification system (AIS), vessel traffic monitoring systems, long range identification and tracking of vessels (LRIT), or systems aimed at mapping underwater obstacles, preventing collisions, monitoring living resources of the ocean, prospecting new non-renewable resources.

A new legal framework on Maritime transport in Europe

New space services can be provided in the legal context of maritime transport. In Europe maritime transport policy is oriented towards Safety, Security, Efficiency and Environment in Shipping and the use of space instruments to enhance and control its enforcement.

Other countries like Canada and USA are thinking along the same lines. The Symposium will reflect the activities to be developed in the coming years by the space actors and users for the benefit of the public authorities in charge of the application of the regulation as well as the expectations of the other users of space services.

Practical Information

The Symposium "New space services for maritime users: the impact of satellite technology on maritime legislation" , co-organised by EURISY and the IAF, will be held in Paris from 21 to 23 February, at UNESCO Headquarters.

It is cosponsored by ESA, UNESCO, CNES, EUMETSAT and EADS. Registrations form and a detailed programme can be downloaded from the EURISY and IAF websites. Press interviews will be organised at UNESCO, on 23 February.

EARTH OBSERVATION

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