Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has in place to stop skippers turning off their automatic identification system to prevent location identification.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) already has measures in place to ensure that shipmasters, skippers and navigational watchkeepers of fishing vessels and commercial vessels mandated to carry automatic identification system (AIS) keep their systems operational and in proper use at all times.

These measures include the use of fixed wing surveillance aircraft and fixed radar installations at certain locations along the coast.

The MCA recently updated gov.uk weblinks to remind skippers of relevant fishing vessels that they must fit AIS which meet the international performance standards and that it is an offence to switch off AIS unless there are compelling grounds to justify that safety and security of the vessel would be affected.

The MCA will either warn or prosecute and fine those who they discover are failing to properly use the AIS at sea.