Study on the Activity Laws of Fishing Vessels in Chinese Fishing Grounds in Winter And Spring Based on AIS Data: a Case Study of 2019

Taking advantage of AIS data to mine the dynamic characteristics of fishery resource exploitation helps to carry out scientific management of fishery and realize the sustainable development of marine resources. The paper selected 210 million records of AIS data of approximately 115,000 fishing vessels in the six Chinese fishing grounds. After processing the AIS dataset for fishing activities and fishing vessel types identification, we conducted a thorough mining and analysis of the characteristics of fishing vessel activities in winter and spring of 2019. The results showed that the number of fishing vessels was gradually increasing as the latitude decreased in winter, and that were quite different between winter and spring in the northern fishing grounds. Gillnetters were the most numerous fishing vessel type operating in the inshore fishing grounds with increased in spring, while seiners had an absolute advantage in the Xisha-Zhongsha fishing ground.