Targeting illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing across the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, maritime IoT specialist Ground Control has initiated a major tracking hardware rollout in Türkiye.
Delivered in partnership with its parent company, CLS Group, the initiative will equip more than 850 commercial fishing vessels with RockFLEET Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) hardware between May and October 2026.
The program is funded through the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), drawing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF)-backed FishEBM Black Sea and FishEBM Mediterranean development projects.
RockFLEET Hardware and Operational Specifications
The hardware deployment, spanning nearly 100 ports along Türkiye’s coastline, utilizes dual-mode connectivity to ensure continuous regulatory compliance:
- Dual-Mode Connectivity: The hardware automatically switches between terrestrial cellular networks in coastal zones and the global Iridium satellite network when operating offshore.
- Onboard Security Protocols: Features AES-256 data encryption, tamper detection sensors, and anti-spoofing software defenses.
- Tracking and Alerts: Delivers automated, near-real-time GPS position, speed, and heading telemetry alongside configurable geofencing boundaries.
- Environmental Tolerance: Built to marine-grade specifications with an IP68 waterproof chassis and an internal backup battery capable of up to five months of unpowered operation.
The VMS devices feed telemetry directly into Türkiye’s national fisheries monitoring infrastructure, allowing authorities to correlate positional data with electronic catch logs.
Managing the Mediterranean’s Largest Fleet
As the operator of the largest fishing fleet in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, Türkiye is modernizing its marine surveillance infrastructure to improve regulatory oversight and support long-term marine resource preservation. The Turkish rollout follows a similar national deployment of the RockFLEET platform by the French government for its own commercial maritime monitoring fleets.
“Effective fisheries management starts with trusted, reliable data,” said Alastair MacLeod, Chief Executive Officer at Ground Control. “Authorities need continuous visibility of vessel activity to make informed operational decisions, improve compliance and protect valuable marine resources. Seeing two national fisheries programmes select our technology in such quick succession reflects the growing confidence in resilient hybrid satellite connectivity to support monitoring, compliance and the long-term sustainability of fisheries.”
Long-Term Regulatory Outlook
As international regulators tighten transparency mandates for commercial fleets, hybrid satellite-cellular VMS hardware is becoming an operational standard for maritime compliance. Ground Control and CLS Group expect to complete the integration of the remaining Turkish vessel terminals by the close of the October 2026 fishing season, establishing a baseline dataset to help regional authorities coordinate patrol resources and document zone violations.
