The Korea Coast Guard (Director Kim Yong-jin) announced on the 5th that it will distribute its ‘fishing vessel identification artificial intelligence (AI)’ technology to 10 aviation units nationwide and apply it to aerial patrols and joint enforcement.
This AI technology, distributed this time, is a fishing vessel identification AI model based on aerial evidence photos, which was submitted by the Korea Coast Guard in collaboration with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information as a project in the ‘Data and AI Analysis Competition’. The project received the grand prize.
The Coast Guard’s aircraft travel at speeds of about 350 km/h and observe thousands of ships using advanced thermal imaging cameras. Previously, massive labor and concentration were required for video analysis, and due to the limitations of human perception, sometimes illegal elements were not identified.
In response, the Coast Guard decided to develop AI-based automatic analysis technology, verify its code, and prepare usage manuals to implement it across the national aviation units. These units will use this technology for tasks such as identifying fishing vessel types and determining the legality of operations during patrols and enforcement activities.
Seo Hyeong-soo, director of the Korea Coast Guard’s Patrol Bureau, stated, “Based on fishing vessel identification AI, we will develop a multipurpose maritime target analysis AI for initiatives such as sea rescue, enforcement, and environmental pollutant identification,” adding “We are committed to establishing a future-oriented wide-area surveillance system.”