Russia switches to domestic satellites for monitoring fishing vessels

MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) - Russia's fishing industry has been using exclusively Russian orbital constellations (Gonets, Yamal and Express) since January 1 this year to transmit vessel location data to the industry monitoring system (IMS), the Federal Fisheries Agency (Rosrybolovstvo) said.

In line with an order from the Agriculture Ministry, the use of the UK's Inmarsat satellite terminals on vessels as technical control system (TCS) has been discontinued.

"Import substitution of foreign terminals allows for minimizing the risks of vessels being disconnected from the foreign satellite network, which ensures uninterrupted monitoring of their activities," the agency said.

Rosrybolovstvo recalled that the industry began transitioning to domestic satellite systems in May 2024. The new procedure for equipping vessels with technical control systems applies to vessels with a gross tonnage of over 80 tonnes and a main engine power of over 55 kW.

"In December 2025, we assessed the comparative reliability of the Russian satellite system Gonets and the UK's Inmarsat in transmitting monitoring data to the IMS. The stability of Gonets terminals on fishing fleet vessels in 2025 was more than twice as high as the similar indicators of foreign shipboard equipment. The use of the Gonets system also significantly saves shipowners' funds on the transmission of communication traffic," the head of the fisheries monitoring and communications system center, Alexander Mikhailov, was quoted as saying.