Illegal fishing: Mozambique
Mozambique's long Indian Ocean coastline and extensive exclusive economic zone are among its most valuable natural assets, supporting artisanal communities and a legitimate fishing industry. Foreign fleets working the zone unreported drain that wealth quietly, and the length of the coast makes policing it by vessel alone impossible.
Watching a zone larger than any patrol fleet
Ocean surveillance satellites detect and track vessels across the whole EEZ, including those running dark, and flag the movement patterns that mark a trawler working a bank. Modular aerial platform kits then close on the contacts that matter, confirming gear and identity so an interception rests on evidence, and the imagery becomes part of a case file. Satellite-based fish detection adds the fishing-zone analytics that separate legitimate activity from concealment near the coast.
An artisanal economy under pressure
For coastal Mozambican communities the loss is immediate: foreign fleets landing catch elsewhere strip the stocks that feed and employ the shore. Illegal fishing here compounds with coastal-surveillance and smuggling, since the same vessels and routes carry contraband and the same wide-area picture serves both. Building a defensible record of who fishes the zone is what lets the state act against a fleet rather than a single boat.
How engagement works in Mozambique
Unstrat engages as an independent, non-aligned prime vendor: direct manufacturer representation, end-use certified, one accountable team, in-region sustainment. Because the satellites, drones and fish-detection analytics come from makers with no political agenda, the maritime picture is tasked on national priorities and retained under national control, admissible without a foreign government's permission. We would begin with a season-long baseline of the zone and build toward a fisheries watch Mozambique runs itself. Book a briefing to scope it.
From a season-long baseline to a national fisheries watch
An engagement starts with a briefing that scopes the zone and the banks where foreign fleets work unreported, draining the wealth coastal communities depend on. Before any representation is offered, export-control clearance and end-use approvals are confirmed, so the ocean-surveillance satellites, drones and fish-detection analytics are matched to a use Mozambique has authorised, with the maritime picture retained under national control. Capability is then fitted to real conditions: wide-area detection of vessels running dark, drones that confirm gear and identity so an interception rests on evidence, and a case file that holds up. Sustainment proceeds in phases, beginning with a season-long baseline, with localisation arrangements scoped per programme, subject to export controls and end-use approvals. The aim is an enforcement advantage: a defensible record that lets the state act against a fleet and protect an artisanal economy.
Relevant capability
Adjacent priorities in Mozambique
Mozambique's coastline is one of the longest in Africa, fringed with islands, channels and mangrove that offer endless cover for illicit movement, from the Cabo Delgado littoral in the north to the approaches of the central and southern ports. Watching that shore continuously is a precondition for almost every other maritime security task the state faces.
Problem pagePiracy raises insurance costs, deters shipping and endangers seafarers. Space-based vessel monitoring, aerial patrol and hardened port and vessel systems let coastal states detect threats early and protect the shipping lanes their economies depend on.
Problem pageMozambique's extensive coast, its many ports and its long land borders with several neighbours make it a natural corridor for contraband, from goods evading duty to natural resources and narcotics moving toward regional markets. The scale and openness of these routes mean enforcement depends on seeing where goods actually move rather than guarding every path.
Problem pageRelevant solutions
Mozambique: security context
Mozambique's priorities meet along its coast and in its north: protecting gas infrastructure, addressing a counter-insurgency requirement, and watching its exclusive economic zone. It is an environment where energy security and frontier operations are tightly linked.
One accountable, non-aligned partner gives Mozambique a coherent counterpart for those priorities: gas-infrastructure protection, counter-insurgency support and EEZ surveillance through a single channel. A security agency gains end-use certified equipment, in-region sustainment and localisation arrangements scoped per programme.
About this challenge
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing drains coastal economies and undermines sovereignty over the exclusive economic zone. Persistent satellite surveillance, satellite-data fisheries analytics and aerial ISR give maritime authorities the picture they need to intercept offenders, without depending on a major power's data feed.
Frequently asked questions
How can Mozambique police an EEZ too large for its patrol fleet?
By starting from space. Ocean surveillance satellites track vessels across the whole zone, including those running dark, so drones and patrol assets are directed only to the contacts that matter. That turns an impossible patrol task into a targeted one. A briefing can map how the layers combine.
Is satellite-derived fishing evidence usable in a Mozambican prosecution?
It can be, because ownership matters. Sensing from independent, non-aligned suppliers is retained under national control and can be produced in a case without waiting on a foreign government to release a pass. That control is what makes the record defensible.
Does the fisheries picture also help against smuggling?
Yes. The same vessels and routes that fish illegally often carry contraband, so the wide-area maritime picture serves both missions. That dual use strengthens the case for the investment. We can walk through it in a briefing.