Illegal fishing: Sri Lanka
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing drains Sri Lanka's coastal economy and undermines sovereignty over an exclusive economic zone that reaches out into busy waters. Foreign trawlers work the edges of the zone where patrol vessels rarely reach, run dark to avoid cooperative tracking, and leave the island's own fleet with dwindling stocks.
Theft at the edges of a busy zone
For an island whose coastal communities depend on the catch, the loss is quiet but constant. Vessels work the outer edges of the exclusive economic zone where patrols seldom reach and mix into the dense traffic passing the island, switching off transponders to avoid being tracked. Fisheries inspectors see only what comes ashore legally, so the scale of the theft is invisible until stocks fall. Enforcement needs a continuous, defensible record of who was where and when, one that holds up in court and does not depend on a distant partner choosing to share the right satellite pass.
Sensing that builds a prosecutable picture
Ocean surveillance satellites detect and track vessels across the whole zone, including those running dark, and flag the movement patterns that mark a trawler working a bank rather than transiting a sea lane, turning an empty map into a queue of leads. Modular aerial platform kits then classify the contacts that matter and capture the imagery that becomes part of a case file, while satellite-based fish detection and fisheries traceability add the picture at the fishing grounds and in port. Because these capabilities come from independent, non-aligned makers, the picture is tasked and retained under national control rather than dependent on a distant partner's feed.
How engagement works in Sri Lanka
As an independent, non-aligned prime vendor, Unstrat fields one accountable team that represents the manufacturers directly, with end-use certified equipment and in-region sustainment. A programme usually begins with the offshore sectors most exploited by dark vessels and grows into a standing enforcement picture the maritime authority runs itself, with localisation arrangements scoped per programme and subject to export controls and end-use approvals.
Turning a busy zone into a defensible record
Because a prosecutable case cannot rest on chance encounters or a partner's willingness to share a satellite pass, an engagement opens with a briefing for the maritime authority on how a standing, evidential picture would be built. The satellites and drones involved are controlled capability, so export-control clearance and end-use confirmation precede any representation. The sensing is then matched to Sri Lanka's real conditions: trawlers hidden in the heavy traffic funnelling past the island, transponders switched off at the outer edges of the zone. A queue of leads emerges from thick legitimate movement. A programme is phased, starting with the offshore sectors most exploited by dark vessels and growing into an enforcement picture the authority runs itself, with in-region sustainment behind it. Localisation arrangements are scoped per programme, subject to export controls and end-use approvals, so the record stays national and the advantage protects the island's own fleet.
Relevant capability
Adjacent priorities in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island astride some of the world's busiest sea lanes, so the approaches all around it matter as much as the coast itself. Coastal radar sees only so far around an island shore, and the gaps between stations, around headlands, harbours and the narrow channels off the coast, are exploited daily.
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 pageContraband, fuel and untaxed goods cross borders wherever surveillance is thinnest, draining customs revenue. Wide-area overhead surveillance and low-observable radar coverage let enforcement concentrate where the traffic actually moves.
Problem pageRelevant solutions
Sri Lanka: security context
Sri Lanka's island position shapes its priorities: maritime domain awareness astride busy sea lanes, protection of its exclusive economic zone and fisheries, coastal surveillance, and security of critical infrastructure. It is an environment where the approaches around the island matter as much as the coast itself.
An accountable single-channel engagement gives Sri Lanka a coherent counterpart for those priorities, maritime domain awareness, EEZ and fisheries protection, coastal surveillance and infrastructure protection. A security agency gains end-use certified equipment, disciplined export-control handling and localisation arrangements scoped per programme rather than promised in advance.
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 does surveillance turn suspicion into enforcement in Sri Lanka's zone?
Ocean surveillance satellites build a wide-area picture including vessels running dark, drones classify the contacts that matter and capture evidence, and harbour and traceability layers close the picture ashore, so an interception is ordered against a defensible record rather than a chance encounter. We would welcome the chance to brief your team on sequencing that coverage.
Why must the record come from national assets?
Because a prosecutable case cannot depend on a distant partner choosing to share the right satellite pass at the right moment. Capabilities from independent, non-aligned makers are tasked on national priorities and retained nationally, with localisation scoped per programme and subject to export controls and end-use approvals.
How does this protect the island's own fleet?
By making the theft visible and prosecutable, persistent surveillance lets authorities intercept the foreign vessels working the edges of the zone before stocks collapse, protecting the coastal communities that depend on the catch.