Report | May 21, 2026
Detailed methods: putting small scale fishers first, securing cyprus’ coastal waters for sustainable fishing
Oceana conducted an analysis to identify apparent bottom trawling in the waters of the Republic of Cyprus, excluding those territorial waters that are not under the effective control of the government. Using data from the Global Fishing Watch1 (GFW) mapping platform, Oceana analysed apparent fishing activity from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2025. The activity of vessels was tracked using information from their automatic identification systems (AIS), maritime safety devices that transmit vessel data such as identity, speed, and location.
Apparent fishing activity from GFW was cross-checked with the European Fleet Register3 to identify the fishing gears used by vessels at the time of apparent fishing events. Vessels’ Community Fishing Fleet Register (CFR) numbers, Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) numbers, International Radio Call Signs (IRCS), and/ or International Maritime Organization numbers (IMO) were used to eliminate all non-bottom trawling vessels from the analysis.

