As per reports, the Quadrilateral Security (Quad) has planned to launch a satellite-based maritime security initiative to check China’s illegal fishing in the Indo-Pacific region. The Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) which was established by India in December 2018 for maritime safety, security and surveillance in the Indian Ocean Region will play a major role in providing surveillance in the Indo-Pacific region and keeping a tab on China.
China is responsible for 95% of illegal fishing in the region which is an area of major concern for the Quad nations. The Financial Times reported that the initiative, to be announced by the four leaders of the Quad at the group’s Tokyo Summit, will bring together existing surveillance centres in Singapore, India, and the Pacific to create a tracking system for illegal unregulated and unreported fishing (IUUF) in the Indo-Pacific region.
The news comes ahead of the Quad Dialogue meeting which is to be held on May 24 in Japan. The meeting will see the coming together of leaders of USA, India, Australia and Japan to discuss maritime security and trade in the Indo-Pacific region. Indian PM Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and newly elected PM of Australia Anthony Albanese will be participating in the in-person Quadrilateral Security Dialogue summit on Tuesday in Tokyo.
Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR)
India established the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in the Gurugram city in December 2018. The centre, under the control of Indian Navy aims to strengthen maritime security and surveillance in the Indian Ocean Region. The Information Centre also acts as a hub for sharing of information between partner nations. Since its inception, the centre has established associations with more than 50 nations as well as other global maritime security agencies.
The centre also hosts International Liaison Officers (ILOs) from partner nations for better correlation, compressed information cycles and timely inputs. Till now, the centre has hosted ILOs from 10 partner nations — Australia, France, Japan, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles Singapore, UK and USA.
