Japan, Republic of Korea, Norway, Russian Federation, Ukraine, United States of America. Under this agreement are all fisheries, principally trawl and longline, except crab, lobster, salmon, sedentary species, whale and tuna. Approximately 135 vessels are monitored, the majority of which are trawlers with a few longline, ranging from 500 to over 2000 gross weight tons (GWT). The VMS software used is . Northeast Atlantic The North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) has five Contracting Parties, Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), the European Union, Iceland, Norway and the Russian Federation. This Convention (1980) regulates fisheries in the high seas (Regulatory Area) and waters under national jurisdiction, including trawlers, purse seiners, longliners, and gill netters. VMS is required, since 1 July 1999, for any vessel of 24 meters or longer overall length. NEAFC is a secondary user of data receiving it from flag state FMCs; the NEAFC database connects to national FMCs of Germany, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, France, Faroe Islands, United Kingdom, Greenland, Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Sweden and the European Fisheries Control Agency. It is also connected to Co-operating Non-Contracting Parties FMCs of the Bahamas, Liberia and St Kitts and Nevis. In 2004, 1473 vessels were monitored, with 800 authorized to fish for regulated species (Regulated Resources). Fisheries surveillance platforms (vessels and aircraft) will also transmit information on their operations in the Regulatory Area, including: surveillance entry observations surveillance exit NEAFC participated as an observer in, a project funded by the EU to use satellite radar images to validate VMS information and to complement and optimise surveillance tasks. NEAFC decided, based on the results of the EU-funded IMPAST (Improving Fisheries Monitoring By Integrating Passive and Active Satellite Technologies), to deploy a Vessel Detection System (VDS) in several coastal states. NEAFC also participated in the EU-funded SHEEL (Secure and Harmonized European Electronic Logbook) and CEDER (Catch, Effort and Discard Estimate in Real-time) projects, which may lead to direct electronic reporting of real-time catch data. Pacific Islands The FFA has 16 country members and one territory member from the western and central Pacific region. It is based in Honiara, Solomon Islands. While the FFA proper was formed over 20 years ago, VMS operation began in late 1997, covering the EEZs of 16 South Pacific countries. FFA VMS is expected to cover 2000+ vessels, transmitting via Inmarsat-C and reporting every 4 hours. Southern Africa Fisheries