Vessel encounters are shown as a dark red line and a red double arrow icon on selected vessels.

You can click on an encounter on the map or in the vessel information window to find out how long the event lasted and between which vessels the encounter occurred.

Zooming in reveals the detailed vessel tracks at the time of the encounter. By tapping the arrow keys or dragging the time slider the detailed vessel movements throughout the encounter, including speeds and orientations, can be observed.

Vessel encounters are identified based on the length of the encounter and the distance of the vessels from each other. This distance may be up to 200m.

If two vessels seem far apart during an encounter the vessel’s dimensions and the measurement tools can be used to determine whether it was possible that the two vessels had an encounter.

Try it out: See measurement circles being used to assess an encounter between a Tuna purse seiner from the Marshall Islands and a carrier vessel.

The line measurement tool enables an estimation of how long it might take for vessels to reach one another based on the speed they might travel.

Try it out: See the line measurement tool being used to estimate that this tanker would take around two days to reach this fishing vessel if it travelled at 10 knots.