Framework
 
SIFICAP was the first Monitoring and Control and Surveillance System (MCS) in the world to integrate subsystems of various entities that participate in it in order to contribute to a better defense and conservation of fishery resources, having subsequently been instituted and regulated by Decree-Law No. 79/2001, of March 5. 
 
SIFICAP supports the surveillance, inspection and control of fishing activities at national level, defining the competent entities and participants in the system: in SIFICAP:
 
  1. General Directorate of Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services
  2. Navy 
  3. Air Force
  4. Republican National Guard
  5. Autonomous Region of the Azores (Regional Fisheries Inspection)
  6. Autonomous Region of Madeira (Regional Directorate for Fisheries), with the aim of, namely:
  • ensure the functional articulation of the entities, aiming at establishing, in due time, the combination of the various operational means, with a view to a more rational and effective intervention capacity
  • provide the entities with an integrated information and support system for surveillance, inspection and control of fishing activity that: o allows the timely flow of information that is of interest to the activity of each entity
  • ensure the processing of the collected data and make the information obtained available to the entities
  • provide statistical and decision support elements.
     
The SIFICAP is coordinated by DGRM, which, in conjunction with the other participating entities, is responsible for defining the human and material resources essential to the functioning of the system, in accordance with the proposal referred to in paragraph e) of the following article, the introduction of data under the responsibility of the users of the participating entities and the reception, processing and availability of data and information are ensured organically by DGRM, namely by the Fisheries Control and Surveillance Center (CCVP / FMC-PT).
 
The functioning of SIFICAP is ensured by a Planning and Programming Commission (CPP), composed of the operational administrators designated by each of the entities participating in the System, under the direct coordination of the Director General of DGRM, and appointed by Joint Order of the members of the Government that oversee the entities participating in the system.
 
 SIFICAP - Components
 
In SIFICAP the three components of an MCS system are contemplated, coordinated by DGRM in the exercise of the competences of the National Fisheries Authority (ANP), as currently prescribed in paragraph 5 of article 5 of Regulation (EC) No. 1224/2009 of the Council of 20 November 2009.
 
The three components are developed by the human and material resources of the entities participating in SIFICAP.