The Coast Guard collects all AIS track data, and publishes it on a 6 month delay via the NOAA Marine Cadastre program.
Maybe the requirement was for some other technology rather than AIS.
I led the development of one of these systems from a software standpoint: https://thoriumvms.com/
They're not cheap -- $2K or $3K depending on options and $40ish/month for service. We were reselling Iridium service as the underlying transport.
Looks like the bottom just fell out of this business -- glad I'm not relying that for my paycheck anymore!
If I were an auditor I would definitely be booking random fishing trips with the busiest charter boats in these states and double-checking the package cost. Fuel, food, and other things provided on the trip should be easy to cost out so one could determine just how badly these guys are screwing Uncle Sam.
I have been a mate on charter boats. My pay was $100 plus $100 expected tip. The workday was 14 hours long. Any fish caught couldn’t be sold commercially.
Taking people out fishing is not a lucrative career but it does provide work for people who lost their jobs commercial fishing.
As a mate onboard you may not get the big bucks but someone is making bank here.
As far as backpacking camping trips go if you book through a normal site like through REI [1] they can be pretty expensive depending on duration, destination, etc since there is a lot of logistical stuff that has to be handled. It is not cheap, in the thousands per person for multi-day operations. I have not personally booked a trip like that since I lived in a tent in Nat'l Parks, motel parking lots, KOA or similar campgrounds off and on for several years. I can do my own thing and don't need assistance.
Same thing goes for whitewater rafting trips. The costs range from really low for half-day trips to thousands for multi-day trips. A good friend of mine has been river guiding in Idaho since the late 1970's. I would think that if he had been in danger of failing in that business that he would have fallen back on his college degree in the sciences years ago. I have rafted several of the great rivers in the western US and it is fantastic fun. [2]
[0] https://fishingbooker.com/
[1] https://www.rei.com/adventures/a/backpacking
I don't see that $26000 annual income is relevant for anyone except the lowest paid seasonal guide. That has to be a low number.
Indentured or forced labor has been the norm not the exception, for a very long time in many parts of the world.
Income reported on various websites scatters widely from under $20k to over $300k depending on where you are on the totem pole. With many of these jobs being paid on a day rate I can see where your income potential is limited depending on where you are, which species pass through your area versus the ones that are native and whether you limit yourself to specific species or go any time a client books a trip.
Looks like a complex industry. I only have personal experience from one offshore trip out of Coos Bay a long time ago on a boat full of people wanting to fish. We had to book well in advance and it was less than a full day outing. We did catch fish though.
But yeah my questions are around AIS - it's such an important safety technology (to at least have a receiver) I'd assume the boats would already be equipped with AIS. And if the boats had a transmitter it would all be seemingly public information anyway (which is the whole point of AIS if I'm not mistaken).
But I am glad the charters are not Required to maintain GPS tracking specifically for government monitoring - but in practicality it seems to me it wouldn't make that big of a difference due to overlapping positional monitoring technology.
It's one of the reasons the job is among the most dangerous in the country. Everyone thinks deferring maintenance and repairs and safety equipment is fine - it'll happen to some other boat, and even if it does happen to them, the coast guard will come and rescue them. That duct tape on the wiring will be fine, that bubblegum plugging a leak will hold, etc.
What's particularly infuriating is that fishermen all feel entitled to making a living in fishing, and no matter how unviable it is, they make a huge stink about regulation or fuel prices and beg for handouts from the government and exemption from regulation.
"My great grandpappy fished, grandpappy fished, my daddy fished, and now I fish, and my son is gonna fish. Now let me take as much as I want and let my entire family sit on welfare and give me grant money etc while fishing stocks get depleted and my kid won't actually be able to fish because there won't be any fish left."