A VMS is made up of both hardware and software components. On the hardware side, there are VMS units installed on vessels, which along with their related airtime services, transmit essential data about vessel position and activities. On the software side, there’s the Fishing Monitoring Centre (FMC) software which serves as the heart of the system. The FMC software integrates and processes the raw data from various VMS components, turning it into actionable insights necessary for monitoring vessels, managing fisheries sustainably, and enforcing regulations. Some systems may also have supplementary software modules like Electronic Logbooks (E-logbook) and Electronic Reporting Systems (ERS).