Context:

• Admiral Hari Kumar  termed the IPMDA initiative as a significant endeavour aimed at enhancing the security and stability of the Indo-Pacific region.

What is the Indo ­Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) initiative?

• The IPMDA initiative was announced by the Quad (India, Japan, Australia and the USA) countries in 2022.
• IPMDA is a technology and training initiative to enhance maritime domain awareness in the Indo-Pacific region and to bring increased transparency to its critical waterways.
• It harnesses innovative technology, such as commercial satellite radio frequency data collection, to provide partners across Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean region and the Pacific with near real-time information on activities occurring in their maritime zones.
• The IPMADA initiative also involves regional information centers, helping to establish a common operating picture of the maritime domain across the Indo-Pacific region.
• Objective:
  • To track “dark shipping” and build a “faster, wider, and more accurate maritime picture of near-real-time activities in partners’ waters”.
  • Integration of three critical regions in the Indo-Pacific – the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean Region.
• Significance:
  • IPMDA initiative will offer an integrated and cost-effective maritime domain to partner countries.
  • It will enable countries to monitor illegal fishing even when the boats have turned off the transponders which are typically used to track vessels. 
    • Several countries in the Indo-Pacific region have complained about China’s vast fishing fleet, saying its vessels often violate their exclusive economic zones and cause environmental damage and economic losses.

News Source: The Hindu