Satellite-based maritime info pact signed between MDA Space, Canadian government
NewsJune 30, 2025
BRAMPTON, Ontario. Canadian space-industry player MDA Space Ltd. announced its plans to sign a contract extension with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to provide critical and continuous maritime-satellite surveillance data and analytics services for dark vessel detection.
MDA Space uses Maritime Insights -- a satellite information service that enables nations to monitor the activity in and around their maritime economic zones -- to send maritime information to DFO's Dark Vessel Detection program using multiple space-based sensors and leveraging artificial intelligence (AI)-gathered data to perform vessel detection, statistical voyage prediction, and analysis of fishing behaviors. The Maritime Insight tool, says MDA Space, fuses synthetic aperture radar (SAR) from MDA RADARSAT-2 with data from optical, radio frequency (RF), automatic identification systems (AISs,) and vessel monitoring systems (VMSs) to counter the sophisticated and deceptive techniques employed by actors conducting illegal operations on the ocean surface.
This amended contract, which extends the original agreement with DFO that was signed in 2023, aligns with commitments outlined in the recent G7 Foreign Ministers' Declaration on Maritime Security and Prosperity, the company stated. The contract renewal also contains an agreement stipulating that DFO will be able to use the upcoming MDA CHORUS tool, which is the MDA Space next-generation Earth observation constellation that is expected to go live in mid-2026.
