4 ms·
> which tend to be microscopic and integrated into either objects or materials. The advantage of a barcode is that it could be read remotely, potentially from
by dane-pgp 4y ago
> which tend to be microscopic and integrated into either objects or materials.
The advantage of a barcode is that it could be read remotely, potentially from a passing ship, or just a whistleblower on board with a camera.
- dredmorbius 4y agoIf you can find the barcode. The remnants within the GBP are often fragments, particles, or microscopic. Taggants for fibres might be based on specific banding patterns. These would not be dissimilar to barcodes. They'd probably require some degree of magnification but could otherwise be read with minimal equipment or complexity on at least reasonably macroscopic fragments.
- dane-pgp 4y ago> The remnants within the GBP are often fragments, particles, or microscopic. Fair point. Having microscopic taggants sounds like a good idea, but I was thinking about the problems of companies stealing nets, or using counterfeit nets, or unregistered nets. Solving that would require (sometimes adversarial) checks of the nets while they are in use, with the checks potentially being performed by entities that can't get microscopically close to the nets to inspect them.
- dredmorbius 4y ago¿Porque no los dos? I could see a mandate to, say, include barcodes in every X units of net or line (say one every 10m of linear line, or every 100m^2 of net. These could be inspected, and where intact flotsam or jetsam is recovered, identified as to manufacturer, lot, or registered user. Taggants would be used for smaller debris. In either case, the larger hurdle is all but certainly maritime law and regulation, which is notoriously thorny, inconsistent, and tends strongly to Gresham's Law race-to-the-bottom dynamics.
- dane-pgp 4y agoThat sounds like the right answer, thank you.