Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) is, as defined by the International Maritime Organization, “the effective understanding of anything associated with the maritime domain that could impact security, safety, the economy, or the marine environment.”
In practice, MDA depends not only on sensors and data, but on the people who operate within the maritime domain every day.
The Seafarers' Charity has co-authored a joint paper with the Commonwealth Security & Resilience Group (CWSRG): 'The Seafarer as an Actor in Maritime Domain Awareness: Protecting the Essential Human Sensor'.
The paper explores the role seafarers can play in strengthening MDA, while also considering how MDA can better protect the people working at sea.
Seafarers as the “human sensor”
Seafarers develop detailed knowledge of the waters in which they operate. They know what normal traffic patterns and vessel behaviour look like and can recognise when something is out of place.
This experience can provide valuable information that technology alone cannot replicate.
Seafarers have, in documented cases, been among the first to observe piracy, drug trafficking, illegal fishing, vessels in distress or the movement of sanctioned cargoes. When reported through trusted channels, these observations can feed into national and regional MDA pictures, supporing risk assessment, patrol planning and early warning. In areas where surveillance is limited, or where electronic systems have been disrupted or manipulated, their observations can become particularly important.
Bringing people and technology together
The increasing use of satellite monitoring, AI, data analytics and other surveillance technologies provides significant opportunities to strengthen maritime security and MDA.
A data system might identify an anomaly, for example, but an experienced seafarer may be able to determine whether it reflects a genuine threat, a benign activity, or electronic interference such as GPS spoofing. Equally, a seafarer may recognise that the information provided by onboard systems does not reflect the reality around them, particularly where electronic interference is present.
This is why MDA frameworks that integrate human factors and seafarer welfare produce more accurate, actionable pictures than technology-only approaches.
MDA should also protect seafarers
MDA is often discussed in terms of protecting national interests, maritime trade and territorial waters. But there is another important purpose: understanding and protecting the people at sea.
When a vessel is in distress, when communications are disrupted, or when a crew is experiencing threats or coercion, effective MDA can help identify what is happening and enable an appropriate response.
This is particularly important in a changing risk environment. When MDA systems identified vessels at anchor in the Arabian Gulf, following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, they were locating an estimated 20,000 seafarers stranded without clear legal protection or recourse.
Seafarers face a range of overlapping risks, including geopolitical tensions, cyber threats, GPS spoofing and other forms of electronic interference, crew abandonment and wrongful criminalisation. These risks can affect both their safety and their willingness and ability to report what is happening around them, degrading the overall quality of the MDA picture. When seafarers trust that reporting will lead to support rather than blame or criminalisation, they are more likely to share timely, accurate information.
Building trust and protection for seafarers is therefore not separate from effective MDA. It is part of it.
Our work
The Seafarers' Charity co-authored a paper with the Commonwealth Security & Resilience Group, which was released as an official annex to the Commonwealth MDA Summit 2026 communique. At the Summit, held in Vancouver in June 2026, seafarers were formally recognised not only as beneficiaries of maritime security but as contributors to maritime awareness, and developing this work was adopted as a Summit future action.
For Commonwealth policymakers, the paper offers a practical entry point to embed seafarer welfare into maritime security, ocean governance and resilience strategies.
