EU fishing vessels are already equipped with VMS transmitters which enable vessels to be monitored by Fisheries Monitoring Centres (FMCs) of the Member States. In accordance with Directive 2009/17/EC, fishing vessels with an overall length of more than 15 metres will now also be fitted with AIS transmitters. A pilot project has been established between EMSA, the Communities Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA) and three Member States (France, Italy and Spain) to see how synergies between the two systems can be exploited. For example, EMSA can transform the AIS data received in SafeSeaNet into a form which can be used by FMCs. This will allow FMCs to access a wider range of data about the fisheries vessels they monitor, and to have updates every six minutes (the AIS standard) rather than every 2 hours (the VMS standard).