A standing data gap for management of high-seas seamounts of the Northwestern Hawaiian Ridge and Emperor Seamounts (ES-NHR) by the North Pacific Fisheries Commission is the footprint of fisheries activities on these seamounts. Using satellite AIS data and the algorithms of the publicly available Global Fishing Watch database, a spatial map of trawling in a 0.01-degree latitude by 0.01-degree longitude square grid was created to review the data available to map this footprint. From 2012 to 2018 much of the trawling effort for all countries focused on Koko, Yuryaku, Kammu, and Colahan Seamounts at depths between 400 m (summits) and the depth limit currently set by the North Pacific Fisheries Commission of 1500 m. Additional seamounts with fishing activity included Annei (North Koko), Kinmei, Jingu, and Suiko. The remaining ES-NHR seamount locations show no trawling in those years. Bottom contact fishing was predominately carried out by ships with flag states of Japan and Korea. To date there appears to be compliance with the recent small-scale closures on C–H seamount and Koko.

An additional source of data comes from scientific Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) surveys in 2014 and 2015 from three of these seamounts, in which scars from bottom contact gear are readily visible. These cover a smaller spatial area and depth range than the satellite data, but indicate the full footprint is not encompassed by the satellite data, suggesting either the fishing footprint is not fully captured by the AIS approach or that the footprint has shifted through time. AUV surveys also provide data on areas where abundant megafauna occur, which can provide candidate starting points for VME management efforts and further closures, similar to ones already in effect in the ES-NHR. The combination of satellite and AUV data provide a finer-scale fisheries footprint for this region that can aid in management of these sites.

北太平洋渔业委员会在管理西北夏威夷海脊和皇帝海山（ES-NHR）公海海山方面存在常设数据缺口，这是这些海山上渔业活动的足迹。使用卫星AIS数据和可公开获得的Global Fishing Watch数据库的算法，创建了在0.01度经度0.01度经度方格网中进行拖网捕捞的空间图，以查看可用于绘制此足迹的数据。从2012年到2018年，所有国家/地区的大部分拖网捕捞工作都集中在400 m（最高点）和北太平洋渔业委员会目前设定的1500 m深度极限之间的Koko，Yuryaku，Kammu和Colahan海山上。从事捕鱼活动的其他海山包括Annei（北科科），Kinmei，Jingu和Suiko。在那几年，其余的ES-NHR海山位置均未拖网。底部接触捕鱼主要是由带有日本和韩国船旗国的船只进行的。迄今为止，似乎对C–H海山和Koko的近期小规模封建合规。

另外的数据来源来自2014年和2015年的科学自主水下航行器（AUV）调查，其中有3个海山，其中很容易看到底部接触齿轮产生的伤痕。与卫星数据相比，它们覆盖的空间区域和深度范围较小，但表明卫星数据未涵盖全部足迹，这表明要么AIS方法无法完全捕获捕鱼足迹，要么足迹已随时间推移而变化。AUV调查还提供了有关大型动植物发生地区的数据，这可以为VME管理工作和进一步的关闭提供候选起点，类似于ES-NHR中已经生效的那些。卫星和AUV数据的结合为该地区提供了更精细的渔业足迹，有助于管理这些地点。