AIS support

I do not believe so.

iR devices communicate only with the Iridium satellite network and the Garmin servers. This uses the Iridium "short message" protocol. Nothing to do with AIS.

Thanks, Its a shame, both would be very useful especially some limited internet ability

AIS is a VHF system, this would need huge antenna on the device and big battery to feed the transmitter. Even satellites which collect AIS data over the ocean work on VHF frequencies.

Thats fair enough re vhf, there is no reason why it cant be relayed via satellite connection in same way weather is though

AIS functionality is defined by International Maritime Organization, they define the functionality, issue rules of type approval of the devices and rules how and who can use the system. AIS has satellite relay on its own, contract with other satellite system which does relay the data into the the AIS network..

There are also other maritime systems using Iridium as transport, but nothing is public so it can be used only within the rules IMO is giving. 

The AIS data has to contain exact information defined by IMO and readable by the other AIS devices. Primary function is that ships in vicinity can read the data in real time and feed them into the anti collision systems.

This has to work on VHF maritime frequencies defined by IMO for this purpose.

Interfering with such safety system is against international law.

Thats all fine but i can look up ais positions of all broadcasting ships all over the world through myriad websites, all they have to do is automatically link a defined area around gps position of the device to be recieved just like the weather reports

Im just talking about receiving the information like i can already through navionics on my mobile, which is owned by garmin

you can see on your mobile or computer, websites are enough here. They are generated by illegal, but mostly tolerated, receivers.

So if you want see the websites, you are free to do so.

If you are asking to retransmit the received data via Iridium, you can build a company and simply copy the data from one of those websites and transmit it via Iridium. I doubt you will find enough customers for this, as it will be very, very expensive, it is lot of data.

You can not actively participate in AIS service

You can try tcAis here:
https://transitionalcontinuum.com/tcAis/