Enhanced transshipment monitoring is key in reducing illegal catch Tuna fisheries are vital to livelihoods, economies and cultures across the Pacific Islands region. Producing over half of the global catch—a portion estimated at $26 billion per year—the Pacific is home to the world’s most productive tuna fisheries. Ensuring the sustainability of these tuna fisheries is no small […]
Tony Long, Global Fishing Watch’s chief executive officer, finds cause for gravity but also hope as we look to the Decade of Ocean Science and a growing consensus that our future—and the course ahead for ocean conservation—should be powered by waves of data, shared and open to all We wish the news were better, but
Mapping a New World Read More »
Credit: © Nico Marin / Ocean Image Bank Despite the complexities of climate change, a simple message resonates: all systems are linked, and the ocean is a key solution A resilient ocean is key to addressing climate change. Our shared waters are primary atmospheric drivers through temperature regulation, carbon absorption, oxygen production and influence on
Transparency in Fisheries is Essential to Ocean Resilience Read More »
APEC members share marine resources across a single ocean basin. Ensuring sustainable exploitation and trade is a shared concern. Bronwen Golder, fellow with the Stanford University Center for Ocean Solutions, was the moderator of the webinar series “Transparency as a Tool for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.” Credit: ©Bronwen Golder The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, is an
Global Fishing Watch partners with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Decade of Ocean Science to bring digital innovation to fisheries monitoring https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkyvl2dHZUI&ab_channel=GlobalFishingWatch Commercial fishing is vital to the food security, livelihoods and cultural identity of millions of people around the world. But the fish that sustain this industry freely swim
Transparent Ocean Data Can Drive Digital Innovation to Reveal Human Activity at Sea Read More »
An analysis of the 2020 squid season reveals key players and true scope of fishing activity The jumbo flying squid (Dosidicus gigas), commonly referred to as Humboldt squid, is the most abundant cephalopod species in the southeast Pacific Ocean. Each year, this voracious and highly migratory marine animal attracts hundreds of fishing vessels from around the world to
New study reveals global footprint of support vessels involved in rendezvous at sea. Every day thousands of fishing vessels roam the world’s ocean, combing the most lucrative fisheries for catch to bring back to market
Transparency of Transshipment: Using Satellite Data to Reveal Meet-ups on the High Seas Read More »
Rachael Orben is an Assistant Professor at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center. In September of 2016, Leigh Torres, associate professor at Oregon State University, and I attended the 6th International Albatross and Petrel Conference. Somehow, amid all of the science that filled the week, Leigh first saw the Global Fishing Watch fishing map. She
Close encounters between albatross and fishing vessels in the North Pacific Read More »
Satellite technology reveals decline in illegal fishing activity in North Korean and Russian waters compared to previous years In July 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was sweeping across the globe, Global Fishing Watch published a groundbreaking scientific paper revealing one of the largest known cases of illegal fishing. The foreign fishing activity detected across 2017-19 in the Democratic
A 2020 Analysis: Detecting the Dark Fleets in North Korea and Russia Read More »
Researchers leverage satellite data, machine learning, and human rights expertise to develop model that determines risk of forced labor on fishing vessels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5gWgYoR_rU&ab_channel=GlobalFishingWatch In 2016 our research group at the Environmental Market Solutions Lab (emLab) was collaborating with a team of fisheries scientists and economists to better understand the economic rationale behind fishing on the high seas.
New Study Unveils Risk of Forced Labor in Fisheries Read More »
Partnership and collective understanding will set the course for Global Fishing Watch’s work ahead And so ends another year—a year that many are perhaps eager to close out. I think it’s fair to say that none of us imagined 2020 would have panned out like this. Twelve months ago we were all preparing for a
2020 Hindsight: How a New Wave of Transparency Can Lead to Better Ocean Governance Read More »
Credit: Jean Jacques Schwenzfeier New collaboration between Global Fishing Watch and Human Rights at Sea aims to ensure policy and satellite technology solutions are aligned and information is available to all stakeholders The International Labour Organization of the United Nations estimates that 16 million people were in forced labor in the private economy in 2016, with 11 percent
Protecting Human Rights at Sea Starts with Access to Information Read More »
A new collaboration aims to make management at sea more cost-effective using cutting-edge technology Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing affects the sustainability of fisheries worldwide. In Mexico, illegal fishing accounts for up to an estimated 56 percent of national seafood production, according to estimates by the Environmental Defense Fund. Such a significant level of IUU
Predictive Analytics to Forecast Illegal Fishing Risk in Mexico Read More »
Credit: Simon Ager Satellite technology illuminates foreign and domestic vessels in search of one of Peru’s most valuable catches Asiatic squid vessels are constructed from marine steel, usually weigh between 800-1000 gross tons, and are outfitted with automated jiggers that use up to 150 incandescent lamps to attract squid to the surface. Credit: Simon Ager
Follow the Lights: Squid Fishing in the Southeast Pacific Ocean Read More »
National Taiwan Ocean University joins forces with Global Fishing Watch to utilize information sharing in the fight against illegal fishing Dr. William Hsu is the director of the Advanced Computation Laboratory of National Taiwan Ocean University. In October 2015 the European Union executive branch – the European Commission (EC) – issued a formal warning (yellow card) to
