Global Ocean Mapping

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Imagine a world where every commercial vessel and every industrial structure on the ocean is monitored in near real-time—a world where decision makers and the public have access to detailed insights into maritime operations.

Global Fishing Watch is on the way to making this a reality through a combination of cutting-edge technology, innovation, expertise and an uncompromising commitment to transparency—that is, making information such as ocean and vessel data, and their related policies and decision-making processes, available to everyone it affects. 

Mapping the seas, one gigabyte at a time

With more than 1,000 remote-sensing satellites orbiting Earth today, we harness machine learning and computing power to process millions of gigabytes of data into understandable information. The analysis paints a dynamic picture of maritime activity, revealing who is doing what, where and when across the vast expanse of the ocean.

Daily satellite imagery and radar enables us to detect and track fishing vessels over 12 meters in length that are operating around the globe—some 100,000 vessels—and capture a robust snapshot of oceanic traffic. We are actively expanding this coverage each year to include cargo ships, cruise liners, oil tankers and other large-scale vessels—a total of about 400,000 ships. 

This same technology allows us to map all offshore infrastructure, including thousands of oil platforms, wind turbines and aquaculture installations, providing the first global view of industrial activity in our ocean.

To do this, we integrate data from multiple sources, including proprietary sources through agreements with various governments, to generate a unified picture of large-vessel activity. These sources include:

Automatic identification system (AIS), which uses onboard transponders to broadcast a ship's identity, position, speed and other information to nearby vessels and shore-based stations.

Vessel monitoring system (VMS), a satellite-based system that tracks fishing vessels to help ensure compliance with regulations.

Visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS), another satellite-based technology that captures high-resolution, infrared imagery of ocean conditions, including sea surface temperature.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a remote sensing technology that uses radar to create detailed images of the Earth's surface, regardless of weather conditions or time of day.

Optical imagery, which is captured by sensors that detect visible light, providing high-resolution visual data.

Our work extends beyond industrial fishing. With about 40 percent of the global catch represented through small-scale fishing, we understand the value of monitoring this activity that is so crucial to the fishing sector and local communities. Through the use of high-resolution remote sensing and low-cost GPS tracking devices, we are able to detect and map the movements of hundreds of thousands of small-scale fishing boats to better understand and protect the interests of local artisanal fishers.

By incorporating new sources of scientific data into our platform, including key indicators for biodiversity and environmental conditions, we also seek to help those designing, implementing and managing marine protected areas and other sanctuaries.

A digital ocean

Global Fishing Watch is leveraging open data and emerging technology to publicly map more than one million ocean-going vessels and fixed infrastructure. Learn more about this monitoring system for all industrial human activity at sea, the open ocean project.

Accessibility powers action

We advance our work with support from the scientific community, anchoring our innovations in peer-reviewed science and making all our computer code open source to help progress research.  Working collaboratively with government partners and key stakeholders, and incorporating feedback from real-world cases, we continuously improve our platform, making them easier to use and more powerful for those who need them most. 

Cutting-edge tools like artificial intelligence and satellite imagery are routinely available to wealthy governments but are mostly out of reach for developing countries where they are most needed. 

To that end, we invest heavily in user-centered software design—and provide training where necessary—to ensure our technology is accessible on basic computers and mobile devices that are standard in many coastal communities around the world.  

By ensuring that our tools are accessible to all stakeholders and making our data freely available, we empower decision makers, scientists and communities worldwide to harness the power of information for ocean conservation.

Always innovating

Driving this work is our spirit of innovation, which helps us redefine what is possible in ocean conservation. Our desire to continually innovate stems from our belief in full transparency and the need to provide open and fair access to all of our data and tools. 

As we expand available data on maritime activity, we will provide new datasets that empower decision makers and scientists to see previously hidden nuances and allow for more informed decisions about the future of our ocean.

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