It’s been three weeks since we launched Global Fishing Watch, and the new technology platform has created a buzz around the globe from Europe to Southeast Asia, China, Brazil, Costa Rica, Australia and even landlocked parts of the world such as Pakistan and Iran. Users of the map hail from all over as well, and while there’s no doubt what we’re doing is groundbreaking, it’s encouraging to see how quickly the tool is becoming known throughout the world. It’s our goal to put the power of cloud computing and publicly broadcast data in the hands of everyone who is concerned about protecting, managing and understanding our ocean resources.
As a measure of the interest our launch generated, we’ve been featured in more than 200 unique stories which have been widely shared. Global Fishing Watch stories now appear in more than 1600 media outlets in print, broadcast and online. Stories have headlined in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and many others.
In Forbes, Kalev Leetaru wrote “. . . Oceana, SkyTruth and Google’s collaboration to build Global Fishing Watch is a perfect example of what’s possible when a group of technologists and development organizations come together to tackle a global grand challenge.” –Forbes: Global Fishing Watch and How the Development Community Needs Tech Help
In Munchies, the Canadian-American digital media and broadcast company with 15 million unique visitors per month, Alex Swerdloff called the Global Fishing Watch launch “a pretty mind-blowing announcement.” He also wrote that the tool is “damn good news for anyone who has ever tried to take on the monumental task of cracking down on illegal fishing and overharvesting in global waters.” –Vice Media/Munchies: Leonardo DiCaprio Is Tracking 35,000 of the World’s Fishing Boats.
The think tank Center for American Progress published an online report by Michael Conathan and Avery Siciliano on sustainable fisheries that included a recommendation for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to “aggressively pursue the development and deployment of electronic monitoring systems for fishing vessels,” and “promote the use of technology, such as Global Fishing Watch-designed by Oceana, Google, and Skytruth-and Eyes on the Sea, developed by the Pew Charitable Trust.”—Center for American Progress: America’s Blueprint for Sustainable Fisheries, The History and Future of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
Other media coverage from major outlets around the world has included articles in:
Mashable, one of the top blogs in the world with almost 8 million Twitter followers; Gizmodo, the Top tech news website with 37 million global visitors; The Daily Mail, the UK’s second biggest selling daily newspaper; Le Figaro, the oldest national daily newspaper in France; The Times of India, the largest selling English language daily in the world, ranked one of the world’s sixth best newspapers by BBC; Antara News, Indonesia’s national news agency; and The National News agency of Romania, the oldest and first autonomous news agency in Romania.
Now that we’ve made the initial splash, we’re looking ahead to the waves of progress we hope will come from increased transparency in the commercial fishing industry, an arena that, until now, has operated over the horizon and out of sight.
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