Global Fishing Watch is working across the globe to provide governments and authorities with actionable reports and capacity building to help strengthen fisheries monitoring and compliance. Our global team of experts produce analyses to inform monitoring, control and surveillance of fisheries in five key areas:
- Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
- Transshipment
- Port controls
- Marine protected areas
- Operation support
Collaboration and information sharing are integral to achieving well-managed fisheries. By working with stakeholders and making analyses available to national, regional and intergovernmental partners, Global Fishing Watch is enabling fisheries agencies to make more informed and cost-efficient decisions.

The Search for Squid
The waters off South America are home to some of the most lucrative fisheries in the world—one of the most well known is that of jumbo or Humboldt squid. Each year, distant water fleets journey thousands of miles in search of this large, migratory creature that resides in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Sustainable management of squid fisheries depends on a culture of transparency. By improving access to vessel information, we can create a more accurate picture of fishing effort to support research and bolster monitoring and control efforts. Global Fishing Watch seeks to make this information publicly available so that every scientist, enforcement agency and policymaker around the world has a powerful tool to help safeguard the ocean.

Squid fleet monitoring
Global Fishing Watch is monitoring squid fleet activity in Latin American waters. In 2020, Global Fishing Watch mapped the squid fleet’s 2020 annual route and identified nearly 400 industrial foreign squid vessels engaged in fishing activities off Peru’s exclusive economic zone. Going forward, Global Fishing Watch will continue monitoring the squid fleet activity and provide authorities with actionable reports on the fleet’s movement and activity.
North Pacific Guard
Global Fishing Watch provides information to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) during patrols in the North Pacific and west Atlantic ocean. Global Fishing Watch uses risk-based methods to help identify possible suspicious transshipments and potential IUU activity, as well as support investigations of individual vessel tracks that appear to be manipulated to report false information. The collaboration was built on the successful, inaugural support we provided to the USCG Cutter MELLON in 2019, which saw an eightfold increase in identified violations compared to 2018.
Trygg Mat Tracking
Global Fishing Watch partners with Trygg Mat Tracking (TMT), a nonprofit organization that specializes in information gathering and analysis of organized illegal fishing and associated fisheries crimes. In May 2020, upon request by the Somali government, Global Fishing Watch collaborated with TMT to provide a comprehensive report on the IUU Iranian gillnet fleet in the northwest Indian Ocean. The Iranian gillnet fleet is one of the largest IUU fleets operating outside domestic waters, made up of more than 200 unauthorized vessels operating on the high seas and in the waters of Yemen, Somalia and Oman.
Recent Work

Rise in Unregulated Squid Fishing Poses Challenges—and An Opportunity
Highly mobile fisheries present more possibilities for data-driven approach to inform regulation.

Emerging technology gives first ever global view of hidden vessels
Satellite radar and machine learning publicly reveal previously unseen vessel activity around the world Washington, D.C. – Global Fishing Watch has developed and publicly released the first ever global map of previously undetected dark fleets,

International Organizations Launch Collaborative Initiative in Fight Against Illegal Fishing
The Joint Analytical Cell aims to bolster fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance Costing the global economy billions of dollars in lost revenue each year, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is impacting the health

New collaboration establishes Joint Analytical Cell in major step forward for fisheries monitoring and enforcement
International organizations aim to transform global ocean governance by enabling access to data, technology and analytics at scale A new collaboration aims to boost equitable access to vital fisheries intelligence, data analysis and capacity building