Vessel identity data is extracted from over 40 registries available either in the public domain or from authorities and researchers, including registries from regional fisheries management organizations, national registries, and lists compiled by researchers. Each of the lists has been obtained regularly since early 2019 and supplemented, when possible, with historical data to provide snapshots of a registry and its vessels over time. Where available, we collected information on vessel identity, vessel characteristics, owner name, owner nationality, and fishing authorization. The major sources of data are listed below.
We do not publicly disclose the raw information that we collect but use the acquired information uniquely for non-commercial purpose of aggregating it with other data sets.
MSC certified spanish vessel lists. Downloaded from the web in pdf, not available anymore online. Spanish vessels manually reviewed list of VMS and vessel logbooks
GISIS Global Integrated Shipping Information. Note: As of June 2026, manually ingested IMO records (IMO1, IMO2, IMO3) for fishing and fishing support vessels are being retired and superseded by S&P Global (SNP), where available. A limited set of static IMO records is retained for selected non-fishing vessels.
Peruvian vessel list The link only works if the date is within the last 3 days. For example, for the data corresponding to march 11 2025 this is the link.
RESEARCH-PAPER
Vessel lists from various research papers gathered by GFW Research team
S&P Global Ships Data. Maritime intelligence data that builds on the IMO source, expanding vessel identity fields such as ownership, year built, length and gross tonnage, where available. Note: Due to licensing terms, only records where S&P data is combined with at least one other source are distributed; records sourced solely from S&P are not returned.
TMT uses a range of sources, including RFMO authorized vessel lists, other vessel databases, national sources, AIS, vessel photographs and other sources of intelligence
TMT_National
TMT Data sources include information from a variety of national sources
TMT_Other
TMT Data from a range of sources, gathered in the course of TMT’s analytical work
TMT_Other_Official
TMT Data from official sources that do not fall into the RFMO or national categories. Includes the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned vessel list, the International Labour Organization (ILO) list of vessels involved in cases of seafarer abandonment, and records of vessel detentions under the Paris MOU.
TMT_RFMO
TMT Data from regional fisheries management bodies (RFMOs) and would appear on the source list as 'TMT_IATTC', 'TMT_WCPFC' for example.
