The maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a radio communications system by which vessels continuously broadcast their identity and position over public airwaves using unencrypted VHS radio signals. When it was developed almost 20 years ago, its primary purpose was to increase safety at sea: ships needed a better way to “see” each other and […]
AIS for Safety and Tracking: A Brief History Read More »
Fishing vessels with Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) increasing by 10 to 30 percent each year. 19 November 2019, Rome – A new global atlas – the first-ever of its kind – analyses the opportunities and challenges of using Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) to monitor fishing activity around the globe. AIS is a tracking technology designed
New global atlas on using advanced technology to monitor fishing activity Read More »
New Global Fishing Watch technology merges nighttime images with GPS datasets to observe vessels not broadcasting their positions When the sun sets, human activity on the ocean goes on. And every night, satellites snap a picture of all the activity taking place down below, including vessels at sea. Vessels often are equipped with bright lights
New Techniques Reveal Fishing Vessel Identities in the Dark of Night Read More »
What information can be accessed in the public apparent fishing effort dataset and what has changed in the latest release?
Ask the Expert: Amanda Lohmann, Data scientist, vessel tracking and behavior Read More »
Our Technology Harvesting big data Processing the data Sharing the results Just a decade ago, building an accurate picture of human activity at sea across the globe would have been impossible. But thanks to advances in satellite technology, cloud computing and machine learning, Global Fishing Watch is now making it a reality. We are revolutionizing
This article was produced and first published by our data partner, Spire Global. Transparency in a whole new light In February this year, a Vietnamese ship entered Indonesian waters, likely fished illegally, and then returned to port without consequence. By March, it was back at sea. There were no signs to indicate that the vessel
Illuminating global fishing activity with satellite AIS Read More »
In 2018, Global Fishing Watch (GFW) published the first ever global maps of fishing activity using AIS data. These fishing maps drew on billions of GPS positions broadcast by over 60,000 fishing vessels, and they revealed fishing operations in all oceans in incredible detail. These new methods, though, had yet to be vetted by the
The Global Atlas of AIS-based Fishing Activity Read More »
Global Fishing Watch is using radar data to detect fishing vessels hidden from monitoring systems Global Fishing Watch is working to transform fisheries governance by harnessing satellite data to publicly show the movements of fishing vessels. A key data source for detecting apparent global fishing activity is satellite automatic identification system, or AIS—a collision avoidance
Fisheries Transparency in the Mediterranean: Time to Emerge from the Dark Read More »
Something we hear often about tracking vessels with Automatic Identification Signals (AIS) is that transponders can be turned off. Fishers that don’t want to be caught doing something illegal or questionable will simply “go dark.”
Going Dark: When Vessels Turn Off AIS Broadcasts Read More »
Are whaling vessels that operate without using aids to avoid vessel collision putting the safety of biodiversity and people at risk? This week the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has convened in Slovenia. The gathering marks the 30th anniversary of the commission’s moratorium on commercial whaling.
Whaling off the map Read More »
