On World Fisheries Day, Global Fishing Watch Urges Binding Vessel Tracking Agreement

More than 3 billion people around the world rely on fish for 20 percent of their daily protein intake. It’s a staggering amount and a testament to the invaluable role our ocean and its fisheries play in keeping people and the planet alive. 

And yet, as we mark this year’s World Fisheries Day, both the ocean and fisheries are at a dangerous tipping point. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, pollution and climate change are stressing our ocean’s limits more than ever before, pushing the marine ecosystem to the brink. According to the United Nations, climate change alone risks reducing exploitable fish stocks by 30 percent or more across nearly 50 countries and territories around the world. The impact to communities and livelihoods would be catastrophic. 

At Global Fishing Watch, we are steadfast in our work with governments, supply chains and multilateral institutions, such as the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency and IUU-Action Alliance, to push for a sustainable ocean future for all. Through our advanced technology and vast troves of open source data, Global Fishing Watch provides a clearer picture of human activity at sea than ever before—from how our ocean is being used, to who is using it, to where greater protections are urgently needed. 

That is because at Global Fishing Watch we have a firm commitment to transparency—the act of making information, including ocean and vessel data and their related policies, available and accessible to everyone it affects. Indeed, transparency sits at the core of all we do. And it is why we call on all States to support the establishment of an international vessel tracking agreement—a binding treaty that would require fishing vessels operating outside of their flag State’s waters to be publicly tracked and for that information to be shared beyond just governments. Without a robust mechanism to detail where vessels are on the water, authorities today are unable to protect the ocean and sustainably manage its resources. A binding vessel tracking agreement would give authorities that critical tool. 

The next few years will be decisive for the achievement of good ocean governance and sustainable fisheries management at planetary scale. But the path to a sustainable blue future must start with transparency. 

The time for action on vessel tracking is now.