Saving Seafood

Latest Oceana report showcases power of Global Fishing Watch

June 13, 2019 — A South Korean-flagged fishing vessel with a history of illegal fishing and involvement in human rights abuse cases, repeatedly stopped transmitting its public tracking data while off the coast of Argentina, Oceana says in a brief report released Thursday that identifies several suspicious activities observed with the help of the recently enhanced Global Fishing Watch (GFW) program.

Oceana said GFW detected 77 gaps in Automatic Identification System transmissions by the vessel, which it doesn’t name, over a nearly five-year period, including four inside its national waters. One gap lasted almost 12 days, ending when the Argentine Coast Guard captured the vessel for fishing illegally inside Argentina’s waters.

GFW — a program started by Oceana, SkyTruth and Google — uses a combination of satellite and radar technology and vessel monitoring system data to support the enforcement of laws that prohibit fishing out of season or in protected areas. The group now reports maintaining about 20 staff distributed globally, with individuals and small teams spread across the US, Asia, Europe, Central and South America.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

GFW’s new data cell to combat illegal fishing with $5.9m gift from Bloomberg

February 15, 2019 — Global Fishing Watch (GFW) has taken another step in its effort to detect and prevent illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, launching a new data and analysis unit with the help of a $5.9 million, four-year commitment from the charity started by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Tong Long, GFW’s CEO, announced the new operation at the Seafood and Fisheries Emerging Technologies conference, in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday.

“The next five years will bring an inflection point for ocean data thanks to dramatically increased opportunities for satellite tracking, more public tracking, information sharing, processing power and advances in machine learning,” he said. “Our analytical cell will translate this flow of data and technology into insights and evidence that can help coastal and under-resourced states better understand fishing activity, improve governance and aid monitoring of marine protected areas.”

Founded in 2015 through a collaboration between Oceana, SkyTruth and Google, GFW has been using a combination of satellite and radar technology and vessel monitoring system data to support the enforcement of laws that prohibit fishing out of season or in protected areas. The group now reports maintaining about 20 staff distributed globally, with individuals and small teams spread across the US, Asia, Europe, Central and South America.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Japan, Peru using cutting-edge technology to combat IUU fishing

October 2, 2018 — Japan and Peru, two of the world’s biggest players when it comes to seafood, are hoping to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in their exclusive economic zones through increased use of cutting-edge technology.

A key player in both countries’ efforts is the Global Fishing Watch, an international nonprofit organization with the goal of “advancing sustainability of the oceans through increased transparency.” Its mapping platform, which can be found on the GFW website, allows anyone to view or download data and investigate global fishing activity in near real-time, for free. GFW was founded in 2015 through a collaboration between Oceana, SkyTruth, and Google.

Global Fishing Watch’s tracking of automatic identification system (AIS) messages from ocean-going boats is now being used to fight illegal transshipment inside and near Japan’s exclusive economic zone. GFW recently signed onto a collaboration with the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA) and the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) at the University of Wollongong to investigate IUU fishing and strengthen transparency and governance of fisheries within the region.

To detect pairs of vessels meeting at sea, GFW and analysts at SkyTruth and Google applied machine learning algorithms to more than 30 billion automatic identification system (AIS) messages from ocean-going boats to find tell-tale transshipment behavior, such as two vessels alongside each other long enough to transfer catch, crew, or supplies. AIS is a collision avoidance system that constantly transmits a vessel’s location at sea. These transmissions are collected by satellite receivers and delivered to GFW for automated processing. Nearly all refrigerated cargo vessels carry AIS and those ships receiving fish can be identified and their activity plotted on the map.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Is a Splashy Fishing Statistic Misleading?

September 10, 2018 — How much of the world’s oceans are affected by fishing? In February, a team of scientists led by David Kroodsma from the Global Fishing Watch published a paper that put the figure at 55 percent—an area four times larger than that covered by land-based agriculture. The paper was widely covered, with several outlets leading with the eye-popping stat that “half the world’s oceans [are] now fished industrially.”

Ricardo Amoroso from the University of Washington had also been trying to track global fishing activity and when he saw the headlines, he felt that the 55 percent figure was wildly off. He and his colleagues re-analyzed the data that the Global Fishing Watch had made freely available. And in their own paper, published two weeks ago, they claim that industrial fishing occurs over just 4 percent of the ocean.

How could two groups have produced such wildly different answers using the same set of data? At its core, this is a simple academic disagreement about scale. But it’s also a more subtle debate that hinges on how we think about the act of fishing, and how to measure humanity’s influence on the planet. “I think this discussion really shows how little we know about the world’s oceans and why making data publicly available is so important for stimulating research,” says Kroodsma.

As ships traverse the oceans, many of them continuously transmit their position, speed, and identity to satellites. This automatic identification system was originally developed to prevent collisions, but by training Google’s machine-learning tools on the data, the Global Fishing Watch (GFW)—an initiative led by the nonprofits Oceana and SkyTruth—can identify different kinds of fishing vessels, and work out where they’re dropping their lines and nets.

Read the full story at The Atlantic

 

Researchers map hot spots of transfer of fish catch at sea

July 26, 2018 — It could be considered the global CSI for high seas fisheries. In two new groundbreaking studies, researchers from Dalhousie University, Global Fishing Watch and SkyTruth have applied cutting-edge technology to map exactly where fishing boats may be transferring their catch to cargo vessels at sea.

Known as transshipment, the practice increases the efficiency of fishing by eliminating trips back to port for fishing vessels. However, as it often occurs out of sight and over the horizon, it creates major challenges, including enabling illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

“Because catches from different boats are mixed up during transshipment, we often have no idea what was caught legally and what wasn’t,” said Kristina Boerder, a Ph.D. student in Dalhousie University’s Department of Biology and lead author on the Science Advances paper, published this week.

Transshipment can also facilitate human rights abuses and has been implicated in other crimes such as weapons and drug trafficking. It often occurs in the high seas, beyond the reach of any nation’s jurisdiction, and where policy-makers and enforcement agencies may be slow to act against an issue they cannot see. By applying machine learning techniques to vessel tracking data, researchers are bringing unprecedented transparency to the practice.

“So far, this practise was out of sight out of mind, but now that we can track it using satellites, we can begin to know where our  truly comes from,” says Dr. Boris Worm, a Marine Biology Professor in Dalhousie’s Faculty of Science, and co-author of the Science Advances paper.

Read the full story from the Global Fishing Watch at PHYS

 

Global Fishing Watch and Costa Rica sign agreement

May 18, 2018 — Global Fishing Watch, a transparency platform established by Google, Oceana, and Skytruth to map the location of all commercial fishing vessels anywhere in the world, has just signed an agreement with Costa Rica.

The agreement between the Costa Rican government and Global Fishing Watch (GFW) provides for mapping and analysis of activities at sea and fishing activities in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone, a report in El Nuevo Diario said.

“The collaboration agreement with Global Fishing Watch is a step forward in strengthening the capabilities of our ministry for effective protection of fishery resources and surveillance of our maritime territory through state-of-the-art technology,” Gustavo Mata, the minister of public security said in a statement.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Global Fishing Watch responds to Ray Hilborn’s critiques of its study

March 27, 2018 — Global Fishing Watch welcomes Dr. Ray Hilborn’s recent statement in Seafood Source expressing his desire to work together to strengthen our collective insights into commercial fishing activity.

Furthering innovation and collaboration with the scientific community is at the heart of Global Fishing Watch’s mission to advance responsible stewardship of our oceans through increased transparency. Our Research Partners program, an interdisciplinary collaboration with some of the world’s leading marine science institutes, strives to improve fisheries management and science through the sharing of data, new research and cooperation.

Our recent study published in Science was produced with partners at the University of California, University of Santa Barbara, National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas project, SkyTruth, Dalhousie University, Stanford University, and Google. This research has produced the first-ever dataset of global fishing activities, as captured by satellites using automatic identification system (AIS) positions. Global Fishing Watch’s algorithm processed 22 billion AIS messages to identify more than 70,000 commercial fishing vessels, the sizes of and engine powers of these vessels, what type of fishing they engaged in, and where and when they fished down to the hour and kilometer.

The study and associated maps also depict global fishing activity with an unprecedented resolution – the fishing effort footprint is two to three orders of magnitude higher in spatial and temporal resolution than previous datasets – and reveals that industrial fishing covers more than 55 percent of the ocean’s surface – over four times the area covered by agriculture. This new high-definition global view of fishing would not have been possible without recent advances in computing power, an increase of satellites in orbit, and improved machine learning algorithms.

Importantly, by making all of the data in this study public and freely available, we aim to increase transparency in the commercial fishing industry and improve opportunities for sustainable management and informed decision making. We have also grown the data available within our transparency platform, including adding more AIS data, and through our government and research partners, including vessel monitoring system (VMS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) data.

Dr. Hilborn says that vessels monitored for the study were largely tuna boats over 100 feet in length. Technically, these tuna boats are only a fraction of the 70,000 vessels monitored in our study. By far, the vast majority of vessels we observe are Chinese vessels operating in Chinese waters.

For the study, we also only track vessels that have AIS devices, and the fraction of fishing vessels with AIS varies considerably between regions of the ocean. In some regions, such as in Europe, almost all sizeable fishing vessels broadcast their locations. Similarly, in the high seas, we can capture most of the fishing activity, as a high fraction of high seas fishing vessels carry AIS. By contrast, in many developing countries, only a small number do. This fact makes our dataset incomplete, but it is still far more comprehensive than previous global datasets of fishing effort.

Read the full statement from Global Fishing Watch at Seafood Source

 

Indonesia’s decision to share vessel tracking data ‘ill-advised,’ some say

August 22, 2017 — JAKARTA, Indonesia — Not everyone supports the Indonesian government’s decision to publish information on the location of fishing boats in its waters, via data mapping platform Global Fishing Watch, accessible to anyone with a computer.

The move, aimed at countering illegal fishing, has earned a backlash from some observers, who say it may prove “counterproductive.”

In June, Indonesia became the first country to share its Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data with Global Fishing Watch, a partnership between Google, conservation group Oceana, and SkyTruth, which uses tools like satellite imagery to monitor environmental issues. The platform provides both general data for the public and more detailed information seen only by authorities.

The move was praised by conservationists for its potential to deter illegal fishing. But some argue that publishing the data will reveal the location of Indonesia’s best fisheries, creating a run on the resources that further depletes them.

“Without any access restrictions to the data, fishing vessels will likely rush to sail to locations with the most fishing vessels, and this will result in massive exploitation of marine natural resources,” said Marthin Hadiwinata of the Indonesian Traditional Fishermen’s Union (KNTI).

“Isn’t that going to end up becoming unsustainable instead?”

Read the full story at Mongabay

Indonesia makes its fishing fleet visible to the world through Global Fishing Watch

June 8, 2017 — This week, at the United Nation’s Ocean Conference, the Republic of Indonesia becomes the first nation ever to publish Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data revealing the location and activity of its commercial fishing fleet. The new data being made public on the Global Fishing Watch public mapping platform reveals commercial fishing in Indonesian waters and areas of the Indian Ocean where it had previously been invisible to the public and other nations.

Susi Pudjiastuti, the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Affairs for the Republic of Indonesia, is taking a bold step toward increasing in her country’s . Today she urges other nations to do the same.

“Illegal fishing is an international problem, and countering it requires cross border cooperation between countries,” says Minister Susi. “I urge all nations to join me in sharing their vessel monitoring data with Global Fishing Watch. Together, we can begin a new era in transparency to end illegal and unreported fishing.”

Also at the UN Ocean’s Conference, Global Fishing Watch has committed to host any country’s VMS data, calling on other governments to follow Indonesia’s lead. “We believe publicly shared VMS will become a powerful new standard for transparent operation in commercial fishing,” says Paul Woods, Global Fishing Watch CEO and Chief Technology Officer for SkyTruth, a founding partner of Global Fishing Watch along with Oceana and Google. “SkyTruth has been collaborating with the Indonesian government for the past two years to really understand their VMS data and find new ways for VMS to enhance their fisheries management.”

Working closely with Oceana toward a united goal of transparency at sea, Peru becomes the first nation to follow Indonesia’s lead. Vice Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hector Soldi, announced Peru’s intent to publicly share their VMS data in Global Fishing Watch.

“We applaud the commitments made by Peru and Indonesia to publish their previously private vessel tracking data and encourage other countries to follow their lead,” said Jacqueline Savitz, Senior Vice President for the United States and Global Fishing Watch at Oceana. “Together, with forward-thinking governments like these, we can bring even greater transparency to the oceans. By publishing fishing data and using Global Fishing Watch, governments and citizens can unite to help combat illegal fishing worldwide. With more eyes on the ocean, there are fewer places for illegal fishers to hide.”

Read the full story at Phys.org

To help stop illegal fishing, ban practice of transshipment on high seas, researchers say

May 2, 2017 — New research concludes that a total ban on the practice of transshipment on the high seas is necessary to help stop illegal fishing and reduce the human trafficking and labor rights abuses that often accompany unlawful fishing activities.

“Transshipping enables fishing vessels to remain at sea for extended periods of time,” Washington D.C.-based oceans conservancy NGO Oceana explains. “Fishing vessels and refrigerated cargo vessels rendezvous at sea in order to transfer seafood, fuel or supplies. While this transshipping practice can be legal in many cases, it also can facilitate the laundering of illegally caught fish, especially on the high seas and in waters surrounding developing and small island nations with insufficient resources to police their waters.”

As detailed in a report released last month, Oceana found that close to 40 percent of suspected instances of transshipping occur on the high seas — areas outside of any national jurisdiction, which make up about two-thirds of Earth’s oceans. Russia’s Sea of Okhotsk, the high-seas regions of the Barents Sea, the national waters of Guinea-Bissau, and just outside the national waters of Argentina and Peru are reportedly the world’s chief transshipping hotspots.

Oceana’s report was based on an analysis of data collected by West Virginia-based environmental monitoring NGO SkyTruth and Global Fishing Watch, a partnership between Google, Oceana, and SkyTruth, which documented more than 5,000 “likely” cases of illegal transshipment and over 86,000 “potential” cases between 2012 and 2016.

In a paper published in the journal Marine Policy last month, a team of researchers make the case that a global ban on the practice of transshipment on the high seas is necessary in order to curb illegal fishing and human rights abuses in the global fishing industry.

“This practice often occurs on the high seas and beyond the reach of any nation’s jurisdiction, allowing ships fishing illegally to evade most monitoring and enforcement measures, offload their cargo, and resume fishing without returning to port,” Jennifer Jacquet, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at New York University (NYU) and a co-author of the paper, said in a statement.

Read the full story at Mongabay.com