Oceans
Fisheries are intertwined in global food security, slave labor issues, livelihoods, sovereign wealth and biodiversity. Global Fishing Watch brings transparency to an opaque industry traditionally operating out of sight and out of mind. By leveraging Google Cloud Platform, machine learning, and Earth Engine, we have created the first global view of the world's industrial fishing fleet and made it available to the public for free.
The Global Fishing Watch project was originally founded by SkyTruth, Oceana, and Google Earth Outreach, but has since graduated to an independent nonprofit with close to 30 staff across the world and growing.
GlobalFishingWatch.org hosts the most up to date and complete information including details of the research program, datasets and code examples, peer reviewed publications, media highlights, ongoing blog posts and much more.
Google articles and case studies on Global Fishing Watch:
Mapping global fishing activity with machine learning. Launch blog post from September 2016 providing an overview of why Google is working in fishing, the technology involved, and initial impacts
Transparency unleashed: How Global Fishing Watch is transforming fishery management. Impact story on Google Environment highlighting the relationship and transparency initiatives with the Indonesian government and a new Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Mexico implemented in partnership with National Geographic’s Pristine Seas
Oceans of data: tracking illegal fishing over 1.4 billion square miles. The Phoenix Island Protected Area (PIPA) is the largest marine UNESCO World Heritage site. This article shows how Global Fishing Watch was used to monitor its transformation into a no-take fishing area, as well as the first enforcement case of illegal fishing resulting in a $2.2m fine benefiting the government of Kiribati.
Close encounters of the fishy kind. World Ocean Day blog post showcasing new layers revealing transshipments at sea (when two boats meetup to transfer catch, supplies, or crew) and new satellite methods to show fishing night time fishing for vessels not broadcasting their positions
Global Fishing Watch: Protecting global fisheries. Google Cloud Customer case study highlighting the products behind the platform and scale of processing that is involved in daily operations
Credit: Oceana/Grant Ellis
What we need to do with the Global Fishing Watch and Safe Ocean Network, “is grow this network so there is not one square mile of ocean where we cannot prosecute and hold people accountable who violate the standards of sustainability on a global basis. That’s the goal.” -Secretary Kerry speaking at the launch event
