Global Fishing Watch

?? BREAKING! Global Fishing Watch joins forces with UC Santa Barbara’s Environmental Markets Lab (emLab) and Climate TRACE to conduct first-ever study to map and estimate the emissions of all large industrial vessels operating at sea. The preliminary analysis—undertaken as part of our ongoing work to shed light on all human activity at sea, covered more than half a million vessels from 2016 to 2023. Our research teams honed in on vessels that broadcast their GPS positions using AIS, while leveraging satellite radar to detect vessels that have been absent from public monitoring systems until now. In 2023 alone, the analysis estimated that industrial vessels emitted approximately 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide, accounting for a staggering 3% of global fossil fuel emissions. See what else our research teams uncovered in this game-changing study. bit.ly/41TQ0NT

At the highest levels, Global Fishing Watch is driving policy change and rallying action for a more sustainable ocean. As we continue to support countries in mobilizing marine protections through scientific research, digital technology and open data, our representation in key international fora will play an increasingly pivotal role in shaping the global conversation on ocean management. This week, our Senior Program Manager for Europe and Mediterranean, Mariagrazia Graziano is in attendance at the Monaco Blue Initiative (MBI), convened to promote synergies between marine protections and the development of a sustainable blue economy. The MBI’s outcomes and recommendations feed into international discussions and negotiations on ocean governance, making our presence and interactions in Monaco even more conducive to the advancement of our organization’s policy work. Learn more about the difference Global Fishing Watch is making in the Mediterranean and beyond. bit.ly/4kfiXvM

?? Missed the release of our 2024 Annual Report? Its publication marks a pivotal year in Global Fishing Watch’s mission to enhance ocean governance through transparency, technology and global collaboration. Here's a look at the highlights, as we set our sights on even more ambitious targets this year. bit.ly/3FK1w6Q

?? The global fisheries sector is highly vulnerable to threats such as illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. ? Now more than ever, a collective response is needed. An international vessel tracking agreement would better position States and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) to address destructive fishing practices and other challenges head-on. ?? Find out how. bit.ly/3xqJbbu

??? The year 2024 reinforced the leading role of Global Fishing Watch as a purveyor of technology and data-driven solutions for equitable ocean governance. ?? Whether undertaking pioneering research to reveal the true scale of human activity at sea, catalyzing policy change at the United Nations or supporting governments worldwide in advancing ocean management strategies, our efforts at the intersection of sustainability and innovation have led to critical breakthroughs and standout achievements. ?? It's all here in our 2024 Annual Report. Take a look at what we achieved together. bit.ly/4iC1YT6

In 2024, Global Fishing Watch made significant strides in advancing our mission to secure a healthy, productive and resilient ocean. We started out strong, publishing our groundbreaking study on the growing footprint of human activity at sea in Nature Magazine. In unveiling the first global map of large-vessel traffic and offshore infrastructure, we established the foundation of our open ocean project, supported by The Audacious Project, to map all industrial human activity at sea. We have also been strengthening our international policy work, and saw a big win when the UN resolution on sustainable fisheries recognized the need for transparency to be “standard practice rather than an exception.” This is a huge step forward in tackling illegal fishing at an international level. What we need now is a globally binding agreement mandating the use of tracking technology on fishing vessels, enabling better oversight and accountability of fisheries. From technological innovation to compelling research, policy advancement and deepening partnerships, I could not be prouder of our dedicated team who are passionately delivering against our strategic goals and vision for the global ocean. We are excited to build on what we’ve achieved so far together. Read about it all in our 2024 Annual Report at bit.ly/3FK1w6Q

?? Over the past year, Global Fishing Watch has made bold strides in advancing transparency as the cornerstone of equitable ocean governance. We’ve sharpened our open-source tools, deepened global partnerships with governments and wider stakeholders, and delivered innovative research that is reshaping the conversation on effective ocean management. Above all, we saw a significant surge in the use of our advanced ocean monitoring and analysis tools. Among the sweeping list of achievements that color our 2024 Annual Report, we recorded: ?? 11 million gigabytes of satellite imagery analyzed ?? Nearly 900,000 vessels tracked on the organization’s flagship map ?? 11,000 new registered map users — a 50% increase from 2023 ?? Nearly 1,500 research citations ?? See what else we accomplished together last year! bit.ly/3FK1w6Q

?? Over the years, our dedicated team of experts have continued to update and improve Global Fishing Watch's data processing and models. ?? In doing so, we have created a trove of open-access datasets that are being used the world over, to support sustainable ocean management by making human activity at sea visible. ??? "The apparent fishing effort data are intended to allow users to analyze patterns of daily fishing activity across the ocean," explains our data scientist for fishing and identity, Amanda Lohmann. ??? "We just released the third installment of this dataset, which covers 2012 through 2024. This adds four additional years of data with nearly 370 million hours of fishing activity by over 141,000 unique maritime mobile service identity (MMSI) numbers that act as international identifiers for vessels, which are broadcast in AIS messages." ?? Laying the foundation for the impressive release, our team added over 20 new vessel registry sources—doubling the number of MMSI with registry information. We also improved the coverage of our AIS data by adding more terrestrial AIS data from Marine Traffic and additional satellite and dynamic AIS data from Spire Global. ?? Lohmann takes us through the technology, science and data behind it all and sheds light on key changes some users many notice in this update. bit.ly/4kLO1Uh

?? Closing out the week with an exciting career opportunity! Our co-founder and partner SkyTruth is on the hunt for a biodiversity engagement lead to steer the organization's expanding portfolio of biodiversity initiatives. If you're passionate about serving at the intersection of technology, innovation and biodiversity conservation, check out the post below for application details.

?? HUGE NEWS! We've released the latest version of our public apparent fishing effort dataset to our Data Download Portal. ?? The flagship dataset, released in its first iteration in 2018, provides a global view of fishing activity based on vessel AIS transmissions. ? What's new? It now covers 2012-2024, adding four full years of data with nearly 370 million hours of fishing activity by over 141,000 unique MMSI. The full dataset now includes approximately 695 million fishing hours by more than 192,000 unique MMSI. ?? Our data scientist for vessel tracking and behavior, Amanda Lohmann, breaks it all down and explains what changes users may see as part of the latest release. bit.ly/4kLO1Uh