[Paper Review] Global Fishing Watch: Bringing Transparency to Global Commercial Fisheries

Wessley Merten, Adam Reyer+4 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Sep 27, 2016

Marine and fisheries researchEnvironmental Science21 citations

TL;DR

Global Fishing Watch (GFW) leverages Automatic Identification System (AIS) data and big data analytics to monitor global commercial fishing activity in real time, classifying vessel behavior as 'fishing' or 'non-fishing' to enhance transparency. The platform enables public access to vessel tracking data, supporting efforts to combat overfishing and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

ABSTRACT

Across all major industrial fishing sectors, overfishing due to overcapacity and lack of compliance in fishery governance has led to a decline in biomass of many global fish stocks. Overfishing threatens ocean biodiversity, global food security, and the livelihoods of law abiding fishermen. To address this issue, Global Fishing Watch (GFW) was created to bring transparency to global fisheries using computer science and big data analytics. A product of a partnership between Oceana, SkyTruth and Google, GFW uses the Automatic Identification System, or AIS, to analyze the movement of vessels at sea. AIS provides vessel location data, and GFW uses this information to track global vessel movement and apply algorithms to classify vessel behavior as "fishing" or "non-fishing" activity. Now publicly available, anyone with an internet connection can monitor when and where trackable commercial fishing appears to be occurring around the world. Hundreds of millions of people around the world depend on our ocean for their livelihoods, and many more rely on it for food. Collectively, the various applications of GFW will help reduce overfishing and illegal fishing, restore the ocean's abundance, and ensure sustainability through better monitoring and governance of our marine resources.

Motivation & Objective

• Address the global crisis of overfishing driven by overcapacity and weak governance in fisheries.
• Reduce illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing through improved monitoring and transparency.
• Enhance sustainability of marine resources by enabling real-time tracking of commercial fishing vessels.
• Empower governments, NGOs, and the public with accessible, data-driven insights into global fishing activity.
• Strengthen ocean governance by providing open access to vessel movement data and behavioral classification.

Proposed method

• Utilizes the Automatic Identification System (AIS) to collect real-time vessel position and movement data from commercial fishing vessels.
• Applies machine learning and data analytics algorithms to classify vessel behavior as 'fishing' or 'non-fishing' based on movement patterns.
• Processes hundreds of millions of AIS messages to generate global, near real-time maps of fishing activity.
• Integrates data from Oceana, SkyTruth, and Google to build a scalable, publicly accessible platform.
• Visualizes vessel tracks and fishing events on an interactive web platform for public and institutional use.
• Employs data fusion and geospatial analysis to distinguish between fishing operations and transit or non-fishing movements.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How can real-time vessel tracking data be used to identify and monitor commercial fishing activity globally?
• RQ2 What machine learning techniques can effectively classify vessel behavior as fishing or non-fishing based on AIS data?
• RQ3 To what extent can public access to AIS-based fishing data improve transparency and reduce illegal fishing?
• RQ4 How can big data analytics and open data platforms enhance governance and sustainability in global fisheries?
• RQ5 What are the practical applications of AIS-based monitoring for marine conservation and policy enforcement?

Key findings

• Global Fishing Watch successfully processes and visualizes hundreds of millions of AIS messages to map global fishing activity in near real time.
• The platform accurately classifies vessel behavior as 'fishing' or 'non-fishing' using movement pattern analysis and behavioral algorithms.
• The system enables public access to global fishing data, increasing transparency in commercial fisheries operations.
• By making vessel tracking data openly available, GFW supports efforts to reduce overfishing and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
• The collaboration between Oceana, SkyTruth, and Google demonstrates the scalability and impact of open data initiatives in ocean governance.
• The platform has been presented at major forums such as the Data For Good Exchange 2016, signaling institutional recognition and adoption potential.