Global Fishing Watch, USCG Examine Illegal Fishing

Global Fishing Watch is teaming up with the United States Coast Guard Research & Development Center (CG RDC) to conduct research on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and share analysis to advance global efforts to improve fisheries management.

Global Fishing Watch (https://globalfishingwatch.org) and CG RDC are exploring pathways to collaborate on relevant research activities, such as the establishment of analytical methodologies to evaluate open-source vessel movement data, catch data and satellite imagery, to advance international understanding on IUU fishing and its impacts.

Such collaboration would look to generate deeper understanding of global patterns of vessel activity related to IUU fishing by fusing diverse open data sources and developing new intelligence on IUU fishing activities, such as transshipment at sea and tracking avoidance behavior, and explore ways to make the intelligence gained more easily shareable with diverse partners.

These discussions come ahead of the planned January 2019 launch of Global Fishing Watch’s new data and analytical cell, formed as part of the partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, which aims to collaborate with external agencies to collect, analyze and publish data on commercial fishing activity via the Global Fishing Watch platform. This collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard Research & Development Center would be the first undertaken by the new cell.

“The Global Fishing Watch Data and Analytical Cell is all about making data available and then making use of that data to achieve better analysis and shared awareness across the many maritime areas of interest,” said Tony Long, CEO of Global Fishing Watch and Commander, Royal Navy (Retired). “To have the USCG be the first organization to benefit from our new cell would be an honor. All of my experience from my Naval service tells me that effective collaborations like this can be game-changing in the fight to combat IUU fishing.”