Google, SkyTruth and Oceana have presented a new tool directly related to the fishing sector, Global Fishing Watch. With this application it will be possible to identify, monitor and follow the route of fishing vessels, in real time, in the oceans around the world.
Global Fishing Watch will use data from the automatic identification system (AIS) that vessels over 300 tonnes are obliged to use. With this application, anybody connecting to the internet will be able to see, live, the route of over 140,000 ships and investigate where they have been over the past year. The system will also classify the ships, taking their pattern of movements as a basis, be they fishing vessels or otherwise.
The added value of this tool is that it will make it possible to identify any ships operating illegally, an activity that leads to global losses estimated at 10,000 to 23,000 million dollars each year.