Global Fishing Watch

Global Fishing Watch is the result of a partnership between Oceana, SkyTruth and Google that identifies apparent fishing activity and provides the world's first global view of commercial fishing. Global Fishing Watch is an online tool that allows anyone in the world with an internet connection to see what 35,000 of the world’s largest commercial fishing vessels are doing, and to track them in near-real time, for free.

Our oceans face a variety of threats that could undermine the many benefits they provide us with. Governments face a challenge in managing them sustainably. Sharing this information on how our oceans are being used more transparently is essential to keeping our oceans healthy and bringing back abundance.

Global Fishing Watch is built for governments, seafood suppliers, insurance companies, journalists, researchers, citizens, fishermen and more. Governments can use it to ensure fishing vessels are authorized to fish in their waters, and pursue those that are not. Seafood suppliers can see where and how fish are being caught. Insurance companies can verify that the vessels they insure are following the rules. Journalists and researchers can study the impact of fishing on ocean health. Everyone can see whether vessels are following the rules so sustainably caught seafood can be certified for consumers. And citizens and honest fishermen can identify suspicious vessels and report them to the authorities.

Global Fishing Watch uses public broadcast data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS), collected by satellite and terrestrial receivers, to show the movement of vessels over time. • AIS provides a global feed of vessel locations and Global Fishing Watch uses this information to track vessel movement and classify it as apparent “fishing” or “non-fishing” activity.