KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 (Bernama) -- About 75 per cent of the world’s industrial fishing vessels are not publicly tracked, with much of that fishing taking place around Africa and south Asia, according to a newly published study led by Global Fishing Watch in the journal Nature.
Providing an unprecedented view of previously unmapped industrial use of the ocean and its shifting patterns, the analysis also revealed that more than 25 per cent of transport and energy vessel activity are also missing from public tracking systems.
The groundbreaking study uses machine learning and satellite imagery to create the first global map of large vessel traffic and offshore infrastructure, finding a remarkable amount of activity that was previously “dark” to public monitoring systems.
“On land, we have detailed maps of almost every road and building on the planet. In contrast, growth in our ocean has been largely hidden from public view.
“This study helps eliminate the blind spots and shed light on the breadth and intensity of human activity at sea,” said its director of research and innovation and co-lead author of the study, David Kroodsma in a statement.
Researchers from Global Fishing Watch, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Duke University, UC Santa Barbara and SkyTruth analysed two million gigabytes of satellite imagery spanning 2017-2021 to detect vessels and offshore infrastructure in coastal waters across six continents where more than three-quarters of industrial activity is concentrated.
The study also shows how human activity in the ocean is changing. Coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, fishing activity dropped globally by about 12 per cent, with an eight per cent decline in China and a 14 per cent drop elsewhere, while transport and energy vessel activity remained stable.
Additionally, it highlights the potential of this new technology to tackle climate change, in which mapping all vessel traffic will improve estimates of greenhouse gas emissions at sea, while maps of infrastructure can inform wind development or aid in tracking marine degradation caused by oil exploration.
The open data and technology used in the study can help governments, researchers and civil society to identify hotspots of potentially illegal activity, determine where industrial fishing vessels may be encroaching on artisanal fishing grounds, or simply better understand vessel traffic in their waters.
The study was supported by National Geographic Pristine Seas and Oceankind, and Global Fishing Watch is able to further the application of this innovative work, as an awardee of The Audacious Project, a collaborative funding initiative that is catalysing social impact on a grand scale.
-- BERNAMA
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