Artificial intelligence (AI) is now reportedly being utilized by the Global Fishing Watch, a partnership between tech giant Google, environmental group Skywatch, and marine conservation organization Oceana to help impede illegal fishing cases and better manage the ocean.
Global Fishing Watch is reportedly an initiative to help stop unregulated, illegal, and unreported fishing that significantly contributes to the extinction of several marine life. The Google-led initiative is now mapping the movements of over 65,000 commercial fishing vessels using satellite imagery and increasingly advanced AI technologies to better monitor and quantify the overfishing problem.
(Photo : YANICK FOLLY/AFP via Getty Images) A picture taken in Lome, on June 2, 2018 shows machineries at the site of the construction of the new port. - The fishing village of Agebkope and other seaside communities along Togo's coast have long lived with the consequences of erosion from the strong winds and waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
Millions of gigabytes of satellite footage are analyzed by the AI to find offshore infrastructure and ships. Subsequently, it examines data from ships' GPS signals that are available to the public, merging it with radar and optical imaging to detect ships that neglect to transmit their whereabouts.
According to Fernando Paolo, senior remote sensing machine learning engineer at Global Fishing Watch, they use a variety of vital data on the location of the vessel, including its length, the environmental information about where it is located, imaging of the area, the density of vessel traffic in the area, the condition of the ocean, including its temperature, and many other relevant details.
Three-fourths of the industrial fishing vessels worldwide are not publicly tracked, according to the report, with South Asia and Africa being notable hotspots. The goal of Global Fishing Watch's current initiative is to provide higher-resolution imagery to aid in the detection of more tiny fishing boats.
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Tech Against Illegal Fishing
Many forms of technology have long been used to assist prevent illicit fishing. One such instance is the collaboration between the Canadian government and the Philippine National Coast Guard in October, which permitted the developing nation to adopt Canada's "Dark Vessel Detection System."
Despite their best efforts to switch off their location-tracking devices, illegal fishers are tracked by the "Dark Vessel Detection System," which uses satellite technology.
Sources indicate it is significantly challenging to stop illicit fishing throughout the Philippine archipelago, particularly in areas of the South China Sea that are under dispute. The Philippine Coast Guard has reported in recent months that Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels disable their location-tracking equipment to evade inspection.
AI-Powered Whale Safeguards
AI has also been utilized in the past to protect threatened species, including whales. In an attempt to track the species, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) revealed an AI-powered method only last January.
The plan uses AI and passive acoustic monitoring to track the whales' movements and evaluate how offshore wind development affects their habitat. This creative strategy seeks to both safeguard whales and encourage the growth of offshore wind energy in a responsible manner.
With only about 360 North American right whales left, the agencies are putting a cutting-edge monitoring plan into place to keep an eye on how offshore wind farms are affecting their habitat, especially along the East Coast where wind farm development is rapidly increasing.
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