Fighting Illegal Fishing: Global Fishing Watch Now Utilizes Spire Data

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Spire Global Inc. announces Global Fishing Watch has successfully integrated Spire Sense data into its global transparency platform. The platform is the first publicly available system that tracks nearly all industrial-sized commercial fishing vessels on the ocean, giving governments, fisheries, industry, and NGO’s the information that they need to tackle the illegal fishing and overfishing that is decimating fish stocks. Integration of Spire’s data brings a new level of visibility into Global Fishing Watch’s platform and will contribute to the protection of Earth’s food supply.

Automatic Identification System data gathered from Spire adds 23 million data points to Global Fishing Watch per day, roughly doubling the amount of AIS data previously processed. Spire Sense joins several different data feeds used by the organization. The data is fed into an advanced algorithm which analyzes ship movements to detect apparent fishing activity. While most of the Earth’s oceans are regulated, the inability to see where and when fishing happens has been a key roadblock to enforcing maritime laws as it has hindered efforts to prevent illicit activity and manage fisheries sustainably. With its public platform, Global Fishing Watch has brought an unprecedented level of transparency to the world’s fishing activities.

“Spire Sense increases the resolution of our data, filling in some of the gaps, enabling more complete vessel tracks and further enhancing what we already had,” said Global Fishing Watch Chief Technology Officer Paul Woods. “With a clearer picture of fishing activity, Spire data is increasing our ability to create transparency, drive traceability, and promote sustainability in our oceans. Spire is an ideal partner for us because they are innovative and nimble, and focused on leading edge technology.”

Kyle Brazil, Sense’s product manager, added that “It’s incredibly exciting to have customers like Global Fishing Watch using Spire Sense. We’re able to simply open an internet browser and see how our data is being used to make a real difference in the world. Global Fishing Watch will be able to take advantage of any improvements that we make to satellites, data, APIs, and analytics offerings, which means we will have an immediate impact on efforts to improve the sustainability of fisheries and protect an important resource that feeds millions of people.”

Release Contact: Nick Allain, Nick@spire.com, (628)221-5333

Released November 1, 2017