Norway recently became the first European country to share its vessel-monitoring system (VMS) data on the Global Fishing Watch (GFW) system.
A memorandum of understanding signed between Global Fishing Watch and Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries on 30 June at the 2022 United Nations Ocean Conference will give GFW access to Norway’s vessel-monitoring system data for the estimated 600 fishing vessels in Norway that are 15 meters or more in length, allowing it to be accessed via the Global Fishing Watch map.
“Wild living marine resources are a common good and belong to everyone,” Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries Director-General Frank Bakke-Jensen said in a press release. “When a commercial fishing fleet is licensed to utilize this common good, we are obliged and committed to share fisheries data documenting the environmental footprint of commercial fishing activity. We hope that others will follow this approach and share more fisheries data.”
Norway is the second-largest exporter of fish and fish products by value in the world, though much of that value stems from salmon raised via aquaculture. Since October 2019, Norway has shared its VMS tracking information on the Fisheries Directorate website, but the partnership with Global Fishing Watch will help make its vessel tracking data more accessible to a wider range of stakeholders, according to Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries Head of Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance Thord Monsen. Monsen said concurrently with the data-exhange partnership with GFW, the country is also expanding its VMS requirement to include all commercial fishing vessels and increasing the frequency that vessels need to report their position.
“We believe that improved transparency of fishing data is necessary to reduce the risk of illegal fisheries and set the groundwork for improved compliance,” Monsen said.
Founded in 2015, Global Fishing Watch is a partnership between Google and the advocacy groups Oceana and SkyTruth that collects vessel location data from satellite images and tracking systems. GFW said Norway’s participation marked a milestone for the nonprofit, as the country is “an influential voice when it comes to fisheries issues and a leader on blue economy issues.”