Global Fishing Watch Launches First AI Model Overhaul: 75% of Fleet Still Dark

Global Fishing Watch overhauled the AI behind its ocean-monitoring platform, replacing its fishing detection and vessel classification models with a new generation trained on more than 1,000 expert-reviewed examples. The update went live Wednesday across its public map, APIs, and downloadable data products, covering data from 2012 to the present, and is described as the organization’s biggest AI upgrade since 2016. However, it only applies to the portion of the commercial fishing fleet that broadcasts location publicly. A 2024 Nature study led by GFW found 72% to 76% of industrial vessels go untracked, limiting what AI can reveal. The new model better separates active gear setting or hauling from behaviors such as slowing near ports, anchoring, or transiting, using an expanded anchorage database of 5,300 new locations across 13 countries and improved bathymetry.