1. FishNET
Digital Mapping Technology to Fight Coastal Threats
Shah Selbe
With support from Stanford University
and the Center for Ocean Solutions
2. The FishNET Solution
• An integrated, web-based
information platform
incorporating:
– Real-time user input
– Inexpensive detection
solutions
– Input from existing systems
• Aimed at stopping destructive
and/or illegal activities in our oceans
• Allows for global tracking and monitoring analytics for targeted
enforcement solutions by coastal protection organizations
cloud
A map-based, integrated data collection and management tool to
track, monitor, and analyze coastal threats
3. Location-specific threats have
far-reaching implications on:
• Environment
• Economy
• Marine Spatial Planning
• Human Rights
• Food Security
• Treaties and
International
Regulations
Intelligent Solutions to Location-Based
Coastal Threats are needed
Pollution &
dumping
Illegal Fishing
& Overfishing
Ecosystem
Destruction
Resource
Misuse
Trespassing &
Trafficking
Effective monitoring, control, and surveillance is the key to
eliminating these threats from harming our coasts
4. Intelligent Solutions to Location-Based
Coastal Threats are needed
Coastal
Patrols
Untargeted
and
Ineffective
Military
Surveillance
Costly and
lacking
coverage
area
Reporting
Means
Nonexistent
or
bureaucratic
Poor Data
Systems
Stovepiped
and guarded
cloud
Governing organizations at the local-, national-,
regional- and international-levels have a clear
incentive to collaborate
Old Methods: New Approach:
5. FishNET Benefits
✚ Low cost and high scalability
✚ High network effects and data integrity
capabilities
✚ Promotion of improved data standards for
tracking ocean threats
✚ Multiple avenues of data input and reporting
✚ Prosecution tool to stop repeat offenders
✚ Utilizes existing technologies and can incorporate
data feeds from developing technologies
6. Current Capabilities:
User and Community Input
Call-in hotline
Mobile phone SMS
integration
Smartphone app
FishNET website
APIs
FishNET
cloud
Record:
Infraction info
Location
Time/Date
Vessel info
Including:
Pictures
Video
GPS info
Other
metadata
Crowd-sourcing of reporting expands capacity beyond coastal
enforcement organizations
Input Methods:Data Collected:System:
7. Current Capabilities:
Data Coordination and Integration
RFMO data
Vessel Registry
VMS data
Position Reports
Licenses
National databases
Current Systems
Existing databases
Port Inspection
Observer Reports
Catch Logs
FishNET
MCS datacloud
• Comprehensive record based
on infraction type or vessel
– Incorporate existing legacy
systems
– Allow for input from new
systems
• Real-time visualization and
analytics for:
– Targeted patrolling
– Enforcement
– Prosecution of offenders
• Working with relevant partner
organizations to ensure
scalability, usability, and focus
Data Types:
8. Current Capabilities
Website built with
open source
software
Incorporated
public illegal
fishing blacklist
records
Pilot
implementations
identified with
contacts
Next Steps:
• Integration of other data sources
• Verification and reputability
technologies
• Additional monitoring technologies
incorporated
• Addition of information from current
legacy systems
• Implementation plan and a directed
marketing strategy
FishNET baseline:
11. FishNET Team
Shah Selbe
– Focus: Founder and leader
– Career Background: Boeing Spacecraft Propulsion Engineer, Systems Architect;
Engineers Without Borders Los Angeles, President
– Over 2½ years dedicated to studying tech solutions to ocean threats
– Educational background: Masters in Systems Architecture and Engineering,
USC; Masters in Management Science and Engineering (in progress), Stanford
University; Chemical Engineering, UC Riverside
Omeed Selbe
– Focus: Operations and technology development
– Career background: International development and public sector contracting
experience
– Educational background: MBA, Harvard Business School; Mechanical
Engineering, UC Berkeley
Key Advisors:
– Prof.Tom Kosnik, Stanford University Professor of entrepreneurship and
management science
– Center for Ocean Solutions, Research Partnership between Stanford
University, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute to develop sustainable solutions to address ocean issues
12. Support and Backing
• FishNET born from Stanford Engineering graduate studies
with ongoing support from advisor Prof. Tom Kosnik
• Support from notable ocean-conservation orgs
– Center for Ocean Solutions
– Environmental Defense Fund
– Pew Environment Group
• Sustainability competition honors:
– Buckminster Fuller Challenge, Semifinalist
– Katerva Award, nomination in Protected Areas
– Savannah Ocean Exchange, Finalist
• Ushahidi open-source mapping tool
utilized for initial development
Strong support networks provide regular feedback and advice to
ensure a realistic and high-impact solution
13. Shaping the Future of our Coasts
Information
Crowdsourcing
Collaboration
System Builders
Environmental
• Key to sustainable management
• Major enabler of illegal activities
when absent
• Communication technologies are
changing the world
• Give a voice to
• Leverage data management with
current technology capabilities
• Strong network effects
• Reimagine legacy systems
• Assembling heterogeneous
elements in new ways
• Document the tragedy of the
commons in our oceans
• Advocacy and protection
14. The Time is Now
• Ocean ecosystems in a fragile state and must be protected now
• Increased monitoring capacity will give us
– Better control over the sustainability of our fisheries
– Smarter decisions about fishing quotas
– Quantifiable assessment of our ocean’s state of health
• Improved access to technology allows for greater data gathering
and tracking
• Network effects can reduce data collection cost and increase
data quality to all participating organizations
• Increased traceability and stakeholder engagement helps
communicate the issue and foster environmental stewardship
Maintaining environmental sustainability, improving economic livelihoods,
promoting food security, and filling in critical information gaps
Overfishing is changing our coasts (SHAPING OUR COASTS)Current fishing efforts are unsustainableOur precious oceans currently face an unprecedented threat of overfishing and ecosystem destructionAs a result of overfishing, 63% of assessed fish stocks worldwide still require rebuilding (2009)Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported fishing is the single biggest driver of overfishing. It is destroying our ability to manage fish stocksCurrent worldwide economic losses as a result of IUU fishing have been estimated to be as much as US$23.5 billion annually, which is on the order of 22% of total fisheries productionMajority of IUU fishing typically targets developing nations, exploiting the lack of protection resources to rob the poorest people on the planet. An estimated one billion people rely on the oceans as a primary source of dietary protein, which makes the issue not only an economic and environmental concern, but also a human rights and food security one.
Traditional monitoring approaches tend to be costly and limitedCoastal vessel and aerial patrols are costly and marginally effective Military Surveillance cannot adequately cover large ocean areasUntargeted patrols do not adequately maintain and share observationsRaw VMS data is often very carefully guardedLack of system compatibility hinders any collaborationData quality is currently poor Governing organizations at the local-, national-, regional- and international-levels have a clear incentive to collaborate
BenefitsLow cost and high scalabilityMinimal marginal cost to additional deploymentsCosts only driven by community and stakeholder engagement efforts, and data integration effortsHigh network effects and data integrity capabilitiesUp-to-date data and ability to filter and overlay data based on user desiresRegional benefits from data-sharing between deploymentsPromotion of improved data standards for ocean threatsMultiple avenues of data input and reportingWeb, phone, SMS or hardware based data inputsEmpowered prosecution tool to stop repeat offendersUtilizes existing technologies and can incorporate data feeds from developing technologiesHigh applicability to ocean and non-ocean effortThe competitive advantage that FishNET has, first and foremost, is lower cost. The current monitoring and surveillance approaches have been implemented independently over time. With our network-centric capabilities, there was never any effort to integrate these technologies or optimize for cost and efficiency.The leveraging of development efforts amongst the partners would allow for a better overall product to be created; one that will foster strong collaboration for increased information regarding management of fisheries and marine situational awareness This sharing of data amongst stakeholders will enable up-to-date logs to be kept on vessels, repeat offenders, and authorization information. FishNET can facilitate cooperation schemes amongst stakeholders to conduct ‘sting’ operations or pursue regional initiatives. The commonality will help to promote standards amongst this data, ensuring that subsequent revisions are much more capable. Also, the crowdsourced reporting will allow for a deeper level of detail to be collected, even as far down as reporting human rights abuses for overworking, human trafficking, or dangerous work environments
Reporting via mobile phones, web platforms, and hotlines, would open the door to the often-untapped local community of fishermen, maritime workers, and conservation organizations. Crowdsourcing to these groups greatly expands the capacity for coastal enforcement organizations to monitor their waters. Particularly important is that FishNET engages all stakeholders, even those often absent from coastal protection dialogue (e.g., small-scale fishermen or conservation organizations).User vessel sightings can be reported, including photographs, video, or other metadata like GPS coordinates. When integrated with known VMS position data, IUU blacklists, observer reports, or logbook information, a true compliance history can be built around a vessel. Ownership and operating information would come from participating entities and their licensing databases, filling the necessary gaps.
Its purpose is to record location, time/date, vessel information, infraction description and provide real-time visualization and analytics for targeted patrolling, enforcement, and prosecution of offenders. The platform is built to be flexible enough to incorporate the progress that organizations have already compiled as a part of their routine monitoring and enforcement activities, yet also has expanded functionality to incorporate real-time web-based or mobile reporting from the community.
A Marine Protected Areas version for California in development with partner NGOsCurrent stateThe baseline of FishNET, built off of publicly available IUU fishing blacklist compliance indices, was created using a combination of modified open source software to create map-based information visualization of historical IUU fishing reports. Deploying upgrades allow for integration with Twitter, YouTube, user reputability rating, and more A version for use in Marine Protected Areas is currently under work with a partnership with some California-based nonprofitsThe software also allows for administrative control over crowdsourced interactive mapping and information collection. Users can submit reports through the online form or email and, once confirmed, they can be posted to the map. Deployment through a secure centralized server would provide safe and reliable accessibility of the information infrastructure to many stakeholdersIntegration with information from current existing data systems is being developed based on requirements for those systemsFishNET baselineBuilt off a combination of modified open source software Using publicly available IUU fishing blacklist compliance indicesMap-based information visualization of historical IUU fishing reportsDeploying upgrades allow for integration with Twitter, YouTube, user reputability rating, and more A Marine Protected Areas version for California in development in partnership with some nonprofitsFuture upgradesIntegration of other data sources and typesAddition of information from current legacy systems
Risks (in chart form – mitigation and contingency plan)Technology sabotageIneffective adoption or no data sharingImplementation challengesFunding shortfalls or financial barriers to entry
Tech development to be funded through operational cashflow, focused on most relevant customer applicationsPriority tech development focuses on improved user interface, additional end-user tools, and security enhancements Costs (show financial model)Whereas some of the larger militaries have sophisticated data fusion centers to collaborate intelligence, FishNET would create, at lower cost, the opportunity for a global data center focused on ocean protectionSubsequent database development phase could be created off of seed money from grants or donations from private individuals and regional foundations with interests in ocean protection Organizations like PEW Environmental Trust and Packard Foundation would also be interested in funding IUU fishing mitigation efforts, particularly within target areas This would include an improved user interface, additional features, and security enhancements. Programming of a dynamic user interface would help in managing and visualization of the information for better use by stakeholders.National governments and international management organizations, such as the United Nations, would be approached to add funds to the pilot opportunity. Many times, countries will subsidize technology that makes the management of fisheries more effective. There are also regional funds, which come from treaties, registration, licensing, and VMS fees that may be viable sources of funding.
Project Lead: Shah SelbeIntroduce myself (Spacecraft Propulsion Engineer, Systems Architect, Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems; Engineers Without Borders president)Give context for project (M.S. at Stanford, Management Science & Engineering; opportunity to work on a project with Center for Ocean Solutions during Masters) Advisors: Stanford University and Center for Ocean SolutionsStanford University (Tom Kosnik, professor of entrepreneurship and management science in Management Science & Engineering)Center for Ocean Solutions (Partnership b/w Stanford, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute; Nonprofit looking at practical and sustainable strategies to address environmental and economic challenges facing the oceans.
Current OrganizationDeveloped into independent project, with support of advisors and Stanford University. Working with nonprofits like Pew and WILDAIDSemifinalist in 2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, Katerva Award nominationBrought on Omeed Selbe, Harvard MBA, to help with the business and technology developmentAs we expand the scope, we will bring on additional expertise dependent on the relevant competencies and needs
FishNET has the ability to significantly alter many of the problems created by our current monitoring framework by maintaining environmental sustainability, improving economic livelihoods, promoting food security, and filling in critical information gapsFishNET’s critical themesInformation: The key to this issue, and its sustainable management, is information. The lack of information is a major enabler for illegal activities. Crowdsourcing: Communication technologies and the internet are reshaping our world. Haiti story: Students at Tufts created a map with crowdsourced information about the post-disaster Haiti that was so reliable that the US military used it for relief efforts.Smarter collaboration: Leverage existing data and share in a more cost effective manner. The greater the collaboration, the stronger the data becomes. Specifically, there are strong network effects at play with the FishNET solution, because each additional deployment and participating agency adds to the data available for all participants. While FishNET is still a powerful tool when isolated to any given region or agency, additional deployments adds data that creates a net increase in the benefit to all other deployments.Focus on being System Builders, not Entrepreneurs: Innovation is reimagining our legacy systems (both ‘unbuilding’ and creating). Value creation come from assembling heterogeneous elements in ways they haven’t to solve the problems of todayEnvironmental advocacy
Our current society’s nearly exponential pace of technology growth allows for us to have enhanced capabilities to solving problems that seemed unsolvable merely decades earlier There is no reason for us to maintain the expensive methods of uninformed sporadic military aerial and maritime patrols as our sole means of ocean protection. We shouldn’t only rely on this from the top-down.A recent assessment of the South Pacific showed that data coordination was the weakest overall component of the regional surveillance capabilities of the region.Through collective cooperation, we can provide a data set far richer than these disparate organizations could, reducing cost and increasing data qualityIncreased monitoring capacity will give us better control over the sustainability of our fisheries, smarter decisions about fishing quotas, and a quantifiable assessment of our ocean’s state of health. Increased traceability and engagement of stakeholders at all levels will help to communicate the issue and create a basis for environmental stewardship that can help restore the balanceFishNET will create a global cooperative information trust to close this void in participation and lack of information that is a major enabler to IUU fishing. Once this is created, we can use that information to better manage, develop, and deploy technologies to protect our oceans.
