In a genuine attempt to check the growing menace of illegal fishing or overfishing of the world’s oceans, search engine giant Google has partnered with two environmental groups to offer help in keeping a track on the unpermitted activity using satellite data and cloud-computing techniques.
Google, in partnership with environmental groups Oceana and SkyTruth, launched a new initiative, called Global Fishing Watch, on Friday in Sydney, Australia.
“Global overfishing is destroying ocean ecosystems,” the official website of Global Fishing Watch noted.
For the ‘Global Fishing Watch’, Google would be using the satellite data and the increasingly popular cloud computing service to monitor the fishing activity in real time so that its permissible limit is not violated.
The initiate has already compiled enough data highlighting the fishing activity between 2012 and 2013.
According to the groups, they are currently working on a public-facing service that will help in watching the fishing activity in near-real-time and allow the authorities to quickly find out the location where illegal fishing is occurring and further take the required proceedings against it.
Speaking on the occasion, SkyTruth President John Amos said, “So much of what happens out on the high seas is invisible, and that has been a huge barrier to understanding and showing the world what’s at stake for the ocean. But now, satellite data is allowing us to make human interaction with the ocean more transparent than ever before.”
With the move, Google has provided an undisclosed financial commitment to the crucial project and the engineering services. The tech major will also be incorporating its mapping software and servers for the purpose.
