Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2016)

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Fishackathon Coding The Oceans

BY KIRA COLEY

In 2014 the Food and Agriculture Or- almost instantaneously. ganization (FOA) of the United Nations published a report documenting the Apps for the Industry state of world ? sheries and aquaculture: A number of apps for smart phone and around 90% of marine ? sh stocks are tablets are already being developed, in either fully or over exploited. Through- conjunction with and as an outcome of out supermarkets worldwide, mislabeled Fishackathon activities, which have en- and laundered illegal catches make their abled ? sherman to report illegal practic- way onto shelves and into the homes es. “[Because of these new smartphone of consumers. As unsustainable ? sh- apps] ? sherman are able to tell us when ing practices sweep through the world’s there is a giant trawler out there taking oceans, unlikely collaborations bring the ? sh when they shouldn’t be. We ? nd modern technology and fresh insights to ? sherman open to these opportunities as long-standing global concerns. it impacts their economy and their abil-

Launched by the U.S Department of ity to make a living,” said Thompson.

State, Fishackathon aims to connect cod- “I think the ? shing industry will accept ers, programmers and software design- and welcome these sorts of apps. We ers with ? sheries experts, data analysts also found that these days’ data is widely and environmentalists. And, in a space shared and people get excited when their of 48 hours, compete to develop innova- data is being used. So, when it comes tive and novel solutions for the collec- to the sharing of data we’ve had no (Credit: Fishackathon) tion of key ? sheries data to combat ghost industry professionals. A panel of ocean of volunteer coders and technologists problems. The biggest issues we might gear, ? sh fraud, seafood traceability and experts and technologies come together present their concepts in front of an ex- encounter are if ? shing vessels are turn- illegal ? shing across the world. to review the suggestions and select a pert panel of judges. A reward is given to ing off the GPS locators so they aren’t

Since its launch in 2014, Fishackathon number of codable options to put for- the teams that most effectively develop found where they shouldn’t be – this will has quickly expanded from ? ve cities to ward for the annual hackathon. When usable solutions, which then advance to be a dif? cult issue to address at future an international event hosted by over 40 choosing what issues to address, the compete against the other winners cho- events.” locations across six continents. As an panel looks for original concerns that sen from each location. mFish is another initiative launched in output of Secretary John Kerry’s ‘Our had the greatest potential of being devel- partnership from the U.S Department of

Ocean’ conference, the annual event as- oped, as well as the data availability that #Codefor? sh State using mobile services to provide sembles the next generation of coders to the coders could actually use to create The London teams, hosted by the real-time information that allows com- create tools which help tackle the over- the software. Over the last three years, Economist, chose to target cost effective munication between ? shermen, manag- ? shing crisis, presented in the form of organizers have seen a trend in concerns approaches to ? sheries data collection ers, the seafood industry and families apps for smart phone devices. focusing around themes such as over- to enable ? sh stock assessment. Exam- while out at sea. The program also focus- “Secretary Kerry is passionate about ? shing, illegal activities and prices in ples include the development of a smart es on developing mobile apps for ? sh- climate change and the ocean, and there- ports. phone app that captures data on ? shing erman, enabling them to report illegal fore wanted to bring people together to This April at Fishackathon 2016, the practices and catch composition with ? shing and to get noti? cations of other talk about core problems. As part of his challenges coders were asked to address the least amount of manual data entry. apps that are being developed through of? ce, we wanted to do something in- were around ? sh identi? cation, lost ? sh The winners of the London 2016 Fish- Fishackathon. novative for the ocean and to bring in gear, vessel data and compliance with ackathon, Fishazam, designed a smart An example of one such software de- outside ideas and crowd source innova- marine applicable ? shing laws and regu- phone app which tackles ? sh fraud by veloped from Fishackathon last year was tive aspects which hasn’t been thought lations covering regions. Problem state- scanning ? sh ? llets for light signatures, KnowFish – know what you’re catching. of previously: so we decided to run a ments came from organizations such not visible to humans. The app lets the user take a picture of the hackathon,” said Jim Thompson, Direc- as MarViva Foundation, Fisheries and According to Oceana, one out of three ? sh using a mobile phone, checks the tor of Innovation at the U.S. Department Oceans Canada, Bill? sh Foundation and ? sh are mislabeled and ? sh fraud is in- image against the database and helps to of State. “Not only is it a great cause but the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. creasingly being found to be endemic in identify the species. people also ? nd the idea of doing some- “Trying to ? nd solutions to ghost gear the seafood supply chain. The Fishazam Other examples include software thing tangible, where they can actually is fairly new concept for us. If we had the team based their idea on a recent study which measures the size of the ? sh have an impact, exciting and worthy of information as to where it was dropped, that investigated the possibility of using caught and identi? es if the individual is their time. We are bringing in younger we could act quickly to minimize the ef- infrared spectroscopy as a tool for the undersized.

people, Millennials and the Alpha gen- fects,” said Thompson. “So this year’s identi? cation of valuable species (e.g. Fishackathon has an interesting series eration, to think about doing something coders will be working on questions red mullet and plaice) that have been of partners on board including IBM with with their skills in coding that they may- such as how do we geotag or give the substituted with cheaper ones (e.g. At- a focus on the data aspects and the Econ- be haven’t thought of before.” ? sherman an opportunity to participate lantic mullet and ? ounder). omist, London. Virgin is also a partner

Each year at the ‘Our Ocean’ confer- in sustainability by informing us quickly The study suggests that different spe- of Fishackathon 2016 and donated a ence, organizers issue a call for problem of the situation.” cies of ? sh emit unique levels of infrared $10,000 global award to be presented to statements to hundreds of scientists and After the weekend-long event, teams light, allowing ? sh to be distinguished the winning team.

10 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • AUGUST 2016

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