Empowering Conservation Management With Open-Access Data: Understanding Seabird and Fisheries Interaction Risk in a High Seas Marine Protected Area Using Global Fishing Watch

Almost out of the chronicle of The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, seabirds and fishermen continue to be in conflict amid the 10-foot swells, sea spray and tempests of the open ocean. The high seas are remote, but not untouched: Commercial fisheries interact with wildlife and impact ecosystems across time and space. Seabirds are considered indicators of ecosystem health, yet 47% of species are in decline globally, making effective ecosystem-based conservation urgent for their protection. Open-ocean monitoring is difficult and scientific research is sparse. However, Global Fishing Watch is tapping into the wealth of satellite fisheries data and making it available like never before, empowering highly-detailed and accurate studies of human activity on the high seas. This lecture will show how Global Fishing Watch fills a crucial gap in the information available to guide management of the newly-designated North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea-Basin (NACES) Marine Protected Area (MPA). To provide a preliminary analysis of the risk fishing may pose to seabirds in the MPA, geospatial fishing effort is overlaid with species range maps provided by BirdLife International, a partner on this project. Effective collating of this analysis with species-specific fisheries threats points to effective conservation actions for the MPA.

Jaya Scott is a first-year JD student at UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law. She graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 2020 with the gold medal in international relations, and completed her MSc in Environmental Protection and Management at the University of Edinburgh with distinction in August 2022.