Satellite mapping reveals extensive industrial activity at sea.
Nature
; 625(7993): 85-91, 2024 Jan.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38172362
ABSTRACT
The world's population increasingly relies on the ocean for food, energy production and global trade1-3, yet human activities at sea are not well quantified4,5. We combine satellite imagery, vessel GPS data and deep-learning models to map industrial vessel activities and offshore energy infrastructure across the world's coastal waters from 2017 to 2021. We find that 72-76% of the world's industrial fishing vessels are not publicly tracked, with much of that fishing taking place around South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa. We also find that 21-30% of transport and energy vessel activity is missing from public tracking systems. Globally, fishing decreased by 12 ± 1% at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and had not recovered to pre-pandemic levels by 2021. By contrast, transport and energy vessel activities were relatively unaffected during the same period. Offshore wind is growing rapidly, with most wind turbines confined to small areas of the ocean but surpassing the number of oil structures in 2021. Our map of ocean industrialization reveals changes in some of the most extensive and economically important human activities at sea.
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Oceans and Seas
/
Satellite Imagery
/
Human Activities
/
Industry
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Nature
Year:
2024
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States