How AI is Revolutionizing the Fight Against Illegal Fishing
Release Date: 05/13/2024
Your Washing Machine Sheds Up to 18 Million Microfibers a Load
How To Protect The Ocean
Every wash cycle sheds plastic. Last Monday, Andrew talked with Dr. Anja Brandon of Ocean Conservancy about microfiber pollution, and one question from that conversation stuck with him: has anyone actually fixed this yet? In this solo follow-up, Andrew traces a microfiber's actual path, from the moment agitation, heat, and detergent work it loose from a shirt, through the drain, into a wastewater treatment plant, and out the other side into biosolids, farmland, rivers, and the ocean, with a growing body of research suggesting some of it ends up in human lungs and even in the human placenta....
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Can Bacteria Actually Eat Plastic?
How To Protect The Ocean
Bacteria that eat plastic sounds like the fix everyone's been waiting for, and Andrew gets sent videos about it constantly. So on this solo episode, following Monday's interview with Dr. Anja Brandon of Ocean Conservancy, he goes looking for the real state of the science. The short version: it's promising, it's roughly a decade of real research deep, and it is nowhere close to running at the scale the ocean plastic crisis actually needs. The bacterium that started this whole field, Ideonella sakaiensis, was discovered breaking down PET plastic in Japan in 2016. A 2025 breakthrough from NREL,...
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The 90 Percent Fix Hiding in Your Laundry Room
How To Protect The Ocean
Every time you run a load of laundry, your washing machine sheds plastic. Not metaphorically: synthetic clothing made from polyester, nylon, and rayon releases microfibers with every wash, and depending on the study, a single load can shed anywhere from a few hundred thousand to millions of them. Most of us have never thought about it, because unlike a plastic bag on the beach, you can't see it happening. In this episode, Andrew talks with Dr. Anja Brandon, Director of Plastics Policy at Ocean Conservancy, about the plastic pollution problem hiding in plain sight behind the more familiar...
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A New PBS Documentary Wants You to Care About Coral. Meet the Man Behind It.
How To Protect The Ocean
A new documentary called Descent – Into the Blue starts airing on public television stations nationwide on September 1, 2026. It's narrated by Peter Coyote, directed by Rory Fielding, and one of its central voices is Mike Goldberg, co-founder of the Florida Keys coral restoration nonprofit I.CARE and owner of Key Dives in Islamorada. Andrew sits down with Mike for the full, unedited version of the conversation this week's four solo episodes have been building toward: 30-plus years running a dive shop, more than 10,000 dives, and a front-row seat to watching the reefs he built his life around...
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Show Me the Receipts: Why I.CARE Monitors Every Coral It Plants
How To Protect The Ocean
Most coral restoration groups check on a sample of what they've planted, often around 20 to 30 percent, and report that sample as if it represents everything in the water. I.CARE checks on all of it. Every single coral outplant gets monitored at one week, one month, 90 days, then one, two, and three years, with no substitute and nothing left unaccounted for. That rule was built in by co-founders Mike Goldberg and Dr. Kylie Smith before I.CARE ever planted its first coral, and Mike frames it as a matter of fiduciary duty, the same obligation he'd expect from anyone handling someone else's...
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The Nursery Hack That Pays for Itself
How To Protect The Ocean
Coral nurseries need constant maintenance, and that maintenance is expensive and relentless. When Andrew talked to Mike Goldberg, co-founder of I.CARE, his answer wasn't to hire more staff. It was to let paying customers do it for the fun of it. Mike owns a dive shop in the Florida Keys, so the paying customers are scuba divers, and over the years he's built a funding model so small that nobody has ever really complained about it. None of that makes sense until you understand what coral actually is. It's an animal, not a plant or a rock: what looks like one coral "head" is really a colony of...
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He Almost Quit the Dive Business. Then a Coral Reef PhD Student Walked In.
How To Protect The Ocean
Mike Goldberg had over 10,000 dives and decades running a dive shop in the Florida Keys, enough time to have seen the reefs at their pristine best. Then came a coral bleaching event in 2008, and a few years later, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, a still-unexplained outbreak that's killed coral tissue outright across more than 20 of Florida's roughly 45 stony coral species since 2014. At one point his wife told him directly: the reef isn't what it used to be, and it's not getting better. Get out of the business before there's nothing left to sell. He didn't know what to do about it. Then,...
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84 Percent: Inside the Worst Coral Bleaching Event Ever Recorded
How To Protect The Ocean
This year, most of the coral on the planet went through heat stress severe enough to bleach it. That's not a rounding error: 84 percent of the world's reef area, across the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, and NOAA had to add three brand-new alert levels to its Coral Reef Watch scale because the existing one had no category for what was happening. In this episode, Andrew breaks down exactly where global coral reefs stand right now: how the fourth global mass bleaching event on record got declared, why NOAA waited until 2026 to confirm it had actually ended, and why every global bleaching...
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Everyone in the Tent: How Ocean Treaties Actually Get Made
How To Protect The Ocean
Holly Koehler has spent almost thirty years in rooms most people never think about: windowless UN offices in New York, the FAO in Rome, and what she calls "oftentimes very boring hotel ballrooms around the world," where countries hash out how the ocean actually gets managed. She's the Vice President of Policy and Outreach at the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), and before that she spent thirteen years at the U.S. State Department's Office of Marine Conservation, chairing international fisheries negotiations. In this episode, she walks Andrew through how a grad-school...
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Inside the System That Makes a Seafood Label Trustworthy
How To Protect The Ocean
Between a fishing vessel out on the water and a can of tuna in your grocery cart, there is a complex, little-understood system working to verify whether you should trust what is on the label. In this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast, host Andrew Lewin breaks down how that system actually works, and why the blue check mark on your seafood means something real. Andrew starts with the RFMO, a regional fisheries management organization: a treaty-based body where countries with a stake in a fishery legally bind themselves to cooperate on how it is managed. He walks through where...
info_outlineOn this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, we dive into how AI technology is being used to combat illegal fishing, ultimately reducing the risks migrants from Africa face when crossing into Europe. Discover the innovative work of Dyhia Belhabib from Algeria, who has revolutionized enforcement against illegal fishing practices. Tune in to learn more about the impact of her efforts.
Link to the article: https://www.popsci.com/technology/ai-marine-conservation/
AI technology is revolutionizing the fight against illegal fishing activities, a critical issue with far-reaching implications beyond marine conservation. As highlighted in the podcast episode, individuals like Dahia Belhabib showcase how AI can effectively combat illegal fishing. By developing sophisticated AI-powered databases like Spyglass and utilizing tools such as the GRACE AI risk assessment tool, authorities can now track vessel movements in real-time and predict the likelihood of environmental crimes at sea.
Reducing illegal fishing activities is crucial not only for protecting marine ecosystems but also for the livelihoods of artisanal fishers in African countries. These fishers rely on sustainable fishing practices to support their families, and illegal fishing depletes fish stocks, leaving them without a viable source of income. This often leads to dangerous migration of African migrants to other countries, risking their lives on overcrowded boats.
By leveraging AI technology to crack down on illegal fishing, the goal is to create a more sustainable fishing industry that allows local fishers to thrive in their communities. Preserving fish stocks through effective enforcement enables artisanal fishers to continue their traditional practices and provide for their families without needing to migrate for better opportunities. This not only safeguards marine biodiversity but also addresses the root causes of migration, ultimately reducing the risks associated with dangerous migration routes.
The use of AI technology in monitoring and tracking illegal fishing activities is a powerful tool in the global fight against this issue. By enhancing surveillance capabilities and enabling real-time data analysis, authorities can more effectively detect and apprehend rogue fishing vessels. This proactive approach not only protects marine resources but also contributes to the safety and well-being of African migrants who might otherwise undertake perilous journeys in search of a better life.
Dahiya Belhabib, a remarkable woman from Algeria, has made significant strides in combating illegal fishing by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI). Belhabib's innovative approach involves creating a comprehensive database to monitor criminal activities of industrial fishing vessels. This database, known as Spyglass, is the world's largest registry of criminal history related to illegal fishing operations.
Belhabib's journey began with her doctoral research, which revealed the alarming extent of illegal fishing activities supplying Chinese and European markets. Recognizing the urgent need for action, she established the Spyglass database. This initiative has revolutionized the enforcement of illegal fishing laws by providing real-time tracking of vessel movements and identifying potential environmental crimes at sea.
Through her collaboration with co-founder Sogol Godin, Belhabib developed an AI-powered risk assessment tool named GRACE, in honor of the pioneering coder Grace Hopper. This tool predicts the likelihood of environmental crimes committed by vessels, enabling authorities to take proactive measures against illegal fishing activities. By leveraging AI technology and customized monitoring systems, Belhabib's efforts have significantly enhanced the effectiveness of policing marine crimes and criminal vessels.
Belhabib's dedication and entrepreneurial spirit have transformed marine conservation and paved the way for a more sustainable future. Her work exemplifies the impact individuals can have in safeguarding oceans and protecting ecosystems. Through her pioneering use of AI, Belhabib continues to lead the charge in combating illegal fishing and preserving marine biodiversity for future generations.
The Role of AI in Enhancing Illegal Fishing Monitoring and Enforcement
The episode highlights the groundbreaking work of Dahia Belhabib, who has leveraged AI technology to combat illegal fishing activities. By combining AI with real-time data processing, Belhabib has revolutionized the tracking and monitoring of illegal fishing vessels. This innovative approach has the potential to significantly enhance enforcement efforts and ultimately lead to the elimination of illegal fishing in the future.
Belhabib's creation of the Marine Crimes database, powered by AI algorithms like Ada and GRACE, has enabled the tracking of vessel movements in real-time. By utilizing signals from marine traffic transponders and other monitoring technologies, her team can predict the risk of environmental crimes at sea. This proactive approach allows for the identification of vessels engaged in illegal fishing activities, providing law enforcement agencies with the necessary information to intervene promptly.
Moreover, the collaboration with organizations like Global Fishing Watch and the use of satellite imagery have further strengthened monitoring capabilities. By visualizing global fishing activities and sharing data in near real-time, authorities can target suspect vessels and apprehend rogue fishing operations. This comprehensive approach, backed by advanced AI technology, has the potential to transform the landscape of illegal fishing enforcement.
The episode emphasizes the importance of AI in processing vast amounts of data efficiently and accurately. With the ability to analyze and interpret data in real-time, AI technology can facilitate quicker decision-making and response to illegal fishing incidents. By triangulating vessel positions and predicting routes, authorities can enhance their surveillance efforts and increase the likelihood of apprehending illegal fishing vessels.
Overall, the integration of AI with real-time data processing represents a significant advancement in the fight against illegal fishing. By harnessing the power of technology to track, monitor, and enforce regulations, stakeholders can work towards the ultimate goal of eliminating illegal fishing activities. Dahia Belhabib's pioneering work serves as a testament to the transformative potential of AI in marine conservation and enforcement efforts.