Global Fishing Watch (GFW), has developed a Marine Manager tool that it said is revolutionizing marine resource protection and management in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador.
The platform is an interactive map that utilizes artificial intelligence, big data, scientific input, and user contributions to provide a comprehensive view of the sea. This includes animal telemetry, which tracks the movements of marine species such as sharks, whales, and turtles. It also incorporates environmental layers to visualize underwater mountains, corals, and mangroves.
The platform also includes oceanographic information, such as sea temperature and oxygen concentration, to better understand how climate change affects marine ecosystems, and monitors fishing activity to detect vessel movements and even potential illegal activities.
“Marine Manager emerges as a mega-platform that allows us to visualize all these different layers of information interactively. This enables the managers of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to monitor and better understand what is happening in these zones,” explained Global Fishing Watch’s leader for Latin America, biologist Monica Espinoza, in an interview with EFE.
“Creating an MPA is a huge step, but managing, maintaining, and monitoring them is the big task that follows. Marine Manager supports these efforts by the states,” she added.
In 2004, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador created the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Conservation Corridor (CMAR), a unique global initiative that promotes the conservation and sustainable use of an area covering over two million square kilometers. These countries now use the interactive map to manage their marine resources more efficiently and in a coordinated manner.
Through the Marine Manager portal, CMAR administrators collectively identify areas of interest, improving coordination and information exchange.
This effort also supports the goals of the global 30×30 agreement, which aims to protect at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 to halt the rapid loss of species and protect vital ecosystems.
During the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, held from October 21 to November 1 in Cali, Colombia, CMAR countries will share their experience and success in using these technological tools to protect marine ecosystems and species.
Regional cooperation initially focused on protecting Malpelo and Gorgona Islands (Colombia), Coiba Island (Panama), the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), and Cocos Island (Costa Rica). However, due to growing concerns about marine conservation, protection has expanded to new areas.
In recent years, the number of marine protected areas has increased from four to ten sites, with stronger safeguards and better connectivity for multiple species. This includes Colombia’s Yuruparí-Malpelo Integrated Management District and Northern Pacific Lomas and Hills Integrated Management District, Costa Rica’s Bicentennial Marine Management Area, and Ecuador’s Hermandad Marine Reserve.
The Cocos Marine Conservation Area has used the tool to generate its own information and “has been able to identify that in the first half of 2024, apparent fishing effort (total amount of fishing activity) in the protected area decreased by 91%,” Espinoza said.
