Chinese trawlers travel farthest and fish the most
David Kroodsma
China is “the most important fishing nation ” David Kroodsma  Global Fishing Watch’s research and development director  who was the study’s lead author  said in an interview.
The project’s next steps   Kroodsma  said  would be to take the data and see how it can be applied to policy and additional research.
For instance   he  said  researchers are comparing maps of different species of fish with the areas where various fleets are operating.
“People ask  are we overfishing? People ask  what kinds of regulations are good ones versus bad ones? How do fishermen respond to subsidies?”  he  said. “All these questions about how we manage the oceans  we can now answer. We can bring data to the table.”
Previous studies have inferred fishing activity rather than directly studied it   he  said. But the advent of wide-ranging commercial satellite coverage  plus access to data from ships’ transponders  allowed the Global Fishing Watch researchers to paint a much more detailed picture.
China is “the most important fishing nation ” [TGT]  Global Fishing Watch’s research and development director  who was the study’s lead author  said in an interview.
The project’s next steps   Kroodsma  said  would be to take the data and see how it can be applied to policy and additional research.
For instance   he  said  researchers are comparing maps of different species of fish with the areas where various fleets are operating.
“People ask  are we overfishing? People ask  what kinds of regulations are good ones versus bad ones? How do fishermen respond to subsidies?”  he  said. “All these questions about how we manage the oceans  we can now answer. We can bring data to the table.”
Previous studies have inferred fishing activity rather than directly studied it   he  said. But the advent of wide-ranging commercial satellite coverage  plus access to data from ships’ transponders  allowed the Global Fishing Watch researchers to paint a much more detailed picture.