Background: Global Fishing Watch is an international, non-profit organization committed to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency. We create, transform and distribute data to increase the transparency of human activities in the global ocean. We believe the application of this knowledge will lead to greater accountability, improved governance and a reduction in threats to the sustainability of marine resources and biodiversity.  Founded in 2015 through a collaboration between Oceana, SkyTruth, and Google, Global Fishing Watch became an independent, international nonprofit organization in June 2017. Using cutting-edge technology, we create and publicly share map visualizations, data, and analysis tools to enable scientific research and drive a transformat