Coming Together for Our Oceans
How we can turn the tide before it’s too late
Our world’s oceans are in deep trouble. Sea life is plummeting. Temperature and acidity are increasing. Coral reefs are dying. And so much plastic waste is washing to sea that experts estimate it could outweigh all saltwater fish within a few decades. So as many of the world’s top diplomats and marine scientists gather this week for the State Department’s annual Our Ocean Conference, the challenge of restoring ocean health has never been more urgent.
Paul Allen is no stranger to tough problems, and he is working hard to improve the health of our oceans for future generations. Whether it is supporting researchers’ efforts to combat ocean acidification, advancing our understanding of the world’s actual catch, or gathering foundational data on declining shark populations, he puts data and innovation at the center to develop scalable and sustainable solutions.
Here are two new programs we are supporting to help stem the rapid decline of ocean life.
Sharks and Rays
Current research shows that an estimated 100 million sharks are killed each year, and that rays make up five out of seven of the most threatened families of cartilaginous fish. Some shark species have already suffered a 90 percent decline, and nearly a quarter of all shark and ray species — some that have been swimming Earth’s oceans for eons — are threatened. Left unchecked, these ominous trends could lead to these extraordinary animals’ extinction.
That’s why we are proud to be part of the newly formed Global Partnership for Sharks and Rays, a new collaboration between the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and Oceans 5. This organization will seek to stop the rapid decline in shark and ray populations, which is driven by a global market for shark fin, liver oil, cartilage, leather, meat and ray gill plates.
Illegal Fishing
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing accounts for an estimated 18 percent of global catch. In some regions, as many as one in three fish are illegally caught. This IUU fishing goes largely unchecked because authorities lack the ability to effectively monitor activity on the water.
To help overcome this extraordinary challenge, Paul Allen is committing $3.7 million to fund a unique team of technology, marine science and aerospace experts to develop new approaches to combat illegal fishing. The first technical challenge that this team is tackling is the application of machine-learning software to satellite imagery, in order to identify fishing vessels at sea and learn more about their behavior.
While leveraging satellites and new technologies holds promise, a fundamental problem remains: oceans are huge and fishing vessels are, by comparison, miniscule. Add in complications of cloud cover and completely legal fishing fleets, and the challenge becomes even greater. After all, it won’t do much good if we can’t tell the good actors from the bad. But if it is possible to build systems capable of detecting and identifying illegal fishing boats in action, and the impact on global fisheries could be significant.
Changing the course of our ocean’s health and planet’s climate trajectory will take time — there’s no quick fix. But we can and must pursue this complex transformation aggressively, and the time to start is now.
