OceanMind

OceanMind is a not-for-profit organisation that powers marine enforcement and compliance to protect the ocean’s ability to provide for human wellbeing. OceanMind aims at supporting governmental authorities and food suppliers, mainly seafood buyers, by combining maritime expertise and knowledge with advanced technologies. Originally launched in 2014 as the “Project Eyes on the Seas”, resulting from a collaboration between the Satellite Applications Catapult and Pew Charitable Trusts, OceanMind became a new independent not-for-profit organisation in 2018.

The challenge

Overfishing is one of the main factors causing the decline of the ocean’s wildlife populations. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), between 2017 and 2018, 1/3 of global fish stocks are classified as overfished and no longer biologically sustainable. In Europe, about 38% of the fish in the North-East Atlantic and the Baltic Sea is overfished. In the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, this percentage reaches 87% in total. Aggressive and destructive fishing methods are indeed one of the principal threats to biodiversity and habitats. For example, Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs) dramatically increase catch rates and reduce the resource and effort required per catch. Nevertheless, they also result in higher levels of bycatch, particularly of vulnerable species. In addition, often FADs are lost, adding to the marine waste problem. Validate the fishing methods for seafood suppliers is relevant today to provide the consumers with a sustainable product.

The satellite solution

In 2017, the OceanMind team developed an independent validation of source, legality, and fishing methods. The methodology merges a wide variety of data, including Vessel Monitoring System (VSM) data, Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, fishing vessels’ authorisations, and oceanographic and geospatial data derived from satellite images collected through multiple sources, including private companies as Spire, and Earthwatch, that represent the main validation tool for OceanMind.

The output of this data analysis is a risk assessment report delivered by OceanMind to their partners, mainly seafood suppliers and food retailers, to support traceability and inform their buying decisions. The multi-layered information analysis on the seafood supply chain allows users to verify the claims of the fishing practices made by a supplier and provides information on any suspected illegal behaviour.

The results

OceanMind developed its first report on FAD fishing methods for the British food retailer Sainsbury’s to validate the fishing methods adopted by the vessels in their tuna supply chain. OceanMind and Sainsbury’s are working together to ensure a long term and independent feedback mechanism to validate the legality and responsibility of tuna suppliers from the moment of capture. This approach can impact significantly fishing techniques and could serve as a case study for other supply chains such as agriculture.

Leveraging on OceanMind data and assessment, Sainsbury’s farmed fish sources are today 100% certified, and 82.3% of their wild-caught fish and seafood is considered as sustainable and environmentally friendly by the UK Marine Stewardship Council standards. The 2019 estimations from Sainsbury’s, highlighted that verified FAD-free tuna represents 90% of Sainsbury’s canned tuna offer and approximately 9% of their total fish sale.

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Floating plastic debris represents today the most abundant marine litter. The consequences deriving from the high concentration of disposable plastic in the ocean are heavily affecting multiple subsectors of the blue economy, such as aquaculture, fisheries, tourism, navigation, etc.

Turtle eating a plastic bag. Plastic Bags are often confused with jelly fishes. Credits: Canva

UNESCO estimates that by 2050 there will be more plastics than fishes in the oceans. Each year, more than eight million tons of plastic trash are poured into the oceans, which means that 253 kilos of plastics are discharged every second in the oceans. [2]

Plastics have been detected on shorelines, in particular nearby touristic or densely populated areas. Most marine plastic originates from the land- and is caused by human activities (industries, illegal dumping, tourism, etc.). Other plastics originate from the sea itself, e.g. from fishing industries, aquaculture and nautical activities. [3]

Impacts of plastic pollution at sea are visible on the marine ecosystem, threatening marine species. Indeed, plastic debris is often swallowed by marine species causing severe injuries and deaths, also putting human health and food safety and quality at risk. Many species die or have chronic injuries, especially marine birds, turtles and whales. In particular, most sea species often confuse small plastic debris for food, ingesting them and enabling the proliferation of harmful toxic substances. In addition to this, floating plastic debris carries bacteria or other invasive marine organisms that can damage ecosystems, altering the marine food equilibrium. [4]

Coastal areas represent one of the main sources of plastic pollution at sea, especially river mouths where about 75% of plastic trash tends to accumulate. Indeed, where fresh and saltwater meet, waste accumulation lines tend to create naturally. Detecting and removing such debris is of paramount importance to reduce the negative impacts of plastics on the marine ecosystem.

Space technology and data to tackle plastic pollution at sea

Satellite technology and solutions, combined with in-situ measurements and ocean models, can play a role in monitoring plastic litter, providing information on its abundance, concentration and movements at sea.[1]

Space technology to monitor plastic marine litter. Credits: European Space Agency

The I Clean My Sea App: Technology and collective efforts to protect our seas and oceans

I Clean My Sea is a French start-up based in Nouvelle Aquitaine. It has been founded in 2019 by Aymeric Jouon, oceanographer and founder of the company Hydro-cote.

Building on the experience of its founder, I Clean My Sea develop debris collection services that support decision-makers in the fight against marine pollution. At the same time, the company aimed at building an engaged user community active in the fight against marine plastic pollution, a global challenge that asks for the involvement of citizens, professionals in the marine and maritime domains, as well as local administrations.

I Clean My Sea provides services to detect, collect and recycle floating plastics in coastal areas. The start-up has benefitted from an incubation grant from the Communauté d’agglomération du Pays Basque, and currently is a laureate of the European Space Agency (ESA) Business Incubation Centre (BIC) Sud France programme to encourage satellite technology transfer in the maritime domain.

To boost citizens’ involvement in the identification and removal of plastic debris, in July 2020 I Clean My Sea launched a crowdsourcing namesake app. The app allows people around the globe to detect floating marine debris and to photograph and geolocate them. The aim is to facilitate the collection of waste at sea using crowdsourcing information and new technologies.

The app is downloadable on every mobile and portable device, available on the Apple and Android app stores, and free to use. Once identified a plasticdump, the user can take a picture and geo-localise it thanks to the satellite navigation system embedded in the mobile and portable devices.

To collect the dump, the company, with the support of the Region Nouvelle Aquitaine, deployed a collector boat in 2020. Collector boats are conceived by the Race for Water Foundation, and specifically designed to collect floating waste in river estuaries, shorelines, and marine waters.

The sailors involved in the collection process also have access to the drift forecast derived from the physical model elaborated  by the Copernicus Marine and Analysis and Forecast Service, which provides a weekly 3D hydrodynamic forecast of the ocean  currents combining satellite data and in-situ observations.Once a picture is taken by the app user, the sailors aboard the  Collectors receive the location of the dump and the forecast of its trajectory in real time. The initial prototype of the app included a drift trajectory map built by Hydro-Cote. To implement the hydrodynamic process, I Clean My Sea started to rely on Copernicus services and products.

Thanks to this information, sailors get access to dump trajectories and collect the debris.

The collected plastics are then recycled by specialised firms to produce an I Clean My Sea branded product “100% marine sourced” for sustainable usage.

The app, as a participative tool, aims at helping sea actors and local coastal authorities in being more effective in collecting plastic debris. It can also help to identify the most polluted areas to support decision-making processes aimed at protecting the marine environment.

By the end of 2020, the app has been downloaded by 500 users and about 3.5 tons of floating debris have been collected. Currently, the I Clean My Sea App waste collection ship is mainly active on the Basque Coastline and the Adar estuary, but in the near future it will operate on a broader geographic area.

The Collector boat. Credits: ICleanMySea

Furthermore, in the next two years, I Clean My Sea will develop an algorithm in collaboration with ESA.  Relying on satellite imagery, the algorithm will allow for the identification of the accumulation of floating debris at seas. At the same time, starting from 2022, the company intends to look for more solutions to valorise floating debris and support the financial effort needed to collect plastics at sea.

For more information please visit the I Clean My Sea site.

Help us keep our oceans clean, download the app and stay connected!

[1] Tuba Guven, Leveraging space technologies to monitor plastic pollution in oceans, UNOOSA Space4Water Portal, March 12^th 2019. https://www.space4water.org/news/leveraging-space-technologies-monitor-plastic-pollution-oceans

[1] International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Marine Plastics. https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/marine-plastics

[2] UNESCO/IOC, Marine Pollution. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/ioc-oceans/focus-areas/rio-20-ocean/blueprint-for-the-future-we-want/marine-pollution/

[3] International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in ibid.

[4] Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS), Copernicus Marine and Plastic Pollution. https://marine.copernicus.eu/services/plastic-pollution/impacts-marine-plastic-pollution

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The workshop focused mostly on the use of Earth Observation data and technologies for the Atlantic region. The Atlantic a fertile region and the emerging industry sector in the area is characterised by cutting-edge science and technologies, in particular from satellite technology, tracking and imaging. The workshop, from the 23^rd to the 25^th of January, consisted in joint panels and parallel sessions on the macro topics of Science, Applications, Data Management and Platforms.

Eurisy participated in the Applications sections and in particular the session focused on the EU Maritime Spatial Planning and the Blue Economy. The Eurisy presentation concentrated on the blue economy and how Earth Observation can be considered as a tool in the implementation of a sustainable blue economy.

Recently, the so-called “blue economy” has become a popular topic for discussion. According to the 2018 Annual Economic Report on EU Blue Economy, it comprises all the economic activities related to oceans, seas and coasts, that cover of established sectors (eg.: Aquaculture, fisheries, coastal tourism, maritime transport, etc.) and new ones (eg. Blue bio-economy and biotechnology, coastal and environmental protection, etc.) It is important to define what “blue economy” means in order to better explain its relevance to social and economic development and why satellite technologies can be a game-changer in this sense.

Europe is developing new measures and initiatives to boost blue economy for coastal regions. Since 2014, the European Union adopted the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive, a legislation that aims at creating a common framework for maritime spatial planning in Europe. Including its outlying regions, the EU has the world’s largest maritime territory. Blue economy’s turnover is about € 566 billion, the sector generates € 174 billion of added value and creates jobs for nearly 3.5 million people. It is important to delineate measures and identifying tools to stimulate a further development of this economy.

In this dynamic and complex system, space has indeed an important role. Space systems are vital tools to support marine understanding and economic activities, improving the knowledge of the marine environment and guaranteeing innovation and disrupting new technologies. One of the key features identified in the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive is, indeed, based on the ecosystem approach, for which, data and information delivered by Earth Observation (EO) technology play an important role to better implement Maritime Spatial Planning.

The use and introduction of Earth Observation technology in the maritime sector is not something new: for instance, Operation Pakhisa, a South African government initiative to develop the blue economy across several areas, including aquaculture, relies on Sentinel 3 data.

Eurisy presented how the integration of Earth Observation, together with Satellite Navigation and Satellite Communication technologies, is proving to be effective in tackling challenges in the maritime field. One example is that of the Havarie Kommando, the German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME). This federal institution used EO combined with satellite communications and satellite navigation to respond to marine pollution, in particular to respond to oil spills in the northern coasts of Germany. The CCME used the CleanSeaNet, an oil spill and vessel detection space-based service based on satellite data, provided by the European Maritime Safety Agency. The CCME receives 600 satellite images per year, containing a classification of the dark spots detected according to their resemblance with oil spills and their potential impact. By combining information on potential oil spills and their position relative to vessels, the CCME is also able to identify the potential polluters. The use of this service played an important role in improving the surveillance capacity in case of incidents. The CCME example is significant not only because it is a clear example of the use of satellite data and technology applied to the downstream sector, but also because the benefits of using such space-based system positively affect the coastal regions economic activities, from fishing to tourism.

Another relevant application is the use of Earth Observation to spot algal bloom from space. Harmful algal bloom can have dangerous and negative consequences on aquaculture, desalination, fishing, and consequently human health. Thanks to new technologies, the combination of microscope images, buoy information and EO images, spotting algal bloom from space become easier and more effective.

There is a long list of potential applications of EO in the maritime sector. The majority of these applications have a positive impact on the human activities on the earth. As demonstrated recently in other fields, society can positively benefit from satellite technology. It is, then, important to highlight the relevance of having direct contributions and feedback from the users. Eurisy’s mission is to connect space and society. We adopt a user centric approach, in particular we work mostly on the identification of user needs and on raising awareness on satellite benefits for societal needs. What is important is to understand if the demand and supply of satellite services are properly matched to each other.

In our session on Applications, users were virtually brought into the discussion. As also explained by Mr. José Moutinho from the Portuguese AIR Centre, it is vital to communicate and interact with the end users at every level of society. It helps to better guide the service providers and to help the national, or regional or local policy makers create ad-hoc policies that would help the implementation of sustainable measures to guarantee the development of a sustainable coastal economy. For this reason, the AIR Centre, adopted an interesting tool called User Story Conversation Canvas, a questionnaire adapted to everyone. Such an initiative, like many others, is fundamental in giving a full picture of what the users, and society, need.

What has been highlighted, especially in our presentation, is that recently the demand for EO products is increasing, also in the maritime sector. However, often this demand is not matching the supply because of the high volume of research projects that rarely get to the “go-to-market” phase. Furthermore, it has been noticed that the main applications in the maritime sector are related to navigation and communication, only in combination with EO. There is then, a lack of services based exclusively on Earth Observation data. It would be useful, in the future, to target a non- traditional group of users. An example would be, for the maritime field, to target fisheries as potential end users. To make this connection easy it is important to have a clear explanation of how satellite technology, and EO in the specific, can improve their economic activity and boost their income, making the fishing experience easier, safer, and more sustainable. It is necessary to always consider that when a dialogue with non-space related sectors starts, it has to be plain. The interlocutor need to understand the pros and cons of adopting a technological tool far from his/her field of activity. If this dialogue is well structured and comprehensible to everyone, then it will be simpler for the users to finally understand the benefits derived from space applications.

Another point that we found highly relevant is the proliferation of clusters dedicated to the implementation of satellite technologies in the maritime context. They are the results of policies and initiatives at European and regional levels that proves to be effective for the economic development of coastal areas. The growing number of EO clusters in the Atlantic region demonstrates the importance of collaborations between different institutional levels, economic and financial actors and academia. It would be appropriate in the future to start from clusters’ initiatives to push forward projects that could turn into applications that would help in facilitating economic and social development in coastal regions.

The workshop was a first small step that helped us in learning more on the topic and to exchange views with the participants. We hope in the next future to continue to develop activities on the use of satellite technology for the maritime sector.

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