- Actor gave £5.4m ($6m) to a new project that monitors fishing vessels
- Global Fishing Watch reveals locations and paths of commercial fish fleets
- More than 35,000 vessels can be tracked online to look for illegal activity
- Around two thirds of global fish stocks are now overexploited or depleted
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has teamed up with Google to create a new satellite-based surveillance system to spy on illegal fishing.
The technology, which is being provided free online so members of the public can monitor the oceans for activity, is aimed at combating overfishing around the world.
Fish stocks in many parts of the world are perilously low after being over exploited and despite international agreements on what can be caught, many are still overfished illegally.
Google has teamed up with two conservation groups and actor Leonardo DiCaprio to create technology that allows the public to monitor the activity of commercial fishing vessels around the world (pictured). It uses satellite, radar and transponder data
The technology, called Global Fishing Watch, is designed to provide an eye in the sky that constantly searches for this activity.
By providing the information free online, marine conservation campaigners hope citizens will be able to play their part in looking for illegal activity.
'This unprecedented technology is available to everyone in the world,' DiCaprio said at the launch of the software at the US State Department in Washington.
'This platform will empower citizens across the globe to become powerful advocates for our oceans.'
Around two thirds of global fish stocks are overexploited or depleted according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Illegal fishing is estimated to account for 35 per cent of the global wild marine catch and causes yearly losses of £17.7 billion ($23.5 billion).
Some of the planet's largest fish, including tuna and swordfish, now have populations that are below 10 per cent of their historical level.
Using satellite technology combined with radar aboard boats, the new platform allows people to trace the paths of 35,000 commercial fishing vessels in almost real time.
Source: dailymail
