Our Ocean Conference 2026 backs fisheries transparency built on satellite and AI tracking
At the 2026 Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, governments backed a fisheries transparency drive using AI, satellite imagery and public vessel tracking data.
Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels
Governments meeting in Mombasa, Kenya, backed a new push for fisheries transparency as the 2026 Our Ocean Conference closed on June 18, 2026. The pledge, named the “Mombasa Declaration,” commits its signatories to open up information on who owns fishing vessels, where they operate and whether they follow the rules. That is the kind of data that satellite imagery, artificial intelligence and public vessel tracking can now verify at sea. The declaration was one outcome of a conference that recorded 320 commitments worth $6.4 billion.
The 11th Our Ocean Conference, held on June 16-18, 2026, was the first hosted in Africa. According to the World Resources Institute, which serves as the conference secretariat, more than 100 governments, businesses and civil-society organizations made commitments across six action areas. Host nation Kenya announced about 42 commitments worth roughly $1 billion, including a $200 million plan to fit electronic monitoring to every industrial fishing vessel in its waters.
Where the $6.4 billion in commitments went
The conference logged 320 commitments from 104 countries and organizations. The largest share of money went to the sustainable blue economy and to fisheries, as the table below shows.
| Action area | Commitments | Finance ($ million) |
|---|---|---|
| Sustainable blue economy | 86 | 2,864 |
| Sustainable fisheries | 51 | 1,750 |
| Ocean-climate nexus | 57 | 1,180 |
| Marine protected areas | 67 | 355 |
| Marine pollution | 45 | 223 |
| Maritime security | 14 | 28 |
| Total | 320 | 6,401 |
Source: World Resources Institute, Our Ocean Conference 2026 commitment highlights (June 18, 2026).
Other headline pledges included $682 million from Canada for its Small Craft Harbours Program and a World Bank Group plan to invest $1 billion over two years to help developing countries build blue economies. French Polynesia announced more than 27,000 square kilometers of new regulated fishing areas and protection zones within Tainui Atea, which the secretariat describes as the world’s largest marine protected area. Since the conference series began in 2014, WRI counts 3,220 commitments worth $175.6 billion.
How the Mombasa Declaration defines fisheries transparency
The “Mombasa Declaration” asks coastal and flag states to modernize vessel registries, publish fishing authorizations and strengthen information-sharing so enforcement agencies can act. It was developed with the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency, a group of environmental organizations formed in 2022 that drew up the “Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency” in 2023, a set of 10 low-cost or no-cost policy principles.
The count of endorsing governments differs by source. Global Fishing Watch reported 16 governments on June 18; a list published by SeafoodSource on June 17 named 15: Belgium, Cameroon, Chile, the Dominican Republic, France (for its overseas territories), Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Republic of the Congo, Somalia and South Korea. The Coalition for Fisheries Transparency estimates that illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing costs the global economy $50 billion a year; WRI puts the cost to African economies at $11 billion to $13 billion a year.
The technology behind fisheries transparency at sea
The declaration’s promise of fisheries transparency rests on monitoring tools that already exist. Vessels broadcast their position through the automatic identification system (AIS) and through vessel monitoring systems (VMS) run by national authorities. Global Fishing Watch, a non-profit founded by Oceana, SkyTruth and Google, publishes that data on a free public map. At the conference, Panama confirmed it would publicly share the VMS data of its roughly 200 domestic fishing vessels through the map, building on a 2019 partnership that first opened its international fleet. Madagascar agreed to expand its own tracking partnership.
Two announcements push the technology further. Global Fishing Watch and the Minderoo Foundation began work on what they describe as the first global map to capture both industrial fleets and small-scale vessels, combining tracking data with satellite imagery and analytics; it is due to deploy on July 1, 2026. Separately, the organization’s chief scientist, David Kroodsma, presented research that used artificial intelligence and high-resolution satellite imagery to detect more than 30,000 small-scale vessels along Africa’s coastline, many of them absent from existing datasets. “We cannot sustainably manage what we cannot see,” said Global Fishing Watch chief executive Tony Long.
| Transparency measure announced | Detail |
|---|---|
| Panama public VMS data | Tracking data for about 200 domestic vessels added to the public map |
| Madagascar partnership | Expanded vessel tracking and monitoring cooperation |
| Global vessel map (with Minderoo) | First map of industrial and small-scale vessels; deploys July 1, 2026 |
| AI and satellite analysis | More than 30,000 small-scale vessels detected off Africa |
Source: Global Fishing Watch press release, June 18, 2026.
The transparency drive sits within the wider 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, whose 17 Sustainable Development Goals include Goal 14, life below water. Making fishing activity visible is the precondition the signatories set for the rest: stronger enforcement, fairer competition for law-abiding crews and better-managed stocks.
Background: tracking fishing from space
Public, satellite-based fishing surveillance is little more than a decade old. Global Fishing Watch launched in 2016, applying machine learning to AIS signals to classify whether a vessel is fishing and to flag behavior such as loitering or transshipment at sea. Coverage has since widened from large industrial ships toward the small-scale boats that dominate many national fleets but rarely carry transponders, which is where satellite imagery and AI now fill the gap. The Coalition for Fisheries Transparency built on that base with its 2023 charter, and the next Our Ocean Conference is due to be hosted by Canada and Jamaica. The “Mombasa Declaration” turns those tools into a political commitment, asking governments to publish what their own monitoring systems already record.
Sources: World Resources Institute; Global Fishing Watch; SeafoodSource
Featured image: photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels (free Pexels license).
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I specialize in sustainability education, curriculum co-creation, and early-stage project strategy. At WINSS, I craft articles on sustainability, transformative AI, and related topics. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me chasing the perfect sushi roll, exploring cities around the globe, or unwinding with my dog Puffy — the world’s most loyal sidekick.
