Protecting UK interests and industry at sea – from space

The Satellite Applications Catapult’s spin-out, Oceanmind, powers marine enforcement and compliance to protect the ocean’s ability to provide for human wellbeing. Using satellites and artificial intelligence it helps authorities enforce more effectively and industry work more responsibly.

This market-leading service uses observation of fishing vessels to help establish, monitor and enforce large-scale Marine Protrected Areas (MPAs) across the British Indian Ocean Territory, Pitcairn Islands, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, Saint Helena, British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

With the value of losses to the global fisheries sector through illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing estimated at between $10 billion and $23.5 billion (WWF), the impact of this technology is significant.

The nature of the fishing industry makes effective monitoring a real challenge. Previously there was no cost-effective means to provide enforcement, which made the policy of establishing MPAs undeliverable.

However OceanMind has developed next-generation technology using satellites, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to understand the compliance of maritime human activity and its impact on the ocean.

OceanMind continues to work on enforcement support for the British Blue Belt of marine protected areas. It also works on global supply chain challenges with international fisheries and global retailers.

By powering enforcement and compliance, OceanMind protects UK interests and the world’s oceans.