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Guides Market Sizing Big Data & Big Fish

Big Data & Big Fish

Published on 07/29/2016 | Market Sizing

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Tom Nuth

Tom Nuth is the Director of Product and Solutions Marketing and leads global strategy regarding vertical industry markets, coordinating efforts between product development and global sales.

IoT GUIDE

Overview

Not so many fish in the sea...

Over-fishing the world’s oceans threatens a global economy, the existence of numerous apex predators of the ocean, millions of people’s livelihood and the sustenance of nations. It is a huge problem that, if unsolved, could lead to a global starvation catastrophe. However, to spite massive surges of population, there is a solution to our depletion of fish and ocean ecosystems: Big Data.

Big Data & Big Fish

Big Data & Big Fish

Red snapper have been harvested from the Gulf of Mexico since the 1840s. Fisheries are a key industry along the Gulf Coast, from Texas to West-Florida. However, over-fishing began to rapidly deplete fish-yield in by the 1960s. As of 2000, spawning potential for red snapper population was down from 26% to a dismal 5%; making functional extinction imminent. Fisheries and generations of family-owned fishing operations went out of business at a rapid pace. To save this industry, as well as the crucial contributory to the gulf ecosystem, regulators began to frantically install stringent catch limits and mandated the use of special nets that more easily allowed juvenile species to escape capture. However, after five years, the population replacement of the red snapper still sat at a dismal 4.2%.

In 2005, data scientists partnered with marine biologists to develop a new plan based on algorithms built on the mating cycles and historical depletion rate of the red snapper. This system reverse-engineered the extinction cycles of the red snapper population to predict replacement rates to allow for limited fishing activity while maximizing the replacement rate. Competing fisheries were allowed an equal share division of roughly 50% of the red snapper supply in the Gulf. With this “catch-share” system, the red snapper population grew exponentially each season; as the models suggested.

Today, the red snapper population is as high as it has been since the 1940’s, and the population replacement rate is as high as it’s been in over 40 years. Many fisheries are yielding more fish than they have in decades, while maintaining a healthy ecosystem that supports the natural replacement of the red snapper of the Gulf Coast.The global problem of over-fishing is a catastrophic issue with the potential to bring about a global crisis of starvation. However, the red snapper catch-share program’s success in the Gulf of Mexico is a shining light of hope that can be duplicated.

Best Practices Duplicated

Research led by Stanford University at the Hopkins Marine Station is hoping to better understand the migratory and feeding habits of apex predators that migrate to the northern coast of California each year. The hope is to duplicate the success of the red snapper with the top pacific predators. The Tagging of Pelagic Predators (TOPP) Project, this initiative will initiate a 10-year census of marine life of more than 5,000 apex marine animals, spanning 23 species. Tracking and logging this data, TOPP will be able to help gauge the health of ocean ecosystem and drive optimum fishing standardization on a international level.

We don’t know the basics about our oceans that cover two thirds of the earth. Marine scientists are probably 30 to 50 years behind their land counterparts. And it’s only due to the creation of mobile chips in the last 20 years that they’re catching up at all.

- Barbara Block: marine biologist at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station

The same technologies that are embedded in our smartphones are now atop thousands of marine animals, collecting and streaming valuable data regarding temperature, depth, location and much more to a central database for analysis. This practice is critical for long-term monitoring of our ocean's health. These data-tracking systems not only identify ecological health-status, but the implications to preserve and sustain the Pacific-based fishing industry as well.

Source: http://www-marine.stanford.edu

Source: http://www.gtopp.org

The Main Point

Big Data, and the innovation within this domain, has implications that bring us far beyond the traditional digital B2C commerce that has brought about the Big Data industry a decade ago. As our horizontal data processing capabilities grow more powerful, and as intelligent devices grow more pervasive, we will be able to bring about real positive impact on commerce, society, and yes... the deep blue sea.

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