Monitoring for Change: New Report Reveals Electronic Monitoring and Wi-Fi Improve Crew Welfare

A new report led by The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International shows significant promise in using electronic monitoring and Wi-Fi technologies to improve social responsibility across the global fishing industry. The groundbreaking report was informed by over a year’s worth of research followed by a six-month pilot project during which electronic monitoring and Wi-Fi technologies were installed on tuna longline vessels based in the Western and Central Pacific to evaluate the feasibility of using these technology systems to monitor labor indicators (i.e., human rights violations, safety and working conditions), track progress towards social responsibility and research how electronic monitoring might integrate into a wider systems approach to improve crew welfare while at sea.

Researchers concluded that electronic monitoring can be used as an effective tool to capture labor indicators and, when coupled with Wi-Fi, improve crew welfare by providing real-time access to communication channels for connecting with family, safely reporting grievances and/or managing finances.

The report titled “Monitoring for Change: Insights from a Pilot on Electronic Monitoring and Wi-Fi Solutions for Social Responsibility” was prepared by The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International in partnership with Ocean Outcomes and Global Fishing Watch. Funding for the project came from the Walmart Foundation.

“Our research reveals that the widely-recognized benefits of electronic monitoring technologies extend far beyond marine conservation and can significantly improve crew welfare at sea,” said Meghan Fletcher, Ocean Science & Technology Manager with The Nature Conservancy. “We now know that implementing this technology on industrial fishing vessels can both strengthen fisheries management and support verification of important social safeguards. The initial results of this study are promising, and we look forward to conducting further research that will help scale these solutions across the entire industry.”

Industrial fishing covers over half of the ocean’s surface—an area three times larger than that covered by land-based farming—providing vital nutrients to over three billion people worldwide while contributing billions of dollars to the global economy. Despite the social and economic importance of this sector, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities are widespread and threaten livelihoods, food security, marine biodiversity, and human welfare. Illegality in the fishing industry encompasses a wide range of human rights violations, including forced labor, human trafficking, debt bondage, and sexual and labor exploitation. This phenomenon is both globally prevalent and highly complex.

One key issue is lack of on-the-water monitoring on industrial fishing vessels. Without verifiable on-the-water monitoring, illegal activities go unnoticed without accountability, which undermines the effectiveness of conservation and management measures, weakens governance frameworks, and introduces environmental and human rights risks into the global seafood supply chain.

Electronic monitoring—the use of onboard video cameras, GPS, and sensors to monitor and verify fishing activities at sea—is widely recognized as a cost-effective tool that improves transparency, enforcement, and data quality for better fisheries management. But until now, limited research has been done to understand how electronic monitoring can also be used to identify human rights violations. In addition, the benefits of making Wi-Fi accessible to crew members have not been well studied.

To inform their approach, researchers first mapped out labor indicators that could be successfully captured through a typical electronic monitoring video review process. Electronic monitoring and Wi-Fi systems were then trialed on three tuna longline vessels based in the Western and Central Pacific for a six-month period (March 2024 – August 2024). During this time, researchers reviewed 20 percent of all fishing operations plus randomly-selected 24-hour assessments of worker activities. To gain valuable insights from vessel owners, captains, and crew, researchers performed over 50 pre- and post-trip interviews.

Key research findings include:

• Electronic monitoring can feasibly capture on-the-water labor indicators, including accidents, injuries, presence of personal protective equipment, estimated work/rest hours and trip length.
• Wi-Fi is a critical intervention for crew welfare; crew members reported feeling safer and more connected to the outside world when they had access to Wi-Fi while at sea.
• Electronic monitoring is seen by both captains and crew as valuable evidence to resolve disputes.
• Electronic monitoring for social responsibility requires careful consideration and ethical implementation to minimize potential harms of surveillance.
• Electronic monitoring review rates and costs for additional social responsibility monitoring may pose challenges for wider uptake and scaling of this technology so further research and technology innovation will likely remain important.
• Scalability requires stronger policies and industry commitments for improved labor conditions.

This first-of-its-kind research generated new insights into how NGOs, labor groups, industry partners, and national and regional governing agencies can take steps to incorporate important mechanisms for monitoring social indicators into future electronic monitoring programs. Importantly, EM data needs to be integrated into grievance and remediation processes and embedded within wider human rights due diligence processes. To build on this work, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International and Ocean Outcomes will soon embark on a second phase of this research focused on:

• Building partnerships with relevant stakeholders to design and implement (1) electronic monitoring data sharing agreements that incorporate labor indicators into electronic monitoring data review workstreams and (2) Wi-Fi access agreements for crews at sea.
• Expand the use of electronic monitoring and Wi-Fi systems for social responsibility from three vessels to 10 vessels to gather robust data insights across a larger timespan, integrate data with grievance mechanisms, and gather evidence on the impact of these technologies for labor risk identification, grievance reporting and remediation, to help shape electronic monitoring programs for social responsibility and drive wider uptake of Wi-Fi access for crews at sea.
• Work with a trusted labor review group and electronic monitoring analysts to integrate EM data into grievance mechanisms and remediation services, and gather evidence of the impact of EM data in resolving issues and protecting crew.
• Explore electronic monitoring technology innovations (i.e., AI/ML advancements, etc.) to improve data review speeds and enhance detection of labor incidents at sea.
• Derisk electronic monitoring and Wi-Fi solutions for social responsibility by demonstrating and highlighting pathways for scaling to encourage wider adoption of these technologies beyond this second phase of work.

To learn more about this first-of-its-kind pilot project, including researching findings and future plans, please click here.

About Conservation International: Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, for biodiversity and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples and local communities to help people and nature thrive together. Visit Conservation.org for more, and follow us on Conservation News, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. 

About The Nature Conservancy: The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more sustainable. The Nature Conservancy is working to make a lasting difference around the world in 81 countries and territories (40 by direct conservation impact and 41 through partners) through a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. To learn more, visit nature.org.