Africa Fisheries Analyst - Global Fishing Watch

Global Fishing Watch (GFW) is an international, non-profit organization committed to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency. We create and publicly share knowledge about human activity at sea to enable fair and sustainable use of our ocean. Founded in 2015 through a collaboration between Oceana, SkyTruth, and Google, GFW became an independent non-profit organization in June 2017.

Using cutting-edge technology, we create and publicly share map visualizations, data and analysis tools to enable scientific research and drive a transformation in how we manage our ocean. Our major focus is on commercial fishing because it is the most widespread human activity at sea, the most impactful on ocean health, and the most crucial for global livelihoods and food security.

By 2030, we aim to monitor and visualize the impact of ocean-going vessels, both industrial and small-scale, that are responsible for the vast majority of the global seafood catch. We believe human activity at sea should be common knowledge in order to safeguard the global ocean commons for the good of all.

The Position

This is an exciting opportunity to join GFW and become part of dynamic regional program that aims establish a shared vision and roadmap for fisheries transparency across West Africa. By promoting the use of tracking systems and public sharing of vessel information, this program aims to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the sub-region, protect biodiversity and improve fishery health and ensure sustainable livelihoods for small-scale fishers.

This challenging role will support Global Fishing Watch’s ambitions across multiple workstreams. Working closely with sub-regional fisheries agencies and member States, GFW aims to enhance the capacity of countries to utilize data and our tools and public platforms to monitor and understand fleet activities in national waters and regionally, to assess the risk of IUU fishing, demonstrate the value of transparent, open data to drive policy reform.

Concurrently, this role will support a uniquely collaborative initiative that aims to better understand and address environmental and social impacts on artisanal and small-scale fishers arising from the actions and threats posed by industrial fishing fleets through increased fishery transparency and enforcement of legislation banning industrial destructive fishing in IEZs and MPAs. Both initiatives involve working with international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), sub-regional fisheries agencies and their member states, and national civil society organizations (CSOs).

The Africa Fisheries Analyst will become part of the remotely distributed Africa regional team. This role will support the Africa team by generating analyses that; (i) promote regional cooperation and the exchange of information and data sharing between countries to combat IUU fishing, (ii) respond to local and national partner information needs on the impact of industrial fishing on other fishing sectors throughout the region and (iii) provide insights to inform targeted MCS actions and support policy reforms, including enabling vessels to be tracked by mandating and increasing adoption of AIS.

Working under the supervision of the Senior Program Manager Africa, and in close collaboration with the applied research and analysis and capacity development and biodiversity teams, the Fisheries Analyst will utilise data to develop analysis reports and presentations, using a broad range of technology platforms, tools and intelligence sources to generate insights and recommendations, for governments, communities and key stakeholders. The analyst will also participate in the training of others in the application of these tools.

We are looking for an individual with well-developed analytical and data science/coding skills. The candidate will work with other analytical organisations to carry out baseline research on industrial fishing within the context of relevant national and regional legislation and policies. They must be able to critically engage with complex datasets, possess an advanced ability to create and communicate data driven outputs for varied audiences and demonstrate an ability to effectively engage with national, regional and civil society partners.

They must have a willingness and interest to work within a multidisciplinary team in a dynamic work environment Ideally, the candidate should have a good understanding of fisheries monitoring control and surveillance (MCS) in the region and be confident in the application of data analysis techniques to support existing MCS frameworks as well as a willingness to train others in the use of GFW tools and platforms to support MCS activities. The role will involve some travel to relevant West Africa countries where this work is being carried out.

Principal Duties And Responsibilities

• Provide technical support to the multidisciplinary Africa team across core countries
• Work collaboratively with national governments, civil society organisations, regional agencies, industry partners and the analytical team to collect, analyse, and display data on commercial fishing activities.
• Identify analysis priorities of partners and collaborators through in-country and regional workshops and virtual discussions.
• Analyse fishing and shipping vessel AIS and other potential data that may be available like VMS, vessel databases, and oceanographic datasets, using Big Query (SQL) and R.
• Create technical reports and presentations based on analyses, produce summary graphics and maps of industrial fishing vessels, and present recommendations as required in support of data transparency and sharing of information to combat IUU fishing and support design and monitoring of marine protected and preferential access areas (PAAs).
• Lead the production of technical reports in support of MCS activities including pre-patrol analysis and patrol support, port-control and PSMA-related analyses and ad hoc reports in response to specific requests from collaborators and partners.
• Research and understand national and regional fishery and marine resource management frameworks and policies as they relate to analytic findings and report recommendations.

Support the Sr. Program Manager, Africa, in engaging a wide range of stakeholders and governments to advance the mission of the organization in the region

• Participate in in-country workshops and virtual discussions designed to identify analysis priorities of partner organisations.
• Assist with the development and delivery of materials for regional and national training and capacity building activities to country governments, NGOs and CSOs on relevant fisheries monitoring tools and support for MCS operations and activities.
• In support of the Program deliverables, contribute to briefings, white papers and case studies and engage with civil society and government partners as required.
• Develop and maintain an informed awareness of topics that relate to fisheries management, safe and decent working conditions on fishing vessels, and (IUU) fishing
• Learn about new datasets and share technical knowledge across the other regional teams.
• Internally communicate feedback received from external partners to adapt and update GFW tools.
• Participate in media interviews, public speaking & GFW training events.
• Other duties as assigned.

Regional travels will be required (estimated about 15% of time), as well as some international travel beyond the Africa region

Required

Candidate description

• Bachelor’s Degree
• At least three years of relevant professional experience working in fisheries management or marine conservation, preferably in a West Africa country (but not essential)
• Fluency in database handling, data mining and experience in using SQL (Google Big Query) and/or R programming software or a demonstrated ability to acquire these skills in a timely way.
• Strong spatial data handling skills with experience in analysing vessel tracking data and creating maps or spatial inferences in GIS or programming languages
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and French and the ability to communicate complex technical and scientific information to non-technical audiences.
• Highly organised, analytical, and detail-oriented with an ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities under tight deadlines in a collaborative and multidisciplinary environment.
• Ability to work quickly and efficiently to a very high standard of detail, including to independently error check and troubleshoot code.
• Good interpersonal skills and an ability to remotely cultivate relationships

Preferred

• Master's degree in a relevant area or equivalent experience
• Experience analysing vessel tracking and identity information and/or big data handling experience, including statistical analysis.
• Experience in fisheries compliance, and monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) including analyses around the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA)
• Experience in delivering trainings to governments, NGOs, CSOs and researchers
• Experience in engagement and support of fishing industry and/or communities in conjunction with relevant national agencies.
• Working knowledge of other languages besides English and French is desired; such as Spanish or Portuguese.

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