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There’s now an app that can significantly improve the effectiveness of cracking down on illegal fishing.

One of the early iPhone TV commercials featured a slogan that went: “There’s an app for that!”

And if you browse your favorite store for apps, you’ll see that there is an app for pretty much everything you need.

In a way, it seems surprising that more apps haven’t launched to help people protect both land and marine environments. But that seems to be changing right now.

NBC News has an interesting report on an illegal fishing app that could significantly improve the effectiveness of cracking down on illegal fishing.

“The maritime officers who patrol the most vulnerable parts of the ocean, from the Galapagos Islands to the coasts of Africa, haven't always operated with the most advanced technology. That's set to change when some of them soon get an upgrade: a smartphone app, designed to be the first of its kind to be widely available and linked to a massive database of past fishing violations.”

It almost sounds crazy that these officers have to rely on pen and paper in situations where rain, wind, and choppy seas, unfortunately, mean that reports get lost.

An app available in all countries involved in enforcing fishing restrictions could also make international information reporting an awful lot easier.


Chris is one of GreenCitizen’s writers who has been a long-time advocate of individual responsibility when it comes to the environment. He shares GreenCitizen's passion for making the world a better place every day of the year.

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