Ian Urbina, The Outlaw Ocean Project: “If you don’t know the rules, it’s tough to determine whether they’ve been broken. And yet, there isn’t a central spot online where a journalist or researcher can find the rules that apply in a given countries’ waters. This tool, called The Global Fishing Legislative Database, is meant to solve this problem. It is an interactive tool that helps the public answer a variety of important questions about what rules apply in every coastal country’s waters. Can a Spanish fishing ship legally turn off its locational transponder in Ghanaian waters? Is a Chinese ship required to employ a certain percentage of Argentine crew when it’s fishing in Argentina? If a vessel has a record of breaking the law in another country, will it be denied a license to fish in the waters of Madagascar? Does Brazil allow the use of fish-aggregating devices? These are the types of questions the tool can help answer. The tool is still a work in progress. Many countries are still absent. The guide does not typically include local or tribal rules. It does not incorporate additional rules imposed by Regional Fishery Management Organizations nor does it cover activities beyond fishing such as mining or shipping. If you would like to assist this goal by correcting errors or by adding rules for countries presently missing, please email [email protected]. The hope is for the database to eventually capture the rules relating to fishing activities (encompassing marine and labor concerns) that apply to all coastal nations globally. The intended audience for this new resource is journalists, academics, advocates, and other stakeholders. Under the editorial oversight of Maya Martin and Jake Conley, this research effort took a year’s worth of effort and collaboration from an international team of several dozen specialists. We have provided contact info for many of these specialists to make it easier for the public to ask them questions. The answers provided in the interactive database offer links to the original and translated passages of the relevant law or regulation.”