Maya Kenton

Product Manager, Global Fish Watch

Bio

Maya Kenton is a Product Manager from Montreal, currently based in Barcelona. After studying Bioengineering at McGill, she worked at Dialogue as a product manager for the care platform used by over 600 care providers to deliver care to thousands of Canadians every day. At the beginning of 2024, she made the jump to the climate-tech space, joining the non-profit Global Fishing Watch. There, she leads the integration of country VMS data and the development of a data interoperability tool, collaborating with government officials across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Session at Product4Good

AI-Driven Transparency: Democratizing Ocean Data for All

The ocean is essential to life on Earth. It regulates our weather and water supplies, absorbs the carbon we emit and provides the oxygen we breathe. Billions of people depend upon it for their livelihoods and food security. But due to technological limitations, human activity at sea has historically been difficult to monitor. Global Fishing Watch is changing that.

Thanks to advances in AI and satellite imagery, Global Fishing Watch has created an open-source map of human activity at sea. We built machine learning algorithms to detect when a vessel is fishing, and what type of fishing it is engaging in, based on the vessel’s movement and speed. This helps flag fishing in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). We also have algorithms to detect suspected slavery at sea by analyzing forced labor patterns. Additionally, we use synthetic radar aperture (SAR) and optical imagery to map fixed sea infrastructure, supporting marine planning and the shift to clean energy.

Our platform is being used by governments, researchers, port inspectors, and fisheries managers in the fight against illegal fishing. In 2023, our tool was used to monitor over 20 million square km of exclusive economic zones, and the behaviour of over 20,000 vessels were reviewed and reported on. Of these vessels, governments have used our data to take action against 300 vessels engaging in illegal activity. Our products are also being used in the designation and management of MPAs in the Mediterranean sea, Atlantic, and Pacific Ocean, as part of the global effort to protect 30% of Earth’s land and ocean area by 2030.

Maya Kenton, a Product Manager at Global Fishing Watch, will discuss the organization’s technology, the importance of partnering with governments and researchers in the fight against climate change, ethical considerations related to open-source data, and the significant impacts Global Fishing Watch has had on ocean policy so far.

🗓️ October 3, 2024

📍 Main Stage, Rialto Theater

Why are you interested in participating at Product4Good?

I attended the Product4Good conference last year and it was really great getting to meet other members of the Montreal product community, while also raising money for a great cause. I really enjoyed some of the speakers (Samira & Seema were excellent), but also wished there were more speakers from the climate space since that was an area I was really interested in learning more about. Now that I’ve made the transition to climate, as someone without a climate background, I’m hoping I can encourage others to make the jump as well (since we need talented and motivated product managers driving the climate-tech space forward), and hopefully I can provide some wisdom on what that transition can look like. In addition, I think the day-to-day of being a product manager at a non-profit, working with non-traditional users (government officials, fisheries managers, policy-makers) has been fascinating and I know my past-self would have been interested in learning more about it.

Want to attend this presentation?