Looking for a different kind of hackathon? Check out the overnight Fishackathon and help save a livelihood for small-scale fishermen.
What: Fishackathon: Fishing for Sustainable Code is a hackathon (brainstorming plus developing a web or mobile solution) focused on challenges in fishery management. Hackathons will be in Miami, Baltimore, Boston, New York and San Francisco.
Who: Marine industry experts and hobbyists, coders, business people and any innovators!
When: Friday, June 13th at 6:00 pm to Saturday, June 14th at 2:00 pm
Where: Venture Hive, 1010 NE 2nd Ave, Downtown Miami, 305-735-1274
Schedule:
Friday, June 13th
5:30 – 6:00 pm Registration/check in
6:00 – 6:15 pm Welcome by State Department & Venture Hive
6:15 – 7:15 pm Presentations and Q&A by fishery and marine science experts, including David Die, Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Studies, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami.
7:15 – 8:30 pm Dinner and group brainstorm
8:30 – ON Break into project teams and get to work!
Project teams can work at Venture Hive all night (snacks & support will be provided)
Saturday, June 14th
8:00 – 9:00 am Breakfast and mentoring
9:00 – 12:00 pm Mentoring
12:00 – 12:30 pm Lunch and presentations due
12:30 – 1:30 pm Final project presentations
1:30 – 2:00 pm Judging and winners announced
The Challenge
Small-scale fishermen in developing countries face growing challenges. Their catches are declining because of overfishing and, in some cases, the degradation of the marine environment. They spend more money on fuel and more time out on the ocean to catch enough to make ends meet. And they can’t keep up with competition from larger vessels that in some cases are fishing illegally. With 50 percent of the fish caught for human consumption coming from small-scale and artisanal fisheries, the livelihoods of these fishermen are crucial for their communities and for food security. In order to address these fishery management challenges, we need to find innovative ways to collect data and utilize it to formulate solutions.
The Context
Innovative coding approaches that produce concrete prototypes to help solve the fisheries management challenges are being sought for a variety of applications. The U.S. Department of State, in collaboration with White Label Partners and GSM Association, is launching mFish: Empowering the sustainable fishery ecosystem, a new initiative to capitalize on the expansion of mobile phone use across the developing world to address sustainable fishery challenges. mFish seeks to capitalize on the spread of mobile networks in the developing world, where about five billion people now use cell phones. New applications and/or voice and text messaging services for mobile phones and devices can provide real-time information to help fishermen work smarter and more safely, allow them to report catches and build the capacity for better management, and create networks to improve the monitoring of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
The Hackathon
Fishackathon brings together volunteer technologists for a day or two of work, using minimal resources and maximum brainpower to create applications and innovative technology prototypes to address sustainable fishery challenges that will be deployed on multiple platforms, including mFish. Fishackathon is a unique forum for collaborative problem solving where fishery experts define the challenges for technologists to work on, resulting in concrete prototypes that can be implemented to create real and sustainable impact. The Fishackathon will be held the weekend before Secretary of State Kerry’s Ocean Conference, June 16 and 17 and the winning project from each location will present their concept to the conference.
The Call
If you have design, coding, or project management skills, you can help design solutions for sustainable management of fishing stock while protecting the welfare of small-scale fishermen in the developing world. Participants will be featured via video feed at the Secretary’s Ocean Conference. The best prototypes will be awarded prizes and challenged to continue to develop their work and compete for a grand prize. Plus, Fishackathon will feature plenty of free seafood and ocean-inspired drinks.
For more information or to RSVP, please visit Fishackaton.co.