Image Source: WorldFish

A deceptively simple solution to a globally complex problem has just earned the spotlight on one of the world’s biggest AI stages. SmartCatch, an artificial intelligence-powered tool developed by WorldFish, has won the prestigious AI for Planet Prize at the 2025 AI for Good Global Summit, hosted by the United Nations in Geneva.

In an age where ocean health is declining and artisanal fishers are fighting for visibility in data-deficient systems, SmartCatch offers a timely intervention. Designed for low-resource, low-connectivity coastal communities, the tool allows fishers to identify and digitally record their daily catch by taking a photograph with a basic mobile phone. AI algorithms then estimate the species, size, and weight—delivering a near-instant feedback loop without requiring constant internet access.

What seems effortless is, in fact, a culmination of deep research and strategic innovation. SmartCatch emerged from WorldFish’s Wavemakers Challenge, an internal call for high-impact, science-driven ideas held during the organization’s 50th anniversary in June 2025. Developed by Dr. Hamza Altarturi and a team of early-career researchers, the project was selected as one of three winning ideas—and has since captured global attention.

That attention is well-deserved. Despite sustaining over 100 million people and providing essential nutrition in the developing world, small-scale fisheries remain invisible in policy frameworks, underrepresented in investment flows, and underserved by digital infrastructure. A recent Nature special issue called them “the uncounted contributors to global food security.” SmartCatch aims to help count—and empower—them.

It is part of a broader effort at WorldFish to build the AI Small-Scale Fisheries Sustainability Suite, an open-source ecosystem of tools supporting sustainable marine livelihoods. In addition to SmartCatch, the suite includes AskData, a conversational analytics prototype, and EcoRoute, a route optimization platform designed to cut fuel use and reduce pressure on overfished coral reefs. Though most of these tools are still in pilot stages, they represent a concerted push to embed climate resilience, data equity, and digital inclusion into fisheries science.

At the core of this suite lies Peskas, WorldFish’s open-source data infrastructure launched in Timor-Leste in 2017. Peskas now operates in several countries across Asia and Africa, capturing near real-time fisheries data that informs national policy, local management, and even climate adaptation efforts.

The significance of SmartCatch’s recognition at the UN summit cannot be overstated. The AI for Good Global Summit, often seen as the World Economic Forum of responsible AI, convenes leading voices from governments, tech firms, academia, and civil society to explore how digital innovation can serve the Sustainable Development Goals. SmartCatch was one of just three global finalists out of over 330 entries in the AI for Planet category—putting small-scale fisheries on the global AI map.

The success of SmartCatch is also a story of inclusive design thinking. It doesn’t rely on drones or 5G or advanced diagnostics. It uses the most ubiquitous tool in the Global South—the mobile phone camera—and gives fishers a seat at the data table. As Dr. Altarturi puts it, “this is about turning guesswork into agency.”

With the world’s oceans under stress and food systems facing unpredictable shocks, tools like SmartCatch offer a glimpse of what climate-smart innovation from the bottom up can look like: intelligent, adaptive, and deeply human.