David Kroodsma

David Kroodsma leads the Global Fishing Watch research team, which includes data scientists and machine learning engineers and a network of research partners around the globe. The research team’s goal is to develop the new datasets, models, and methods that underpin the Global Fishing Watch platform and the scientific discoveries of our partners. David has overseen the development of the organization’s key algorithms, including our fishing, transshipment, and dark target algorithms, and has co-authored 20 peer reviewed papers with the research network.

Prior to joining Global Fishing Watch, David worked as a researcher, data journalist, climate advocate, and author. He studied physics and earth systems science at Stanford University, and focused his graduate work on modeling the earth’s carbon cycle. David has also spent three years of his life traveling by bicycle, and has biked across North and South America, Asia, and parts of Europe.