TLDR: SmartCatch, an AI-powered tool developed by WorldFish, has been awarded the prestigious AI for Planet Prize at the 2025 AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva. Designed for low-resource, low-connectivity coastal communities, SmartCatch enables small-scale fishers to identify and digitally record their daily catch using a basic mobile phone camera, providing crucial data for sustainable fisheries management.
GENEVA, Switzerland – In a significant stride towards sustainable global food systems, SmartCatch, an innovative artificial intelligence tool developed by WorldFish, has been honored with the AI for Planet Prize at the 2025 AI for Good Global Summit, hosted by the United Nations in Geneva. This recognition highlights a deceptively simple yet profoundly impactful solution for a globally complex problem: the lack of data in small-scale fisheries.
SmartCatch is engineered to empower low-resource, low-connectivity coastal communities. The tool allows fishers to identify and digitally record their daily catch by simply taking a photograph with a basic mobile phone. Leveraging on-device AI algorithms, SmartCatch can estimate the species, size, and weight of the fish, providing near-instant feedback without requiring constant internet access. This capability is crucial for streamlining catch reporting, dramatically reducing manual entry time, and improving data accuracy in areas where traditional data collection is challenging.
The tool’s development was spearheaded by Dr. Hamza Altarturi, a postdoctoral fellow at WorldFish and the lead developer of SmartCatch, along with a team of early-career researchers. SmartCatch originated from WorldFish’s internal Wavemakers Challenge, a competition held during the organization’s 50th-anniversary celebrations in June 2025, inviting bold, science-based solutions. It was selected as one of three winning ideas, quickly gaining global attention.
Dr. Altarturi emphasized the tool’s practical design, stating, “SmartCatch is built for communities that are managing real climate risks with basic phones and no signal. It helps turn guesswork into usable data and gives fishers a way to participate in their own future.” This sentiment underscores the tool’s focus on inclusive design, avoiding reliance on advanced infrastructure like drones or 5G.
The significance of SmartCatch’s award cannot be overstated. Small-scale fisheries, despite sustaining over 100 million people and providing vital protein in many low-income countries, are often overlooked in global policy, underrepresented in investment flows, and underserved by digital infrastructure. A recent Nature special collection even referred to them as ‘the uncounted contributors to global food security.’ SmartCatch aims to address this gap by providing a means to count and empower these critical contributors.
SmartCatch is part of a broader initiative by WorldFish: the AI Small Scale Fisheries Sustainability Suite. This open-source ecosystem of tools combines machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and large language models to support sustainable marine livelihoods. Beyond SmartCatch, the suite includes AskData, a conversational analytics prototype, and EcoRoute, a route optimization platform designed to reduce fuel consumption and protect overfished coral reefs. While SmartCatch and AskData are currently pilot projects and proof-of-concept prototypes, still under development and not yet deployed, they represent a concerted push to embed climate resilience, data equity, and digital inclusion into fisheries science.
Dr. Essam Yassin Mohammed, Director General of WorldFish, commented on the award, affirming the value of digital innovation that prioritizes communities and ecosystems. “This award highlights what the future of food systems must look like. Locally rooted, digitally enabled and driven by science that serves the public good,” he stated.
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The AI for Good Global Summit, often likened to 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 only three global finalists selected from over 330 entries in the highly competitive AI for Planet category, effectively putting small-scale fisheries on the global AI map.
