Global Fishing Watch

@pipeworx/global-fishing-watch

Global Fishing Watch API v3 — AIS-derived vessel identity, at-sea events (apparent fishing, encounters, loitering, port visits, AIS gaps) and aggregated apparent fishing effort.

Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1879+ live data sources. This is an independent, unofficial integration — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the upstream provider.

Tools

• gfwfish_vessels_search(query, datasets?, limit?, offset?, _apiKey) — vessel identity by name, MMSI, IMO or call sign.
• gfwfish_events(start_date, end_date, vessel_id?, event_type?, limit?, offset?, _apiKey) — events over a date range.
• gfwfish_4wings_report(bbox, start_date, end_date, group_by?, temporal_resolution?, spatial_resolution?, datasets?, _apiKey) — apparent fishing effort aggregated over a bounding box.

Auth

Platform-backed since 2026-09-18. PLATFORM_GFW_FISHING_TOKEN is in the encrypted keystore (GFW API application "pipeworx", non-commercial intended use); the gateway injects it as _apiKey, and a caller may pass their own instead. Every v3 endpoint requires a Bearer token — there is no keyless or demo path. Free non-commercial tokens: https://globalfishingwatch.org/our-apis/tokens.

Distinct from PLATFORM_GFW_KEY, which is Global Forest Watch — different organisation, different API, similar abbreviation.

licence: non-commercial is set on the pack: GFW data is free for non-commercial use and commercial use needs their permission.

Data sources

• https://gateway.api.globalfishingwatch.org/v3/vessels/search
• https://gateway.api.globalfishingwatch.org/v3/events
• https://gateway.api.globalfishingwatch.org/v3/4wings/report (POST; the region geometry goes in the body, the resolution/grouping in the query string)

A 401 from this API proves nothing about the path. An unauthenticated request to any path — including one that does not exist, verified against /v3/zzz-not-a-path on 2026-09-17 — answers 401 {"error":"invalid token"}. That is why the shapes shipped on 2026-09-17 were unverifiable, and why the first probe on a real token returned a 422.

The two paging schemes are different, and mixing them is the 422. /v3/vessels/search pages by CURSOR: the response carries since, you pass it back as since, and sending offset is rejected 422 Unprocessable Entity. /v3/events pages the ordinary way — offset and limit are both required, and the response carries nextOffset. Do not unify them.

Other shape facts, each from the v3 docs and then proved live (fleet #2245):

• Multi-value parameters use indexed square brackets: datasets[0]=..., vessels[0]=..., filters[0]=....
• /v3/vessels/search needs at least 3 characters in query; limit maxes at 50. A since cursor carries its own page size — pass since with a smaller limit and you still get the original page's worth back, so do not read returned as proof the limit was honoured (measured live: limit 2 plus a cursor from a limit-5 call returned 5).
• Every repeated parameter on this endpoint takes INDEXED brackets: datasets[0], includes[0]. The bare includes[] form is a 422. Identity is nested under two parallel arrays — selfReportedInfo (what the vessel broadcast) and registryInfo (what a registry holds) — which can disagree. The pack lifts the common fields and keeps both arrays.
• /v3/events takes start-date / end-date on GET (hyphenated) but startDate / endDate in a POST body (camelCase). This pack uses GET.
• /v3/4wings/report is a POST: the grid parameters go in the query string (spatial-resolution, temporal-resolution, group-by, date-range as YYYY-MM-DD,YYYY-MM-DD, format=JSON) and the AREA goes in the body — either a named region, {"region":{"dataset":"public-eez-areas","id":8371}}, or a custom polygon under a top-level "geojson" key. temporal-resolution is one of HOURLY, DAILY, MONTHLY, YEARLY, ENTIRE. Its entries are arrays of grouped rows rather than rows, so the pack flattens them.

Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "global-fishing-watch": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/global-fishing-watch/mcp"
    }
  }
}

What this endpoint actually serves

tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/global-fishing-watch/mcp returns the tools in the table above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and is the authoritative answer for a given day.

This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth, connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1879+ data sources. The only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx reaches all of them from either one.

No MCP client? Call it over HTTP

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/gfwfish_vessels_search \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query":"ARCTIC LOON","limit":5}'

No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/gfwfish_vessels_search. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.

Standalone (no gateway account)

This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "global-fishing-watch": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-global-fishing-watch"]
    }
  }
}

Or run it directly to confirm it starts:

npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-global-fishing-watch

It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.

Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:

ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Global Fishing Watch data" })

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

More

• Docs and guides
• pipeworx.io

License

MIT