GFTS D5.6 Use case Exploitation Roadmap

Introduction

This report summarizes our approach for exploiting the Global Fish Tracking Service (GFTS) use case. It includes a concrete plan for how we will maintain the service in the short and medium term, as well as a roadmap for activities that we are planning to carry out to attract more users to the service and unlock more funding for both maintenance and extending the service.

Continuous operations

Our service has passed all the gates for operationalisation and is available online as a service integrated in Destination Earth. We plan to maintain that service operational for one year moving forward after the funding from this contract has ended. We are not planning to do further active development on the use case unless we find additional funding for that purpose, however we are planning to maintain the service in operation as is for another year. During that time we will attempt to find additional funding through research grants to add more users and more data to our system.

Possible future improvements

This section describes a short list of improvements that we might develop if we obtain new funding for the service.

ETN integration

The [European Tracking Network] is a collaborative international network of scientists across Europe that uses telemetry to track aquatic animals and better understand, protect, and manage them. ETN represents a grassroots collaborative effort that integrates the aquatic animal tracking community in Europe, focusing on developing open tag protocols and pan-European biotelemetry networks. The ETN maintains a database of fish tracking data which could be tightly integrated with GFTS.

Multiple DT Scenarios

GFTS currently supports showing the future evolution of salinity and temperature using a single Climate DT scenario. Allowing comparison across different Climate DT scenarios, especially as more simulations become available on DestinE.

Improved algorithms

Both the fish track reconstruction in pangeo-fish and the downstream preparation of the fish tracks for visualization and analysis with Climate DT data can be improved over time. Continuous adaptation to more fish species, different source formats, etc, would be valuable additions to GFTS.

Impacts of GFTS

We have developed the GFTS use case to address the critical needs identified in marine conservation and fisheries management. Current tools have the significant shortcoming that they are not scalable enough to process the extensive data collected in recent fish track biologging surveys.

GFTS provides a comprehensive solution through individual fish track reconstructions from biologging data using complex geolocation modeling, complemented by an intuitive visualization web interface that allows users to explore individual tracks, seasonal habitats through statistical analysis, and future environmental conditions affecting those habitats.

This integrated approach enhances our understanding of fish movement ecology while offering an adaptable platform that works across different scales, species, and regions. By bridging the gap between complex geolocation modeling and practical decision-making, GFTS contributes to more effective fisheries management and marine conservation efforts, providing decision-makers with the spatially explicit, scientifically robust evidence they need to establish effective protected areas and sustainable management strategies.

Before GFTS

  • No existing decision support tool online

  • Decisions on marine policy were made using statistical data with no spatial resolution

After GFTS

  • First interactive decision support tool visualizing fish track data for policy makers

  • Marine conservation planning can now use seasonal maps that show fish population dynamics, allowing for more effective and targeted policy making.

  • Thanks to the ClimateDT data, policy makers can also make decisions based on future changes in ocean conditions.

Service Sustainability

The Global Fish Tracking Service is a new and innovative way for the fish biologging community to process, analyze, and access their data. The future sustainability of the service will depend on our ability to attract more biologists to add their data to the system. As outlined above, we are in contact with that community and are actively looking for more users.

We expect that by working with the fish track community such as the European Tracking Network we will be able to also obtain additional funding for doing fish track reconstruction in the context of GFTS. In the case where we are successful in attracting more funds, we will leverage the additional funding to extend the capabilities and features of our service. The sections below outline a potential plan that we could take into consideration.

Potential Revenue Model Architecture

This potential sustainability framework employs a bifurcated pricing strategy designed to serve diverse user segments while maintaining accessibility for the research community. This approach would position GFTS as a community-driven tool rather than a profit-generating commercial service, focusing on cost recovery and sustainable operations.

Decision Support Tool Revenue Stream: The core GFTS decision support interface could operate on a freemium model where data exploration and visualization remain freely accessible to all DestinE platform users. Revenue generation would focus on charging for data integration services when users request addition of new datasets to the system. This pricing tier would target research institutions and policy organizations requiring custom data integration while maintaining open access to existing analytical capabilities.

Modeling Environment Revenue Stream: The fish track reconstruction environment would employ a usage-based pricing model, charging researchers for computational resources consumed during track reconstruction processes. This variable cost structure ensures that the modeling environment incurs operational expenses only when actively utilized, with users paying proportional fees based on their computational requirements.

Consulting Services Revenue Stream: The consortium would provide specialized consulting services to research institutions requiring support for biologging data analysis and track reconstruction methodologies. These services would command consulting fees commensurate with the specialized expertise required for complex geolocation modeling and biologging analysis.

Operational Cost Structure

The GFTS operational service maintains a relatively lightweight infrastructure model, implemented as a single-page JavaScript application with static data assets requiring minimal computational resources. This architecture ensures predictable operational costs with limited variability, facilitating accurate financial planning and pricing strategies.

The modeling environment represents the most resource-intensive component, requiring substantial computational infrastructure for running Pangeo-Fish analysis on large oceanographic datasets. Current implementation relies on restricted access to proprietary JupyterHub with Dask capabilities while transitioning to full integration with DestinE platform services including STACK and Insula components.

Under this potential model, infrastructure costs would include OVH Cloud services budgeted at €40,000 annually, with additional human resource requirements for project management, software maintenance, and user support totaling €190,000 across the consortium partners. Travel and accommodation expenses for community engagement activities would require an additional €16,200 annually.

The estimate above is based on the assumption that we will add 5-10 new species to the interface over the course of a year. We assume that this will require some small updates on the processing chain and the interface as we add more different data types. However, these resource requirements vary according to the number of additional species to be added, and according to how different the data structure is of these new datasets. We assume that we can find the necessary funding for the integration and adaptation for each additional species on a case by case approach. In cases where the data matches, we would have minimal consultancy costs, only infrastructure costs for processing the data. For cases where we need more consultancy effort, we assume that we can fund the work through the research grants that the researchers have. This cost can also be externalized if the researchers themselves could do the updates on our open source stack. We have contact with several research groups that are interested in using GFTS, but these are only leads at the moment, we have not yet gotten a commitment from other researchers to add their data.

Market Expansion Strategy

The initial focus on marine species and fish track reconstruction provides a strong foundation for expansion into other animal tracking efforts. The biologging community overall represents a specialized but growing user base with increasing demand for scalable analytical tools capable of processing extensive biologging survey data.

Under this potential plan, long-term expansion opportunities would include extension to terrestrial and airborne species tracking, leveraging the same fundamental methodologies for climate scenario analysis. This expansion would significantly broaden the potential user base to include terrestrial ecology researchers and conservation organizations working with diverse species populations.

Integration with DestinE platform capabilities positions GFTS to benefit from the growing ecosystem of earth observation and climate modeling services. The system’s compatibility with Climate Adaptation Digital Twin data provides unique value propositions for policy makers requiring future-oriented environmental planning capabilities.

Transition Implementation Plan

The transition to sustainable operations would follow a phased approach. During the initial operational phase, detailed operational cost measurements would inform refined pricing models for subsequent years. User uptake metrics and computational resource utilization patterns would guide optimization of pricing structures and service offerings.

Under this potential framework, the consortium would maintain close collaboration with DestinE platform development to ensure seamless integration with evolving infrastructure capabilities. As platform services mature, particularly STACK and Insula computational environments, GFTS would transition from proprietary infrastructure to fully integrated DestinE services.

Risk Mitigation and Sustainability Considerations

Key operational risks include dependency on evolving DestinE platform capabilities and potential fluctuations in research funding cycles affecting user demand. Under this potential plan, mitigation strategies would include maintaining flexible infrastructure arrangements and diversifying revenue streams across multiple user segments.

The non-profit orientation of the service model reduces financial risk while ensuring alignment with community needs. The consortium’s established relationships within the biologging research community provide stable user base foundations, while policy maker engagement offers opportunities for institutional support arrangements.

Technical sustainability relies on open-source software development through Pangeo-Fish, ensuring long-term accessibility and community-driven improvements. The system’s integration with European research infrastructure initiatives provides additional stability through institutional backing.