“Think of it as smart land use planning, only on our oceans, where 97 percent of the world’s water resides,” says Ruby Gates, CEO of Point 97. “New uses of our oceans are constantly emerging, from wave energy to rare mineral mining to tracing the origins of the fish you’re having for dinner. Governments are trying to create policies, but there’s a deficit of data on who is using the ocean, where and why. We build systems that identify those uses, better connecting people to the places where they live and work.”
The marine and coastal spatial planning company uses unique open platform technologies that can finely identify competing interests on the oceans. The Point 97 team–with years of experience working across all fronts—excels at facilitating transparent collaboration between those interests. The Company also offers digital data gathering tools, putting them directly into the hands of the people who historically haven’t had access to that collected information, like fishermen, or tribes.
“The Point 97 team brings creativity and passion to push the frontier for ocean planning and management decision support tools,” says Jay Odell of the Nature Conservancy. “In partnership with us and others, Point 97 is creating state of the art ocean data visualization and analysis tools that are powerful, easy to drive, and well-tuned to serve local needs. Together we are helping ocean managers connect people, places and data, to identify balanced solutions for today’s ocean management challenges.”
Point 97’s proven products are already at work around the world including:
Clients and partners include: The Nature Conservancy, NOAA, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, Monmouth University (NJ), West Coast Governors Alliance, Surfrider, West Coast Tribal Nations, World Wildlife Fund, and more.
The Point 97 Difference:
About Point 97
Point 97 is the first high-tech, for profit spin-off of Ecotrust, delivering technology solutions and engagement strategies for coastal and marine planning in regions around the world. Working to improve marine and coastal management practices, Point 97 helps partners and clients strengthen coastal communities and ocean ecosystems, bridge different ocean user perspective and implement management decisions in an inclusive and transparent way. Learn more at pointnineseven.com.