Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of State’s third annual Fishackathon begins today on Earth Day in 40 cities around the world.

Fishackathon, organized by the Secretary’s Office of Global Partnerships, is a public-private partnership that brings together the U.S. government with the private sector and civil society to answer Secretary Kerry’s call in saving our ocean. The event calls on coders, designers, and science enthusiasts from all around the world to come together over a weekend to create new applications and tools to address issues in sustainable fishing.

Fishackathon was first organized in June 2014 around Secretary Kerry’s inaugural Our Ocean conference, and has continued as a lead-up event to subsequent Our Ocean conferences, including the 2016 conference in September. In 2014, Fishackathon brought together coders at aquariums and tech hubs in 5 domestic cities. Last year, the second annual Fishackathon took place in 12 cities around the world. This year, the event has expanded to 40 cities on six continents, as well as a virtual hackathon.

This year’s events kick off with opening receptions in each city, then continue for 24-48 hours to let participants develop their solutions to a number of problem statements solicited from fisheries experts around the world. At the end of the hackathons, teams will present their solutions and a panel of judges will nominate a winner for each site.

After the Fishackathon ends, a global panel of mobile and fisheries experts will review the winning solutions from each site and select grand prize winners, to be announced on World Oceans Day on June 8. One team will receive a $10,000 cash prize, provided by Virgin, and one team’s creation will be further independently developed through a U.S. government contractor.