Johnny Harris

What’s really happening in the ocean’s “dark zones” (2025x21)

Air date: Nov 10, 2025

On Google Earth, the world’s oceans look like endless blue pixels — but AIS tracking reveals tens of thousands of ships moving across them in real time. Many of these vessels can vanish from view with the push of a button, hiding a global fishing industry that operates in the dark and traps laborers in brutal conditions. I teamed up with my colleague Christophe to understand what ships do when they disappear.