Brazil fishermen turn to mobile app to combat pollution scourge [Video]

Brazilian activist and fisherman Alexandre Anderson uses one hand to steer his boat, and the other to film an oil stain spreading over Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay.

He will upload the video to an app developed to expose environmental damage in the iconic bay crucial for tourism and the fishing industry, but plagued by spills of oil, chemicals and untreated wastewater.

Guanabara Bay, a natural port of about 400 square kilometers (154 square miles), battles pollution not only from visiting vessels and oil rig accidents, but also from old ships abandoned in its waters and runoff from cities.

Frustrated with what they see as a lack of official response, the bay’s fishermen decided to take matters into their own hands, and with the backing of non-governmental organization 350.org, had an app developed for them.

“We used to take pictures with our cell phone or a camera,” but without exact …