On World Oceans Day we celebrated an ecosystem which is inextricably linked to our lives. Oceans cover about 70% of the planet and contain 99% of Earth’s living space. They are home to nearly half of all known species, generate most of the oxygen we breathe, help regulate the climate, and provide food for billions of people around the world. In fact, 2 billion people in the developing world depend on seafood for at least 50% of their nutritional needs.
There are myriad challenges facing the world’s oceans, including pollution, climate change, acidification and overfishing (often as a result of mis-management of fisheries), yet new policies and management tactics offer hope for improving the economic and environmental outlook of our oceans.
EDF is a founding partner of the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Oceans—an “alliance of more than 100 governments, international organizations, civil society groups, and private sector interests committed to addressing the threats to the health, productivity and resilience of the world’s oceans.” A separate but complimentary initiative is the “50 in 10 Initiative” which seeks to ensure that 50% of the world’s fish are caught under sustainable management by 2023. Consensus is emerging among global leaders that solutions to the problems we are facing exist—and can be scaled up to empower fisheries to deploy these proven solutions.
Miguel Jorge, the Director of the National Geographic Society’s Ocean Initiative, was recently named the first managing director of the 50 in 10 initiative. In his new role as director, he will work to expand the network of stakeholders and facilitate knowledge sharing about sustainable fisheries management. Jorge said, “While we’ve made a lot of progress, there’s still a big part of the world where overfishing is a difficult problem to solve. But we have a tremendous opportunity as well…I’m excited about what we can accomplish as 50in10 unites the often disparate approaches of policy reform, community engagement and market strategies under one coordinated effort.” Collaboration among world leaders, industry stakeholders, academics, NGOs and the private sector is essential in order to foster compromise and design management practices that benefit consumers, workers and the fisheries they depend on.