Almost a year ago, my colleague Erik Lindebo (now walking the corridors of power at the European Commission) wrote this prescient piece on the ‘interesting times’ facing Europe and its fisheries.
This seems like a good moment, as we start the New Year, to reflect on what we’ve learnt during these interesting times, and how those lessons will shape EDF’s work in 2018. Read More
Celeste, Dafnet, Evelin, Fidel, Laura, Maikel, Patricia, Rafael, Valentín and Yudier. These are not the names of hurricanes, but the names of Cubans whose ideas and innovative actions have the constructive energy of a hurricane.
The energy of these people has been key to advancing marine sustainability in Cuba. Moreover, they are not alone. Across the island, there are up-and-coming initiatives that share common visions. They owe part of their success to the momentum of already established learning networks that facilitate the exchange of information and experiences. Learning networks help bring people together to solve complex problems. They are designed to create and disseminate information, to align common visions to facilitate collective action and therefore these problems. Read More
To read this blog in Spanish, please click here.
Fishing is essential to the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people—from food to income, it supports vibrant coastal communities. The health and prosperity of these communities depends on their ability to manage their fisheries sustainably and address critical challenges such as overfishing.
This is apparent in Latin America and Spain, also known as the hispanoparlante (or Spanish-speaking) world. Spanish is the official language in 20 countries, 95% of which are coastal. These countries account for over 12% of global catch. Read More
Photo: Blue Marine Foundation
[this blog was updated on 12/5/2017]
The UK is at a pivotal moment. With a future as an independent coastal state ahead, now is a time to reflect on aspirations for fishing 5, 10, 20 years down the road. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove, has stated that the UK will be withdrawing from the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union. So, with the task of defining a new path for UK fisheries a great question to ask is: what can we learn from sustainable, ambitious and world-leading practices elsewhere? Read More
The fortunes of people everywhere are inextricably linked to the oceans. Overfishing remains one of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges, but around the world we are seeing incredible progress toward sustainable fishing.
On World Fisheries Day, we wanted to share fives stories from the past year that inspire us:
Bringing fishers and fishery managers from different places together through fishery exchanges is a powerful way to learn and build trust as you explore new approaches to manage fishing. After attending and leading dozens of fishery exchanges over the years, I have been amazed by the peer-to-peer discussions that take place, regardless of language barriers or cultural differences, and the candor of government officials and fishers describing the challenges they have faced or successes they have worked to achieve. It is incredible to see participants hear about something new or innovative that they could bring back to their communities. The excitement is contagious.
While there are always major differences between fisheries that make some aspects of learning challenging or even inapplicable, we want people to recognize and appreciate the uniqueness of ones fishery. There is not a “one size fits all” approach to managing fisheries because each fishery has its own set of characteristics based on the history of the fishery, culture of the area, species composition, governance structure, resources, and most importantly fishers and their accustomed fishing practices. These exchanges are an opportunity to share experiences with others and to learn from each other about new and different approaches that can be adopted to improve fisheries management.
Recently, EDF and our partner Rare-Philippines organized a Japan-Philippines exchange for a delegation from the Philippines to visit several fisheries in Mie Prefecture, Japan. We were particularly inspired to see firsthand what happens when fishers are empowered by the local government to make day to day management decisions: they pursue solutions that improve their livelihoods, and the long term sustainability of the fish they depend on. Those attending included champion mayors and their local government staff from eight municipalities that all have legally approved TURF+Reserves and are in the process of implementing these new systems on the water. Read More
