EDFish

Prioritizing Climate Resilience in United States Fisheries

By Reggie Paros / Published: February 23, 2023

The impacts of climate change are already apparent in U. S. offshore waters, creating challenges for fisheries, fishing communities and fisheries management. Examples of climate impacts are prevalent across all regions of the coastal U.S. As ocean temperatures warm, species distributions are shifting. For instance, market squid moving up the West Coast from Baja California to Oregon spurred a harvest boom in the Pacific Northwest. Species, including blue crabs and black sea bass, are shifting northward on the Atlantic coast. Read More »

Also posted in Gulf of Mexico, Mid-Atlantic, New England, Seafood / Tagged Climate change, climate-resilient fisheries, fishery solutions center, Harvest Control Rules, US fisheries | Comments are closed

What the BBNJ negotiations could mean for the ocean’s ‘twilight zone’

By EDF Oceans / Published: January 9, 2023

By Vrinda Suresh, Julia Mason and Doug Rader

During the last two weeks of August 2022, delegates from across the globe gathered in New York City for the Fifth Session of the Intergovernmental Conference, or IGC5, to develop a new treaty to protect biodiversity in offshore waters, called the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, or BBNJ Agreement. The BBNJ Agreement specifically addresses high seas waters, which include all areas more than 200 nautical miles from coastlines and fall outside the management authority of individual countries. The high seas make up nearly 60% of Earth’s oceans. Read More »

Also posted in International / Tagged Climate change, Fishery Management, twilight zone | Comments are closed

Leadership in focus — building to a more sustainable future for small-scale fisheries

By EDF Oceans / Published: June 7, 2022

By Bavidra Mohan, Director of Acumen Academy, and Jeff Young, Senior Manager, Global Capacity Development, Environmental Defense Fund

The small-scale fisheries sector is a powerful example of our interconnectedness. Small-scale fisheries employ 90% of all fishworkers globally, supplying nearly half of the world’s fish catch each year. In addition to feeding coastal communities, seafood harvested by small-scale fishers ends up on the plates of consumers from Bogotá to Beijing. Read More »

Also posted in International, Science/Research / Tagged Acumen Academy, Chile, COVID, COVID-19, Fisheries, fishing communities, Food Security, International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, IYAFA, Mexico, Overfishing, Philippines, resilience, Seafood, small-scale fisheries, sustainable fishing, World Ocean Day | Comments are closed

The oceans’ twilight zone? More important than you can imagine!

By EDF Oceans / Published: May 31, 2022

By Douglas Rader, Jamie Collins and Edith Widder, CEO & Senior Scientist, Ocean Research & Conservation Association

People of a certain age will recall being mesmerized—perhaps terrified!—by a television series called “The Twilight Zone,” which ran 156 episodes from 1959 to 1964. The show, which focused on people’s experiences at the edge of reality, is among the best loved and highest rated television productions of all time. Today, the edge of the unknown exists closer than you many think—in the sea, at the wonderful and strange, just-dark middle depths, where light fades and strange creatures lurk. Read More »

Also posted in International, Science/Research / Tagged Antarctic, Blue Carbon, Climate change, Fisheries, krill, mesopelagic fish, Oceans, Seafood, squid, swordfish, tuna, twilight zone | Comments are closed

Climate change is causing fishery problems, but we can solve them

By EDF Oceans / Published: April 21, 2022

By Eric Schwaab, Rod Fujita and Jacqui Vogel

Climate change is already transforming the distribution and abundance of fish stocks around the world. Warming temperatures, lower pH levels and many other factors are causing many fish species to shift to better habitats and others to shrink in abundance. This is problematic for the communities that rely on these stocks, especially when the shifts cross jurisdictional boundaries, such as those between fishery management zones or national exclusive economic zones, known as EEZs.

Climate-induced stock shifts are causing more overfishing, illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing, discarding, higher fuel use, injustice and even armed conflict. Unless fishery management and fisheries become more adaptive and resilient to climate change, these problems will only worsen, but it’s not too late for solutions like flexible allocation systems, dynamic spatial management, ocean observing systems and international collaboration. Read More »

Also posted in International / Tagged Climate change, climate-resilient fisheries, dynamic spatial management, EEZs, exclusive economic zones, Fisheries, Fishery Management, Food Security, injustice, international collaboration, IUU Fishing, Marine Protected Areas, ocean health, Overfishing, SAPO, stock shifts, sustainability | Comments are closed

Women fishers are vital to the livelihoods, food security, health and culture of billions worldwide

By EDF Oceans / Published: March 8, 2022

By Karly Kelso, Director of Climate Resilient Food Systems at EDF, and Michelle Tigchelaar, Research Scientist at Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions

Three billion people depend on our oceans, rivers and lakes for nutritious blue foods. By 2050, our global population is expected to reach 10 billion and global demand for blue foods is expected to roughly double. Blue foods, including fish, shellfish and seaweeds, provide vital nutrients like protein, zinc, vitamin A and omega-3 fatty acids — nutrients important for all sexes and ages but especially for young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women. We must ensure that blue food systems are environmentally sustainable in a changing climate, that they can continue to nourish our global population, and that they contribute to thriving coastal communities and gender equality. Read More »

Also posted in Global Fisheries / Tagged Aquaculture, Aquatic Foods, blue economy, Blue Food Assessment, Blue Foods, Climate change, Fisheries, Food Systems, gender equity, International Women's Day, International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, IYAFA, U.N. Food Systems Summit, women in fisheries | Comments are closed