EDFish

In Sinaloa, Mexico fishermen are rewriting their legacy

By / Bio / Published: June 4, 2018

A year ago, Fidel Insunza was not very optimistic about his future in fishing. With more than 30 years on the water, he has seen prosperous times come and go in Altata-Ensenada del Pabellon, a coastal lagoon system in Sinaloa, Mexico. Back in the “good days,” as he calls them, his income allowed him to buy a brand new pick-up truck or take his whole family on vacation to participate in Mazatlan’s famous Carnival. “Those were the days,” he recalls with nostalgia. Today, his income has reduced to a third of what it used to be. But he is not ready to give up on fishing just yet. “This is my life, the heart of my community, and I would choose to be a fisherman once more if I was born again. The only difference is that I would do it more responsibly,” he says. Read More »

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The remarkable recovery of U.S. fisheries continues

By / Published: May 18, 2018

Credit: John Rae

At a time when there is significant concern about the erosion of environmental protections, a new report card from the National Marine Fisheries Service confirms that one of the most important conservation success stories of our time remains on track. The turnaround of U.S. fisheries is a remarkable bipartisan success story. This week’s annual Status of U.S. Fisheries report documents how a recovery kick-started during George W. Bush’s time in office, then accelerated under President Obama, held pace during the Trump administration’s first year.

Getting fishery management right is incredibly complex, as illustrated by a history of failure in the United States that spanned decades. Those failures too often deprived saltwater anglers of abundant target stocks, removed local catch from restaurant menus and grocery stores, and created hardship for coastal communities. Yet it is increasingly clear that the United States has now built many of the laws, regulations and institutions needed to meet this complex challenge. If we stay the course, the dividends of our hard-won gains will only grow. Read More »

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Indonesia advances sustainable fishing

By / Bio / Published: May 11, 2018

In my 20 years working with fishery stakeholders in the United States, I saw time and again that good things happen when we band together to solve difficult problems.

I’m seeing it again now, in Indonesia, where I’ve been working as part of a team with local stakeholders to reshape their community fisheries.

In Indonesia’s Lampung Province, a collaborative effort to reform the local blue swimming crab fishery is not only leading to new protections for crab populations and habitat, and the communities that depends on them, but could also serve as a model for reform in other small-scale fisheries in Indonesia and around the world.

Credit: Alexis Rife

Two million Indonesian fishers and millions of others rely on the coast for their food and livelihoods. More than half of the nation’s animal protein comes from seafood. The country is one of the world’s largest seafood producers and exporters, and blue swimming crab is among its most important species, generating more than $300 million of economic activity a year. Read More »

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Moving beyond the status quo(ta): How the UK can build a sustainable and secure future for fishing

By / Bio / Published: May 8, 2018

© MWC Marine

In their overwhelming support for Brexit, UK fishermen were seeking to upend the status quo. But now that this message has been received, the next big challenge is not about the status quo, but about the state of quota.

As the media, environmentalists and industry examine UK fisheries from every angle, the Q word keeps cropping up. Quota: what to do with it? Who deserves more – or less? And how can we ensure future UK fisheries are a vibrant patchwork of sustainable industrial and small-scale fishing operations, providing a secure backbone to coastal economies? As the UK decides on how to handle quota post-Brexit, it must try to deliver on the hopes for greater prosperity of fishermen working on big boats and small. Read More »

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Key ingredients for shared ocean prosperity in Spain

By / Bio / Published: April 27, 2018

Here’s a simple idea: give communities who rely on fishing for their food, the roots of their culture and heritage, and – crucially – their livelihoods, a voice in deciding how the seas around them are managed.  If we hope to have thriving, resilient oceans that support more fish, feed more people and improve prosperity—fishing communities must help lead the way.

Five years ago, Environmental Defense Fund Europe partnered with WWF Spain with the goal of working directly with fishermen across Spain’s diverse tapestry of small-scale fisheries to make this simple idea a reality.

The hope was that by giving coastal communities a stake and a presence in management decision-making for their fisheries new, locally-tailored ways could be found to meet goals set out in the Europe-wide Common Fisheries Policy. Here in Europe, this collaborative approach is called co-management. We also hoped to prove the value of the rich, traditional knowledge found in all these communities – where fishing and saltwater are in the locals’ blood – and establish systems that give fishers a secure right to fish in the long-term, strengthening small-scale fishing businesses. Read More »

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West Coast fishermen are having their fish and protecting habitat too

By / Bio / Published: April 13, 2018

Decisions about protected areas can be contentious. It isn’t often that fishermen and environmentalists find ourselves celebrating new protected areas together, but on the West Coast we’re doing just that.

This week, I had the pleasure of being present as the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to support a collaborative effort to reopen thousands of square miles of previously-closed West Coast fishing grounds, much of it in the Rockfish Conservation Area (RCA) while at the same time protecting 140,000 square-miles of highly valuable fish habitat. That’s bigger than the state of New Mexico! Read More »

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