EDFish

Transforming Data into Action: A Five-Year Look at Blue Swimming Crab Fisheries Performance in Lampung

By: Harlisa, M. Khazali, and Meutia Isty Wulandari

fishers measuring blue swimming crab

Fishers collecting blue swimming crab data. Credit: Bagus Santoso

Sarkad gazed out at the Lampung coastline, his hands gripping the edge of his small fishing boat. At 49 years old, Sarkad had spent over half his life catching blue swimming crabs. He fled his hometown in West Java, hoping to escape deteriorating marine conditions and declining catches, only to find the same situation in Lampung. The abundant blue swimming crabs he remembered from 16 years ago have dwindled as a result of years of unsustainable fishing practices.  Read More »

Also posted in International / Comments are closed

Sustainability starts with health: Disease prevention and management in aquaculture

Vibrio

Let’s continue the conversation on sustainable aquaculture. This is the third blog in our series exploring the sustainability of aquaculture—what we currently know, emerging advancements, and areas for growth. In our previous, we covered escapes in aquaculture, and before that, we discussed aquaculture feed.     Read More »

Also posted in Science/Research / Comments are closed

There’s No Escaping the Need to Address Escapes in Aquaculture

Diver with an underwater aquaculture pen with fish

Open ocean aquaculture in the U.S. has the potential to create diverse local jobs, build a more climate-resilient domestic seafood supply, and minimize impacts on the climate and environment. However, achieving these benefits hinges on practicing aquaculture the right way.  Read More »

Also posted in Policy, Science/Research / Comments are closed

Can we answer the questions eating at aquafeed?

Hands holding aquaculture feed

Is aquaculture sustainable? As with so many important questions, the inevitable—often infuriating—answer is, “it depends.”  

As the U.S. looks to expand into open ocean aquaculture (usually between 3 and 200 nautical miles off the coast), we have the opportunity to get things right from the start. We can create diverse local jobs, build a more climate-resilient domestic seafood supply, and, of course, minimize impacts on the climate and environment. We know that aquaculture can already be more sustainable than other forms of food production. But, we can make it even better by focusing on what remains unknown.  Read More »

Also posted in Science/Research / Comments are closed

Illuminating coastal seas: A new paradigm for ocean observing

By Christopher Cusack (EDF) and Cooper Van Vranken (Ocean Data Network)

In the early hours of October 25, 2023, Hurricane Otis made landfall near Acapulco, Mexico, with peak winds of 165 mph wreaking havoc on communities in its path. Normally, people would have had a chance to prepare but just the day before, the consensus of models forecasted that Otis would remain a tropical storm. Within hours of these predictions, Otis exploded into a Category 5 storm, the most intense classification. When the skies eventually cleared, the damage stood at a staggering $16 billion, and at least 53 people had lost their lives.

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Also posted in Climate Change, International, Science/Research / Comments are closed

Can seaweed really help fight global warming? Here’s what we know so far.

Kelp in the ocean

We’re seeing the impacts of climate change in real time. There is an urgent need to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere to avoid more catastrophic climate change impacts. This will require both reductions in GHG emissions and the removal of GHGs from the atmosphere. In recent years, this need has driven interest in seaweed as a natural climate solution, as seaweed can absorb carbon and grow quickly.   

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Also posted in Climate Change, Science/Research / Comments are closed