By Tom Neltner, J.D., Chemicals policy director
Over the past several years, EDF has been tracking the development of innovative seafood products where the components are grown from cells in tanks and combined into consumable products using extrusion, 3-D printing or other processes commonly used in the food industry. Read More
Today, we’re introducing readers to the concept of climate resilience in marine fisheries through a new, three-part video series called “Fishing for Resilience.” As Environmental Defense Fund’s Senior Director for Resilient Fisheries, I played a central role in the creation of this short series — even “starring” in the videos as narrator.
Producing and narrating these videos was a bit of a personal journey for me, and not just because I had to listen to my own voice. It’s because I tried to bring this concept home, and found myself asking what climate change means to friends and family that ply the seas, what it means for my community, and what it means for the wildlife and ecosystems that I hold dear. That got me right into thinking about how to help the people, wildlife and broader ocean ecosystems that I care about in practical ways.
By Chris Cusack and Melissa Mahoney
It doesn’t take too much scrolling these days to see that our oceans — and our entire natural world — are in peril. Overfishing, habitat destruction, plastic pollution and warming temperatures are BIG challenges. And yet, they all have something in common: they can all be improved by sustainable, responsible use of emerging technologies. Read More
Americans import over 85% of all the seafood we consume — and half of that is from foreign aquaculture. That means when it comes to the majority of farmed fish we eat, we’re exporting our environmental footprint while missing out on the opportunity to create greater resilience and jobs for our coastal communities here in the U.S. Also lost is the opportunity to lead the way in developing best practices for sustainable production of healthy seafood that meets the most stringent environmental and health standards. This is most true in building a sustainable marine aquaculture industry.
In all the years I’ve been studying the ocean, whales have provided some of my fondest memories. I remember those humpbacks singing to each other off Maui; the baby gray whale I saw rolling around in the surf near Bodega Bay; and the blue whales that left me awestruck during trips to the Channel Islands.
Lately, I’ve been studying natural ocean processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, searching for ways to restore or accelerate them so that we can safely slow down the rate of global warming. Whales might be part of the solution.
By Alexia Juárez, catch monitor, Golfo de Santa Clara, Mexico
For me, the ocean means hope. As a child, one of the things I enjoyed most was going with my grandfather to seafood processing plants where I would watch many women working. I also cherish the image of going out to sea with my father and coming home with the panga (skiff) full of fish that we would later clean and sell as a family. In other words, the ocean has given us everything: wealth, belonging and spiritual strength. Today, I am a mother of two small children, and I feel the need to give back to the ocean so that my children can continue to live from it in a dignified way. I also want to teach them to love and respect the sea and all the life that lives within it.
