Environmental Defense Fund recently invited Julie Kuchepatov, founder of Seafood and Gender Equality, to have a conversation with three EDF team members on the role of women in small-scale fisheries in their respective countries. Julie spoke with Onesya Damayanti, Community Outreach Specialist, Indonesia; Layla Osman, Small-Scale Fisheries Manager, Humboldt Current; and Ana Suarez, Senior Specialist for Capacity Development, Partnerships and Global Inclusion, Mexico. In this conversation, Julie and our team explore the important roles of women in coastal communities around the world — and how women’s work in fisheries adds value in countless ways. Read More
EDFish
Selected tag(s): Fishery Management
Women in Fisheries Q&A: how women strengthen and support the fishing sector
Computer-assisted monitoring technologies are set to revolutionize fisheries
By Melissa Mahoney and Shems Jud
With fisheries providing livelihoods, income and nutrition for hundreds of millions of people around the world, finding ways to preserve them is always essential. Yet in many countries, fisheries management hasn’t caught up with the digital world we live in today. Electronic fisheries monitoring and other applications of cutting-edge technology could revolutionize this industry — and it’s an exciting new frontier. Read More
Building fisheries for the future
Editor’s note: This is the last in a multi-part blog series, Fisheries for the Future, examining the impacts from climate change on global fisheries and the opportunities to address these emerging challenges. Throughout the series, we have investigated how climate change will impact the world’s supply and distribution of fish and what we can do to ensure the most sustainable future for ourselves and our planet. Learn more about this work: Resilient Seas
Climate change is here and can only get worse. This promises to scramble the oceans in ways we do not yet fully understand, and it poses nothing short of an existential risk to marine ecosystems and the people that rely upon them for livelihoods and food security. Yet, the future is not without hope. If we can stem emissions, there is reason to believe that the sea can continue to host abundant and diverse life and support the economic, social and food needs of society. But we must get started now. Read More
New report outlines causes of ocean decline and proposal for recovery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAvesU5S5k4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
A new report by an independent global organization lays out an eight-point plan to reverse ocean decline and advance recovery of the high seas.
The Global Ocean Commission (GOC), an independent organization of prominent leaders from around the globe formed to develop feasible solutions for key challenges facing the high seas, yesterday issued its final report, “From Decline to Recovery: A Rescue Package for the Global Ocean.” It outlines five drivers of ocean decline and an eight-part proposal to recover the high seas, an area of our oceans outside the jurisdiction of individual countries.
EDF applauds the commission for bringing high-level international attention to the important role oceans play in sustaining life on the planet, and we are pleased to see the optimism and solution-focus of the report. The commission’s call to action must be heeded; recovery of the ocean is both possible and imperative to sustaining life on earth. Read More
Breaking down barriers, building up trust: French & UK Channel scallop fisheries are ready for change
Dialogue is often the first step towards change, and is a sign of willingness to cooperate. And there was plenty of it at the Scallop Management Workshop held recently in Brixham, England. The event was organised by WWF and EDF in collaboration with GAP2, a research project funded by the European Commission. The forum provided an inclusive setting to engage industry on design and management of their fishery and to identify opportunities to strengthen the existing management framework.
For the first time, industry participants from both sides of the French/English Channel were in the same room discussing what changes are necessary to achieve greater sustainability for the shared scallop fishery. More than 60 people took time off the water and from their jobs to tackle the management challenge head on. Appreciating differing perspectives was a central component of the gathering’s success. It requires a good deal of patience and frankly, courage, when addressing issues of such cultural and economic importance. Read More
Catch Shares: Harvesting Sustainable Catches
Originally published on November 18, 2013 on the Oceans Health Index Website
Introduction
Written by Steven Katona, Managing Director, Ocean Health Index
Maximizing sustainable food production from the ocean by harvest of wild fish stocks and production of farmed species by mariculture is one of the 10 goals evaluated by the Ocean Health Index, and it is especially closely watched because it is so critical for the future.
Three billion people out of today’s world population of 7.1 billion people depend on seafood for their daily protein and fish contribute a greater proportion of protein to the average diet than poultry. A single serving of fish or shellfish (150 g) provides 60% of a person’s daily protein requirement, but the ocean’s continued ability to meet that need is in doubt. Our population is rising steadily and will reach about 8 billion by 2024 and 9 billion by 2040, but the annual catch from wild ocean fisheries has stayed at about 80 million metric tons since about 1990 despite increased effort. The reason is that too many stocks are overfished and too much productivity is sacrificed as bycatch, illegal and unregulated catch and as a result of habitat loss caused by destructive fishing practices.
Yet without increased wild harvest and augmented mariculture production, the risk of malnutrition will increase for hundreds of millions of people, because the catch will have to be shared by so many more mouths. Read More