EDFish

Selected tag(s): sharks

For fisheries in the Caribbean, life revolves around the climate… and our climate resilience

By EDF Oceans / Published: June 28, 2022

By:

Eduardo “Lalo” Boné Morón, Senior Manager, EDF Cuba Oceans Program
Juan Carlos Duque, Project Manager of the Biological Corridor in the Caribbean of UNEP
José “Pepe” Gerhartz, Conservation Specialist of the CBC Secretariat

“Life revolves around the climate,” says José Luis “Pepe” Gerhartz, a senior conservation specialist from the Caribbean Biological Corridor Initiative, or CBC, a joint initiative between Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico. The scientific knowledge generated by Pepe, among many other experts dedicated to studying climate, indicates that climate change is causing drastic alterations to our oceans. These alterations are inevitably affecting marine ecosystems and the millions of people who depend on them. Fisheries are already suffering as changes in sea temperature, sea currents and many other processes in the oceans affect the abundance and distribution of marine species. Certain organisms will be able to adapt, moving in search of better conditions. However, many others will not, potentially reducing the oceans’ ability to thrive and nourish the world. Read More »

Posted in Cuba, International / Also tagged adaptive fisheries management, Belize, caribbean, Caribbean Biological Corridor Initiative, Climate change, Coastal Communities, Cuba, Dominican Republic, FAO, Fisheries, Food Security, Haiti, International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, IYAFA, learning exchange, marine ecosystems, multispecies fisheries management, ocean conservation, ocean temperature, Oceans, Puerto Rico, small-scale fisheries, stock distributions, sustainability, tropical islands, UN | Comments are closed

Collaborative research sheds light on creating climate-resilient multispecies fisheries

By Kendra Karr / Bio / Published: October 19, 2021

Worldwide, there is considerable interest in developing fishery management options that balance social, economic and ecological goals for multispecies fisheries. Ideally, fisheries management should strive not only to produce good yields from single stocks, but also to avoid serial depletion and prevent adverse impacts of fishing on marine ecosystems — a difficult, but achievable task. Read More »

Posted in Cuba, International, Mexico, Policy, Science/Research / Also tagged bycatch, Chile, Climate change, climate-resilient fisheries, Coastal Communities, Cuba, fish baskets, Fisheries, Grouper, Mexico, multispecies fishery, ocean ecosystems, Oceans, Octopus, Overfishing, sustainability | Comments are closed

How will climate change affect the bigger fishes in the sea?

By EDF Oceans / Published: October 7, 2021

By Katie Westfall and Kristin Kleisner

Tunas, sharks, billfishes and swordfish are wide-ranging species that can respond rapidly to environmental changes. Many within this group are top predators and can move across ocean basins and between shallow and deep waters in response to oceanic conditions. For these reasons, some of these species may serve as “climate sentinels,” or animals that can offer important insights into how a changing climate is affecting ocean processes and marine life. Read More »

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, International, Mid-Atlantic / Also tagged Atlantic Ocean, billfish, bycatch, Climate change, climate resilience, climate sentinels, highly migratory species, Oceans, Overfishing, swordfish, tuna | Comments are closed

IUCN WCC | Sustainable fisheries & biodiversity conservation — working together in the face of climate change

By Doug Rader / Bio / Published: September 10, 2021

Over the past week, representatives from organizations and countries from around the world have come together for critical discussions about protecting and enhancing biodiversity in the face of climate change at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France. For the first time at the WCC, restoring ocean health was one of the central discussion themes, as a “marine journey.”

Posted in Belize, Cuba, International, Policy / Also tagged Belize, biodiversity, China, Climate change, Conservation, Cuba, Domestic, ecotourism, Fisheries Management, managed access, Marine Protected Areas, ocean ecosystems, Sustainable development goals, sustainable fisheries, United States | Comments are closed

How science and technology can help save sharks

By Katie Westfall / Bio / Published: August 4, 2017

photo credit: Philippe Guillaume corrida via photopin (license)

Every year, Shark Week gives us a peek into the world of shark research and the amazing science and technology developing to study these captivating animals. This year, we were amazed by ultrasounds for pregnant hammerhead sharks and measuring a goblin shark’s bite. The latest science and technology can also help fishermen seeking other species to avoid sharks, protecting them from a significant source of injury and death while saving fishermen money.

Globally, shark bycatch represents one of the greatest threats – maybe the greatest threat, — to shark populations. Worldwide, sharks caught as bycatch can make up nearly half of the total reported catch, and that’s not counting the large amount of catch that goes unreported. Often, fishermen want to catch more valuable species like swordfish and tuna using pelagic longlines, one of the most prevalent fishing gears on the high seas, and hate accidentally catching sharks instead. So how can science and technology help solve this problem? Read More »

Posted in Science/Research / Also tagged bycatch, Domestic, science, Shark Week, technology | Comments are closed

Protecting imperiled ocean travelers

By Katie Westfall / Bio / Published: February 3, 2017

Photo: Noel Lopez-Fernandez

By: Katie Westfall & Melissa Mahoney

Across the globe, populations of many highly migratory species of fish, turtles and marine mammals have hit dangerously low levels. For example, Western Pacific leatherbacks have declined more than 80 percent, and their Eastern Pacific counterparts have declined by more than 97 percent. Many of these species play vital roles in maintaining balanced ocean ecosystems full of diversity and life. As we work to reverse these declines, environmentalists have to ensure that everything we do has the greatest positive impact. This means that we’ll need smart management at home and solutions that protect highly migratory species wherever they roam.

New research suggests that well-intentioned U.S. regulations designed to help species like sharks and sea turtles may actually create a net harm to imperiled sea life.

This unintentional negative dynamic can occur when a country, like the United States, unilaterally adopts a regulation to protect an imperiled species such as sea turtles or sharks caught as bycatch. If the regulation leads to decreased fishing domestically and shifts fishing internationally to countries where bycatch rates are higher, the net result can be a higher number of bycatch deaths for the very species the regulation intended to protect. This phenomenon has been called the “transfer effect.” Read More »

Posted in Global Fisheries, International, Science/Research / Also tagged bycatch, highly migratory species, innovation, sea turtles, swordfish | Comments are closed