By Bavidra Mohan, Director of Acumen Academy, and Jeff Young, Senior Manager, Global Capacity Development, Environmental Defense Fund
The small-scale fisheries sector is a powerful example of our interconnectedness. Small-scale fisheries employ 90% of all fishworkers globally, supplying nearly half of the world’s fish catch each year. In addition to feeding coastal communities, seafood harvested by small-scale fishers ends up on the plates of consumers from Bogotá to Beijing. Read More
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
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
It’s safe to say that a wide range of people are passionate about protecting the wild and wonderful creatures of the sea. My most moving underwater experience – during twenty years and more than 1,200 scuba dives – was a prolonged close encounter off St. Croix, in the US Virgin Islands, with a juvenile humpback whale, which kept coming back to interact intimately with our small group, again and again. I will never forget that gift from the sea, and have dedicated my career as a marine scientist to protecting ocean ecosystems and the people who depend on them. Read More
By Sarah Poon
Territorial Use Rights for Fishing, or TURFs, have been in place for centuries in fishing communities around the world. In a TURF, fishery participants have a secure, exclusive privilege to fish in a defined area. Many fishery policy experts view TURFs and catch share programs as separate options for managing fisheries. TURFs are a type of catch share, since the area-based privileges assigned under a TURF provide the same rewards for stewardship as quota-based privileges.
In recent decades fishery managers have channeled the historical successes of this approach by formally recognizing customary TURFs, applying them to more fisheries and experimenting with modern adaptations.
Community-based territorial rights that have existed for centuries are now formally recognized by national law in Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Palau. Empowered by national law promoting traditional community-based management, the Safata District of Samoa implemented a district-wide TURF in 2000. Bylaws developed by the community manage members’ fishing efforts and limit outsiders’ access. Safata’s leaders have further improved biological performance by establishing a network of no-take reserves. With a formalized role in management, the district has received strong community support, high regulatory compliance and increased abundance for important species.
TURF systems have been used in different types of fisheries, but they are particularly well-suited for managing near shore fisheries where there is a clear spatial range of fishing activity. While these systems are ideal for less mobile species that don’t move beyond TURF boundaries, they can also be designed for more mobile species. Read More
photo credit: cliff1066™ via photopin cc
Congress is about to embark on a review of what has worked and what hasn’t in a law widely regarded as having halted overfishing in many American fisheries. Though we have made progress here in the United States, overfishing is wreaking havoc on the world’s oceans and the mismanagement of our fisheries is the chief cause. Recent peer reviewed science estimates that 64% of global fisheries are depleted below the levels required to sustain production.
Overfishing can lead to the loss of important species that can upend the balance of critical ocean food webs leading to the further degradation of our ocean. To save the ocean, we must end overfishing.
One of EDF’s missions is to rebuild global fisheries with the best possible solutions that serve both fishermen and fish so that future generations can enjoy sustainable seafood, fishermen can continue to fish profitably, and our seas are healthy and abundant. Peer reviewed and published scientific evidence and our decades of experience have shown that catch shares are one of the best solutions for rebuilding depleted fisheries both in the United States and globally. Read More
