August 16, 2021 โ A new poll released by Environmental Defense Fund indicates U.S. voters are open to consuming more home-grown seafood that adheres to strong consumer and environmental standards for American aquaculture.
The poll found 84 percent of voters support a proposal that โwould first examine the risks and opportunities of fish farming (also known as aquaculture) in U.S. federal waters before setting high standards and regulation for safe and sustainable aquaculture.โ
August 4, 2021 โ A virtual climate and fisheries workshop hosted in July by the Environmental Defense Fund had the goal of building bridges between fisheries managers in Japan and the United States.
The seminar organized by the New York City, U.S.A.-based NGO brought together scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service and Japanโs Fisheries Research and Education Agency to discuss current and future climate-related changes in fisheries, data gaps impeding optimal management practices, and opportunities for collaboration.
July 27, 2021 โ In the moments on Monday, 26 July, after U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman officially announced the filing of a bill to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act, statements supporting the legislation started to flow out from the press offices of seafood and fishing interest groups and environmental non-governmental organizations.
Conservation groups lauded H.R. 4690, sponsored by the California Democrat and U.S. Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii). In particular, those organizations appreciated the recognition of climate change as a factor in fishing.
July 26, 2021 โ Building climate resilience will be essential to the United Kingdomโs seafood indsutry if it hopes to maintain production and account for impendeing changes, speakers from around the world told the U.K. governmentโs All Party Parliamentary Group on Fisheries at its most recent meeting.
The panel, which is operated by the U.K.โs Fisheries Secretariat, is a cross-party body focused on issues affecting the U.K. fishing and seafood sector. The aim of its recent session was to gain insight into how to tackle issues resulting from climate change that could impact the countryโs fishing industry in the future.
June 18, 2021 โ A paper published in Nature Communications, โFinancing a sustainable ocean economy,โ was among a long list of articles, announcements, and pledges that appeared on 8 June, commemorating World Oceans Day.
The paperโs authors, a group of international economists and ocean policy experts, found that public and private investment lags far behind that needed to ensure a thriving, resilient, and sustainable ocean economy.
April 21, 2021 โ The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) announced 20 fisheries and research projects will receive up to ยฃ60,000 through its Ocean Stewardship Fund, a fund dedicated to sustainable fishing across the globe.
The awards include grants to the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), WWF India and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) as well as to fisheries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia, the MSC said. A quarter of the funding will focus on Global South fisheries.
April 20, 2021 โ The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:
Twenty fisheries and research projects around the world will receive up to ยฃ60,000 each from the Marine Stewardship Councilโs (MSC) Ocean Stewardship Fund โ a fund dedicated to enabling and supporting sustainable fishing around the world.
The awards include grants to the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), WWF India and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) as well as to fisheries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. Nearly a quarter of the funding has been awarded in support of fisheries in the Global South.
Research into fishery observer safety is a special focus this year given the critical role observers can play in providing the data and evidence required to demonstrate fisheries are operating responsibly. An Ocean Stewardship Fund grant will support Saltwater Inc. โ a company which trains and deploys fishery observers โ in collaboration with the I.T. consulting firm Chordata, LLC, to create a โone-touchโ communications platform. This will enable fishery observers to safely communicate with their home office, or alert emergency services to unsafe working conditions.
Three other grants will fund research aimed at reducing bycatch โ a major cause of ocean biodiversity depletion โ whilst other projects focus on fisheriesโ harvest strategies and improvements in bait fisheries.
The 20 awardees include:
The Fund also supports fisheries that are in the early stages of improving their management practices. Six of the grants, totalling nearly a quarter of the funding (ยฃ157,724) are supporting fishery improvement projects in the Global South, including the deep-sea shrimp trawl fishery in Kerala, India and blue swimmer crab fisheries, squid fisheries and snapper and grouper fisheries in Indonesia.
The MSCโs Chief Executive, Rupert Howes, said:
โCongratulations to all the 2021 awardees of the Ocean Stewardship Fund. The MSC established the Ocean Stewardship Fund in 2018 to fund credible projects and initiatives that will deliver real improvements in the way our oceans are being fished and importantly, will help fisheries around the world to progress on their pathway to sustainability.
โThe knowledge generated by these projects will inform the sector more widely and we hope, will catalyse and lead to further adoption and scaling of solutions beyond the immediate beneficiaries of the grants.
โI was very impressed by the quality of all of the applications this year and have no doubt the Ocean Stewardship Fundโs focus on collaborative projects is driving innovation and creativity. Without doubt our collective efforts can help to ensure our oceans remain productive and resilient in the face of the growing pressures and demands placed on them but much more needs to be done and urgently if we are to deliver the UN strategic development goals by 2030.โ
Since 2019, the Ocean Stewardship Fund has awarded 35 grants totalling ยฃ1.3 million and the MSC hopes the impact of those projects will contribute to the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Below Water.
For more information about the Ocean Stewardship Fund, including previous grant awards, please visit: www.msc.org/oceanstewardshipfund
March 2, 2021 โ From weather predicting apps to using artificial intelligence to monitor the fish they catch, small-scale fishermen and coastal communities are increasingly turning to digital tools to help them be more sustainable and tackle climate change.
Overfishing and illegal fishing by commercial vessels inflict significant damage on fisheries and the environment, and take food and jobs from millions of people in coastal communities who rely on fishing, environmental groups say.
In addition, climate change affects on small-scale fishermen โ who account for about 90% of the worldโs capture fishermen and fish workers โ include fish moving to new areas in search of cooler waters or if their habitat is destroyed, rising sea levels, and an increase in the number of storms.
Launched in January by nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Small-Scale Fisheries Resource and Collaboration Hub (SSF Hub) is a multilingual website that aims to bring together fishermen, their communities and advocacy groups to connect, share ideas and find solutions to the problems they face.
February 18, 2021 โ Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is launching a new program with the aim of improving data collection and fisheries management.
The program, SmartPass, integrates shore-based cameras with artificial intelligence to get a more accurate assessment of the number of vessels fishing in a particular region, according to EDF Global Fisheries Initiatives Senior Manager Sepp Haukebo.
February 10, 2021 โ The global effort to harness the potential of small-scale fisheries to achieve sustainable food systems and eliminate poverty has led to the launch of the Small-Scale Fisheries Resource and Collaboration Hub (SSF Hub) by a global coalition involved in various operations along the entire seafood value chain.
โThe SSF Hub is a multilingual, interactive online platform to strengthen small-scale fisheries governance and community development,โ according to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), one of the organizations involved in forming the new entity.
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