By Shems Jud

Photo by Corey Arnold

Followers of this blog have already heard about major milestones that West Coast groundfish trawl fishermen achieved during 2014. In June, the Marine Stewardship Council recognized the remarkable progress made in this catch share fishery over the last decade, and certified 13 trawl-caught species as sustainable. In October, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program upgraded 21 trawl species to sustainable status, helping to change perceptions and opening up potential new market opportunities for West Coast trawlers.

While supply-chain and consumer perceptions gradually adjust to recognize those positive realities, many groundfish fishermen are still struggling to hang on and make a living. Helping reduce their operating costs so that fishing can become more profitable has been a primary focus of our West Coast team, and now we can celebrate a win on that front with the passage of S. 1275, the Revitalizing the Economy of Fisheries in the Pacific Act, also known as the REFI Pacific Act.

The REFI Pacific Act reduces the rate of interest that West Coast trawl fishermen pay on their 2003 federal permit and vessel buyback loan from 6.97% to the Treasury rate. Since buyback loan payments are deducted every time a fisherman delivers catch, this interest rate reduction will increase the chances that fishermen can earn a profit in a business where fuel, equipment, insurance and maintenance costs take a huge cut. In addition to those normal operating costs, West Coast trawlers shoulder the cost of federal observers, and a 3% “off the top” fee that goes to administer the catch share program itself.

EDF worked closely with our friends in the fishing industry to advance this legislation. The Fort Bragg Groundfish Association, the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, United Catcher Boats and the Fisherman’s Marketing Association all had their shoulder to the wheel on this issue for a long time. In Congress, Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) spearheaded the final push.  These Washington State lawmakers and their staffs, along with Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), and the entire West Coast delegation that supported this effort, have earned the thanks of fishermen coastwide.

 

By Alexis Rife

Blue Swimming Crab. Photo: Alexis Rife

Indonesia is a nation of over 17,000 islands where fishing contributes significantly to local livelihoods, food security and culture:

• Two million fishers + millions more people rely on the coast for their food and livelihoods
• At least 50% of Indonesians’ animal protein comes from seafood

Indonesia is the second largest producer of wild capture seafood in the world, feeding Indonesians, but also exporting much to other countries. During a recent site visit to Indonesia, I was excited to learn about a local, small-scale fishery that plays a part in a big international seafood market: blue swimming crab.

 

Popularity of blue crab in US market supports local economies in Indonesia:

Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus are a popular seafood choice in the United States, but many are

Buyer weighs blue swimming crab. Photo: Alexis Rife

unaware that a lot of the crabs we enjoy are not really from the Chesapeake or Gulf of Mexico : they  are often blue swimming crabs (Protunus pelagicus) from Indonesia, a  “cousin” of the American species. The high demand in the U.S. has contributed to the creation of a large crab fishery around the world. Indonesian fishers catch an impressive 23,000 metric tons of crab, with a dockside value of nearly US $300 million, each year. More than a quarter of that crab comes from the north side of Java, the most densely populated island in Indonesia and the center of the string of islands that comprise Indonesia. The village we visited, Betahwalang, is located in the heart of ‘crab country.’

Because of the importance of  blue swimming crab , the Blue Swimming Crab Processing Association (APRI; a group of Indonesian crab processors), has partnered with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) to  develop a “Fishery Improvement Plan.” The purpose of the plan is to ensure the long term sustainability of this fishery:   fishers and processors will use more sustainable fishing and processing methods in exchange for improved access to the U.S. market.

 

Thriving fisheries = thriving communities

The high international demand for blue swimming crab contributes to the economic and social wellbeing of Betahwalang. Located in the Demak District, Betahwalang is a small community, nested among mangroves and in the shadow of a beautiful mosque.  Fishers contributed a portion of their profits to build the mosque, which is the pride of the community. Crabs are valuable and local fishers can earn $5 or more per kg of crab they catch.

To help sustain the fishery, the community collaborated with APRI, Diponegoro University, the Demak

Demak Village Mosque built with revenue from blue swimming crab. Photo: Alexis Rife

District government, industry, and religious and village leaders on a plan to better manage blue swimming crabs. They are making efforts to implement and enforce a variety of regulations to help protect crab stocks.  The partners hope to focus fishing on crabs 10 cm and larger, and to avoid catching crabs with eggs so they have time to mature and reproduce. They encourage the use of traps instead of more indiscriminate trawl nets to reduce catching unwanted species, and have established a no-take zone to help protect spawning areas. Village level action and implementation of a Fishing Improvement Plan are innovative steps in Indonesia, with the fishing sector helping lead work to improve the fishery with university and government support.

 

Fish Forever

Platforms along the mangrove forest where buyers purchase and steam crabs directly from local fishers. Photo: Alexis Rife

Fish Forever is a recently launched initiative with our partners Rare and University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB).  Its goals are to end overfishing in near-shore fisheries, protect biodiversity, and secure local livelihoods in Indonesia and other tropical countries. Fish Forever aims to build on the efforts of the local community, such as those in Betahwalang, by developing Territorial Use Rights for Fishing (TURFs) and no-take marine reserves that allocate secure privileges to fishers to their fishing grounds, ensuring both the sustainability of the resource and the fishers’ livelihoods.

By testing a TURF and reserve in Betahwalang, we hope to garner interest in neighboring communities to establish similar systems tailored to local needs. A regional system of TURF-reserves could help sustain this important fishery, and benefit fishing communities. By giving fishers secure access to their fishing grounds, they will have a vested interest in fishing sustainably, thus allowing their important fisheries to recover (crabs or otherwise) and ensuring plentiful fish stocks for future generations.

By Amanda Leland

Photo credit: Carlos Aguilera

In an inspired and welcome choice, the Department of State just named Jane Lubchenco as the first U.S. Science Envoy for the Ocean.

The move reflects both the growing priority of oceans in the Obama Administration and the kind of collaborative approach it takes to restore jobs, communities and biodiversity worldwide.

This huge step comes just in time.

Globally, 40 percent of fisheries are in deep trouble with overfishing being the single biggest cause. Yet, Jane has shown how we can replenish life in the oceans through smart approaches that include better science, more marine protected areas, and stewardship incentives for fishermen.

As the first female administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2009-2013, Jane took the helm in the midst of shrunken budgets, a crippling recession, a polarized Congress and a changing climate.

It was also a time when tensions between fishermen and regulators reached an all-time high.

Despite these challenges, she oversaw the rapid turnaround of long-ailing American fisheries, embracing fishermen incentives as a way to turn conflict into cooperation, and to reverse fragile collapse into a resilient ecological recovery.

Partnerships with fishermen are also a pillar of the ocean work we do here at Environmental Defense Fund, where Jane is now serving for the second time as a member of our Board of Trustees.

One of several significant ocean victories for which her leadership can take part of the credit was the spectacular recovery of the Pacific groundfish fishery. It was reformed with dramatic results after having been declared a national disaster just years earlier.

Today, this fishery provides 250 million pounds of certified sustainable fish to markets, enough to feed 17 million Americans wild seafood for an entire year.

In fact, the U.S. has continued to boost fish populations over the last three years, while increasing fishing industry jobs 23 percent and fishermen revenues by 30 percent.

This offshore transformation benefits shoppers at HEB and Whole Foods, and has earned progressive certification by the Marine Stewardship Council and elevated status by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch.

But the problem of overfishing is not limited to our shores.

Like Jane, we envision the world’s oceans once again abundant with fish. They should be part of a thriving and diverse marine ecosystem that supplies people with an increasing amount of protein-rich food while supporting thriving coastal communities.

Our goal is to help catalyze reforms, making sustainable fishing the norm in 12 governments that account for nearly two-thirds of the global catch. Reforms at this scale will help sustainable fishing take hold worldwide.

That’s why this appointment puts the right person with the right ideas in the right place at the right time. Our new Science Envoy for the Ocean brings a wealth of expertise and experience that can be helpful to fisheries ministers, practitioners and scientists in America and beyond.

In her new position, Jane can help bring the best scientific understanding and practical solutions for getting more fish in the sea, more food on the plate, and more prosperous communities around the world.

By Guest Author

Photo credit: Melanie Siggs

Guest Author: Erik Lindebo, Brussels

The autumn started with a splash. Business resumed in the European Parliament and a new Commission was elected. Scotland and my beloved Sweden settled down after a summer of high political emotions. Meanwhile Europe’s fishermen move closer to the reality of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) implementation and its associated challenges – including adapting to the landings obligation, i.e. the phasing out of the common practice of returning unwanted catches back to the sea. It seems we must leave it to Member States, producer organisations, fishermen, and those directly engaged in the fisheries to find their own workable and demonstrable solutions. This should be underpinned by a simplified technical measures framework which encourages non-prescriptive results-based approaches at the regional level.

In recent months I have attended a number of fora focused on creating a new momentum in fisheries management. The main question on the table has been: Can we design and implement a workable multiannual plan for mixed fisheries in the North Sea? At the core of the deliberations are contained debates on how to reach MSY objectives, phase out discards, recover cod stocks, and overcome choke species situations whilst providing socio-economic opportunities for fishermen and fishing dependent communities. So far, even when encouraged to think outside the box to find innovative approaches, the tendency is to revert back to the fishery toolkit of classical input and output controls.

The workload ahead is significant and the stakes are high for many. Full and transparent collaboration between the Scheveningen group, Member States, the North Sea Advisory Council, the fishing sector, the European Commission, and civil society feels vital. There is great support in this direction to ensure a meaningful shift away from centralised management in favour of regionalised and co-management solutions.

The Member States around the North Sea, which make up the so-called Scheveningen group, have worked hard in recent months to formulate appropriate discard reduction plans for fisheries that will be impacted by the landing obligation in 2015. Such plans include which species are involved, application of exemptions and temporal and inter-species flexibilities, and adapted technical rules and control measures.

The European Commission has welcomed these plans and is in the process of adopting them. It is important that they be seen as a work in progress, especially as the challenge of phasing in the “discard ban” to meet the North Sea landing obligations as of 2016 still lies ahead.

North Sea fisheries are notably complex in their management requirements. The infamous cod recovery plan, with its two-pronged regulatory approach of detailed output and input controls, has failed to deliver for fish and fishermen. The dawn of the new CFP and the regionalised possibilities that come with it can put this right. If they do not, oceans and industry alike will suffer the consequences.

With an appropriate and adaptive approach to North Sea fisheries management I think we can productively deliver on the CFP objectives in the coming years. By understanding intricate management challenges and industry incentives we can better adapt the use of the fishery manager’s toolkit and apply new tools where appropriate. We also need to unlock EMFF funds for innovative pilot projects that explore improved gear selectivity and full documentation options, and test the use of smart quota tools; creating active partnerships between fishermen and all possible stakeholders.

Let’s get to work!

By EDF Oceans

Photo credits: Noel Lopez Fernandez, Jason Houston, Carlos Aguilera

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, fisheries provide just a fraction of their potential in terms of food and income. Although many threats, including climate change and habitat loss, contribute to the declining health of the oceans, overfishing remains the leading cause of fishery depletion worldwide. Globally, 40% of fisheries are in deep trouble and outdated management is squandering more than 50 billion dollars in potential income.

The good news is that by tackling overfishing, we can unleash the oceans’ natural resilience and achieve a dramatic recovery in fish populations.

We are making progress every day transitioning more fisheries to sustainable management policies and practices that help create much healthier oceans that support more fish, feed more people and improve livelihoods. These outcomes go hand in hand, because a healthier, more resilient ocean is also one that can support larger harvests.

In the United States, EDF has been working for more than a decade to spur significant advances in sustainability. The red snapper catch in the Gulf of Mexico has more than doubled since 2008, when we helped reform that fishery, and in 2014 the Marine Stewardship Council acknowledged the results of our work with fishermen on the West Coast when it certified 13 species of Pacific groundfish as sustainable. Currently more than two-thirds of the fish caught in U.S. federal waters are managed sustainably.

After hard work by EDF staff and other partners, the European Union adopted a fisheries policy in 2013 that will usher in major reforms across member nations.

We are also making progress in other parts of the world. Fish Forever, EDF’s partnership with Rare and University of California – Santa Barbara, has launched seven pilots with local partners in the Philippines and Indonesia. The partners are also working together in Belize, where we will work to support the expansion of TURFs, locally called Managed Access. By establishing secure access privileges to their fishing grounds coupled with no-take areas and effective co-management systems, Fish Forever aims to help these communities end overfishing, protect biodiversity, and improve livelihoods.

Small-scale fisheries, like these, are going to play an important role in realizing our goal for more sustainable fisheries around the world. Small-scale fisheries contribute about half of the global fisheries catch and are responsible for about 90% of fishing employment.

Whether it’s in the United States, Sweden, Spain, Mexico, Belize or Indonesia, more and more countries are recognizing the promise of sustainable management that empowers fishermen to become stewards of the resource while often more reliably providing food and income for the communities that depend on them.

It’s not just fishermen that are helping to make this possible. Seafood suppliers, grocery stores, restaurants and chefs are part of this change. The entire seafood supply chain can help make our fisheries healthier. And that includes you.

As our Chief Scientist, Doug Rader, PhD., told a group gathered for TEDx Charlotte just last month, “You can help make that vision a reality.  Ask questions about the fish in your market.  Buy local fresh sustainable seafood.  Use “red/yellow/green” fish scorecards to select fish most likely to be sustainably harvested. You might be surprised what a difference you, and thousands of people like you, can make!”

In honor of World Fisheries Day, visit your local grocery store or fish market with our seafood selector and enjoy a fresh, sustainable filet that represents another important step toward more sustainable fisheries and healthier oceans.

Happy World Fisheries Day!

By Matt Mullin

Fishing boats in Chatham, MA. Photo credit: Tim Connor, EDF

It’s time to face the fact that the cod fishery in New England is on the verge of collapse. The problem has been a long time coming. Decades of heavy fishing pressure, federal subsidies, counterproductive political intervention, unpredictable science, inadequate catch data and now climate change, have brought the iconic cod fishery to its knees.

The calls for a closure are increasing and it’s getting harder to justify opposition to such a move.

Some would say this centuries old fishery, a staple of New England, needs a miracle. But what it really needs is leadership. Now is the time for our leaders to step up and make hard choices. Are we going to let New England’s cod become a relic? Or are we going to reverse the tide and do everything necessary to bring this important fishery back from the brink?

 

A Challenging History

Years ago, fishing boats going to the Gulf of Maine in search of cod would return with an abundance of fish. Early fishermen claimed the schools were so dense, and the fish so large, that fishermen could walk on their backs.

Today, boats return with just a small fraction of what they once caught.  According to a recent peer-reviewed NOAA survey, cod stocks have dwindled to just 3 percent of what is required to sustain a healthy population. The dire numbers associated with this current crisis are decades in the making.

In the 1980s and 90s, poor management and federal subsidies enabled the growth of a fishing fleet that was already too large and investments by many fishermen in better technology to find and catch cod. While there were a few attempts to stem overcapacity in the 90s, numerous crises in the fishery undermined those efforts even then. Excessive fishing pressure continued and accelerated in the 2000s with overly optimistic stock assessments.  Catch levels became too high for the stocks to handle, which undermined the ability to recover, causing reproductive challenges and poor growth, among other problems. As a result, the cod population and its resilience has continually decreased and weakened over time.

 

The Current Challenge

In recent years, cod assessments have continued to be overly optimistic in estimates of abundance, leading to catch limits that were set too high for stocks to sustain. Other challenges, such as climate change, are also starting to have an impact, and will pose significant challenges in the future. North Atlantic waters are warming dramatically, shifting the migration patterns of many fish species, including cod, while also altering predator-prey relationships in the marine ecosystem. Between 1982 and 2004, water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine increased at about 0.05 degrees per year. Since then, they have been warming at about half a degree a year – almost ten times faster.

But one of the issues affecting the fishery that has gotten little attention is the role of politics. Every step taken or considered to save the stock and the industry becomes front-page fodder for Bay State politicians, from the city halls in the port cities to the governor’s office on Beacon Hill and all the way to the US Congress.

And for states that are normally pro-environment, this political bent remains populist and almost completely on the side of unsustainable catch limits and minimal oversight – a stance that plays well in political ads and on the campaign trail but offers nothing for sustainability. For years, empty rhetoric has fueled the false hope of fishermen across New England.

More cuts are coming to the Gulf of Maine cod fishery and there is no disputing that more changes are needed to reverse the decline we are facing. We find ourselves at the brink of collapse, very close to becoming a footnote in history like Newfoundland’s cod fishery. There, a complete collapse of the 400 year-old fishery in 1992 led to a moratorium on fishing that left more than 30,000 people without jobs. That moratorium still exists today.

Here in New England, there are already voices calling for closure of the fishery, and with no change that could soon become a reality. The good news is we have a choice. We can either change our attitude, recognizing the reality and working to find new solutions, or choose to do nothing new as New England cod goes from an industry to a memory.

 

The Solutions

The time for tinkering at the edges is over. In order to rebuild the stock and ensure the future of the New England cod fishery, we need immediate action and meaningful leadership, not lawsuits and false hope.  Fishermen and the rest of New England deserve better. Though none of the needed changes will be easy, they are necessary.

In the immediate-term, overall catch limits needed to be lowered so that we can give cod an immediate start to recovery, and we were glad to see the New England Fisheries Management Council take action to that end this week. Given that the Gulf of Maine cod stock is a dismal three percent of what it should be, fishermen are already catching well below their yearly quota. But returning to the ineffective policies of old, like daily trip limits, will not work. Those measures have been proven to fail. They will further threaten the very stock we need to protect by forcing fishermen to throw back dead fish, and will cut short desperately needed catch data. Daily trip limits and other effort controls haven’t worked in the past, and they won’t work now.

Cultivating young cod stocks is also critical to ensure the future of the fishery. In order to aggressively promote reproduction and growth, temporary closures to protect vital spawning activity and spawning sites during spawning season should be continued for next fishing year.

Most importantly, there remains a fundamental flaw in New England fisheries management – we simply do not know what is happening with cod in large part because we do not know what is happening on fishing boats. Only a mere 20 percent of fishing trips in New England have any form of monitoring at all. Monitoring a fishery at such a low level is ineffectual.

Simply put: If political or NOAA leaders want to save the fishery, they need to put cost-effective monitoring on every single groundfish fishing boat. We can’t continue to operate in the dark. The fishery is too important. Increasing monitoring to 100% accountability over the short-term is paramount, and we urge NOAA and the New England congressional delegations and legislatures, particularly in Massachusetts, to work together to find the money annually needed for that effort.

But we are not without hopeful examples for change. Fishermen in the West Coast groundfishery had a federal disaster declaration hanging around their neck a little more than a decade ago. After some hard work and tough choices, that same fishery is considered a model for sustainability today. We in New England can do the same.

The Pacific groundfish fishery proved that monitoring is an investment worth making. Following the implementation of a management system that mandated 100% monitoring and accountability, that fishery saw more accurate science and the rebound of several stocks, and fishermen have been able to develop innovative ways to avoid stocks more constraining than cod is now here in New England. Today, the fishery is MSC-certified and featured in Whole Foods television ads. They’ve won awards, accolades and are a shining example. But it was all enabled through a management system that included 100% accountability and effective monitoring.

Over the longer-term, there are several initiatives that will be keys to protecting cod and the fishing families, communities and consumers that rely on this species. In a constantly changing climate, it’s imperative that we develop better ecosystem science. More data about prey, growth, environmental factors and spatial distribution will help us better understand what is happening to this species and lead to more accurate assessments and catch limits.

In addition, the use of peer-reviewed, third party data should be incorporated, as it is with VIMS and industry-funded SMAST annual stock assessment surveys in the scallop fishery. By doing so we are tapping into available resources to create a more accurate and reliable picture of the marine environment.

Despite these challenges, we are seeing some promising signs. Many fishermen are exploring better strategies to avoid catching cod, and they are proactively working on new avoidance techniques and measures. These efforts should continue to be widely recognized and supported.

In addition, we can be more creative and tap into the market of fish abundant in local waters.  New consumer marketing strategies to help promote and create demand for these sustainable and plentiful fish, such as Pollock and redfish, will help fishermen survive this difficult period and enable cod stocks to rebuild.

This time of crisis requires all hands on deck. The cod crisis is one we must face together – collectively making the difficult decisions necessary to save the New England cod fishery and ensure the future of this industry for the next century.

By Matt Tinning

For Republicans, this week's midterm elections are cause for almost unreserved celebration. GOP candidates came close to sweeping the table in competitive House and Senate races around the country. Among the winners were Republican incumbents who have been constructive partners on fisheries issues and who were strongly supported by EDF Action, our sister organization: leaders like Senator Susan Collins in Maine and Congressman Chris Gibson in New York.

One House race, however, ran starkly against the trend. Two-term Republican incumbent Steve Southerland went down to a stunning defeat in the Florida panhandle's second congressional district. While many factors shaped the outcome—not least of which was a series of missteps on the campaign trail by an incumbent facing a smart and savvy challenger—make no mistake: Steve Southerland's outspoken anti-oceans agenda was on the ballot in Florida 2, and his defeat is a strong repudiation of the incumbent’s approach. It is yet another sign that ‘politics as usual’ in fisheries management is changing as fishermen and environmentalists work together to build healthier and more productive fisheries.

From the moment he arrived on Capitol Hill, Southerland made saltwater fisheries his principal crusade. His staff immediately became a fixture at regional fishery management council meetings, adopting a confrontational tone with managers and stakeholders. Taking his cue from a small group of interests in his district, Southerland used his House Natural Resources Committee seat as a bully pulpit to lambast NOAA officials and industry witnesses alike. He became a leading opponent of catch shares, and worked tirelessly to ban their use through appropriations policy riders.

There may have been a time when such grandstanding would have earned a Congressman some cheap political points. But Steve Southerland failed to grasp that the fisheries management landscape in the United States is undergoing a profound transformation, and what used to be an easy applause line with fishermen now alienates many who are truly invested in the health of the resource.

That's the context in which Southerland found himself facing a unified front of fishermen and environmentalists – a coalition that successfully fought back against his misguided policy prescriptions, raised the alarm about his judgment with voters in the district, and ultimately helped send him to an early retirement despite an electoral environment in which he should have cruised to victory.

This effort included a significant and hard-hitting ad buy by EDF Action, which underscored that Southerland's values and choices were at odds with those of panhandle residents. And it featured a sustained engagement by Ocean Champions, a PAC that made Southerland their top target in both the 2012 and 2014 cycles.

Notably, it was also an effort led by the Gulf's commercial and recreational fishermen, who were appalled by a lawmaker playing fast and loose with their livelihoods. They loudly denounced Southerland's approach in the district's media. They banded together to raised tens of thousands of dollars for Southerland's challengers in 2012 and 2014. They organized for Gwen Graham at the grassroots level. And Panama City charter captain Billy Archer shared his perspective with district voters in a compelling Ocean Champions TV spot.

By the end of the campaign, their message had broken through. Jimmy Buffet, at a Tallahassee rally last week, framed up the stark choice facing Panhandle voters: "it's pretty simple, enemy of the ocean or the great Gwen Graham." And residents in this coastal district where fishing is a way of life answered the call with their votes.

As members of the 114th Congress survey the national fisheries landscape—including possible changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Act—they should learn the lessons of Florida 2. There's still a lot more work to be done to advance sustainable fisheries and secure prosperous coastal communities, and constructive engagement by lawmakers is to be welcomed. But in this new era, politicizing fisheries management, even when it may at first appear the easy choice, is a sure-fire political loser. In many regions the old days of trench warfare between fishermen and environmentalists are increasingly behind us. Industry and other stakeholders are working together at the regional level to pioneer win-win solutions that advance healthy fisheries while increasing access, efficiency and profitability. Southerland's high-profile opposition to those kinds of solutions were a real part of his demise. Hopefully his mistakes establish a roadmap of what others should be careful to avoid.

 

By Shems Jud

Astoria, Oregon fisherman Kevin Dunn is familiar to EDF’s Pacific Ocean team because we worked with him closely to redesign fishing nets and reduce bycatch. Now he’s becoming familiar to millions of others through a Whole Foods Market commercial that debuted during the World Series.

The Whole Foods ad is a great illustration of a simple but powerful idea: well-designed fishery management systems can not only result in conservation gains and a healthier environment, but also economic gains for the people that rely on the ocean for their livelihood.

This has been a big year for fishermen in the West Coast groundfish catch share program. It received a sustainability certification from the Marine Stewardship Council and an upgrade in sustainability ratings from Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program for many of the fish they catch. When the MSC certified the fishery sustainable, it noted that this was the most diverse and complex fishery ever considered for certification, and emphasized the important role that catch shares played in recovering the fishery.

The fact that Kevin and his crew now represent the very best in sustainable seafood sourcing is remarkable, and very hopeful. In 2000, the fishery was formally declared a disaster due to decades-long mismanagement. EDF worked with fishermen and seafood suppliers to turn this fishery around by advancing new management solutions, including catch shares. We also provided tools to help fishermen and suppliers through the transition — such as innovative new lending mechanisms like the California Fisheries Fund. Today their trawl catch is “independently rated for sustainability; traceable from dock to store” and they are part of a durable industry that supplies about 250 million pounds of sustainable seafood every year.

Kevin and his boat the Iron Lady are also featured in a 3-minute YouTube video with Whole Foods supplier Bornstein Seafoods, the company to which Kevin delivers his catch. It’s a nice glimpse of what our West Coast fishermen friends do for a living and the positive relationships that often emerge after catch shares go into effect. In traditionally managed fisheries it’s unusual to see fishermen partnering closely with seafood processors. But with improved fishery management comes closer cooperation and new possibilities for partnerships between fishermen and seafood buyers.

In addition to forming partnerships, fishermen are able to spend more time innovating with their gear and carefully planning their businesses. The net you see spilling its catch onto the Iron Lady’s deck is one we helped Kevin test. It has a built-in excluder device that allows halibut – a non-target species for Kevin – to escape unharmed. Another example of a solution that works for fish and fishermen!

 

By Erin Priddle

photo credit: coliedog mac via photopin cc

This is a pivotal time for Scottish fisheries. With the challenges of implementing the European Union’s ambitious Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) coupled with the recent Scottish Government consultation with fishermen and other stakeholders on the future of Scottish quota management, collaboration is essential. This government consultation is an opportunity for change and for fishermen, industry representatives and others to make their views heard. Creating solidarity around key principles is a great way to do this – and it’s even better if those views can be represented across the fleet. The Scottish Whitefish Producer’s Association (SWFPA) recognise this and hosted a workshop in Peterhead, Scotland on October 1 to help jumpstart the conversation about the future of quota management in Scotland.

EDF’s EU oceans team was invited to help facilitate and arranged for representatives from fisheries in Denmark, the United States and Canada to share their knowledge about what it means to go through a system of change. What all of these experiences have a common is that fishermen and fishing representatives must be at the heart of any process towards change. Creating platforms for working collaboratively and exchanging ideas and values can be a great way to carve through the complexity of government proposals while at the same time giving individuals an opportunity to think about what is really important to them. The workshop in Peterhead did just that. Its three main goals were to:

1. Bring together fishermen and industry representatives from across all sectors of the Scottish fleet to engage in discussion about the future of Scottish quota management, including challenges and opportunities presented by the Scottish Government’s consultation.
2. Help stakeholders learn about fisheries that have gone through the transition to more robust quota management systems and to share experiences, knowledge and information through an inclusive and participative discussion.
3. Help develop an industry response to the Government's consultation through development of, and agreement on, consensus points on key principles for future quota management in Scotland.

Erin Priddle and Andrea Giesecke presenting at SWFPA

Through this experience, the hope was to create a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by the consultation as well as develop everyone’s awareness of different perspectives and values across the Scottish fleet. Greater understanding and an appreciation of diverse views is a necessary step towards strengthened engagement in any change process. Importantly, sharing knowledge and experiences from fisheries elsewhere who have gone through such a transition can be an enlightening experience for others to learn about.

Several attendees felt the workshop’s aims were very well met. Donald Anderson, a vessel owner out of Peterhead said, “I came along to this workshop because I realised it was something different – one of the best meetings I’ve attended, which was unanimous in its view for the future”.

Change is difficult. But it is even harder when stakeholders act in isolation. Collaboration, through a process of co-management, is an effective way to embark on a path towards successful fisheries transformation. This process requires genuine input from industry, government and environmental and academic groups to foster understanding, agree on goals and create legacy potential and create genuine buy-in through a bottom up approach.

EDF commends the SWFPA for taking this approach. They clearly recognise the value of collaboration and inclusivity, as well as the importance of taking time to listen and learn from others. EDF looks forward to future opportunities for collaboration both on quota management and other fisheries management issues.

By John Mimikakis

Photo credit: Hamilton Project

The fishing industry contributes about $90 billion annually to the U.S. economy, which translates to over one and a half million jobs for American workers.

Sustainably managed fisheries have a higher economic value to fishing dependent communities, than those under unsustainable management. Understanding this fact is of paramount importance to ensuring a sustainable and thriving future for both fishermen and fish in the U.S. and globally.

Our work at EDF Oceans is focused on aligning the economic and environmental incentives for fishermen to ensure a sustainable fishing future and we believe that catch shares are an essential tool to achieving this goal.

I was honored to participate in a panel hosted by the Brookings Institute and the Hamilton Project that featured a thoughtful discussion on how to improve the economic prosperity and long-term sustainability of the U.S. fishing industry. To frame the discussion, the Hamilton Project released an economic overview of the U.S. fishing industry, and panelists reviewed and discussed a new paper by economist Christopher Costello of U.C. Santa Barbara which calls for a getting fishermen the socio-economic data they need before making game-changing decisions about management of their fisheries.

The forum opened with remarks by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin who noted that the Hamilton Institute, an economic policy initiative of the Brookings Institution, had never before focused on a specific industry, but chose to do so because of the importance of natural resources in general, and fishing in particular, to the U.S. economy. Dr. Costello was joined by a commercial and charter boat fisherman and representatives from NGOs, including myself.

As you might expect with such a diverse group, a robust discussion followed.  I expressed EDF’s view that there are tremendous benefits to giving fishermen and other stakeholders more information on the socio-economic benefits of catch shares compared with conventional management.

John Pappalardo, Executive Director of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance noted that having more in-depth analysis at the time the New England catch shares program was under consideration would have been helpful. Steve Tomeny, a charter boat operator out of Louisiana, observed that he and other charter boat captains believe catch shares could offer benefits for their sector, similar to those commercial red snapper fishermen have enjoyed – a belief that could be tested by the analysis the Costello paper would require.  While some expressed concerns about finding resources to fund the proposal—especially during a tough economy—others reiterated that the bolstered economic state of sustainably managed fisheries would offset these costs.

Better access to information and continued discourse between fishermen and regulators will continue to produce workable solutions for managing ocean resources. It was clear that all panelists agreed that more socioeconomic data should be provided to fishermen when they are making decisions about their livelihoods.

As Congress is currently considering reauthorizing the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the nation’s fishing law, this discussion comes at an important time. It was a privilege to share the day with former Secretary Rubin and the distinguished panel. It was even better to hear a frank and cordial exchange about the tremendous gains the United States has made in rebuilding fish stocks and creating sustainable fishery management and how we can improve even further.

While there is still work to be done, we applaud the solid foundation for sustainable management that fishermen, fishery managers and other stakeholders have built in recent years. The resounding message from the forum is that Congress needs to continue to carry this progress forward so that the tough sacrifices fishermen have made for conservation will result in a sustainable and economically thriving future for fishing communities.

 

 

By Andrea Giesecke

A friend of mine recently asked me, ‘Why do you work on fisheries?’

I began to talk about how fisheries is the ultimate tragedy of the commons problem, an economic term coined by Garett Hardin in the 1960s which explains how individuals act in their individual best interest rather than do what is best long term for the group. I talked about how governments are challenged by managing shared natural resources and how this is even more complex with ocean fisheries since we do not see the fish disappear beneath the surface.

That long and “technical” answer may be part of the reason, but it doesn’t fully explain why I do what I do. The real answer is much simpler. I love our oceans. I have spent all my summers on an island on the Swedish west coast called Koster, where the water is clear and full of life. And I grew up in Stockholm – a city surrounded by water. I took my diving license at age 16, as soon as I was allowed, even though this meant training and doing my final dives in February on the east coast of Sweden in the Baltic Sea, with sub-zero temperatures and visibility of less than a meter.

When I finished my master’s degree I knew I wanted to work for an NGO, either on climate or fisheries issues. Someone I told this to questioned my choice of fisheries and asked, ‘isn’t that a little bit like rearranging the furniture on Titanic? Does it really matter unless we combat dangerous climate change?’ I chose to ignore their pessimism. We are working to fight climate change, but while we do that we cannot disregard how important healthy oceans are for our well-being, in terms of providing a stable food supply to feed a growing population, but also because thriving oceans are more resilient to a changing climate. I applied for a position with EDF because of its pragmatic and solutions-based approach. This was nearly a year ago and I could not be happier with that choice today.

Creating thriving oceans begins with working to fully understand the problems faced by all stakeholders. This is one of many reasons why I´m proud of the way EDF collaborates with industry. I also have a real respect for fishermen, who spend their lives working on the water. Swedish fishermen are world leaders today when it comes to selective gear and sustainable fishing practices and they are determined to go even further. The key species in Swedish fisheries are northern prawn, Nephrops, cod, herring and sprat. All fishermen are using a bycatch reductions tool called a sorting grid in the prawn and Nephrop fishery. Moreover, current projects are trying to even further decrease bycatch through experimenting with mesh sizes and shapes; and lighter trawls have been developed to minimise the ecosystem impact on sensitive marine environments as well as to make fishing activities more energy efficient.

These are smaller parts of a larger movement across the European Union. EDF is working with fishermen and fisheries managers in Sweden to implement the European Union’s new and ambitious common fisheries policy. It aims to restore depleted stocks in EU waters and end the wasteful practice of throwing valuable catch overboard. The obligation to land all catches is being gradually introduced across EU waters from January 2015. This is a huge challenge for the demersal fleet in the North Sea in particular because of its diversity of species and quotas, which does not necessarily reflect the actual catch composition. However, I am optimistic about what we do in Sweden because we have initiated a dialogue with industry leaders on how to meet the stringent requirements of the new law and on how their identified goals can be realised in a new management system.

I believe that thriving fishing industries can co-exist with healthy fish stocks. I hope Sweden can inspire other fishing nations worldwide with its sustainable and innovative fisheries management.

 

By EDF Oceans

American fishermen are 23 times more likely than the average American worker to die on the job.

That’s a shockingly high number, and it might not surprise you if you’ve watched Deadliest Catch. Amazingly, it’s better than it used to be, and a policy that EDF has championed for a decade has played a significant role.

The on-the-job death rate comes from the Department of Labor’s annual review of workplace fatalities. Each year, the DOL analyzes all on-the-job fatalities (in actual deaths and deaths per 100,000 jobs), and for years, fishermen have held the first or second highest fatality rate. What this year’s numbers don’t show, however, is how some fisheries are making the industry a lot less deadly.

Fishermen face risks from treacherous weather conditions and heavy equipment. In some fisheries, however, the rules that govern when and where they fish actually encourage risky decisions. When fishermen are subjected to rules that limit when they can fish, they find themselves in a race against the clock, the competition, and the weather.

In many fisheries around the world, managers have implemented catch share programs that allot a share of the annual catch to each fisherman. This vastly improves safety. With an annual allotment in place, fishermen can fish whenever they want, instead of playing beat the clock and fishing only on certain days of the year when they are told to fish, regardless of whether rough seas and storms may threaten their lives. Fisheries in the United States and British Columbia that switched to catch shares experienced, on average, a near-tripling in safety, as measured by injuries, search and rescue missions, vessels lost, and lives lost.

According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, search and rescue missions in Alaska’s halibut and sablefish fishery plummeted from 33 in 1994 (the last pre-catch share year) to 6 in 2012.

The Alaska Bering Sea Crab fishery – the focus of Discovery’s Deadliest Catch – has seen fatalities drop since switching to catch shares. Incidentally, safety concerns and not just sustainability issues played a large role in the decision to switch to catch share management, which has extended the crabbing seasons. In the five years before catch shares took effect (2005), eight crabbers perished. In the eight years since, one crabber has died on the job. Certainly, that is one fatality too many, but it is a clear sign of improvement.

Changes in management are not a panacea for improving fishermen safety. There are other measures that safety advocates are urging managers to adopt, including mandatory personal flotation devices, stronger requirements for on-board safety equipment, and better fishing safety trainings.

But smart management tools like catch shares are making fishing safer. They bring predictability and a less frenzied pace to this inherently dangerous profession, and play an important role in making sure fishermen are not forced into a dangerous race against the clock.

The ocean will always be a dangerous place to work, and fishermen will always brave the waves in pursuit of their livelihoods. But rules should make things safer, not more dangerous. And where they are being employed, catch shares are getting the job done.

By Tim Fitzgerald

© Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, considered by many to be the ultimate arbiter of sustainability for the U.S. seafood market, has released five new reports on the West Coast groundfish fishery. In these new assessments they concluded that almost 40 types of rockfish, sole and other fish species – representing virtually all groundfish caught on the West Coast – are now considered sustainable seafood choices.

This announcement comes on the heels of another sustainability milestone for this fishery. Just two months ago, a large portion of the same fishery was also certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.

This was not always the case. The fishery was declared a federal disaster in 2000. After years of overfishing and declining productivity, the fishing industry began working with Environmental Defense Fund experts and federal regulators to design a new management system that better aligned the interests of fishermen and fish populations.

In 2011 the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) instituted a ‘catch share’ program. At the same time, this new management plan established a system of 100% catch monitoring, which ensured that every fish that came over the rail was accounted for.

This combination spurred an innovation boom within the trawl fishery, which is reducing its footprint, staying out of sensitive areas, testing new gear, and exchanging bycatch information in real time to avoid overfished and depleted species. As a result, approximately 70% of West Coast flounder and sole, and 60% of rockfish now qualify as a Seafood Watch ‘Best Choice’. Specifically:

• All trawl-caught rockfish assessed have been upgraded to either “Good Alternative” or “Best Choice”
• Dover sole, English sole and Pacific sanddabs have been upgraded to “Best Choice”
• Spiny dogfish, a species of shark, has been upgraded to “Best Choice”
• Pacific grenadier has been upgraded from “Avoid” to “Good Alternative”

Seafood Watch called it, “the most dramatic turnaround to date, and reflects significant improvements in federal fishery management to restore these economically important fisheries in California, Oregon and Washington”.

In the words of Brad Pettinger, lifelong fisherman and director of the Oregon Trawl Commission, “Fifteen years ago they wrote the obituary for this fishery. Ten years ago we started working on a rationalized management plan, and three years ago we put it in place. That was the watershed moment, and now we’re demonstrating that we can be good stewards of an amazing public resource. We could not be happier or more proud.”

So once again, kudos to the hardworking fishermen and fishery managers that committed to this process from day one. This is just one more step in an amazing journey, and one that EDF is proud to be a part of. We hope and expect that this new show of support from Seafood Watch translates into better market opportunities for West Coast groundfish, and a rightful place within the world of sustainable seafood.

By EDF Oceans

By Tim Fitzgerald and Heather Paffe

Source: HEB.com

Today EDF proudly announced its new sustainable seafood partnership with Texas retail giant H-E-B, a cornerstone of communities across Texas for more than 100 years. One of the nation's largest independently owned food retailers with annual sales exceeding $20 billion, they operate more than 350 H-E-B and Central Market stores across the state.

The new partnership builds on H-E-B’s longstanding dedication to healthy oceans, healthy seafood and healthy Gulf fishing communities, and positions EDF as its primary sustainability advisor for all fresh, frozen and prepared fish offerings (work will begin on shelf stable seafood later this year). H-E-B’s updated sourcing policy outlines nine ways that they are committed to providing the freshest, safest, and most sustainable seafood – including:

• Preferential sourcing from wild fisheries that are well-managed by catch shares, and a commitment to improve the sustainability of additional fisheries through selected fishery improvement projects;
• A strengthened commitment to source farmed seafood from aquaculture operations that are either certified or soon to be certified to industry-leading standards of production;
• A directed effort to support and improve the fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico, especially snapper, grouper and wild shrimp;
• Setting an ultimate goal of full traceability for every seafood product that it carries; and
• Posting a full species inventory online, along with regularly identifying priority seafood items still in need of sustainability improvements.

EDF and H-E-B began working together back in 2012 when H-E-B became the first major retailer in the Gulf to offer the GulfWild® brand of red snapper. This innovative sustainability and traceability program was created by Gulf fishermen after the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in an effort to reassure the public that their fish was safe, responsibly-caught and trackable back to individual fishing vessels. The product can now be found in 150 stores and is evidence of H-E-B’s ongoing commitment to Gulf fishermen and coastal communities.

The great news is that, although it may seem like this announcement only affects Texans, H-E-B’s expanded commitment will help ensure more fisheries and fish farms are managed well. That translates into more fresh, sustainable seafood for generations of all Americans to enjoy.

By EDF Oceans

By: Kent Strauss & Erik Lindebo

In partnership with the Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit (ISU), and in collaboration with the 50in10 initiative, EDF recently released a report entitled Towards Investment in Sustainable Fisheries: A Framework for Financing the Transition. It outlines a framework for developing fisheries transition projects which achieve sustainability by attracting and leveraging global finance. Intended to inform and inspire fishermen, project developers and other oceans stakeholders, this report looks to empower fishing communities by meeting the financial needs of transitioning to sustainable fisheries.

This is a very timely contribution considering that the fisheries sector and European Union (EU) Member States are currently in the process of implementing the newly reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The many management challenges, particularly those related to environmental objectives are evident. However, with the right incentives in place, the transition towards more sustainable resource use in EU waters can offer promising opportunities.

Currently there is a heartening movement occurring towards policies that create great landscapes for investment, supported, for instance, by the report’s emphasis on the importance of strongly enforced science based catch limits. Under the new CFP, conservation objectives such as Maximum Sustainable Yields (MSY) and discards reduction are well enshrined. The regional development of multi-annual management plans will incorporate these objectives and give the fisheries sector the opportunity to plan its business operations for more than one year at a time.

By incorporating tenure and rights-based solutions we can also achieve greater support for long term investments in proper science-based management of the resource. This will require systems that are developed in a fair and transparent manner, ensuring that stakeholder issues are addressed early on in the process towards achieving durable solutions.

Towards Investment in Sustainable Fisheries… was presented during a meeting hosted by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, during which oceans leaders and investors from around the world convened to explore options for financing the transition to a sustainable blue economy.

In a speech at the ISU event Fred Krupp, President of EDF, spoke of ‘putting new tools in place to spur public and private investment in fishing communities’. This sentiment was echoed by HRH speaking of the ‘many examples around the world that the transition towards sustainability can deliver a wide range of economic, social and ecological benefits’. The tone of the event was confirmed with Commissioner Damanaki’s insistence on moving ‘away from traditional grants and subsidies towards new alternatives such as revolving funds, guarantees, or venture capital funds’.

Evidently, there is a growing recognition across the world that sustainable fisheries need to be both ecologically and economically sound in order to support the people that depend on them for food and livelihoods, and garner interest from investors looking for social, environmental and financial returns.

Most funding that goes toward towards reinvigorating the oceans at the moment comes from public and philanthropic investors. While they are vital sources of funding for global fisheries transition, the amount available from these alone simply cannot achieve the scale and pace of reform required. Leveraging multiple sources of capital may offer a solution, with special consideration of the ability of financially motivated investors to rapidly scale and deploy large amounts of funding.

Project developers should therefore view and develop their initiatives with financial sustainability in mind, appealing to different types of investors. Likewise, investors should keep their eyes open for opportunities in the up and coming area of the fisheries sector. Nowhere are these opportunities more apparent than in EU waters under the new CFP.

 

[Hear more about CFF from fishermen] Yesterday, the New York Times featured a story about the new Morro Bay Community Quota Fund. With the help of a loan from EDF’s California Fisheries Fund (CFF), the Quota Fund was able to acquire fishing quota and five fishing permits from The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which the Quota Fund […]

When we launched the California Fisheries Fund in 2008, it was unique and untested: a public-private partnership with the mission to make capital available to a growing sustainable commercial fishing industry.  Since then, we’ve provided more than $2.5 million in loans to fishermen, fish buyers, processors and distributors enabling them to transition to or continue […]

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 […]

Dr. Fabián Pina Amargós is a first-rate marine scientist from Cuba, who has worked closely with EDF’s Oceans program for many years. Fabián has been a scientist with Cuba’s Center for Coastal Ecosystems Research for twenty years and was recently named director of the center. Welcome back for Part 2 of our intern Shannon Switzer’s […]

Introduction from Dan Whittle: Dr. Fabián Pina Amargós is a first-rate marine scientist from Cuba, who has worked closely with EDF’s Oceans program for many years. Fabián has been a scientist with Cuba’s Center for Coastal Ecosystems Research for twenty years and was recently named director of the center.    Three years ago, Dr. Pina […]