• Food

US Fishing Industry Hopes You Will #EatSeafoodAmerica

• conservation
• domestic
• fisheries
• fishers
• ocean
• overfishing
• science
• seafood
• sustainable
• traceable

With supermarkets running low on meat, seafood is a healthy option, and sales of frozen seafood like shrimp and canned seafood (much of which is imported) are up over last year, according to some retailers.  Most of the domestic seafood landed and sold in the U.S. comes from small fishing businesses and goes to restaurants and those sales are down as much as 95% across the country.

Why This Matters:  Congress provided $300m for fishers in stimulus funding, but it is only a “drop in the bucket” of what is needed to keep fishers afloat said Alaskan commercial fisher Julie Decker on Tuesday at a forum convened by the Ocean Caucus Foundation.

• Ocean

US Fishermen Exempt from Monitoring Requirements During Pandemic

• COVID-19
• fishing
• monitoring and enforcement
• overfishing
• rule
• tuna
• waiver

NOAA Fisheries granted U.S. fishers an emergency waiver of the requirement for observers onboard their fishing vessels for the next 6 months — effectively eliminating monitoring and enforcement of the fishing industry. 

Why This Matters:  NOAA’s waiver provides only a minimal justification — indeed, concerns over the health and safety of fishers would have them stay home rather than risk infecting an entire crew at sea potentially hundreds or even thousands of miles from shore.

• Sustainability

The Cabo Pulmo Miracle

• #30x30
• Cabo Pulmo National Park
• National Geographic
• overfishing
• UNESCO

By Monica Medina, Co-Founder and Co-Publisher, Our Daily Planet I had always wanted to visit Mexico’s Cabo Pulmo National Park — I am not quite at the bucket list stage yet but I am deep into “YOLO” territory, so for my birthday this year I planned to make the trek.  Cabo Pulmo is a UNESCO […]

• Ocean

Smart Phones Improve Both Fisheries Management And Consumer Choices

• climate change
• fisheries
• overfishing
• smart phones
• technology

Several U.S. environmental organizations with the support of large philanthropic organizations are working to help countries around the world achieve better fisheries management, and increasingly they are using smartphones and technological innovations to empower fishers to decide where and when to fish in order to get the best price.

Why This Matters:   Here, with the help of technology and the support of U.S. NGOs, fishermen and consumers are benefitted by technology that is now readily available on smartphones.

• Sustainability

Could Post Disaster Aid Make Climate Impacts Worse? In India’s Case, Yes.

• climate change
• disaster aid
• overfishing
• tsunami

The deadly Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 killed 230,000 people in 14 countries and in response people across the world donated almost $6.25 billion in relief money.  Thousands of fishermen lost their boats.  In response, relief funds triggered an unsustainable investment in better boats, higher-tech “ring seine” nets, and that led to overcapacity in fisheries […]

• Ocean

One Fishy Thing: The “Codfather” Is Banned From Fishing But Will Keep Millions

• cod
• National Marine Fisheries Service
• overfishing

Carlos Rafael, a New England fishing captain who is currently serving time in federal prison for massive fishing and tax fraud violations and for smuggling the proceeds out of the country, settled his civil fraud violations with the National Marine Fisheries Service, including more than $3 million in fines and a lifetime fishing ban.  As a […]

• Animals

Sharks on the High Seas Need Protection Too

• commercial fishing
• overfishing
• shark conservation
• sharks

Sharks often end up as bycatch in commercial fishing lines (it’s one of the biggest issues facing sharks) but new research is showing that even highly migratory species of sharks have little refuge in the open ocean from fishing fleets. As Phys recently reported, regional declines in abundance of some shark populations such as shortfin […]

• Food

Lox From A Lab on the Horizon

• fish
• food security
• lab
• meat
• overfishing
• Salmon
• sustainable

A company called Wild Type is working to create “better meat to address the most pressing challenges of our generation: climate change, food security, and health.” Overfishing is one of the most pressing risks of our generation – dwindling fishing stocks threaten the oceans ecosystems as well as our own way of life – but Wild Type is working towards finding a solution by developing sustainable alternatives.