Sumaila Asked to WTO and British House of Commons

SWITZERLAND WTO GENERAL COUNCILAt the end of October, the Sea Around Us Project’s economist and director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit Rashid Sumaila teamed up with Oceana spokesperson Ted Danson to meet with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy to discuss the most recent estimates of global fisheries subsidies and the current state of WTO negotiations on this issue.  The Economist reported on the fisheries subsidies discussion, particularly fuel subsidies here.

Global fisheries subsidies are estimated to be $25-$30 billion a year and encourage overfishing as well as undermine free market philosophy.  The current Doha Round of the WTO is an apt forum for discussing and disciplining harmful subsidies, estimated at $16 billion per year.

From the WTO meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, Sumaila traveled to London to the British House of Commons for another meeting between legislators and scientists.  The Marine Advisory  Group of GLOBE International, a group that supports political leadership on issues of environmental sustainability, gathered to discuss overfishing.

Sumaila found the legislators involved, a multipartisan group primarily from the UK, to be enthusiastic, particularly the MP from the same region as author/journalist Charles Clover.  According to Sumaila, the legislators were very keen on receiving scientific information and data and urged the scientific advisors involved to share their findings candidly.

The Marine Advisory Group will continue to work with Globe International to produce a policy document, which should be completed early 2010, to be taken back to member countries, and presented at a number of UN meetings next year.

HoL GroupSumaila, far left, at a meeting of the Marine Advisory Group of GLOBE International in the UK House of Commons.

Daniel Pauly Contributes to the Huffington Post

fish-loveDaniel Pauly published today an article on Fish As Food: A Love Affair, Issues Included in the Huffington Post. His article begins: Imagine the evolution of a relationship, when the delight in discovering a new lover is followed by the discovery of his or her issues, which eventually leads to the relationship being reassessed, however painful this might be. I speak here about seafood, discovered by many only in the last few years. Read the full piece here.

Satellite Imagery Can Improve Ocean Data

MaleAtollHow much the oceans are protected?   How much of the globe is covered in coral reefs?  These are important questions that require decent data.  A new study led by Sea Around Us Project member Colette Wabnitz and just released online by the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment reveals that the current data available are too poor for them to be used to evaluate progress toward conservation targets, such as international goals to set aside 20-30% of the oceans as marine protected areas.  Technological advances in satellite imagery, like this image of the North Male atoll in the  Maldives, can help us better determine the true size of coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass, spawning grounds, and other vulnerable marine habitats.  Read the full study here.


Climate Change Will Affect Ocean Food Supply

Mafia-fishery-webMajor shifts in fisheries distribution due to climate change will affect food security in tropical regions most adversely, according to a new study led by the Sea Around Us Project’s William Cheung (now based at the University of East Anglia in the UK). The study, published today Global Change Biology, finds that climate change will produce major shifts in productivity of the world’s fisheries, affecting ocean food supply throughout the world, most particularly in the tropics. Read the full press release here and a summary of scientific findings and some of the major maps and graphs from the climate change study here . The Pew Environment Group also put out a report on the study in their Ocean Science Series.