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Stimson Center’s Sally Yozell: RFMOs, China must do more to fight IUU

February 6, 2020 — Some of the key global instruments to fight illegal fishing are under-resourced and underperforming, according to Sally Yozell, director of the environmental security program at the Stimson Center, a Washington, D.C., U.S.A.-based think-tank. Previously a senior adviser to former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Yozell was instrumental in starting the Our Ocean Conference. In her role at the Stimson Center, Yozell focuses on ocean security, climate security, and wildlife protection. Her recommendations on reducing global illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing included in the drafting of the Maritime Security and Enforcement Act, which entered into U.S. law in December.

Through her recent work in co-authoring the Stimson Center report, “Shining a Light,” Yozell took a close look at illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Chinese fleet. In an interview, she answered questions from SeafoodSource on how the fight against IUU can be better resourced and how Chinese authorities and the insurance industry can play a bigger role in that fight.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Commitments worth $63 billion pledged for ocean protection

October 29, 2019 — Governments, businesses, organizations and research institutions made commitments toward improving marine health and productivity worth more than $63 billion at the Our Ocean 2019 conference in Oslo on Oct. 23 and 24.

A total of 370 commitments were made at the conference, which was initiated by former U.S. secretary of state John Kerry in 2014 and has run annually ever since. Our Oceans brings together international leaders to share knowledge and experiences, and to commit to action for healthier oceans. This year, 500 people from more than 100 countries attended, as well as 100 youth delegates.

“These commitments are not just empty promises,” said Norway’s minister of foreign affairs, Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, in her opening address. The conference emphasizes public accountability, and recent research by Oregon State University shows that past Our Oceans commitments have resulted, among other things, in more than one-third of the ocean area now under protected status.

Read the full story at Mongabay

A Coalition of Global Participants Pledge to Protect Five Million Square Miles of Ocean

November 2, 2018 — Global participants in the fifth Our Ocean Conference have pledged the highest amount of funding yet for new initiatives and commitments on the protection of a combined expanse of ocean eight times the size of Alaska.

The event, hosted by the Indonesian government on the island of Bali, generated 287 pledges in bilateral and multilateral agreements between governments, the private sector, civil society organizations, and philanthropic foundations. The pledges were valued at more than $10 billion to protect some 5.4 million square miles of the world’s oceans, according to Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for maritime affairs.

To date, the Our Ocean Conference has raked in commitments totaling $28 billion and covering 10.2 million square miles of ocean.

“These numbers are beyond our expectations,” Luhut said in his closing remarks on October 30th. “We are thankful for your collective contributions and making our ocean healthier and (more) sustainable.”

The impacts of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and climate change on the world’s oceans were the key focuses during the two-day conference. Data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization showed that the value of fish captured illegally was about 26 million tons, or up to $23 billion annually. The world’s maritime resources are valued at around $24 trillion.

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“Illegal fishing globally still decimates fisheries at an unsustainable pace,” said former United States Secretary of State John Kerry in his speech on October 29th.

“Illegal fishing continues on an unmitigated, unsustainable pace and almost one-third of the world’s fisheries are still overexploited,” he said. He added that the remainder of fisheries “are either at peak or nearly at peak with more and more people in the middle class, more and more people with money, more and more people demanding fresh fish on their table in their restaurants in their country.”

Read the full story at the Pacific Standard

RHODE ISLAND: Newport lobsterman opposes plan for marine national monument

September 14, 2016 — In a move that will rile at least one Newport lobsterman, President Obama is expected to designate the first marine national monument Thursday in a bid to preserve underwater mountains, canyons and ecosystems about 150 miles off the New England coast.

The president is expected to announce the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument at the third annual Our Ocean Conference, hosted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington D.C., according to the White House.

The offshore monument aims to protect 4,913 square miles of ocean ecosystems. The protected area includes three underwater canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon.

It also encompasses four underwater mountains known as “seamounts,” which “are biodiversity hotspots” and home to many rare and endangered species, according to the White House.

The “designation will help build the resilience of that unique ecosystem, provide a refuge for at-risk species, and create natural laboratories for scientists to monitor and explore the impacts of climate change,” says a press release.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

NEW BEDFORD STANDARD-TIMES: Fishermen win a small victory

October 8, 2015 — Fishermen in the Northeast fisheries can celebrate a small victory in what President Obama didn’t do on Monday.

The president addressed, by video, attendees of the Our Ocean 2015 conference in Valparaiso, Chile, and announced two new marine sanctuaries, neither one of them off the coast of new England.

Commercial fishing advocates had been fighting to counter the message of environmental groups that were running a full-scale campaign to put Cashes Ledge and the New England Canyons and Seamounts on the list, along with the two announced by the president in Maryland and Lake Michigan.

New England fishermen looked at the 6,000 square miles under consideration off the coast and saw the next strategic step toward pushing them off the ocean.

The valuable cold-water kelp forests of Cashes Ledge and the coral fields in the five canyons and four seamounts are worthy of protection, but they are already off limits to fishermen.

Fishing advocates’ concern of “policy creep” can’t be dismissed as paranoia. The steady negative impact of regulation on the fishing industry is well-documented in reports on the health of the industry, and the use of various regulatory tools has left the industry reeling, wondering where the next threat will come from.

Read the full editorial from the New Bedford Standard-Times

Pew Environment Hosting Live Webcast on IUU Fishing

Live Webcast: Progress in the Fight to End Illegal Fishing
Sept. 2, 10:30 a.m. to noon EDT

In just a few weeks, world leaders will address the planet’s most pressing marine issues at the Our Ocean conference in Chile. Will they land a blow against illegal fishing and other crimes—and protect more of our global ocean?

For an exclusive preview of the conference, Pew has gathered an all-star panel of experts and insiders—and you’re invited.

Learn more about the webcast and view the agenda from Pew Environment

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