October 11, 2019 — The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s board of directors is being asked to consider a range of new topics coming out of the organization’s annual committee meetings, which took place 9 to 10 October.
One of the biggest changes in the organization is the Responsible Fisheries Management program shifting away from the ASMI umbrella and into its own nonprofit foundation in 2020-2021.
October 3, 2019 — Ocean-based solutions can play an important role in the fight against climate change, according to a new scientific report published last week at the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York City, U.S.A.
The report, “The Ocean as a Solution to Climate Change: Five Opportunities for Action,” written by a consortium of scientsts affiliated with the World Resources Institute, begins with the dramatic statement, “The ocean is on the front lines of the battle against climate change.”
October, 2, 2019 — The 51st session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 51) adopted the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), and accepted the underlying report. The SROCC assesses the latest scientific knowledge about the physical science basis for, and impacts of, climate change on ocean, coastal, polar and mountain ecosystems, and the human communities that depend on them.
The report also evaluates their vulnerabilities and adaptation capacity, as well as options for achieving climate-resilient development pathways. The report’s SPM, which the Panel approved line-by-line, aims to tease out some of the key findings of the longer report in such a way that policymakers can easily comprehend and use them.
The Earth Negotiations Bulletin highlights that oceans and ice are an “integral and dynamic part of the earth’s climate systems,” as they cover more than 80% of the earth’s surface. The report underscores the urgency of prioritizing “timely, ambitious and coordinated action” to address “unprecedented” and enduring changes in the ocean and cryosphere. It also describes the benefits of ambitious and effective adaptation for sustainable development, and the escalating costs and risks of delayed action.
According to the report, global warming has already reached 1°C above preindustrial levels, with: profound consequences for ecosystems and people; a warmer, more acidic and less productive ocean; melting glaciers and ice sheets causing increased sea level rise; and coastal extreme events becoming more severe.
The global ocean, the report notes, has warmed unabated since 1970 and has taken up more than 90% of the excess heat in the climate system, with consequences now visible in increased ocean acidification, stratification and loss of oxygen. Speaking at the press conference that launched the report to the public, IPCC Vice-Chair Ko Barrett said, “Water is the lifeblood of the planet,” and the world’s ocean and cryosphere have been “taking the heat” from climate change for decades, with “sweeping and severe” consequences for nature and humanity. She warned that changes to the ocean and cryosphere are forcing people from low-lying coastal cities to Arctic communities to “fundamentally alter their ways of life.”
October 1, 2019 — For the first time, a branch of the United Nations is asking indigenous peoples to share their traditional knowledge about the evolution of Arctic fisheries. The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) held a seminar on the topic in Rome last week.
“For Inuit it is not only fishing,” said Dalee Sambo Dorough, Ph.D., a former political science professor at UAA and chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC). “One of my main efforts was to broaden the discussion about food security, and the dialogue within the FAO about Arctic indigenous food security, and the importance of hunting as well as fishing and other harvesting activities.”
Dorough was one of dozens of representatives present at the meeting in Italy. One of the outcomes was a declaration that calls upon member states of the FAO to take further action to protect fisheries in the Arctic. The document is still pending final publication, following a public comment period this weekend.
September 27, 2019 — Since the 1970s, the climate crisis has made our oceans warmer and more acidic, reducing the number of fish we rely on for our food and putting the future of fish in peril, according to a major UN report out Wednesday.
Rising temperatures mean oceans will have less oxygen, and this, along with more heatwaves and increased acidification, will make fish move further away from the coast and create larger deadzones, where life cannot survive.
Ultimately, the report said, this will lead to the extinction of some species of fish, which Americans have been eating an increasing amount of recent years.
The US dietary guidelines recommend 8-12 ounces of seafood a week to keep a healthy diet. Fish plays an even bigger role internationally, providing up to half of all animal protein eaten in developing countries and it remains a leading source of vitamins and minerals.
September 26, 2019 — A new report has warned the rate and magnitude of changes to the ocean, glaciers, and ice sheets due to climate change are happening much faster than previously predicted.
In response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on “the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate”, Andrew Norton, director of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) said:
“This report’s findings are staggering. The rate and magnitude of change to the ocean, glaciers and ice sheets are happening much faster than previously predicted. The climate emergency must be met with equally accelerated action.”
The science clearly shows the effects on the ocean will disproportionately hit tropical areas, which are home to the highest concentration of people living in poverty, he said. Their lives and livelihoods ― particularly small-scale fishers ― are at risk from rising sea levels, ocean warming, acidification and plummeting catches of fish.
September 26, 2019 — Rising sea levels threaten New York and other major cites, the world’s glaciers are melting at alarming rates and global fisheries are shrinking. These are just some of the impacts that emissions of greenhouse gases have already triggered across the planet, according to a new landmark report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
More than 100 authors from 36 countries assessed the latest scientific literature related to the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate for the report, referencing about 7,000 scientific publications for the report titled — “Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.” It is the last of three special reports from the IPCC following on climate change.
“The open sea, the Arctic, the Antarctic and the high mountains may seem far away to many people,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC. “But we depend on them and are influenced by them directly and indirectly in many ways – for weather and climate, for food and water, for energy, trade, transport, recreation and tourism, for health and wellbeing, for culture and identity.”
September 25, 2019 — The planet is in hot water — literally — and that will have dire consequences for humanity, warns a new United Nations report on the state of the world’s oceans and ice.
Over the next century, climate change will make the oceans warmer and more acidic. Melting ice sheets will drive up sea levels at an accelerating pace. Marine heat waves will become 20 to 50 times more frequent, harming sensitive ecosystems. And the total biomass of animals in the sea could drop by as much as 15%, according to the sobering assessment by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“The oceans and ice are in trouble, so we’re all in trouble,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist at Princeton and a lead author of the report.
But while some damage is inevitable at this point, the report makes clear that society’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades will determine how bad things ultimately get.
August 30, 2019 — The following was released by Pew Charitable Trusts:
It’s rare that a world leader could make significant news at a major summit without drawing media attention, but that’s exactly what happened this week at the Group of 7 (G7) meeting in Biarritz, France.
During remarks at the close of the summit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the Aichi targets—goals set nearly a decade ago as part of the United Nations’ Strategic Plan for Biodiversity—must be “replaced with new, more ambitious targets to help us get back the biodiversity that this planet is losing, and has lost.” The United Kingdom Department of Environment has since emphasized how the prime minister urged countries at the G7 to back Britain’s call to protect 30 percent of the world’s ocean by 2030. Fortunately, a roadmap for just such an ambitious target has existed since 2016, when the International Union for Conservation of Nature first issued the science-based 30-by-2030 recommendation to restore and strengthen the health of our marine environment.
Along with urging other world leaders to embrace marine conservation, Johnson is showing his eagerness to extend the U.K.’s global leadership on ocean protection. Since announcing its Blue Belt policy in 2015, which aims to safeguard 4 million square kilometres of British ocean territory, the U.K. has designated a massive marine protected area (MPA) in the Pitcairn Islands, enhanced protections for the remote South Sandwich Islands. It has also established a network of MPAs around Great Britain. As a result, the U.K., in partnership with its Overseas Territories, is very close to fully protecting 30 percent of its waters.
August 20, 2019 — Climate change will decrease the world fisheries’ overall maximum catch potential between 2.8% and 12.1% by 2050 based on different greenhouse gas emission scenarios, with the tropics, especially the South Pacific region, getting hit the hardest, says a team of technical experts organized by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
It’s not just the oceans either. As water becomes more scarce, inland fisheries will be undervalued. Pakistan, Iraq, Morocco and Spain are all highlighted as countries that are currently facing high stresses that are projected to become even higher in the future.