We communicate the science, policies, and human dimensions of sustainable fisheries.
Some thoughts on WWF’s Living Planet Report
WWF’s Living Planet report has great potential to be a valuable policy tool going forward. We hope it leads to widespread terrestrial protections and progressive development policies that enable people to live dignified lives alongside nature. We wish it had a better press release and covered the ocean in a different way.
A better way to communicate fishery performance?
Ray Hilborn hypes the goldilocks plot as a better way to communicate fishery performance to decision-makers.
The footprint of bottom-trawl fishing
A paper out this week in PNAS quantified the footprint of bottom trawl fishing around the world using highly-refined data for the first time. This new data should give us a better understanding of fishing impacts and improve fishery management.
Optimism for fisheries under climate change
A new paper reports that improved management could offset many of the negative effects of climate change on fisheries.
Seafood 101
We’ve developed this guide to give you insight into every aspect of fish as food for people around the world. Click on any heading to skip ahead or click through each post—the guide was written to read like a lesson that builds on each previous installment.
Seafood in a Global Context
Commercial Fishing
People & Fish
Recent Research
A better way to communicate fishery performance?
Ray Hilborn hypes the goldilocks plot as a better way to communicate fishery performance to decision-makers.
The footprint of bottom-trawl fishing
A paper out this week in PNAS quantified the footprint of bottom trawl fishing around the world using highly-refined data for the first time. This new data should give us a better understanding of fishing impacts and improve fishery management.
Optimism for fisheries under climate change
A new paper reports that improved management could offset many of the negative effects of climate change on fisheries.
What is the Global Footprint of Fishing?
Scientists are getting closer to figuring out how much of the world’s ocean is fished, but discrepancies in the scale and interpretation of data are producing wildly different answers with contrasting conservation implications.
New database gets us closer to understanding environmental impacts of food
A recent paper in Science introduced a new database for researchers to use to quantify the environmental impacts of food around the world. Every kind of food has an environmental cost – what is best for the planet?
In-depth coverage of particular fisheries
#OceanOptimism
Optimism for fisheries under climate change
A new paper reports that improved management could offset many of the negative effects of climate change on fisheries.
Explore more
Expert Commentary
Response to Global Footprint of Fishing
David Kroodsma responds to our latest post on the global footprint of fisheries.
Response to the Contributions of High-seas Fisheries to Food Security
A response to criticism of a recent paper that claims high seas fisheries play a negligible role in addressing global food security.
The Contributions of High-Seas Fisheries to Food Security (Comment on Schiller et al. 2018)
The main conclusion of Schiller et al. – that high seas fisheries play a negligible role in addressing global food security – needs to be considered with some caution. Context is important – it depends on which countries on the globe we are talking about.
Two fishery scientists help explain allometric vs isometric scaling in fishery management
Two fishery scientists help explain the difference between allometric and isometric scaling to show why the recent claim that overharvesting of BOFFFFs has created significant fish stock depletion is missing a key metric – F40%.
Management & Policy
Number of overfished U.S. stocks at an all-time low
The United States reaffirmed itself as the global leader in sustainable fisheries with the release of NOAA’s Status of Stocks 2017, the annual report to Congress on the state of U.S. fisheries. Just 9% of stocks are subject to overfishing and 15% of stocks are overfished.
Pulse Trawling, Tradeoffs, and Managing new Technology
Pulse trawling, a new kind of technology that uses electric pulses to startle fish into nets, has less potential environmental impact than bottom trawling, but has equity concerns among fishers and ethical considerations for fish. The EU recently decided to ban the practice.
New California protected areas are excellent fishery management
Fishery management goals are to keep stakeholders happy and ensure triple bottom line success. With new protections off the coast of California, the PFMC hit a home a run: fishermen & women get to catch more rockfish on sandy bottoms and coral and sponges are protected for the future.
Recovering marine mammals increase pressure on West Coast salmon
Recovering populations of killer whales, sea lions and harbor seals on the West Coast are eating increased numbers of Chinook salmon, and their consumption may now exceed the combined harvest by commercial and recreational fisheries, a new study finds.