topic: Saltwater Fish

topic: Saltwater Fish

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Trump opens only US marine national monument in Atlantic to fishing — again
- U.S. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on Feb. 6 to open the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a marine protected area off the northeastern U.S., to commercial fishing.
- Trump wrote that reopening the area will not endanger marine species and will help the fishing business, and industry groups praised the proclamation.
- Conservationists decried the move, saying the monument is a critical sanctuary for marine life and the food webs that serve the interest of the U.S. public.
- The Trump administration has also moved to deregulate the other U.S. marine national monuments, which are in the Pacific Ocean.

Abandoned tuna-fishing devices pollute the Galápagos Marine Reserve
- The tuna industry commonly uses fish aggregating devices (FADs) to efficiently collect large volumes of fish; when these devices are lost or abandoned, they can harm marine wildlife and habitats.
- In Ecuador, lost FADs can drift into the Galápagos Marine Reserve, a protected area with hundreds of endemic and threatened species, where they pollute the environment with plastic, harm reefs and entangle wildlife.
- Local agencies and organizations are developing ways to prevent FADs from entering the marine reserve in the first place and trying to clean up the mess they make when they do get in.

Critical shark and ray habitats in Western Indian Ocean largely unprotected: Study
- Almost half of the Western Indian Ocean’s shark and ray populations are considered threatened with extinction, as populations decline.
- The Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs) project has mapped out 125 areas across the Western Indian Ocean that are critical for the survival of many species.
- Yet only 7.1% of these ISRAs fall within existing marine protected areas, and just 1.2% are in fully protected areas where fishing is prohibited.
- Researchers identified challenges related to fishing pressure as the most significant threat to sharks and rays in the region.

Mauritania’s fishmeal fever ends as government tightens regulation
- Until recently, Mauritania was a major fishmeal producer, home to the world’s second-highest number of processing plants, with the boom driven largely by lax regulations and the rapid issuance of permits between 2007 and 2021.
- By 2021, more than half of Mauritania’s total pelagic fish catches were being used for fishmeal.
- That same year, however, the government began introducing stricter regulations and strengthening enforcement of rules governing the sector.
- Only eight fishmeal plants in Mauritania remain active as of September 2025, according to Mongabay’s estimates, and fishmeal production has fallen by more than half since its peak in 2020.

Top ocean news stories of 2025 (commentary)
- Marking the midway point in the U.N. Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2025 was a key year for the ocean.
- The past 12 months brought landslide multilateral wins for ocean policy, unprecedented ocean financial commitments, and increasing momentum to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030.
- Here, marine scientists, policy experts and a communications expert lay out the key ocean stories from the past year.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore & seabirds
- The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), a multilateral body that sets fishing rules for an area that covers nearly 20% of the planet, held its annual meeting Dec. 1-5 in Manila, the Philippines.
- The parties adopted a harvest strategy for South Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) that will set near-automatic catch limits based on scientific advice, considered a best practice in fisheries management. Conservationists celebrated the move.
- The parties also adopted a measure that aims to keep seabirds from drowning on industrial fishing lines.
- They didn’t adopt any new rules on the ship-to-ship transfer of fish and other goods at sea, a practice known as transshipment that’s been linked to illegal fishing and other illicit activity.

The roughed-up roughy fish (cartoon)
The orange roughy may be among the oldest living deep-sea fish in the world, with a lifespan of up to 250 years. But bottom trawling practices in Australia and New Zealand might have already decimated their slow-breeding populations beyond recovery.
Study finds important Nassau grouper spawning site in Belize near collapse
- The Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), a large-bodied top predator, was once the most abundant and commercially important fish in the Caribbean.
- Each winter, the groupers gather en masse at special places to breed, but many of these so-called fish spawning aggregation sites have been dwindling or succumbing entirely to overfishing.
- A new study looked at an important spawning site at Northeast Point on Glover’s Reef Atoll in Belize and found that the number of Nassau groupers attending the annual gathering declined by 85% over the past two decades and is now “on a trajectory towards local extirpation.”
- It attributes the decline to the government’s limited capacity to enforce regulations aimed at protecting the groupers from fishing at the remote site.

Trade in marine fish for aquariums includes threatened species, lacks oversight: Study
- A new study of major U.S.-based online retailers of marine fish bound for aquariums found that nearly 90% of traded species are sourced exclusively from the wild, including a number of threatened species, and that the trade is poorly tracked.
- The study raises concerns about the ecological impact of the trade on marine ecosystems, including around coral reefs, in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, where the fish are caught.
- Experts called for more work to develop sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in coastal communities in the Global South, and for building consumer awareness and establishing eco-certification schemes.

Study maps whale shark stranding hotspots in Indonesia, highlights conservation needs
- A new study has identified whale shark stranding hotspots in Indonesia and linked them to seasonal ocean conditions, offering scientists a clearer picture of when and where risks are highest.
- The researchers found that most strandings involved juveniles and often occurred during upwelling seasons; they highlighted that human pressures such as fishing gear, ship traffic and pollution may further increase the danger.
- The study calls for stronger rescue networks, better community training, and international cooperation to improve survival rates and protect these migratory animals across the region.

Two years later, no closure for family of missing Ghanaian fisheries observer
- Samuel Abayateye, a father of two, tasked with monitoring a Ghana-flagged tuna-fishing vessel, was reported missing on Oct. 30, 2023.
- Two years on, his family still hasn’t receive any formal updates from the Ghanaian police or any other agency about what happened to Abayateye.
- The authorities haven’t shared the results of a DNA test on a body found a few weeks after Abayateye went missing, which the family believe was his.
- Mongabay made repeated attempts to contact the police, but didn’t receive a response about the case.

Global conservation body takes first step to protect ocean’s twilight zone
- Delegates at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi voted to adopt a motion urging precautionary measures to protect the ocean’s mesopelagic zone.
- The nonbinding motion calls for prospective activities such as fishing in the mesopelagic zone, deep-sea mining and geoengineering to be guided by the best available science and approached with caution.
- Both conservationists and industry representatives expressed support for the motion, highlighting the mesopelagic zone’s ecological importance and potential as a sustainable resource.

First oarfish sighting in Sri Lanka highlights citizen science in marine protection
- Scientists have documented the first-ever record of an oarfish (Regalecus russellii) in Sri Lanka, a 2.6-meter (8.5-foot) specimen caught off the country’s western coast.
- The find expands the known distribution of oarfish into the Indian Ocean, offering a new baseline for studying this rarely seen deep-sea species.
- Meanwhile, another oarfish was recorded in India’s Tamil Nadu this year, while within 20 days, three oarfish have been recorded from Australia and New Zealand, puzzling naturalists.
- The importance of promoting citizen science and raising awareness among fishers is needed.

Illegal fishing threatens unique marine ecosystem in Peru
- Park rangers who patrol Illescas National Reserve often confront fishers who use chinchorros, a type of fishing net that is banned in Peru.
- The reserve is designated solely as a terrestrial protected area, which often limits the park rangers’ ability to act, as the marine area is outside their jurisdiction.
- Conservationists warn of the urgent need to safeguard this important marine area and its rich biodiversity.

Study spotlights West Papua habitat as whale sharks face increased pressures
- A new study shows the Bird’s Head Seascape in West Papua is a crucial nursery for juvenile whale sharks, where most sightings involved young males feeding around fishing platforms.
- Researchers documented 268 individuals over 13 years, with more than half showing injuries tied to human activity, raising concerns about fisheries, tourism and emerging mining pressures.
- Scientists warn that protecting these habitats with stricter rules and better management is essential for the survival and recovery of the endangered species.

From Chile to Greece, ‘ghost gear’ from fish farms haunts the seas
- Studies and NGOs have documented lost or abandoned gear from open-net aquaculture operations in coastal areas across cold and temperate latitudes, where fish farming in the sea expanded rapidly in the 1980s and ’90s.
- In Chile, Greece and Canada, for example, observers have reported finding disused buoys, sections of rusting platforms, expanded polystyrene, net cages and other debris washed up on shorelines, or sunk in the water.
- Guidelines published by the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), a worldwide alliance of groups seeking solutions to fishing gear pollution, say neglected or mismanaged aquaculture gear can disperse in the environment and break down into debris of various sizes, posing risks such as entrapping marine life, damaging habitats or contributing to microplastic pollution.
- Some industry groups say current regulations and practices suffice to prevent ongoing pollution and they are working to resolve legacy contamination.

São Tomé and Príncipe commits to creating a marine protected area network
- São Tomé and Príncipe will establish eight marine protected areas (MPAs) covering 93 square kilometers (36 square miles) of coastal habitats in the Gulf of Guinea.
- The island nation aims to protect its marine environment while improving the lives of fishing communities, who rely heavily on fish for protein.
- Current challenges include the decline of pelagic fish stocks and loss of biodiversity due to indiscriminate fishing practices and climate change.
- The law designating the MPAs is expected to be enacted in September.

Pet sharks have become cool, but is owning them ethical?
- Owning a shark and keeping it in a home aquarium has become cool — and it’s no longer just the province of tech bros and celebrities.
- But experts note that most home aquariums are inadequate and can lead to stunted growth, deformities and early death.
- Yet sharks are often easy to buy, with some selling for as little as $90 online; zebra sharks (Stegostoma tigrinum), which are endangered, go for around $6,000.

24 years on, part one of WTO treaty curbing fisheries subsidies takes effect
- The first part of the WTO’s treaty banning harmful fisheries subsidies, known as Fish One, entered into force Sept. 15 after more than two decades of negotiation and three years of ratification.
- It bans subsidies for IUU fishing and exploitation of overfished stocks while requiring parties to the treaty to disclose detailed data on fleets, catches and subsidy programs.
- Yet it allows certain subsidies to persist; for instance, for fishers targeting unassessed fish stocks or “managed” overfished stocks.
- The treaty will lapse in four years if no follow-up “Fish Two” deal can be reached, but negotiations remain stalled.

Countries shorten tuna fishing closure at Pacific summit with few conservation ‘wins’
- The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), a multilateral body that manages tuna and other fish stocks in the Eastern Pacific, held its annual meeting Sept. 1-5 in Panama.
- Commission members agreed to shorten an annual fishing closure from 72 days to 64 days, which was in keeping with recommendations from the IATTC’s scientific committee.
- The members also agreed to move toward adoption, in 2026, of a long-term harvest strategy for bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus).
- They didn’t adopt proposals to increase monitoring of longline tuna vessels and strengthen shark protection measures, due to resistance from East Asian members.

Philippine fishers struggle as LNG ‘superhighway’ cuts through biodiversity hotspot
Fishers in the Philippines’ Batangas Bay are struggling to make ends meet and feed their families as nearby coastal areas are developed into a natural gas import hub, Mongabay contributor Nick Aspinwall reported in July. Families that have been fishing in Batangas Bay for years have been asked by local officials to leave to make […]
Community efforts yield new marine protected area in the Philippines
The Philippines has officially designated a new marine protected area after an 18-year campaign by local communities, fisher associations, civil society organizations and government agencies, the Wildlife Conservation Society announced Aug. 13. The newly created Bitaug Marine Protected Area (MPA), which covers nearly 150 hectares (about 370 acres), is the largest MPA in Siquijor province […]
Whale shark hotspot discovered along the Great Barrier Reef
- Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are the largest fish in the world and are endangered but are hard to study because they’re largely solitary creatures that roam great distances.
- There are only about 30 sites worldwide where they’re known to aggregate — and scientists have finally identified one of them along the Great Barrier Reef, a new study reveals.
- It’s the first known aggregation found in eastern Australia and in the entire southwest Pacific Ocean.
- The finding is significant for whale shark research and conservation efforts, experts said.

Ocean-based carbon storage ramps up, bringing investment and concern
- Storing captured carbon in the subsea — in depleted oil and gas wells or in aquifers — is ramping up as a climate solution, with projects planned across the globe by industry and governments.
- Tipped as a way to address “hard-to-abate” emissions from industries such as cement, steelmaking and chemicals, it’s hailed by proponents as a viable and necessary part of the transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
- But critics say offshore CCS poses great risks and will perpetuate a history of failure that has plagued onshore efforts to store carbon.
- It also raises environmental concerns, such as the potential for carbon leakage that could undermine climate efforts and harm marine life, contributing to already increasing ocean acidification.

There’s hope for sunflower sea stars, with their killer unmasked and reintroductions pending
- Since 2013, sea star wasting disease, worsened by warming oceans, has wiped out 99% of sunflower sea stars from Washington state to Mexico, collapsing kelp forest ecosystems.
- Researchers from the University of British Columbia and the Hakai Institute in Canada have pinpointed the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida as a key cause of the epidemic, confirming its lethal effects through lab experiments that replicated symptoms seen in the wild.
- A coalition of aquariums, nonprofits, Indigenous groups and government agencies has successfully bred sunflower sea stars in captivity for the first time, experimenting with fresh, frozen and cryopreserved sperm, and raising 72 juveniles in a Monterey facility with plans for controlled releases.
- Guided by the Pycnopodia Recovery Working Group and a 2024-2027 conservation plan, efforts have now turned to breeding, disease research, habitat protection, regulatory engagement and public outreach, with broad community support — including from fishers — for restoring this keystone predator.

How will fisheries change in a hotter world? Experts share
- Fifty years from now, in 2075, global ocean temperatures are forecast to rise by between 2° and 5° Celsius (3.6° and 9° Fahrenheit). Warming is already reshaping fisheries worldwide, and even more dramatic changes are expected as fish largely move to cooler latitudes.
- These fish migrations will change ecosystem patterns and will likely have unexpected consequences even in places far from the fish themselves. They also may devastate fishing communities, both on an economic scale and a social one.
- However, there are potential solutions to avoid the most catastrophic effects for fishers and ecosystems alike, including setting aside some ecosystems as marine protected areas, changing fisheries management strategies and retraining communities to provide supplemental income.

Displaced and dispossessed, Cambodia’s ethnic Cham fishers struggle to survive
- Ethnic Cham fishers in Cambodia say they face repeated evictions from their floating homes, often timed with major events and justified as environmental protection.
- They report unequal treatment by authorities, with harsher crackdowns on their small-scale fishing while larger, illegal operations go unpunished.
- Displacement and enforcement have pushed many into poverty, with little access to alternative livelihoods or support systems.
- Experts and advocates warn that current policies risk erasing Cham culture and call for more equitable, historically informed solutions.

Encouraging signs from a no-fishing zone in Comoros could inspire others
- Signs of improvement in fisheries arising from a small no-fishing zone in the Indian Ocean nation of Comoros could inspire the establishment of more such zones across the archipelago.
- A fishers’ group installed the first no-take zone inside a marine protected area off the island of Anjouan in 2021. The group’s president told Mongabay fishers are now encountering more fish nearer to the shore outside the zone’s bounds.
- Buoyed by the results, a local nonprofit plans to establish five no-take zones in Anjouan over the next two years, covering 425 hectares (1,050 acres) of coral reefs.
- Earlier efforts to enforce temporary fishing closures to promote octopus fisheries for export and reduce pressure on fragile coral reef ecosystems didn’t lead to the anticipated benefits.

Upmarket fish maw trade in Singapore & Malaysia includes endangered species: Study
- A new study using DNA barcoding reveals that Singapore and Malaysia’s fish maw markets include species listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered, many of which are poorly monitored and sourced from unmanaged fisheries.
- Researchers identified 39 species from 503 dried maw samples, including critically endangered large yellow croakers and European eels, highlighting the scale and complexity of this high value, underregulated trade.
- Experts warn that the trade poses a growing threat to marine biodiversity, and with nearly 30% of samples coming from species lacking IUCN assessments, it makes sustainability difficult to evaluate.
- Researchers and conservationists urge governments to expand CITES protections, enhance species monitoring, educate stakeholders, and improve international coordination to prevent more marine species from being pushed toward extinction.

Sri Lanka hit by plastic pollution after cargo ship sinks off Indian coast
Sri Lankan authorities, locals and environmentalists say they’re deeply concerned about the possible impacts on the country’s marine ecosystem and coastal communities from the sinking of a container ship off the southern coast of India in May, Mongabay contributor Malaka Rodrigo reported in June. The Liberia-flagged ship MSC Elsa 3 sank on May 25 about […]
Darkest-ever dwarfgoby fish gets named after Darth Vader
From the volcanic fjords of Tufi in Papua New Guinea, researchers have described a new-to-science species of a coral reef fish called a dwarfgoby with an unusual purplish-black color. The tiny fish is the “darkest of all described dwarfgobies,” the researchers say in the study, naming it Eviota vader after the Star Wars villain Darth […]
Evolution in overdrive as Baltic cod shrink due to fishing pressure, study shows
- The eastern Baltic cod has shrunk dramatically in size in recent decades due to rapid evolution — changes at the genetic level — caused by decades of intensive fishing, a new study says.
- Eastern Baltic cod, which are a distinct subpopulation of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), lost nearly half of their length and four-fifths of their weight from 1996 until 2019.
- It’s one of the first studies to show that a marine species has evolved in response to fishing pressure.
- An expert said the shrinking of the cod was “alarming,” and called on fisheries managers to work to protect fish biomass and size, given this new evidence of fisheries-induced evolution.

Conservationists raise sharks to restore reefs in waters around Thailand
- A new rewilding program aims to boost the local population of bamboo sharks in the waters of Khao Lak, Thailand.
- The species, classified as near threatened on the IUCN Red List, used to be abundant in the area, but has declined as a result of overfishing and habitat destruction.
- Since the project launched in 2018, with the support of luxury resorts in the area, it has released 200 bamboo sharks into the wild.
- A separate program that started in May 2025, is breeding leopard sharks, which are listed as endangered. They will be released in the waters off Phuket, and eventually the Gulf of Thailand.

Canada’s Pacific Coast hit hard by trawling, with limited transparency: Report
- Trawling vessels pursuing fish are damaging marine ecosystems in Canada’s West Coast waters and could be operating illegally in some cases, and yet they work with insufficient transparency, a new NGO report says.
- Nine large trawlers have together trawled swaths of the ocean collectively larger than the size of Ireland since 2009; they have likely trawled in prohibited zones at least 47 times and have disrupted Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) migratory routes, which are foraging areas for an endangered population of killer whales (Orcinus orca), the report says.
- A trawling industry group dismissed the NGO’s findings, saying they lacked context and the fishery was very well regulated.
- A Canadian regulatory agency said the fishery was well managed, with strict monitoring and enforcement of rules.

Locals fear Chile’s new port project for green energy will disrupt ecosystems
- A new private port for public use near Punta Arenas, a city in southern Chile’s Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region, has been approved for multipurpose services, such as the development of green hydrogen and salmon industries.
- The region has recently attracted a lot of attention due to its enormous green energy potential.
- The company concerned told Mongabay that this port will reduce the need for developers of green hydrogen and other projects in the region to build their own private ports as there is currently a limited capacity.
- Environmental organizations and local residents fear the port’s construction and operations will impact marine ecosystems and boost industries that will likely cause greater environmental impacts, such as contamination from salmon farms.

A Kenya marine biodiversity credit program restores mangroves — and livelihoods
- The decline of mangroves significantly weakens Kenya’s coastal protection, leaving shorelines susceptible to erosion, storm surges and rising sea levels, disrupting marine ecosystems, depleting fish stocks, leading to reduced biodiversity — and lost livelihoods for locals.
- A U.S.-based organization called Seatrees is working with the local Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) and residents of Marereni to restore and protect coastal and marine ecosystems as a natural solution to climate change.
- Since 2024, Seatrees has offered donors the option of buying $3 “biodiversity blocks,” each of which represents a single tangible conservation action: planting one mangrove tree on site in Marereni.
- The work goes beyond just planting trees, as community members turn mangrove restoration into a livelihood by establishing and maintaining nurseries — and, in some cases, starting side businesses with the income.

What happens to artisanal fishers when a deep-sea fishing port comes to town?
- A new fishing port slated for completion in June will bring huge commercial vessels into the artisanal fishing community of Shimoni, Kenya.
- Local fishers fear that once the new port comes online, their fishing will become impossible in the near-shore waters they have fished for ages, and the huge vessels will disrupt local seafood markets.
- In 2023, President William Ruto promised to equip the local fishers with boats capable of fishing in the deep sea, but more than a year later, this promise has yet to be fulfilled, and local fishers say that boats the county delivered aren’t up to the task.
- Moreover, they say training will be essential to operate any deep-sea fishing vessels, along with mechanical support, and they worry they won’t be able to afford the upkeep costs.

From catching fish to picking trash, Thailand’s sea nomads are forced off the water
The Moken, a nomadic seafaring people in Thailand, have for generations lived most of their days at sea, moving from one place to another, fishing and foraging. However, with protected areas and increasing tourism restricting their access to fishing, and fish populations declining, the Moken are no longer able to follow their traditional way of […]
Endangered humphead wrasse gets a lifeline from facial recognition tech
- The endangered humphead wrasse, a reef fish that swims the seas from Africa to the South Pacific, is in high demand in mainland China and Hong Kong as a luxury culinary delicacy.
- Despite harvest limits, trading regulations and fishing bans, it’s overfished and illegally traded.
- Researchers in Hong Kong have developed a new AI-based photo identification smartphone app, Saving Face, to help enforcement officers identify individual fish using their unique facial patterns with just a photo.
- Researchers say they hope the app can address both illegal laundering of humphead wrasse and mislabeling of wild-caught fish as captive-bred; its developers say it can be tweaked to identify other species that have unique markings.

As a fishing port rises in Kenya, locals see threats to sea life, livelihoods
- In Shimoni, Kenya, a new fishing port is slated to open in June.
- While the government promises local people opportunities for jobs and businesses once operations start, some residents foresee more harm than good from the port.
- Some conservation activities — including seagrass, coral and mangrove restoration projects as well as fishing, seaweed farming and tourism operations — have already suffered during the port’s construction phase, which began in 2022, local people say. They fear it may get worse once the port opens, especially if planned dredging proceeds.
- A county government official said Kwale county is monitoring the situation and pledged to mitigate any impacts and safeguard fishing activities and conservation efforts.

Seaweed farming as an eco-friendly alternative for Tanzanian fishing communities
Climate change, overfishing and habitat loss have caused a sharp decline in fish stocks around Pemba Island, off the coast of Tanzania. To find a new income from the sea, women from Pemba are turning to sustainable seaweed farming, Mongabay’s video team reported in May. Seaweed farming was introduced to the island in 1989. It […]
When heat waves hit, clownfish shrink to survive, study finds
- Clown anemonefish (Amphiprion percula) have a surprising survival strategy: they shrink in length — not just lose weight — to survive marine heat waves and avoid social conflicts, boosting their heat wave survival odds by up to 78%, a new study finds.
- Researchers tracked 67 breeding pairs of clownfish in Papua New Guinea through a severe marine heat wave, measuring fish size repeatedly and finding that synchronized shrinking between mates helps maintain social hierarchies and improves survival chances.
- The study raises bigger questions about whether this shrink-to-survive mechanism is widespread among fish, potentially explaining global trends of shrinking fish sizes amid climate change, and calls for controlled lab experiments to uncover the physiological causes.

Peru’s new bycatch training aims to help save hooked sea turtles: Q&A with fisher Gustavo Rosales
- Sea turtles often get caught on hooks intended for mahi-mahi in the waters off the coast of southern Peru.
- The government is training fishers in best practices for releasing turtles, seabirds and other species accidentally caught by fishing gear.
- A 2022 regulation for the mahi-mahi fishery requires that at least one crew member per boat has obtained a training certificate.
- “If it weren’t for the turtles, there would be no balance,” says Gustavo Rosales, a fisher from the city of Ilo, who says the training has been beneficial.

Bumble Bee asks court to dismiss lawsuit alleging forced labor in tuna supply chain
- In March, four Indonesian men filed a landmark lawsuit in the U.S. against canned tuna giant Bumble Bee Foods, accusing the company of profiting from abuse and exploitation aboard Chinese-owned vessels supplying its tuna.
- The plaintiffs described brutal conditions while working on vessels that allegedly supplied albacore tuna directly to Bumble Bee, including physical violence, inadequate food, lack of medical care and withheld wages.
- Despite claims of traceability and sustainability, Bumble Bee and its parent company, Taiwan-based FCF, have been linked to a network of vessels implicated in labor abuses. Critics argue the company failed to act on repeated warnings from rights groups and resisted regulatory changes.
- On June 2, Bumble Bee filed papers requesting the federal court handling the case dismiss it on legal grounds. The next step will be for a judge to decide whether to dismiss it or let it proceed.

Marine artificial upwelling, problematic climate solution slow to advance
- Artificial upwelling is a form of geoengineering that aims to use pipes and pumps to channel cool, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean to the surface. In doing so, it could fertilize surface waters, prompting the growth of plankton, which can then absorb and store large amounts of atmospheric carbon.
- Long considered a potential marine carbon dioxide removal (CDR) method, artificial upwelling has more recently been coupled with seaweed farming to potentially soak up even more atmospheric CO2.
- But technological challenges have plagued open-water upwelling experiments, while environmentalists worry that large-scale use could ultimately prove ineffective and ecologically harmful.
- Experts state that though upwelling could prove a viable solution to improve fisheries and protect coral reefs from marine heat waves, more research is needed. Considering the rapid current pace of climate change, it’s debatable as to whether implementation at scale could come in time to stave off dangerous warming.

The blobby little sea squirt that stowed away across the Pacific to California
- In 2023, scientists found a nonnative species of marine invertebrate in a private marina near Los Angeles, California.
- The arrival of this new member of California’s marine fauna highlights the massive, largely uncontrolled movement of marine species via ships that travel the world.
- Concerned about potential ecological and economic impacts, the state of California has tried to curb the movement of nonnative marine species through regulations of large ships and commercial ports, but the regulations don’t apply to smaller vessels.
- Beginning in 2025, California will have to comply with less-stringent federal biofouling and ballast water regulations.

New study maps the fishmeal factories that supply the world’s fish farms
- In April, scientists published the first-ever open-source map of fishmeal and fish oil factories around the world.
- The scientists found 506 factories across some 60 countries, and in most cases were able to identify the companies that own them.
- Fishmeal and fish oil production is controversial because it can incentivize the overexploitation of ocean ecosystems, depleting marine food webs, and negatively impact coastal communities that rely on fish for nutrition and livelihoods.
- In addition to location data, the scientists collected data on the types of fish many of the factories use and whether the raw material they process is fish byproduct or whole fish, which critics view as more problematic.

Angling for answers, this saltwater fishing group boosts research for better conservation
- Though anglers aren’t generally thought of as environmentalists, many people who fish are conservation minded, whether because it’s an outdoor pursuit, or because they wish to ensure future harvests.
- Whatever their reasons, there aren’t many groups that help anglers advocate for sustainable fishing regulations based on solid science, nor ones that also work to generate new data that helps them argue for better conservation.
- “Until we came along, there was no voice for those saltwater anglers who cared about conservation, but didn’t have enough time to put into it to really understand it,” says American Saltwater Guides Association vice president Tony Friedrich.
- His team not only helps its members articulate the need for conservation and regulation, they actively participate in developing data that helps managers set better limits, through projects like their GotOne App.

Southeast Asia’s fisheries thrive despite decades of overfishing warnings: Study
- Overfishing in Southeast Asia’s coastal waters is a long-standing concern, but recent research suggests a more optimistic outlook, with 43% of marine stocks classified as underfished — 3.6 times higher than the global average.
- The study, covering stocks across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, highlights the region’s relatively abundant fisheries, particularly among pelagic species, 63% of which are underfished.
- Southeast Asia’s fisheries production surged by 7.1 million metric tons from 1993 to 2022, the largest increase globally, with Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar as major contributors.
- The research underscores the importance of small-scale artisanal fisheries that use nonselective methods to target multiple species, and co-management frameworks to maintain production and sustainability.

Fishing rights, and wrongs, cast small-scale South African fishers adrift
- A community of mixed-race families has lived and fished in South Africa’s Langebaan Lagoon since the 1800s.
- Starting with the former apartheid government in the 1970s, a series of conservation-oriented decisions ostensibly aimed at protecting fish stocks have slowly squeezed the number of these fishers allowed to operate in the lagoon.
- The government now says fish stocks have collapsed and it has reduced the number of small-scale fishers operating in the lagoon even further, while allowing recreational fishing to continue unimpeded. For their part, the fishers deny the stocks have collapsed, and blame declining catches on industrial developments.
- One expert likened the three-decade-long exclusion of the Langebaan net fishers to a case of fortress conservation, in which local people are squeezed out of nature and denied access to resources they’ve long used in order to preserve them for elites.

Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill
- On Dec. 22, 2024, a pipeline leak at the New Talara Refinery in northern Peru spilled oil into the Pacific Ocean, coating 10 kilometers (6 miles) of coastline in black.
- Three days later, the Peruvian environment ministry declared a 90-day environmental emergency, paralyzing tourism and work for more than 4,000 artisanal fishers.
- Now, more than three months later, the fishers have returned to work on a sea dominated by the oil industry. They say the compensation they received from the refinery owner, state-owned oil company Petroperú, is insufficient and they are seeking more.
- For its part, the company says it has met its commitments.

Panama conducts large illegal fishing bust in protected Pacific waters
- Panamanian authorities seized six longliner vessels on Jan. 20 for fishing illegally in protected waters. They also opened an investigation into an additional 10 vessels that surveillance data showed had apparently been fishing in the area but left by the time authorities arrived.
- The seizures took place in the Cordillera de Coiba, a marine protected area that’s part of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor, which connects several MPAs in four countries. It was the largest illegal fishing bust in the history of Panama’s MPAs.
- The vessels, whose activity is still under investigation, were Panamanian-flagged, meaning they were registered in the country, but the identity and nationality of the owners isn’t clear.
- The surveillance work in the case was done in part through Skylight, an AI-powered fisheries intelligence platform, and was supported by a group of fisheries monitoring nonprofits.

How Peruvian cockfighters could tip the scales for endangered sawfish
- In Peru, where cockfighting is not only legal but regarded as an important cultural practice, cockfighters have long brought their roosters to fight wearing sharp spurs fashioned from the “teeth” of sawfish.
- The largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis), the only sawfish that lives in Peru, is incredibly rare and considered critically endangered.
- Advocates for the species both within and outside the sport have increasingly realized that cockfighting plays a role in preventing or hastening its demise in Peru and are working to eliminate sawfish spurs from the sport.
- Although trade in sawfish parts is now illegal in Peru, times are tough for the country’s artisanal fishers. Experts worry that demand for sawfish spurs could drive more sawfish killings than the species can support.

Rep from American Samoa calls for opening protected Pacific waters to tuna fishing
- U.S. Congresswoman Amata Radewagen, who represents American Samoa, has urged the Trump administration to reopen most of Pacific Islands Heritage (PIH) Marine National Monument, a vast protected area in the Central Pacific Ocean, to industrial tuna fishing.
- Radewagen’s request came in a letter to President Donald Trump dated Jan. 23. It was accompanied by a background document that called for an executive order opening all Pacific marine national monuments and national marine sanctuaries to tuna fishing.
- Conservationists sharply criticized Radewagen’s move, while a tuna trade group supported it.
- Some details of the letter and background document, which Radewagen’s office shared with Mongabay, have not previously been publicly reported.

Seal ‘oceanographers’ reveal fish abundance in Pacific Ocean’s twilight zone
- The open ocean’s twilight zone, a vast deep ecosystem rich in fish biomass, is poorly understood because it is expensive and challenging for humans to reach its depths 200–1000 meters (660–3,280 feet) below the surface.
- A new study used northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) — marine predators that forage in the twilight zone — to help understand fish abundance deep down, both five decades into the past and two years into the future.
- The findings illustrate how apex marine predators, such as elephant seals, can serve as sentinels in understanding how fish abundance cascades through marine food webs.
- Given increased interest in fishing in the twilight zone and the unfolding effects of climate change, seals and other deep-diving marine predators could help keep an eye on changes in the oceans’ depths.

Caribbean reef sharks rebound in Belize with shark fishers’ help
- Endangered Caribbean reef sharks (Carcharhinus perezi) and other shark species are making a striking recovery in Belize after plummeting due to overfishing between 2009 and 2019, according to recent observations.
- Experts say the establishment of no-shark-fishing zones around Belize’s three atolls in 2021 is what enabled the population boom.
- A remarkable cooperation and synergy among shark fishers, marine scientists and management authorities gave rise to the shark safe havens and led to their success, experts say.

Liberia to start industrial shrimp fishing, worrying artisanal fishers
- Liberia plans to expand industrial bottom trawling in the country by authorizing a new fishery for high-value shrimp.
- However, the government has released few details about the plan, including how much shrimp it will allow the new fishery to exploit, when the trawling would begin, or how it would be regulated.
- The country’s umbrella organization for artisanal fishers casts the move as a threat to the livelihoods, safety and food security of Liberia’s more than 57,000 artisanal fishers, as well as to the country’s marine life.

Lawsuit is latest push to curb bottom trawling in protected European waters
- The fishing practice of bottom trawling continues in European marine protected areas (MPAs) despite conservation concerns over its destruction of seabed habitats and indiscriminate catches.
- Four NGOs have sued the Netherlands to stop bottom trawling in the Dutch section of Dogger Bank, an MPA in the North Sea, citing its ecological importance.
- Advocacy efforts across Europe, including other lawsuits, have led to some restrictions on the practice, such as the closure of the U.K. section of Dogger Bank to bottom trawling, but most European MPAs remain insufficiently protected, a 2024 study indicates.
- Fishing interests often disagree with the NGOs’ position on bottom trawling in MPAs, saying that regulated bottom trawling can coexist with conservation goals and support communities socioeconomically, and that blanket restrictions risk marginalizing fishing communities without addressing broader environmental challenges like pollution or climate change.

Mass salmon deaths hit Scottish farms as government investigates
- Hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) died on fish farms in Scottish waters in the final months of 2024.
- Poisonous jellyfish, disease and parasites were behind the mass mortality events, despite major investments by the salmon industry to combat these threats.
- In January, a parliamentary committee concluded an inquiry into the industry, saying it was “disappointed” by the lack of progress on environmental pollution and animal welfare issues.

Unchecked illegal trawling pushes Indonesia’s small-scale fishers to the brink
- Small-scale fishers in Indonesia face declining catches as illegal trawlers deplete fish stocks in near-shore waters, violating exclusion zone regulations.
- Trawling, a destructive fishing method banned in certain areas, is widely practiced due to weak law enforcement, with local authorities citing budget constraints for lack of patrols.
- The impact on traditional fishers has been severe, with daily catches and incomes plummeting, leading to economic hardship, job changes and social issues, such as increased poverty and divorce rates.
- Fishers and advocacy groups are calling for stricter enforcement of fishing laws and government action to protect small-scale fishers’ rights and livelihoods.

The world’s kelp needs help — less than 2% is highly protected
- Kelp forests support a kaleidoscope of biodiversity and perform crucial ecosystem functions, yet they are in trouble globally.
- A recent journal commentary shows that just 15.9% of kelp forests are in protected areas, and only 1.6% of them are in areas with the highest levels of protection.
- The authors said they hope their findings will motivate policymakers to include kelp forests in international conservation targets, such as the “30×30” mandate to protect 30% of Earth’s land and sea by 2030.

Researchers find microplastics for the first time in the Finnish Sámi waters
- Scientists and Indigenous Skolt Sámi knowledge holders have detected microplastics in the lakes and rivers that the Indigenous Sámi communities have used for generations.
- The concentration of microplastics was small, researchers found, but it was still higher than the quantity expected, given that the area is thought to be pristine.
- The average size of the microplastics was 100 micrometers and concentrations ranged from 45 to 423 microplastic particles per cubic meter.
- While the source of the microplastics is unknown, researchers say one of the sources could be from the transboundary pollution accumulated in fish that come from the ocean to the freshwaters for spawning.

Salmon farms under fire on U.S. East Coast after being shuttered on West Coast
- An advocacy group has sued the last company in the U.S. still farming salmon in sea cages, citing alleged violations of the Clean Water Act.
- Cooke Aquaculture runs more than a dozen sites in the northeastern state of Maine. The lawsuit accuses the company of illegally discharging pollutants, exceeding limits on effluents and nutrient buildup, and reporting violations.
- The legal action comes the same month that the state of Washington banned industrial salmon aquaculture over environmental concerns, making Maine the only U.S. state where the practice continues.
- Critics argue that netpen salmon farming not only pollutes the marine environment but also threatens wild salmon populations, while requiring the harvest of too much wild fish and krill for feed.

2024’s top ocean news stories (commentary)
- Marine scientists and policy experts from nine international research and conservation institutions share their list of the top ocean news stories from 2024.
- Hopeful developments this past year include advancing innovations in mapping technologies, legal strategies and financial instruments to protect the ocean and greater inclusion of Indigenous peoples and coastal communities into high-level ocean planning.
- At the same time, 2024 was the hottest year on record as a result of climate change, surpassing 2023, and scientists declared the fourth global coral bleaching event, a major setback for the world’s coral reef ecosystems.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

We need a North Pole Marine Reserve to secure a healthy future for Arctic waters (commentary)
- In 2024, the cod fishing moratorium on Newfoundland’s Grand Banks was lifted, 32 years after a historically significant ecological collapse of the fish’s population was caused by overfishing.
- The Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement signed in 2019 provides an example of how to address the threat from such overfishing by using the precautionary principle, international collaboration and science led evaluations of fish stocks.
- The future health of Arctic marine ecosystems can be secured by establishing a North Pole Marine Reserve, a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

New evidence spells massive trouble for world’s sharks, rays and chimaeras
- A third of the world’s sharks, rays and chimaeras are threatened with extinction, and their numbers have dwindled since 1970, finds a new IUCN report and a study.
- Overfishing is the biggest threat to these marine fish, halving their populations in five decades, followed by the international trade in shark parts, habitat degradation and pollution.
- Scientists call for immediate actions to prevent extinction, regulate trade and manage shark fisheries to promote sustainability.

‘Shifting baselines’ in Cabo Verde after 50 years of declining fish stocks
- In Cabo Verde, as in many low-income countries in Africa, the historical record of fish catch is incomplete, making it hard to know what’s been lost and what’s required to fully rebuild.
- In a new study, researchers interviewed fish workers to understand how catches have changed over the last five decades, finding evidence of a major decline in volume of catch and maximum size of key species.
- The study also shows that young fishers and fishmongers don’t fully realize the scale of the loss — a case of what scientists call “shifting baselines.”
- Fishing communities on the West African mainland tell a similar story of decline, pointing to the urgency of centering local knowledge when devising fisheries management and conservation policies.

First-of-its-kind crew welfare measure adopted at Pacific fisheries summit
- The organization that sets fishing rules for a swath of the Pacific Ocean covering nearly 20% of Earth’s surface and supplying half the world’s tuna catch held its annual meeting in Fiji from Nov. 28 to Dec. 3.
- Parties to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) adopted a landmark crew welfare measure — the first binding labor rights measure adopted by any of the world’s 17 regional fisheries management organizations.
- The parties, 25 countries plus the European Union, also adopted a voluntary measure to implement electronic monitoring of catches.
- However, they didn’t adopt a proposal to curb potentially dodgy ship-to-ship transfers known as transshipments, or substantive new protections for sharks and seabirds, as NGO observers had hoped.

Scottish salmon farms seek growth despite mounting fish deaths and environmental concerns
- Scotland is the world’s third-largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), after Norway and Chile.
- The industry is seeking to significantly increase production in Scotland, driven by growing export demand.
- However, it faces ethical concerns over mounting fish mortality, as well as environmental concerns about pollution, the proliferation of sea lice affecting wild salmon, and opposition from several local communities.
- Industry members acknowledge the challenge of growing salmon amid rising sea temperatures, but say Scottish salmon farms have made progress in managing sea lice and other health challenges.

A father and son duo fight invasive lionfish on a Honduran reef
- Live coral covers 68% of Tela Bay, on the northern coast of Honduras, creating a complex ecosystem that’s part of the wider Mesoamerican Reef system.
- Among stressors including overfishing and coral bleaching due to climate change, is the invasive lionfish — a spectacular-looking, venomous, striped fish native to the Indo-Pacific that, with no natural predators here, is wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems throughout the Caribbean.
- To protect Tela Bay’s embattled coral reef, a local father and son are mounting a single-minded lionfish hunting effort to limit the fishes’ spread, hunting the fish themselves and organizing hunting competitions.

Coral biodiversity hotspot at risk from fossil fuel expansion, report warns
- A new report warns that the expansion of oil, gas and liquefied natural gas projects in the Coral Triangle region in the Western Pacific risks unleashing more oil spills, direct damage to coral reefs, noise pollution and ship traffic, not to mention greenhouse gas emissions.
- More than 100 offshore oil and gas blocks are currently in production, and more than 450 additional blocks are earmarked for future exploration, according to the report. If these projects are approved, the production and exploration blocks would cover 16% of the Coral Triangle, an area the size of Indonesia, the report states.
- The report notes there is already overlap between oil and gas operations and critical conservation zones, including 16% of the Coral Triangle’s marine protected areas.
- The Coral Triangle is one of Earth’s most biodiverse regions, stretching across the waters of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands. It’s home to 76% of all known coral species, as well as numerous endangered marine species.

Indonesia fisheries minister eyes aquaculture expansion under Prabowo
- Indonesia’s new president, Prabowo Subianto, has retained incumbent fisheries minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono to oversee expansion in productivity in captive fisheries over the next five years.
- Sakti has pledged to revive ailing aquaculture ponds, most of which are located on the northern coast of Java, where numerous village fishing economies are struggling amid depleted near-shore fish stocks and coastal development.
- In July, Indonesia’s then-vice president, Ma’ruf Amin, told a fisheries summit that climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental damage had hindered the output of near-shore fisheries in the world’s largest archipelagic country.

Protecting coral reefs boosts fish numbers by 10%: Study
- New research has found that the protection of coral reefs has boosted the amount of fish they harbor by around 10%.
- The study used survey data from about 2,600 reefs with varying levels of protection from overfishing.
- The team then built a statistical model to predict what would have happened if all reefs had not been protected, and the biomass, or collective weight of the resident fish, dropped by more than 10%.
- The scientists note their findings demonstrate that protections like marine protected areas are working and that greater coverage could lead to even more gains in fish biomass.

Clock ticks on Indonesia shark skinners as predator population plunges
- Indonesia accounts for more sharks caught in open water than any other country, but fish stocks around the main island of Java are in crisis due to years of overfishing by large vessels using purse seine nets.
- In the fishing port of Brondong, a major landing site in East Java province, fishers continue to process dozens of species of sharks caught increasingly far from the world’s most populous island.
- Shark conservation is attracting increasing international attention because of the relative lack of protection and awareness of the predators’ roles in ocean ecosystems.

WTO negotiations flounder — again — over banning unsustainable fishing subsidies
- The WTO’s General Council meeting in Geneva in July failed again to finalize a treaty to stop “harmful” fishing subsidies that enable unsustainable fishing, hindered by India’s objections.
- Only 81 out of 166 member states have formally accepted the partial “Fish One” agreement, and progress on “Fish Two” remains stalled.
- Harmful subsidies continue to deplete fish stocks, jeopardizing marine ecosystems and food security for 3 billion people.
- In light of the 25-year struggle for international consensus, some observers suggest states instead strike bi- or plurilateral agreements to eliminate harmful subsidies.

Shark fin consumption wanes in Thailand, yet demand persists, report shows
- A new study in Thailand reveals consumption of shark fin has declined by more than one-third since 2017.
- Yet significant demand for shark fin and shark meat persists: more than half of surveyed citizens said they plan to consume such products in the future, despite their understanding of the ecological risks associated with killing sharks.
- Besides shark fin soup, a popular dish served at social gatherings and weddings, conservationists are increasingly concerned about emerging markets for shark parts in pet food sold in Thailand.
- Marine conservation groups say besides continued public awareness campaigns, policymakers must do more to curb shark bycatch and improve traceability of products in the shark trade to protect vulnerable species at risk of extinction.

French Polynesians revive traditional rāhui to protect fish — and livelihoods
- In French Polynesia, fishing is of paramount importance. Many residents depend on fishing to feed their families and make a living.
- Confronted with a decline in fish stocks, communities across the country are reviving a traditional method of managing natural resources called rāhui.
- This bottom-up solution, managed by local communities with help from scientists and the government, although imperfect, appears to demonstrate some degree of effectiveness.
- The island of Tahiti currently counts 13 rāhuis, and more communities are establishing them as a way to fight poverty, sustain fishers’ incomes and regain their culture.

For the first time ever, we’re farming more seafood than we’re catching: FAO
- For the first time in history, we now farm more seafood than we catch from the wild.
- At the same time, overfishing of wild fish stocks continues to increase, and the number of sustainably fished stocks declines.
- Those are among the key findings of the 2024 installment of the flagship global fisheries and aquaculture report from the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The biennial report provides data, analysis and projections that inform decision-making internationally.
- Sustainably growing aquaculture and better managing fisheries are central to the FAO’s “Blue Transformation road map,” a strategy for meeting the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goal 14, which seeks to improve the social, economic and environmental sustainability of aquatic food to feed more people more equitably. However, progress is “either moving much too slowly or has regressed,” the report says.

Indonesia must integrate marine protection with fisheries subsidies, study says
- Indonesia must integrate marine protection measures into its subsidies for small-scale fishers, according to a new study.
- Despite claiming exemption from the 2022 WTO agreement to halt harmful fisheries subsidies, Indonesia needs a strategy to support small-scale fisheries and ensure marine sustainability.
- The government provides various supports, including insurance and fuel subsidies, and has made efforts to protect marine resources and boost fish stocks.
- The study suggests these subsidies should continue, as they are crucial for small-scale fishers’ livelihoods, while also enforcing marine conservation measures.

Peru approves the creation of long-awaited marine protected area
- Experts have called the creation of the Grau Tropical Sea National Reserve, which took more than 10 years to be approved, a milestone as it is rich in biodiversity.
- Observers expect the reserve to allow for greater control and monitoring of the area to prevent illegal fishing.
- However, some industrial fishing, including trawling, is permitted in the new reserve, a decision criticized by marine conservation experts who say Peru needs “no-fishing areas.”

Thai plan to relax fishing law stokes fear of return to illegal catches, worker abuse
- Thai lawmakers are discussing fisheries reforms that observers say risk undoing eight years of hard-won progress on human rights and ocean protection.
- Many of the proposed changes would amend reforms introduced nearly a decade ago following investigations that exposed rampant IUU fishing and associated worker abuses among Thailand’s infamous fishing fleets.
- Commercial fisheries representatives say the reforms are necessary to remove bureaucratic complexities and unfair penalties they claim have harmed the industry’s profitability since measures were introduced to address IUU and labor abuses.
- Some artisanal fishers and other observers say the proposed reforms would take Thailand in the wrong direction at a time when policymakers should be bolstering the country’s global reputation as a source of legal and sustainably caught seafood and protecting its resources and communities against the impacts of climate change.

As catches fall, Sierra Leone’s artisanal fishers turn to destructive practices
- Sierra Leone’s fish stocks have been under severe strain in recent years due to intensive industrial fishing and a growing population of artisanal fishers, with fishers consistently reporting falling catches.
- This has triggered heightened competition for increasingly scarce yields.
- To secure their livelihoods, artisanal fishers have turned to unsustainable fishing gear, such as undersize-mesh nets, and target fish breeding and nursery grounds, disrupting the fish reproductive cycle.
- The crisis is fueled by the ready availability of illegal nets, weak law enforcement and widespread economic hardship.

No mercy for overfished yellowfin tuna at Indian Ocean fisheries meeting
- Members of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, the intergovernmental body that regulates fishing for tuna and tuna-like species in the region, met May 13-17 in Bangkok.
- Although a decision on reining in catches of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), which has been declared overfished for the past nine years, was perhaps the most anticipated move of the meeting, delegates failed to reach any such agreement.
- They did, however, strengthen management of skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius) fisheries, and took steps to rein in fish aggregating devices (FADs), which are criticized for netting large numbers of juvenile tuna and nontarget species, and for polluting the ocean with large amounts of lost fishing gear.

To renew or not to renew? African nations reconsider EU fishing deals
- The European Union currently has fisheries access deals with 11 African countries, several of which are up for renegotiation this year.
- Under the deals, called Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs), European fishing companies gain access to resource-filled foreign waters, while the African countries get cash.
- Senegal was the first country to sign such a deal, in 1979, but President Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected in March after proposing to suspend it altogether in response to concerns that it’s unfair to local fishers. It’s not yet clear whether he will follow through, but his rhetoric reflects shifting arrangements in African fisheries, where the EU no longer dominates as it once did.
- Experts see this as a possible win for local control of precious marine resources, but they also caution that many of the alternative arrangements African governments are turning to instead of SFPAs are more socially and environmentally problematic, and less transparent.

Twilight zone fishing: Can we fish the ocean’s mesopelagic layer?
- Fishing experts are looking for ways to fish in the mesopelagic zone, a layer of water that stretches from 200-1,000 meters (660-3,300 feet) beneath the surface, which has, thus far, remained relatively unexploited.
- Many challenges stand in the way of making mesopelagic fishing a reality, such as the difficulties of finding and capturing mesopelagic fish, and processing them into usable products.
- Yet experts are working to overcome these obstacles, with one suggesting that mesopelagic fishing could begin in the next few years.
- Conservation experts have expressed concern about the possible start of mesopelagic fishing, arguing that it could cause environmental problems.

No answers for Ghanaian fishery observer’s family months after suspected death
- Samuel Abayateye, a 38-year-old father of two, was working as a fisheries observer when he was reported missing from his assigned vessel in October 2023.
- After a body missing its head, forearms and feet that Abayateye’s family says closely resembled him washed ashore in December, the Ghana Police Service opened an investigation.
- Five months later, Abayateye’s family said they still haven’t received any information from the authorities investigating the case, or the results of a DNA test to confirm the identity of the body.
- A fisheries observer told Mongabay the case has sown fear among observers appointed to monitor and report on illegal fishing in fleets operating in Ghana. Fishing industry experts say the case highlights the dangers faced by observers, whose job is critical to ensuring fishing vessels comply with the law.

Who was Samuel Abayateye, the fishery observer missing in Ghana
ANYAMAM, Ghana — In October 2023, Samuel Abayateye, a 38-year-old fishery observer, went missing in Ghana. This unsettling event is part of a troubling pattern, as disappearances of fishery observers in Ghanaian waters have occurred before. In this video, Mongabay travels to Anyamam, Samuel’s home village, to speak with his family and uncover more about […]
Fewer fish and more rules lead to illegal catches, Italian fishers say
- The line between legal and illegal fishing in the waters off Italy’s Calabria region is often blurred, with fishers blaming stringent top-down regulations for constricting their traditional practices.
- The issue is further muddied by the presence here of the ‘ndrangheta or Calabrian mafia, which investigations have shown is involved in the fish trade and also uses it as cover for illicit activities such as drug smuggling.
- The Mediterranean Sea is experiencing a decline in fish stocks, ranging from 60-90% depending on the species, with the NGO Sea Shepherd Italia blaming illegal fishing for environmental damage.

No protection from bottom trawling for seamount chain in northern Pacific
- A recent meeting of the intergovernmental body that manages fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean failed to confer new protections for the Emperor Seamount Chain, a massive and richly biodiverse set of underwater mountains south of the Aleutian Islands.
- Bottom trawlers plied the Emperors aggressively in the past, decimating deep-sea coral communities and fish stocks.
- A proposal by the U.S. and Canadian delegations at the meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) would have temporarily paused the limited trawling that continues there today, but failed to reach a vote.
- The NPFC did pass a separate proposal to regulate fishing of the Pacific saury (Cololabis saira), a severely depleted silvery fish that Japanese people traditionally eat in the fall.

In Java Sea, vigilantism and poverty rise as purse seine fishing continues
- Fishing communities on small islands in the Java Sea and farther afield have long complained that large purse seine vessels are encroaching on traditional fishing grounds.
- On Sembilan Island, between the islands of Java and Borneo, local fishers have resorted to vigilantism due to what they say is inaction by authorities to prevent fishing with the purse seine, known locally as cantrang.
- The head of the local fisheries department told Mongabay Indonesia that fishers would see a crackdown against the boats.

One of Colombia’s largest estuary ecosystems is drying up, communities warn
- Decades of sediment pollution, contamination and government infrastructure projects have disrupted the natural flow of saltwater and freshwater into the Ciénaga Grande of Santa Marta, one of Colombia’s key wetlands and a major estuary on the Caribbean Sea.
- Fish stocks have also plummeted, with profitable, big species being replaced by smaller ones and leaving fishing communities without their livelihoods.
- Although authorities claim that they are investing in the region, locals complain the autonomous corporation in charge is not taking steps to dredge the canals and that there isn’t enough transparency on how the money is being spent.

Putting a value on Indonesia’s marine resources: Interview with Annisya Rosdiana & Heidi Retnoningtyas
- A group of experts led by Annisya Rosdiana from the Fisheries Resource Center of Indonesia (FRCI) is designing Indonesia’s ocean account to determine the exact abundance of the country’s maritime and fisheries resources.
- This initiative, begun in 2021, is part of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries’ efforts to improve sustainable marine management.
- Indonesia’s ocean account is also part of the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP), which aims to establish globally accepted ocean accounting methods.
- The initiative faces challenges due to data deficiencies, lack of coordination among government agencies, and weak enforcement of fisheries policies on the ground.

Lebanese youths take up rods and reels to learn sustainable fishing
- Lebanon’s fisheries face multiple challenges, including the prevalence of illegal and destructive practices, like dynamite fishing.
- New initiatives aim to shift mentalities, particularly among the younger generation.
- One of them, run by the Lebanese NGO Friends of Nature, aims to train 300 youths across the country in sustainable fishing methods.

Huge new no-fishing zones give Antarctic marine predators and their prey a break
- The government of the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI), which operates as a British overseas territory, recently announced that it had established new no-fishing zones over 166,000 km² (64,100 mi²) of its existing marine protected area, and prohibited krill fishing in an additional 17,000 km² (6,600 mi²) of the MPA.
- These new no-fishing zones were established to protect krill-dependent marine wildlife, including baleen whales and penguins, while also considering the fisheries operating in the area, which target krill and other species.
- While conservationists initially pushed for further protections, they ultimately accepted the decision, with one calling it a “positive and good outcome.”
- However, Argentina, which claims the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands as part of its Tierra del Fuego province, has expressed its dissatisfaction with the SGSSI government’s decision.

Madagascar takes key step toward improving transparency of its fisheries
- Madagascar recently released its first fisheries transparency report, part of an effort to open up, democratize, and improve the sustainability of its fisheries sector.
- The report is a key step in a process defined by the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), a Seychelles-based nonprofit.
- It contains important information on traditional, artisanal and industrial fisheries, a list of the laws and regulations governing the sector, tenure arrangements, and access agreements — including previously undisclosed information.
- It also assesses the country’s transparency according to the availability and accessibility of data from six thematic areas as outlined by the FiTI Standard.

Indonesia unveils plan to launch a satellite network for maritime monitoring
- Indonesia plans to launch a satellite constellation starting in July to monitor its marine and fisheries resources more effectively.
- This constellation of 20 nanosatellites aims to actively manage conservation efforts and ensure economic benefits from marine resources.
- The satellites will feature radio frequency, imaging and vessel-tracking equipment, allowing officials “to know every condition in Indonesia from one [data] center.”
- Challenges such as budget cuts and low compliance among fishing companies underscore the need for technological solutions to protect Indonesia’s vast marine areas.

Stalemate: WTO talks again fail to end overfishing subsidies
- At the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13), which closed in Abu Dhabi on March 2, negotiators failed to finalize phase two of an international treaty banning harmful fisheries subsidies.
- Despite 22 years of negotiations, member states remained divided on crucial aspects of the treaty to phase out subsidies worth an estimated $22 billion annually that support overfishing.
- The draft negotiating text includes contentious loopholes, raising concerns about fairness and effectiveness from state delegates, fisheries experts and scientists.
- Ratifications of phase one of the treaty leapt to 71 as 10 more states signed up during MC13, but 39 more are needed for implementation.

Norwegian salmon farms gobble up fish that could feed millions in Africa: Report
- Norwegian salmon farms are taking huge amounts of wild fish from West Africa, mining the food security of the region, according to a report from the U.K.-based NGO Feedback.
- In 2020, the industry produced salmon feed ingredients using up to 144,000 metric tons of small pelagic fish caught along the coasts of West Africa, where they could have fed between 2.5 million and 4 million people, according to the report.
- The analysis comes as the industry faces a wave of public opposition after revelations of high mortality rates and the sale of fish deemed unfit for human consumption, along with accusations of antitrust violations by the European Commission.

Hong Kong as a reef fish haven? These scientists want to get the word out
- For the past 10 years, marine biologist and conservationist Stan Shea has been leading a citizen-science program called the 114°E Hong Kong Reef Fish Survey to compile data on local reef fish species and raise awareness about the marine environment.
- The program relies on a core network of around 50 volunteer divers, who assist Shea with his mission to raise awareness about Hong Kong’s aquatic life.
- There are likely about 500 reef fish species in Hong Kong, but only about 460 have been identified so far; Shea and his team aim to find and document as many of the other overlooked as possible.
- Shea is also working on a photographic book about Hong Kong’s reef fish, which will be published in 2026.

With drop in illegal fishing comes rise in piracy, study in Indonesia finds
- Indonesia’s crackdown on illegal fishing is driving an increase in maritime piracy, a new study shows.
- In recent years, the government has taken harsh measures against illegal fishers, including banning foreign fishing vessels from its waters, and blowing up those it seizes.
- However, researchers say the crackdown’s success, without addressing the drivers of illegal fishing, including poverty, “can inadvertently shift effort from fishing to piracy.”
- Illegal fishing costs an estimated $3 billion in lost revenue for Indonesia, the world’s second-biggest producer of wild-caught seafood.

Annual South Pacific fisheries meeting nets bottom trawling controversy
- The annual conference of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), an intergovernmental body, took place in Manta, Ecuador, between Jan. 29 and Feb. 2.
- SPRFMO, which manages fisheries across the vast international waters of the South Pacific Ocean, made key decisions on bottom trawling, labor rights, observation of squid-fishing vessels and transshipment at sea, a practice that can obscure the origin of illegally caught seafood.
- In what was perhaps the most controversial outcome of the meeting, delegates failed to adopt a proposal to complete the implementation of rules passed last year that would have limited bottom trawling of vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as coral communities.

In East Java, social media push against Indonesia shark & ray trade lacks bite
- Over a period of four months in late 2023, Mongabay spoke with fishers and traders dealing primarily in rays and sharks in Indonesia’s East Java province.
- Advertisements for shark and ray products continued to feature on social media platforms despite pledges by companies to prevent users from conducting transactions in wildlife.
- Indonesia’s fisheries ministry said more needs to be done to enhance traceability to crack down on trade in protected shark and ray species.

DNA probe uncovers threatened shark species in Thailand’s markets
- A shark DNA investigation has revealed the presence of shark species threatened with extinction in products commonly sold in Thailand’s markets.
- The study identified products derived from 15 shark species, more than a third of which have never been recorded in Thai waters, highlighting the scale of the international shark trade.
- Marine conservation groups say the findings underscore that consumers of shark fin soup and other shark products could well be complicit in the demise of threatened species that fulfill vital roles in maintaining ocean balance.
- Experts have called on Thai policymakers to improve traceability in shark trade supply chains, expand marine protected areas, and make greater investments in marine research.

Overfishing leads to decline in Bangladesh marine fish stocks & diversity
- Bangladesh is facing a decline in marine fish stocks and diversity due to lack of knowledge among fishers, proper implementation of the Marine Fisheries Act and rampant use of industrial trawlers and unauthorized fishing gear in permitted fishing zones.
- The country has a 710-kilometer (440-mile) coastline with 121,110 square kilometers (46,760 square miles) of exclusive economic zones (EEZs) within the Bay of Bengal and is a hub of 740 aquatic species.
- The marine fisheries sector contributes about 15% of Bangladesh’s total fish production, which helps meet the population’s demands for animal protein.

Indonesia invites Turkish investors to develop tuna farms in Papua
- Indonesia has invited Turkish investors to participate in offshore tuna farming in the Papua region’s Biak Numfor district, aiming to make it a hub for tuna exports.
- The Indonesian fisheries ministry said Turkish fisheries operators can bring innovation to enhance productivity and ensure sustainability of the tuna fishery.
- Indonesia, a significant contributor to global tuna production, faces sustainability challenges due to excessive harvesting of wild tuna.
- The outreach to Türkiye is the latest in efforts to get foreign investors to help develop Indonesia’s various fisheries, including a similar offer earlier in January for Vietnam to invest in lobster farms.

Kenyan villagers show how to harvest more octopus by fishing less
- Residents of Munje, a fishing village south of the Kenyan port of Mombasa, have established an octopus closure to ensure sustainable fishing.
- Octopus catches in the reefs just offshore had been declining as larger numbers of fishers, often using damaging techniques, hunted this profitable species.
- Previous attempts to regulate the octopus fishery had failed, but the village’s beach management unit enlisted support from an NGO to replicate successful strategies from elsewhere.
- Clearer communication and patient consensus-building have secured buy-in from the community, and the village is anticipating a second successful harvest period in February.

Global shark deaths increasing despite finning bans, study shows
- A new study finds that shark mortality increased by 4% in coastal fisheries and decreased by 7% in pelagic fisheries, between 2012 and 2019, despite legislation to ban shark finning increasing tenfold over this period.
- Based on these findings, experts say shark finning regulations may not be effective in decreasing shark mortality, and may even create new markets for shark meat.
- However, the study also shows that successful management of shark fisheries can lead to a decrease in mortality; such is the case with retention bans and other measures taken by regional fisheries management organizations.

2023’s top ocean news stories (commentary)
- Marine scientists from six international research and conservation institutions share their list of the top ocean news stories from 2023.
- Hopeful developments this past year include a monumental global treaty to protect biodiversity on the high seas and the regulation of international trade in 97 species of sharks and rays under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
- At the same time, 2023 was the hottest year on record, with widespread bleaching of corals in the Caribbean and Great Barrier Reef, and many more hot years forecast as humanity’s emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming continue.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Spain sanctions fishing vessels for illegally ‘going dark’ near Argentine waters
- The Spanish government sanctioned 25 of its vessels for illegally turning off their satellite tracking devices while fishing off the coast of Argentina between 2018 and 2021.
- Experts say ships that “go dark” by turning off their trackers often do so to partake in illicit behavior, such as crossing into a nation’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) without authorization.
- While some have praised the Spanish government’s actions, one expert says he doesn’t believe the sanctions go far enough.
- Most fishing activity in this region is also unregulated and unmonitored, which raises environmental concerns.

Salmon and other migratory fish play crucial role in delivering nutrients
- Pacific salmon can play a key role in transporting nutrients from marine to freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.
- In the past, Pacific salmon and other anadromous fish that spawn in freshwater and spend part of their life in the ocean likely played a much larger role in global nutrient cycles, scientists find.
- But today, many populations of Pacific salmon and other anadromous fish are under pressure from habitat loss, overfishing, climate change, dams and other pressures that have greatly reduced their numbers, weight and ability to migrate freely.
- Population declines could further curtail their role in global nutrient transport in future, with increasing consequences, especially for nutrient-poor ecosystems that have relied in the past on migratory fish for significant nutrient additions.

Still on the menu: Shark fin trade in U.S. persists despite ban
- An Al Jazeera investigative report has revealed that the trade in shark fins is still happening in the U.S. despite legislation banning the activity.
- The report also showed illegal shark finning operations occurring in Peru, currently the world’s largest exporter of fins due to laws that make this export legal, and in Ecuador, where sharks are landed in high volumes.
- A year ago, the international convention on wildlife trafficking enacted shark trade bans, but this has not yet stamped out the global fin trade, prompting experts to call for better enforcement and scrutiny.

Farewell, Java stingaree: Scientists declare the first marine fish extinction
- In December 2023, scientists declared the Java stingaree (Urolophus javanicus), a species of stingray, extinct.
- It’s the first marine fish confirmed to have gone extinct due to human actions.
- Scientists know very little about the species, which they haven’t spotted since a naturalist purchased the specimen from which he described the species at a fish market in Jakarta in 1862.

‘Shark dust’ helps researchers ID threatened species in Indonesia fish trade
- Researchers have developed a new tool to identify a wide range of threatened and protected sharks being processed at fish factories in Indonesia.
- The method relies on DNA analysis of “shark dust,” the tiny fragments of skin and cartilage swept from the floors of fish-processing plants and export warehouses.
- From 28 shark dust samples collected from seven processing plants across Java Island, they found the genetic sequences of 61 shark and ray species.
- About 84% of these are CITES-listed species, meaning there are official restrictions in place on the international trade in these species.

The ex-shark fishermen teaching schoolkids how to protect the environment
- Shark conservationist Kathy Xu joined with ex-shark fishermen on the Indonesian island of Lombok to launch The Dorsal Effect.
- The eco-enterprise teaches students about the marine environment through snorkeling trips, coral health checks and beach trash cleanups.
- The Dorsal Effect helps provide an alternative source of income for the former shark fishermen of Lombok and aims to stop the shark finning trade.

Philippines oil spill may reverberate long after cleanup declared complete
- On March 1, the MT Princess Empress oil tanker sank in the Philippines, carrying 900,000 liters (237,754 gallons) of industrial fuel oil. A huge oil slick polluted local waters and prompted authorities to impose a ban on fishing that sent local communities into a tailspin.
- The wreck occurred in the Verde Island Passage, between the Philippines’ main islands of Luzon and Mindoro, an area with the highest concentration of marine biodiversity in the world.
- The spill cleanup activities are now finished, and life is returning to normal in many places. However, experts say the effects of the oil spill on the ecosystem could linger over the long term.
- The spill has reinvigorated calls for the Philippine Legislature to pass a law declaring the entire Verde Island Passage a marine protected area.

Last of the reef netters: An Indigenous, sustainable salmon fishery
- Reef net fishing is an ancient, sustainable salmon-harvesting technique created and perfected by the Lummi and other Coast Salish Indigenous people over a millennium.
- Rather than chasing the fish, this technique uses ropes to create an artificial reef that channels fish toward a net stretched between two anchored boats. Fishers observe the water and pull in the net at the right moment, intercepting salmon as they migrate from the Pacific Ocean to the Fraser River near present-day Washington state and British Columbia.
- Colonialism, government policies, habitat destruction, and declining salmon populations have separated tribes from this tradition. Today, only 12 reef net permits exist, with just one belonging to the Lummi Nation.
- Many tribal members hope to revive reef net fishing to restore their cultural identity and a sustainable salmon harvest but face difficulties balancing economic realities with preserving what the Lummi consider a sacred heritage.

Fish out of water: North American drought bakes salmon
- An unprecedented drought across much of British Columbia, Canada, and Washington and Oregon, U.S., during the summer and fall months of June through October could have dire impacts on Pacific salmon populations, biologists warn.
- Low water levels in streams and rivers combined with higher water temperatures can kill juvenile salmon and make it difficult for adults to swim upriver to their spawning grounds.
- Experts say relieving other pressures on Pacific salmon and restoring habitat are the best ways to build their resiliency to drought and other impacts of climate change.

To keep track of salmon migrations in real time, First Nations turn to AI
- Partnering with First Nations, a new interdisciplinary study proposes harnessing artificial intelligence and computer-based detection to count and produce real-time data about salmon numbers.
- Monitoring their population when they return to the rivers and creeks is crucial to keep tabs on the health of the population and sustainably manage the stock, but the current manual process is laborious, time-consuming and often error-prone.
- Fisheries experts say the use of real-time population data can help them make timely informed decisions about salmon management, prevent overfishing of stocks, and give a chance for the dwindling salmon to bounce back to healthy levels.
- First Nations say the automated monitoring tool also helps them assert their land rights and steward fisheries resources in their territories.

Amid record melting, countries fail again to protect Antarctic waters
- The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the intergovernmental body charged with protecting marine life and managing fisheries in the Southern Ocean, met from Oct. 16-27 in Hobart, Australia, with 26 member countries and the European Union participating.
- For the seventh year in a row, the CCAMLR declined to establish new marine protected areas (MPAs) around Antarctica, despite having committed to creating “a representative network of MPAs” in 2009.
- Scientists, conservationists and some governments have been pushing for greater protections, concerned that the melting ice in Antarctica has reached alarming levels, jeopardizing some key populations of penguins, krill, whales, seals and other marine animals.
- The stalemate came even as a new threat to wildlife emerged in the region: the discovery last week that a virulent form of avian flu had reached Antarctic bird colonies.

Can aquaculture solve the Mediterranean’s overfishing problem?
- In the Mediterranean, 73% of commercial fish stocks are fished beyond biologically sustainable limits.
- Part of the strategy to reduce overfishing promoted by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, a regional fisheries management organization, is to promote the expansion of aquaculture, which is growing rapidly.
- However, most fish farms in the region produce carnivorous species, causing concern among experts and NGOs about the risk of worsening the burden on wild marine stocks to produce enough feed.

Report: Half of MSC-certified ‘sustainable’ tuna caught with controversial gear
- Tuna fisheries often rely on fish aggregating devices (FADs), floating human-made structures that fish congregate around, which makes it relatively easy to catch them, but which have also raised concerns about high rates of bycatch, capture of juvenile tuna, and pollution.
- Despite these concerns, the number of tuna fisheries using FADs that are certified sustainable under the standards of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the largest ecolabeling scheme for wild fisheries, has soared, and FAD-fished tuna now account for more than half of all MSC-certified tuna, according to a new report from France-based nonprofit BLOOM Association.
- The report contends this constitutes a weakening of MSC standards in order to meet market demands for tuna.
- The MSC has refuted this claim, pointing to steps that certified fisheries are taking to reduce and study the impact of FADs.

Sumatran Indigenous seafarers run aground by overfishing and mangrove loss
- Many among Indonesia’s Duano Indigenous community have hung up their fishing nets in response to recent environmental and economic shifts.
- A study published in October found that intact mangroves were associated with up to a 28% increase in fish and shellfish consumption among coastal communities.
- Duano elders say young people from the community are increasingly retiring from the community’s traditional livelihood to take up poorly paid casual work.

Record North Atlantic heat sees phytoplankton decline, fish shift to Arctic
- Scientists warn that record-high sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean this year are having consequences for sea life.
- As marine heat waves there have worsened over the years, populations of phytoplankton, the base of the oceanic food chain, have declined in the Eastern North Atlantic.
- With experts predicting more heat anomalies to come, North Atlantic fish species are moving northward into the Arctic Ocean in search of cooler waters, creating competition risks with Arctic endemic species and possibly destabilizing the entire marine food web in the region.
- Lengthening and intensifying marine heat waves around the globe are becoming a major concern for scientists, who warn that the world will see even greater disruptions to ocean food chains and vital fisheries, unless fossil fuel burning is curtailed.

For Indonesia’s Kei islanders, a marine protected area makes perfect sense
- Fishing communities in Indonesia’s Kei Islands support the idea of a marine protected area to safeguard their main source of livelihood from unsustainable fishing and climate change impacts.
- That’s the finding of a new study by local researchers, who found that the majority of respondents said they were also willing to contribute a token annual payment for the upkeep of such an MPA.
- The researchers have proposed the MPA to the local government and council, and say they hope that if it’s accepted, it could serve as a template for other MPAs in the region.
- The waters around the Kei Islands are blessed with some of the richest fish stocks in Indonesia, but destructive fishing practices and the impacts of climate change are threatening the age-old fishing tradition here.

Indonesian village forms coast guard to protect octopus in Mentawai Islands
- An island community in Indonesia’s Mentawai archipelago has responded to dwindling octopus stocks with a seasonal fishing closure to enable recovery.
- Global demand for octopus is expected to outpace supply over the medium term, implying higher dockside prices for many artisanal fishers, if stocks can be managed sustainably.
- Maintenance of local fishing grounds also offers crucial nutritional benefits for remote coastal communities in the Mentawais, where rates of child stunting exceed Indonesia’s national average.

Seventy-plus nations sign historic high seas treaty, paving way for ratification
- As of Sept. 22, 76 nations and the European Union had signed the high seas treaty while gathered at the 78th U.N. General Assembly in New York.
- After signing the treaty, each nation must ratify it. Then, once 60 nations have ratified the treaty, it will come into force after 120 days.
- The high seas encompass two-thirds of the world’s oceans, but only 1% currently has protected status.

Fisherwomen fight plan for coastal salt farms on Indonesia’s Madura Island
- A group of women in Sumenep district of East Java province is leading a protest against the local government’s proposal to develop a salt farm on 20 hectares (49 acres) of land on the coast of Gersik Putih village.
- In 2009, the local government issued land titles on 73 hectares (180 acres) of land along the coast of Tapakerbau hamlet in Gersik Putih, and all of it was to become salt farms.
- The fishers say the plan could jeopardize their fishing jobs and the sustainability of the marine ecosystem on which they have for generations depended for their livelihoods, and they say they believe the salt ponds have exacerbated the flooding there in recent years.
- The protest in Sumenep is one of many against plans for the development of coastal aquaculture in Indonesia, a country that has the world’s second-longest coastline.

Study finds old pear trees make for surprisingly rich reef habitats
- In a new study, researchers used old pear trees to create artificial reefs and settled them in the Wadden Sea in the Netherlands to see what kinds of marine biodiversity aggregated on or around them.
- They found that the tree reefs attracted a surprising amount of biodiversity over a short period of time, including sessile organisms like barnacles and mobile species like fish and crabs.
- The authors say tree reefs can be replicated in other parts of the world, mainly temperate regions.

For South Africa’s small fishers, co-ops prove a necessary, but bumpy, step up
- Sixteen years after small-scale fishers in South Africa were promised legal recognition and fishing rights, the policy regulating the new sector is at last being implemented.
- As fishing communities draw closer to finally claiming equal rights in a fishing industry that has been dominated by the commercial sector, they are currently forming cooperatives to access collective fishing rights and co-manage local marine resources.
- The rollout of the new policy has been long and bumpy, with many issues still to be resolved, and long-time fishers complaining they’ve been excluded.
- Even so, hope remains that cooperatives can hold new opportunities for income generation and equity building.

As Bangladesh’s crab fishery booms, its wild stocks suffer the fallout
- Crab harvests in Bangladesh are booming to meet thriving export demand, but the rates at which wild stocks are being depleted may be unsustainable, experts warm.
- Researchers say the loss of large numbers of mud crabs from ecosystems like the Sundarbans mangroves could trigger an ecological imbalance.
- Bangladesh exported about $35 million worth of crabs in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, with the trend expected to increase to markets like the U.S., the EU and Singapore.
- Experts have called for more efforts to hatch crabs on aquafarms as a way to ease the pressure on wild stocks, but this option isn’t available yet at commercial scale.

Indonesian illegal shark and ray exports remain rampant amid poor monitoring
- Indonesia allows the trade of some endangered shark and ray species, but illegal exports remain rampant and unchecked.
- Mongabay-Indonesia conducted an investigation earlier this year to learn about the regulations, the loopholes and the challenges within the complex trade and fisheries of sharks and rays.
- The investigation found that the lack of oversight in the field was the leading cause of illegal shark and ray trade in the country.
- Indonesia is home to more than a quarter of the world’s 400 known shark species; a fifth of all shark species are endangered.

Madagascar signs new ‘sustainable’ tuna deal with the EU
- In late June, Madagascar and the European Union struck a new four-year deal allowing fishing vessels flagged to EU countries to resume harvesting tuna in Madagascar’s waters after an unusual four-and-a-half-year gap.
- The EU says the deal benefits Madagascar by providing key funding to support fisheries governance, and civil society groups praised the Madagascar government for creating a more inclusive and transparent negotiating process than in the past.
- However, critics contend that the deal offers little benefit to the citizens of Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, and enables European vessels to exacerbate the overfishing of Indian Ocean tuna stocks.

Scientists: Fishing boats compete with whales and penguins for Antarctic krill
- Scientists and campaigners recently documented huge krill fishing vessels plowing through pods of whales feeding in Antarctic waters, a permitted practice they say deprives the whales of food.
- As Antarctic waters warm due to climate change, krill numbers are declining, stressing wildlife that rely on the small crustaceans at the bottom of the food chain.
- The intergovernmental body in charge of regulating the krill fishery, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), has taken specific steps to protect penguins and seals but not whales.
- At the same time, CCAMLR has stalled on the establishment of new marine protected areas and the adoption of new conservation measures. A special meeting to advance protected areas concluded June 23 with no progress.

West African fishers strike for fair wages and ‘respect’ on EU-owned vessels
- African fishers, mostly from Senegal and Ivory Coast who work on dozens of EU vessels that operate in West Africa and the Indian Ocean, took part in a strike that lasted from June 5-8, alleging wage violations.
- Vessels owned by EU companies are allowed to fish in foreign countries’ waters through agreements between the EU and the host nations. However, a third of such vessels operating in West Africa use flags of other countries and evade labor rights provisions agreed to under these pacts.
- Fishers who participated in the strike told Mongabay they were fighting for more than fair wages, saying that African sailors were not treated with respect on European boats despite doing some of the most arduous jobs.
- Seafarers’ unions called off the strike after the Senegalese government initiated negotiations with vessel owners and unions. Talks are expected to conclude in five months.

Can Spain keep the rising sea from washing away a critical delta?
- One of Europe’s most important deltas, a vital wildlife sanctuary and economic engine, is facing a myriad of threats stemming from climate change and water management.
- Rising sea levels and stronger storms are washing away the very sediment that constitutes the Ebro Delta and sending saltwater far inland.
- The government plan to bolster the delta relies heavily on trucking sediment to its exposed outer banks, but it’s a stop-gap measure until researchers can develop a more sustainable long-term solution.
- The question is: Can they find one in time?

Indonesia to expand ‘smart fisheries’ program aimed at empowering communities
- Indonesia will expand its smart fisheries village program, aiming to empower fishing communities to boost their productivity, achieve sustainability standards, and improve their overall economic welfare.
- Twenty-two fishing communities are enrolled in the initial batch of the program, which will focus primarily on fisheries, but also look to improve community welfare through tourism, public health interventions, financial literacy, and other initiatives.
- The participating communities are involved in catching or farming a wide range of seafood and other products, from octopus and tilapia to shrimp and organic salt.
- The fisheries sector employs about 12 million Indonesians, with most of the fleet today, about 650,000 vessels, operated by small-scale and traditional fishers.

Indonesia to cut tuna harvest in bid for more sustainable fishery
- Indonesia will reduce its overall tuna catch by 10% over the course of three years, citing unsustainable current levels of fishing.
- The government is also pushing for more tuna fisheries in Indonesia to obtain sustainable certification and eco-labeling, as part of wider efforts to show that it can manage the species within its waters.
- Fisheries experts have welcomed the move to protect the world’s tuna populations, but say other countries in the region should also be encouraged to reduce their catch to make it effective.
- Indonesia catches more tuna than any other country, accounting for about 16% of the world’s total tuna supply.

Indonesia looks into tuna farming to boost aquaculture, reduce overfishing
- Indonesia is developing tuna farming in the country’s bays in an effort to boost its aquaculture sector and ease the pressure on its world-leading marine tuna fishery.
- The fisheries ministry said it was consulting with international fisheries experts about implementing tuna farming.
- Indonesia’s archipelagic waters are key fishing grounds for several many tuna species, as well as spawning grounds for the fish.
- Indonesia’s tuna fisheries is an important source of livelihood for coastal communities and a key source of food for consumers around the world.

Europe’s top science panel supports call for moratorium on deep-sea mining
- The European Academies’ Science Advisory Council has announced its support for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.
- In a new report, the council conveys its skepticism that deep-sea mining is necessary to meet the needs of critical minerals for renewable technologies.
- It also points out that deep-sea mining would cause irreparable harm to marine ecosystems, and that the mining regulator lacks a scientific definition of what qualifies as serious harm.
- Many European nations and companies currently possess licenses to explore the international seabed for resources, although exploitation has yet to begin.

A Southeast Asian marine biodiversity hotspot is also a wildlife trafficking hotbed
- A recent report documents the seizure of 25,000 live animals and more than 120,000 metric tons of wildlife, parts and plants from the Sulu and Celebes seas between 2003 and 2021.
- The animals trafficked include rays, sharks and turtles, mostly between Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, for which the region forms a maritime border zone.
- The people of the Sulu and Celebes seas region have strong transboundary cultural and trade links, prompting experts to call for enhanced international cooperation in enforcement efforts.

As one Indian Ocean tuna stock faces collapse, nations scramble to save others
- Indian Ocean Tuna Commission members failed to make progress on key measures to protect declining yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), like reducing annual catches and limiting the use of harmful fish aggregating devices (FADs), during their annual meeting.
- Although the commission declared yellowfin tuna overfished in 2015, to date, the intergovernmental regional management body has failed to curb overfishing, bringing the stock closer to collapse.
- Objections from the European Union helped nullify an ambitious plan adopted by the IOTC in February to limit the use of drifting FADs: Objecting parties don’t have to implement the measure, and the EU tuna fleet, which has historically pulled in the largest yellowfin tuna catches in the Indian Ocean, is the biggest deployer of DFADs in the region.
- The commission declared the Indian Ocean bigeye tuna (T. obesus) stock overfished in 2022, and at its meeting in May parties agreed to a 15% reduction from 2021 levels in the permitted annual catch; they also adopted protective measures for seabirds and marine mammals at the meeting, but not for sharks.

Illegal trawling ravages Tunisian seagrass meadows crucial for fish
- The largest remaining seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean are in Tunisia’s Gulf of Gabès, a hotspot for biodiversity and fishing.
- But illegal bottom trawling and industrial pollution are destroying this unique habitat, a natural nursery to numerous species of fish and other marine fauna.
- Hundreds of trawlers ply their trade overtly with little consequence, and most of the catch makes its way to Europe, skirting laws designed to prevent the entry of illegally caught seafood.

Study: Indonesia’s extensive network of marine reserves are poorly managed
- Indonesia has put nearly a tenth of its waters under some form of protection, and intends to expand this to nearly a third by 2045.
- However, a study has found that none of Indonesia’s existing marine protected areas demonstrates effective and sustainable management, and that the government is off-pace to reach its 30% target by 2045.
- Key challenges in the effective management shortcomings, the study says, are lack of funding and poor financial planning for the MPAs.
- Indonesia is home to some of the most diverse marine life on the planet, which plays an important role in the domestic and global supply of seafood.

A Philippine town and its leaders show how mangrove restoration can succeed
- In the early 1990s, the coastal town of Prieto Diaz, in the Philippines’ Bicol region, was selected as a pilot area for a community-based resource management program created by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
- Today, an award-winning community organization helps maintain a mangrove ecosystem that has grown to be the region’s largest and supports the livelihoods of both its members and the broader community.
- Residents credit the restored mangrove ecosystem with protecting the village from storm surges, and point to committed local leaders as vital to the ongoing success of mangrove restoration and protection.

Saving forests to protect coastal ecosystems: Japan sets historic example
- For hundreds of years, the island nation of Japan has seen various examples of efforts to conserve its coastal ecosystems, vital to its fisheries.
- An 1897 law created protection forests to conserve a variety of ecosystem services. “Fish forests,” one type of protection forest, conserve watershed woodlands and offer benefits to coastal fisheries, including shade, soil erosion reduction, and the provision of nutrients.
- Beginning in the late 1980s, fishers across Japan started planting trees in coastal watersheds that feed into their fishing grounds, helping launch the nation’s environmental movement. Although the fishers felt from experience that healthy forests contribute to healthy seas, science for many years offered little evidence.
- New research using environmental DNA metabarcoding analysis confirms that greater forest cover in Japan’s watersheds contributes to a greater number of vulnerable coastal fish species. Lessons learned via Japan’s protection and fish forests could benefit nations the world over as the environmental crisis deepens.

Kelp forests contribute $500 billion to global economy, study shows
- New research suggests that kelp forests generate up to $562 billion each year by boosting fisheries productivity, removing harmful nutrients from seawater, and sequestering carbon dioxide.
- The findings suggest that kelp forests are about three times more valuable than previously believed, contributing the equivalent of Sweden’s entire GDP to the global economy.
- However, experts say that kelp forests are generally overlooked and undervalued, and that many of these ecosystems are under threat worldwide.

Bringing the ocean’s vast ‘awesomeness’ to light: Q&A with Farah Obaidullah
- “The Ocean and Us,” edited by ocean advocate Farah Obaidullah, provides information from more than 35 female experts on various topics related to the ocean.
- These cover, among others, climate change, overfishing, pollution, ocean management schemes, the human relationship with the ocean, and inclusion and diversity in the ocean space.
- The book helps fulfill the aims of “ocean literacy,” a concept identified by the United Nations as a key driver for achieving the U.N. Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development outcomes.
- “The Ocean and Us” was published by Springer Nature in February 2023.

‘Manta grid’ provides a ray of hope against industrial bycatch threat
- Most species of manta and devil rays (genus Mobula) are endangered, yet industrial purse seine fishing vessels unintentionally catch about 13,000 each year while hunting tuna, according to one scientific estimate.
- New regulations, handling techniques and equipment aim to reduce this number.
- Fishers are working with scientists to return the rays, which are slippery and can weigh as much as a small car, back into the sea when they are brought on deck in fishing nets.
- At the same time, experts warn that far more mobulids die in gillnets set by small-scale and semi-industrial local fishers in countries throughout the tropics.

As oceans warm, temperate reef species edge closer to extinction, study shows
- New research found that most Australian shallow reef species, including fish, corals, seaweeds and invertebrates, experienced population declines over a decade, mainly in response to warming events driven by human-induced climate change.
- While scientists recorded species decline across Australian waters, some of the most pronounced changes occurred on the temperate reefs of southern Australia, a region that has received less conservation attention than tropical reefs.
- The authors say temperate reefs could be in greater danger of extinction than tropical species, leading to calls for increased conservation efforts for these threatened ecosystems.

Can we control marine invaders by eating them?
- The Mediterranean Sea is home to more than 750 exotic species. Some have adverse ecological effects, like lionfish and blue crabs, but are also edible and even tasty.
- Observers often argue that eating invasive marine species is the best way to deal with them, but some scientists warn that this doesn’t always offer a straightforward solution.
- Setting up targeted fisheries to control marine invaders involves balancing many considerations: fishers’ interests, markets, government policy and conservation.
- Even so, harvesting and serving marine invasive species has immense power to raise awareness about them.

When a red snapper is more than just a fish: Q&A fisheries scientist Elle Wibisono
- Fisheries scientist and artist Elle Wibisono recently published a children’s book, “A Snapper Tale,” that features red-colored snappers native to Indonesia’s waters.
- Equipped with her extensive knowledge and experience in marine conservation and sustainable fisheries, Wibisono uses her book to highlight the importance of fish identification, a key component of sustainable fisheries.
- Indonesia is home to one of the world’s richest marine ecosystems, with its fisheries sector supplying seafood demand from home and around the world.
- Mongabay’s Basten Gokkon spoke with Elle Wibisono recently about her book and the highlighted fisheries issues, and her hopes for the impacts it will have on readers young and old and on Indonesia’s marine conservation policies.

Fishy business of squid vessels needs stronger regulation, study says
- Experts are drawing attention to the unregulated nature of squid fishing, which they say could lead to the overexploitation of species, allow illegal fishing activity to flourish, and contribute to inequity.
- New research suggests that squid fishing increased by 68% across the global oceans between 2017 and 2020, and that 86% took place in unregulated parts of the ocean.
- China’s distant-water fishing fleet accounts for 92% of this tracked squid fishing activity.
- Experts say that unregulated squid fishing needs to be addressed with better management, monitoring and transparency.

As U.N. members clinch historic high seas biodiversity treaty, what’s in it?
- On March 4, U.N. member states reached a landmark agreement on a legally binding treaty aimed at protecting the international waters of Earth’s oceans.
- The deal, more than 15 years in the making, was finalized after talks overran their two-week schedule into a final, grueling 36-hour negotiation marathon.
- Delegates reached consensus on multiple thorny matters, including a framework for establishing and maintaining a network of marine protected areas on the high seas and mechanisms to share benefits from high seas resources fairly among nations.
- For the new high seas treaty to be implemented, delegates must officially adopt the treaty text at an unscheduled next meeting, and then a minimum of 60 states must ratify it, a process that could take months or years.

Will new bottom trawling rules do enough to protect South Pacific seamounts?
- The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) is an intergovernmental body that regulates fishing across the vast international waters of the South Pacific Ocean.
- At a meeting in Manta, Ecuador, in February, the SPRFMO changed its rules around bottom trawling, a controversial fishing practice that involves dragging fishing gear along the seabed, running roughshod over any organisms or structures in its path.
- The new rules mandate the protection of at least 70% of species that indicate the presence of so-called vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as sponge fields and cold-water coral communities.
- However, conservationists have decried the new rules, calling them less protective than the current policy, let alone the ban on trawling seamounts they’ve been asking for.

Experts pushing for high-seas fishing ban win ‘Nobel Prize for environment’
- Fisheries experts Daniel Pauly and Rashid Sumaila have won the 2023 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, an award administered by the University of Southern California.
- The prize has been referred to as the “Nobel Prize for the environment” and comes with a $250,000 award to be shared between the two laureates.
- Both Pauly and Sumaila have said they would like to use the prize opportunity to spread the message that it’s necessary to ban all fishing on the high seas, those parts of the ocean that don’t fall under any national jurisdiction.

U.S. grocery chains flunk sustainability, human rights tests for tuna sourcing
- Greenpeace has scored the 16 largest U.S. grocery retailers on human rights and environmental sustainability in their tuna sourcing, giving just one, ALDI, a “passing” overall grade.
- The report gave just two of the retailers, ALDI and Whole Foods Market, passing grades for addressing sustainability issues.
- None of the retailers received a passing grade for efforts to rid their supply chains of forced labor and other human rights abuses.
- The U.S. is the world’s second-largest tuna importer and its retailers wield significant clout within the tuna sector, according to the report.

End of the tuna FAD? Indonesia hopes so, but EU isn’t giving up just yet
- Indonesia has welcomed measures to cut back on the use of fish-aggregating devices, which critics blame for Indian Ocean tuna being caught at unsustainable rates.
- A senior Indonesian fisheries official says all countries on the Indian Ocean coast have a shared interest in tackling the overuse of FADs and in improving the conservation and management of the region’s tuna populations.
- In 2022, the Indian Ocean’s bigeye tuna population was declared overfished, while repeated violation of catch limits for skipjack tuna was reported.
- The European Union, whose fleet accounts for a third of the Indian Ocean tuna catch, has reportedly said it will object to the new resolution; in that event, its vessels will simply continue deploying FADs as usual, since the new measure isn’t enforceable.

On Lombok, rising sea levels force fishers into different jobs
- Residents of the Indonesian island of Lombok say sea levels are rising at alarming levels, swallowing seaside towns.
- People are abandoning their family trade of fishing to instead grow seaweed or leave the island for stable employment.
- The provincial government created a climate adaptation task force to address the compounding problems of climate change, as families send their children to school and hope they choose a life different from fishing.

Study: Paying fishers to ease off sharks and rays is cost-effective conservation
- Paying fishers in Indonesia to not catch sharks and rays could be a cost-effective way of conserving these species, a new study suggests.
- Interviews with fishers at two sites shows that payments of $71,408-$235,927 per year could protect up to 18,500 hammerheads and 2,140 wedgefish at those sites.
- Researchers say this money could come from dive tourism levies, and they are already carrying out a pilot project that has seen fishers release more than 150 hammerheads and wedgefish in eight months.
- An independent expert cautions that there need to be safeguards to prevent a perverse incentive where fishers are deliberately catching these species just so they can release them and claim payment.

Good fisheries management, if enforced, can help sharks and rays recover
- Effective fisheries management, strong regulations, enforcement, and monitoring can help conserve sharks and rays, according to new research.
- Researchers found that some shark populations in the northwest Atlantic recovered after the U.S. implemented a management plan in 1993, despite ongoing fishing, while populations in areas without sufficient management declined.
- A previous study found that overfishing threatens one-third of sharks, rays and chimeras with extinction, making them the second-most endangered vertebrate group, after amphibians.

Mongabay Explains: What’s the difference between artisanal and industrial fishing?
- A new episode of “Mongabay Explains” examines the difference between artisanal and industrial fishing.
- Broadly speaking, artisanal fishing is a form of traditional fishing that uses relatively small, low-powered boats to make short trips close to shore and catch relatively small quantities of fish, whereas industrial fishing uses large vessels that make longer trips farther out to sea and catch larger volumes of fish.
- There are plenty of other differences between the two fishing sectors, too, including their relative impact on the marine environment.
- In this video, Mongabay explores the differences between the two forms of fishing, including some ways people are trying to make each sector more sustainable.

Indonesia opens its ‘ocean account’ for sustainable marine management
- The Indonesian government is designing a new scheme to measure over time the benefits provided by the country’s marine and coastal ecosystems for sustainable ocean management.
- The ocean accounting system will become the standard indicator for the government in policymaking and zoning when it comes to the country’s fisheries, conservation areas, and marine essential ecosystems such as seagrass meadows, mangrove forests and coral reefs.
- Indonesia’s ocean account initiative is also part of an international collaboration under the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP), which aims to “develop globally recognized and standardized methods for ocean accounting by 2023.”
- Indonesia has partnered with another GOAP member, Norway, on long-term technical cooperation on ocean accounting.

Indigenous Kawésqar take on salmon farms in Chile’s southernmost fjords
- Sixty-seven salmon farms exist within Kawésqar National Reserve in southern Chile, an area that formed part of the Kawésqar Indigenous people’s ancestral lands, and another 66 concessions are under consideration there.
- The salmon industry claims the farms only occupy 0.06% of the reserve, which covers a marine area of 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres), and have a legitimate presence in the area.
- But Kawésqar communities accuse the farms of taking up the fjords where their sacred areas and fishing grounds are, of violating their rights on their own territory, and of compromising the ecosystem of the entire reserve through severe pollution.
- Kawésqar communities, with the support of various NGOs, are pursuing numerous legal avenues aimed at excluding salmon farms from the reserve.

As sea lice feast away on dwindling salmon, First Nations decide the fate of salmon farms
- Increased sea lice infestations, scientists say are caused by salmon farms, threaten the already-vulnerable wild Pacific salmon populations in western Canada, worrying conservationists and First Nations.
- Three First Nations in the region are now deciding on the future of open net pen Atlantic salmon farms dotting the channels and waterways in and around their territories. They hope their decisions will pave the way to protect wild salmon, a culturally important species.
- So far, ten farms have been closed and the future of seven farms are to be decided this year, in 2023.
- The impact of the closure of the farms on local sea lice and wild salmon populations is still unclear, say scientists, and more time to monitor the data is needed.

More marine protected areas planned for Indonesia’s Maluku after 2022 spree
- The Maluku Islands in Indonesia will protect more swaths of their seas this year, following from the designation of five marine protected areas in 2022 alone.
- The new protected areas will cover the waters around the western island of Buru, where fishing activity will be limited to traditional fishers using sustainable gear.
- Indonesia currently has 284,000 square kilometers (110,000 square miles) of marine area under protection, roughly two-thirds of its target of protecting 10% of its waters.
- The Maluku Islands sit within the Pacific Coral Triangle, an area renowned for its richness of corals and reef fish.

Fishers on Indonesia’s Batam Island suffer as mangrove cover declines
- Fishing is becoming a meager profession in Indonesia’s industrial and resort hub of Batam.
- Satellite imagery shows that only 1.5% of the island’s landmass still retains mangrove habitat.
- Construction of dams, industrial estates and reservoirs are the primary causes of mangrove destruction, according to researchers and local environmental nonprofit Akar Bhumi.

Sharks received landmark protection to combat fin trade, but the culling must stop (commentary)
- CITES CoP19 marked a historic win for shark conservation and the fight against the global trade in shark fins and meat, but an equally critical issue that must be tackled is shark culling.
- For many decades, popular culture and media, through the choice of words and visual depictions, have portrayed sharks as a threat to humans. Several countries actively kill sharks in mass numbers to control their presence near beaches.
- While shark nets and drumlines can separate the sharks from the humans at beaches, they aren’t fully effective. There are new methods that use technology, like electric shark repellents and magnetic and visual stimuli, work better to prevent human-shark encounters.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

2022’s top ocean news stories (commentary)
- Marine scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara, share their list of the top 10 ocean news stories from 2022.
- Hopeful developments this past year include the launch of negotiations on the world’s first legally binding international treaty to curb plastic pollution, a multilateral agreement to ban harmful fisheries subsidies and a massive expansion of global shark protections.
- At the same time, the climate crises in the ocean continued to worsen, with a number of record-breaking marine heat waves and an accelerated thinning of ice sheets that could severely exacerbate sea level rise, underscoring the need for urgent ocean-climate actions.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Mongabay Explains: What’s all the brouhaha over bottom trawling?
- A new episode of “Mongabay Explains” examines the controversial fishing method known as bottom trawling, in which vessels drag a net across the seafloor to scoop up bottom-dwelling marine life.
- Ever since the 14th century, fishers who use other gear types — later joined by conservationists and scientists — have objected to bottom trawling, saying the gear takes too many fish and destroys seafloor habitat that’s essential to the functioning of marine ecosystems.
- Proponents of bottom trawling, however, argue that the practice provides an important share of our seafood as well as numerous jobs, and cannot be abandoned.
- In this video, Mongabay takes a look at bottom trawling and the reasons it’s so controversial.

Strong marine protected areas credited with manta ray surge in Indonesia
- Manta ray populations are thriving in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, a new population assessment shows, highlighting the importance of marine protected areas to the species’ conservation.
- The study showed that reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) populations saw up to 10.7% compound annual increase from 2009-2019 in the region, even as global ray and shark populations undergo a sweeping decline.
- The study authors attribute this to well-planned and -implemented conservation measures by Indonesian authorities, conservation groups and local communities.
- The finding chimes with the discovery earlier this year that manta ray populations are also flourishing in Komodo National Park, another tightly regulated protected area in Indonesia.

From bombs to seasonal closure, Indonesian fishers move toward sustainability
- Kahu-Kahu village on Sulawesi’s Selayar Island is implementing its first season- and location-based fishery closure.
- The three-month closure of a 6-hectare (15-acre) stretch of coastal water is intended to replenish local octopus populations by reducing fishing pressure.
- Local fishers will install and plant artificial reefs in the area during the closure.

Dalian Ocean Fishing, subject of Mongabay probe, now sanctioned by U.S.
- The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control recently announced sanctions on Chinese individuals and companies allegedly involved in human rights abuses and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing while operating in distant waters.
- One sanctioned company, Dalian Ocean Fishing Co., Ltd. (DOF), was the subject of two Mongabay investigations: one uncovered widespread human rights abuses, and the other exposed extensive illegal shark-finning operations within the DOF fleet of longline fishing vessels.
- China, which operates the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet and has a long history of fisheries offenses, denounced the sanctions, saying that it is a “responsible fishing country.”

Shark-fishing gear banned across much of Pacific in conservation ‘win’
- The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has outlawed shark lines and wire leaders, both of which aid industrial-scale fishers in targeting sharks.
- Shark numbers in the open ocean have dropped by roughly 71% in the past 50 years.
- Proponents consider the measure a potentially precedent-setting move that could precede similar bans in other regions.

Fishers in Flores Sea opt to limit harvest of overexploited sea cucumbers
- Fishers on Indonesia’s Sapuka island have decided to regulate their sea cucumber harvests.
- Since the 1960s, sea cucumber has been an important commodity for the island, but heavy harvest pressure has pushed the fishery to overexploited status.
- Sea cucumbers play a crucial role in the marine ecosystem by providing food to other species and adding nutrients and pH balance in waters around coral reefs and other shallow-water ecosystems.

Illegal bottom trawling widespread inside Mediterranean marine protected areas
- A new “atlas” reveals widespread illegal bottom trawling inside Mediterranean marine protected areas.
- The atlas, an interactive online map, shows thousands of days of apparent bottom-trawling activity in areas where it is banned, in 2020 and 2021.
- Bottom trawlers can damage the seabed, destroy coral and sponge habitats, and catch unintended species at a high rate.
- The findings demonstrate “the lack of enforcement and transparency in the Med, which is the most overfished sea in the world,” an atlas coordinator told Mongabay.

No requiem for sharks just yet as nations push to protect species from trade
- Nations party to CITES, the global convention on the trade in endangered species, are supporting three proposals to list dozens of sharks and rays from three families onto Appendix II of the convention.
- While a CITES Appendix II listing would not prohibit trade outright, it would regulate it by requiring export permits, which would help mitigate overexploitation.
- A recent study found that more than a third of sharks, rays and chimeras are threatened with extinction, making them the second-most threatened vertebrate group, after amphibians.
- The proposals are up for discussion at CITES’s 19th Conference of the Parties, or CoP19, taking place from Nov. 14-25 in Panama.

Negotiations to conserve Antarctic Ocean end in stalemate on many issues
- The 41st annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the intergovernmental body charged with conserving marine life in the Southern Ocean and managing fisheries there, ended Nov. 4 with little progress made on several key issues.
- In 2009 CCAMLR committed to creating a network of marine protected areas to preserve Antarctic ecosystems. It established one that year and another in 2016, but since then China and Russia have repeatedly blocked the creation of additional protected areas, as well as other conservation-related measures.
- The commission also failed to reach the consensus required to enact new regulations for the krill and toothfish fisheries, or to protect a vast nesting area for icefish discovered earlier this year.
- CCAMLR members did agree to designate eight new vulnerable marine ecosystems, areas home to slow-growing organisms such as corals, sponges, brittle stars and feather stars that are now permanently protected from bottom fishing.

Did climate change really kill billions of snow crabs in Alaska?
- In October 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that the lucrative snow crab fishery in the Bering Sea would close for the first time, following a population decline of 80% between 2018 and 2022.
- While fisheries managers and biologists say climate change is to blame for the species’ retreat, some fishers and crab experts suggest that trawling bycatch and other fishing activity may have played a role in the snow crab’s decline.
- The fishery’s closure has amplified a chorus of concerns about Alaska’s trawling industry and the knowledge gaps around its potential impact on fisheries.

Small island, big ocean: Niue makes its entire EEZ a marine park
- In April, Niue, a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, designated its entire exclusive economic zone — an area about the size of Vietnam — as a multiple-use marine park called Niue Nukutuluea.
- Forty percent of the park is a no-take marine protected area; a smaller slice is managed by local villages. And about 56% of the park is a general-use zone where commercial fishing and other activities, including possibly deep-sea mining, could take place.
- The country has developed an unusual mechanism to fund the park, and is gathering support to confront the perennial challenge of monitoring and compliance in technologically advanced ways.

New Zealand convicts company of illegal trawling in high seas restricted area
- In late August, a court in Aotearoa New Zealand convicted a subsidiary of one of the country’s major seafood companies of illegal trawling in a closed area in the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia.
- The judge fined the company NZ$59,000 (about $33,000) and the skipper NZ$12,000 (about $7,000), and seized the vessel.
- It’s the fourth case in the past five years where courts convicted New Zealand-flagged vessels of illegal trawling.
- The recent conviction comes amid an ongoing debate about trawling in New Zealand, with campaigners calling for a ban on bottom trawling on submarine mountains, and the industry disputing their arguments and resisting aspects of the proposed change.

Deep dive uncovers previously unknown underwater ecosystem in Maldives
- Scientists recently identified a previously undiscovered marine ecosystem in the waters around the Maldives, known as the “trapping zone,” about 500 meters (about 1,600 feet) below the surface.
- The researchers say the trapping zone refers to a region of subsea vertical cliffs and shelving terraces that “trap” small, migrating mesopelagic organisms, which attract pelagic predators like sharks, tuna and large fish.
- Prior to this mission, very little was known about the Maldivian sea below 30 m (about 100 ft), despite the country’s total area consisting 99% of water.
- The researchers say trapping zones likely exist in the waters around other oceanic islands with similar topography, and that they’re already gathering evidence of such an ecosystem in the waters of the Chagos archipelago, south of the Maldives.

Why fish are disappearing from Amazonian waters
- From the coastline to freshwater streams, people living in Amazonia say industrial fishing, deforestation, hydroelectric dams and climate change have reduced fish populations.
- Industrial fishing is one of the main explanations for the low numbers. Fishermen report that large boats are trawling with nets up to 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) in length that do not allow fish to reach the shore.
- Other challenges local fishers are facing have to do with the effects of climate change on rivers and mangroves, including increased temperature and lower pH and oxygen levels in the water, which make it harder for species to survive.
- Hydroelectric dams are a threat to inland Amazonian fish species because they interrupt migratory flow, leading to genetically compromised populations; this phenomenon has been seen in the Xingu River, which, dammed by the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, is suffering from falling fish reproduction rates.

To boost fish catches, try banning fishing, new study shows
- A new study has found that the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawai‘i, the world’s largest contiguous marine protected area, increased the catch rates of yellowfin and bigeye tunas in nearby fisheries due to a “spillover effect.”
- Between 2016 and 2019, catches of yellowfin tuna increased 54% in waters near the MPA, and catch rates for bigeye tuna rose by 12%.
- Another study found that MPAs not only increase the catches for fisheries, but also yield other benefits, like the enhancement of carbon sequestration and biodiversity.
- However, both studies suggest that the best results come from fully protected MPAs that don’t allow fishing, and that underprotected MPAs yield “little to no social or ecological benefits.”

Fish-feed industry turns to krill, with unknown effects on the Antarctic ecosystem
- The Antarctic krill fishing industry has been growing in the past two decades.
- The global growth of fish farming is driving the demand for Antarctic krill as an alternative to wild fish in fish feeds, amid the depletion of many wild fish stocks.
- Independent scientists say the krill fishery could have a detrimental effect on Antarctica’s predator populations, which are also suffering from the impacts of global warming.
- The krill industry is expanding its fleet and planning to significantly increase catches in the next few years.

Panama restricts information on sanctioned boats, evading transparency
- Over the course of three months earlier this year, Mongabay and Bloomberg Línea requested information from the Panamanian authorities concerning inspections carried out on Panama-registered boats and the resulting sanctions that were imposed.
- Panamanian authorities denied much of the request, claiming it concerns information of a restricted nature.
- The authorities did grant a request to review vessel records at the location where they are held, but prohibited the reporting team from taking photographs or making photocopies. The team found paper records arranged in thick folders with pages in neither ascending nor descending order, which made the search a complex task.
- Lawyers who specialize in fishing and environmental issues say the authorities should release the information, and that the difficulty accessing it hinders efforts to uncover illicit activities.

As Indonesia protects more marine areas, top priority is management: experts
- As Indonesia aims to protect more of its seas, scientists say in a new paper that effective management of these marine areas must be the government’s top priority in a world faced with global climate change and biodiversity crises.
- The researchers say that marine protected areas must protect the natural resources, provide long-term benefit to local people, and be equipped with a zoning system, monitoring, surveillance, adequate staff capacity, facilities, and self-financing.
- The Indonesian government has pledged to secure 10% of the country’s territorial waters towards biodiversity protection and sustainable use by the end of this decade, and triple the size by 2045.
- The move is part of the country’s contribution to the global “30 by 30” conservation goal, which aims to protect 30% of the world’s seas and lands by 2030.

Panama: A ‘flag of convenience’ for illegal fishing and lack of control at sea
- Why would a Chinese ship want to fly the Panamanian flag? This practice is known as flying a “flag of convenience” and although it’s legal, experts say it often lets shipowners benefit from lax auditing and is closely associated with illegal fishing because it can hide the identity of a vessel’s true owners.
- Mongabay Latam and Bloomberg Línea investigated violations and alleged crimes committed by the fleet of ships flying the flag of Panama, the country whose flag is most commonly used.
- Our analysis of an official database shows that some of the vessels operating under the Panamanian flag do business with a Chinese company that has one of the global fishing industry’s longest criminal records.

A ‘super reef’ recovery raises hopes — but also questions about its resilience
- Experts documented the substantial recovery of coral reefs around the southern Line Islands in the central Pacific after the area was hit by a large-scale coral bleaching event in 2015 and 2016.
- Many factors may have contributed to the reef’s recovery, including the fact that the reef is seemingly untouched by human activity, which helped maintain a healthy and resilient ecosystem.
- But other experts question whether this reef would be able to recover after more frequent bleaching events, which are predicted to increase as global temperatures continue to rise.

‘Destructive & flawed’: Claire Nouvian on bottom trawling’s many impacts
- Goldman Environmental Prize winner Claire Nouvian joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the many impacts of bottom trawling and a historic policy shift by the European Commission to rein in the practice.
- This kind of fishing is known for damaging deep-water coral reef ecosystems and marine biodiversity, and for having a heavy carbon footprint.
- Nouvian discusses the successful activism of her organization that won an EU-wide ban on bottom trawling below 800 meters (875 yards) after seven years of grassroots organizing. She also discusses what individuals can do if they want to support more sustainable fishing practices.

Indonesia’s sustainable fisheries push sails into storm in Java Sea
- Civil society activists have questioned whether a sanctioned alternative to the seine net will help fish stocks recover in Indonesia’s fishing zones.
- Fishers on Java’s northern coast are struggling to adapt to sustainability changes announced by Indonesia’s fisheries ministry.
- Cases of conflict between seine net fishers and smaller local fishing boats continue to be reported.

Java fishers struggle with seine net ban amid rising costs, falling profits
- Fishers on the north coast of Java are struggling to adapt to a ban on the seine net, with many boats confined to port after the government ceased issuing new permits to seine net fishers.
- Java fishers report declining catch volumes from the alternative net.
- Some boat captains fear bankruptcy as cash flow pressures mount.

Indonesia to update conservation efforts for aquarium favorite cardinalfish
- Indonesia’s fisheries ministry says it is working on a new conservation road map for Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni), a popular species in the aquarium trade globally that is found only in the waters around the country’s Banggai Archipelago.
- The fish is caught in large numbers — an estimated 500,000 to 900,000 individuals annually — and is exported mainly to the United States and Europe.
- The updated conservation plan will evaluate the previous five-year plan for the cardinalfish, and use this to inform the national strategy for the next five years, the ministry said.
- The cardinalfish’s habitat, the Banggai Archipelago, is considered to be in the heart of the Pacific Coral Triangle, which is home to the highest diversity of corals and reef fishes anywhere on the planet.

U.S. charts course for adopting ropeless fishing to reduce whale deaths
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has published a report laying out a strategy to allow the use of “ropeless” or “on-demand” fishing gear off the U.S. East Coast with the goal of reducing entanglements of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
- The gear uses acoustic signals to locate and retrieve gear, reducing the amount of time that vertical lines are present in the water column, where they can ensnare right whales and other types of marine life.
- Right whale numbers in the North Atlantic have declined precipitously in the past decade, as collisions with ships and entanglements have killed individuals and hampered the species’ ability to reproduce.
- NOAA’s Ropeless Roadmap estimates that on-demand fishing gear can substantially diminish the risk to right whales, while allowing economically and culturally important fisheries of the northeastern U.S. to continue.

Europe moves to protect deep-sea sites in Atlantic from bottom fishing
- The European Commission recently announced that it will protect 16,000 square kilometers (6,200 square miles) of the deep sea — known as “vulnerable marine ecosystems” — in EU waters in the northeast Atlantic Ocean by prohibiting bottom fishing in these areas.
- This move is a key component to the Deep-Sea Access Regulation, a plan adopted by the EC in 2016 to protect deep-sea environments in EU waters. However, the regulation stipulated that vulnerable marine ecosystems should be protected by 2018, so its implementation comes four years late.
- The fishing sector has warned that this move will threaten the future of bottom fishing and impact more than 10,000 fishers.
- Conservation experts have welcomed this announcement, despite its lateness, saying that such a move is essential in protecting fragile and ecologically important deep-sea environments.

Thailand’s contentious plan to curtail bottom trawling unfolds in slow motion
- To rebuild its dwindling fish stocks, Thailand has implemented a series of reforms to its fishing sector since 2015, reining in illegal fishing while curtailing catches and the size of its commercial fishing fleet.
- In July, the Thai government announced a ban on new registrations for bottom trawlers, a particularly destructive and indiscriminate kind of fishing vessel, coupled with a $30 million buyout program for them and other gear types.
- Small-scale fishers say the reforms don’t go far enough to protect fish stocks, while commercial fishers say the new rules are hobbling their industry and should be scrapped.

Greenland’s sustainable halibut fishery may threaten newfound corals, sponges
- Industrial trawling for halibut in the Davis Strait off western Greenland is currently done in a certified sustainable manner, but new studies suggest it may be doing long-term harm.
- The studies describe assemblages of unique marine life on the seafloor both inside and near the halibut fishing zones that could potentially be considered “vulnerable marine ecosystems.”
- Scientists have called for protection of these potential VMEs, but acknowledge that ending bottom trawling altogether isn’t a viable option when fishing accounts for 93% of Greenland’s exports.
- Fishing industry stakeholders say they’re confident that existing rules designed to help the halibut fishery meet sustainability requirements will be sufficient to spare these potential VMEs, and point to a new management plan for the entire Greenlandic seabed that is in development as a way to strengthen protections.

Illegal fishing, worker abuse claims leave a bad taste for Bumble Bee Seafood
- A new report published by Greenpeace East Asia has found that Bumble Bee Seafoods and its parent company, Fong Chun Formosa Fishery Company (FCF) of Taiwan, are sourcing seafood from vessels involved in human rights abuses as well as illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices.
- It found that 13 vessels supplying seafood to Bumble Bee violated Taiwanese fishery regulations, and were even on the Taiwan Fisheries Agency’s (TFA) list of vessels involved in IUU fishing, and that many supply vessels were involved in issues of forced labor and human trafficking.
- Both Bumble Bee and FCF have sustainability and corporate social responsibility policies in place.

Maldives shark-fishing ban tested by ebbing support from small-scale fishers
- A 2010 blanket ban on shark fishing in the Maldives doesn’t enjoy support from artisanal reef fishers, a new study suggests.
- Many fishers blamed sharks for stealing their catches, eating into their earnings, and damaging their fishing equipment — problems they perceive have worsened since the creation of a shark sanctuary.
- These negative perceptions could result in lower compliance with fishing restrictions and undermine efforts to revive shark populations in Maldivian waters.
- Pole-and-line skipjack tuna fishers reported the greatest support for the shark fishing ban because sharks corral tuna to the ocean surface, making them easier to catch.

Healthy mangroves build a resilient community in the Philippines’ Palawan
- According to historical accounts, the fisheries of Malampaya Sound in the Philippines’ Palawan province were once so rich it was difficult to wade to shore without stepping on crabs.
- This bounty fueled migration to the area from across the Philippines, and by the turn of the 20th century, much of the areas’ mangroves had been cleared or degraded, leading to a decline in fish catches.
- From 2011-2013, mangrove restoration efforts were initiated as part of the Philippines’ National Greening Program, but, as elsewhere in the country, the initiative performed far below target.
- Today, however, thanks to ongoing outreach initiatives, community partnerships and Indigenous belief systems, the importance of preserving mangroves is widely recognized and the area’s coastal forests and fisheries are seeing a recovery.

Indonesia announces plan to protect 10% of its seas by 2030, and 30% by 2045
- Indonesia will expand its marine protected area coverage to 325,000 square kilometers (125,000 square miles) by the end of this decade, or 10% of its total territorial waters, the fisheries ministry says.
- From 2030 to 2045, the government plans to triple that coverage to 975,000 km2 (376,000 mi2).
- An oceans conservation activist has welcomed the plan, but says the government needs to be able to square it with a recently announced fisheries management policy that critics say threatens the sustainability of fish stocks.
- The activist also emphasized the need to ensure the quality of the protection rather than the quantity.

In Sumatra, rising seas and sinking land spell hard times for fishers
- Fishers operating near the port of Belawan on the Indonesian island of Sumatra are reporting declining catches and a hit to their livelihoods from tidal flooding.
- The flooding has grown more frequent and severe, exacerbated by rising seas and the clearing of mangrove forests for oil palm plantations.
- Traders who buy local catches have also been affected by the flooding, which can cut off commercial transport routes.
- This region of northern Sumatra is one of the areas targeted by the Indonesian government for mangrove restoration, but until that yields results, the fishers say they’re essentially helpless.

Love ‘em and loathe ‘em: Mediterranean grapples with tasty, voracious invasive crabs
- Two invasive blue crab species have recently settled in the Mediterranean.
- Both species are voracious predators that disrupt bottom habitats, shred fishers’ nets and ruin their catches. They’re also edible.
- Mediterranean countries are considering whether to target the invasive crabs to control them, or embrace and even protect them as a new socioeconomic resource for the future.
- This story was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center.

‘Spiderwebs’ to the rescue for Indonesia’s coral reefs
- A small-scale project in Indonesia is seeing success in efforts to restore coral reefs damaged by blast fishing.
- Lightweight cast-iron rods form underwater “spiderwebs” that are placed onto existing reefs, with new coral grafted onto the structure.
- Proponents of the project say the benefits are already tangible, but add that to make them last, there needs to be an end to destructive fishing practices.

Amid rising pressure, Indonesia’s sea-based communities adapt to change
- A growing population, destruction of coral reefs, and the loss of traditional fishing methods all threaten the way of life of traditional communities in Indonesia whose livelihoods have for generations depended on the sea.
- Among them are the seafaring Bajo people, nomads of the waters between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, who say their resources “are declining day by day.”
- In the Sangihe Islands in the archipelago’s northeast, modern nets and outboard motors have replaced the bamboo gear and sampan boats used by local fishing communities.

Record-breaking seafood production must undergo a ‘blue transformation’: FAO
- The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization released its latest “State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture” (SOFIA) report in late June. The flagship report, released biennially since 1995, provides data, analysis and projections that inform decision-making internationally.
- Fisheries and aquaculture production rose around 3% since 2018, to an all-time high of 214 million metric tons in 2020, with a first-sale value of around $406 billion, the report found. Growth was driven by a 6% rise in aquaculture production, while wild fish capture dropped by almost 4.5%.
- The number of sustainably fished marine fish stocks continued a long-term decline; less than 65% of stocks are now being fished within biologically sustainable levels, down from 90% in the 1970s.
- The new report outlines a “blue transformation” that aims to make both the aquaculture and wild fisheries sectors more sustainable and productive so they can help feed a human population projected to reach 10.9 billion by the end of this century.

Fish-farming practices come under scrutiny amid surge in aquaculture
- A recent investigative report claims to reveal for the first time the poor conditions, including mistreatment of fish, in some Indonesian fish farms.
- While activists and industry figures are at odds over the magnitude of the problem, both agree that aquaculture throughout Asia needs to be better managed while supporting small-scale farmers to address the issue of fish welfare.
- Production of farmed fish grew by 527% worldwide from 1990-2018; production of wild-caught fish during the same period rose by just 14%.

WTO ban on ‘harmful’ subsidies won’t impact small-scale fishers, Indonesia says
- Indonesia will continue subsidizing its small-scale fishers in the wake of a recent deal struck by members of the World Trade Organization to end “harmful” subsidies.
- The legally binding agreement prohibits WTO member states from giving subsidies that support the fishing of already-overfished stocks and curbs those that contribute to illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing at sea.
- Indonesian subsidies to fishers — in the form of insurance, fishing gear and fuel subsidies, among others — amount to $92 per fisher annually, much less than in the U.S. ($4,956), Japan ($8,385) or Canada ($31,800).
- Indonesia is the second-biggest marine capture producer, after China, harvesting 84.4 million metric tons of seafood in 2018.

Experts fear end of vaquitas after green light for export of captive-bred totoaba fish
- After a 40-year prohibition, international wildlife trade regulator CITES has authorized the export of captive-bred totoaba fish from Mexico.
- Conservationists say they fear this decision will stimulate the illegal fishing of wild totoabas and that this will intensify the threats facing the critically endangered vaquita porpoise.
- Only around eight individual vaquitas remain alive; they regularly drown in nets set illegally for totoabas in the Upper Gulf of California, where the two species overlap.
- The swim bladders of totoabas are sold in Asian markets at exorbitant prices because of their value as status symbols and their supposed medicinal properties.

In Costa Rica, unlicensed fishers and regulators unite over a common enemy
- Artisanal fishers on Costa Rica’s southern Caribbean coast have been operating in a legal gray area since 2005, when the government ordered a freeze on fishing licenses pending a study on fishing sustainability.
- Now, however, they’ve come back into favor, thanks to their efforts to tackle the explosive growth of an invasive species: the red lionfish.
- The lionfish has no natural predators in these waters, and its proliferation threatens commercially important species such as snapper, lobster and shrimp.
- Today, fishers’ associations are working with regulators on joint efforts to fight back the lionfish tide and compile fisheries data, in exchange for licenses.

WTO finally nets deal curbing fisheries subsidies, but tables key bits for later
- Negotiators agreed on a deal to curb “harmful” government fisheries subsidies that are compromising fish populations and damaging the marine environment.
- The talks among the World Trade Organization’s 164 member states were scheduled for June 12–15, but overtime negotiations didn’t conclude until early June 17.
- The new agreement addresses certain harmful subsidies. But in the interest of reaching consensus, negotiators put off dealing with others where agreement proved elusive.
- Many observers are welcoming the agreement as “historic,” coming as it does two decades after talks began in 2001, even as others point out “major weakness.”

Sea restoration projects quilt a ‘mosaic of habitats’ with striking results
- The concept of restoring more than one type of marine habitat at a time — such as oyster reefs, seagrass meadows and salt marshes — is becoming increasingly popular as scientists and conservationists learn about the advantages of this approach.
- Many studies clearly show the mutual benefits that integrated habitats provide to each other, as well as the larger benefits offered to the ecosystem.
- Yet other studies show mixed results, drawing attention to the complex nature of this approach.
- Numerous seascape restoration projects are taking place around the world, including in the coastal bays of Virginia, U.S., the sea off the coast of South Australia, and the estuaries and lochs in the U.K.

Ray care center: Indonesia’s Raja Ampat a key nursery for young reef mantas
- Scientists have published new evidence confirming that Wayag Lagoon in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago is a globally rare nursery for juvenile reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi).
- Visual observations from 2013 to 2021 show that juvenile reef manta rays are repeatedly encountered in the small, shallow and sheltered lagoon, without the presence of adult individuals; the young rays spend months at a time inside the lagoon, never venturing out.
- The findings have prompted marine authorities in Indonesia to start revising the management of the lagoon to safeguard the manta nursery zone, with regulations being drawn up to limit disturbances to the young rays.
- Both oceanic and reef manta rays are protected species under Indonesian law, which prohibits their catch and the trade of any of their body parts.

‘Why sharks matter’: Q&A with author and shark biologist David Shiffman
- In a new book, conservation biologist David Shiffman explores the importance of sharks to the world’s marine ecosystems.
- An enthusiastic “deep dive” into the latest research, “Why Sharks Matter” also addresses the threats sharks face and what scientists, NGOs and the public can do to support shark conservation.
- Mongabay caught up with Shiffman just before the May 24 release of the book.

In Sierra Leone, local fishers and foreign trawlers battle for their catch
- At wharfs across the Freetown peninsula in Sierra Leone, local fishers say in recent years it’s become harder to get a good catch. They blame foreign trawlers for overexploiting the country’s fish stocks.
- Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources says it has systems meant to curb illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, but enforcement remains a challenge.
- In 2019, China signed a fisheries agreement with Sierra Leone that includes a promise to build a $55 million harbor, but some fishers say boats owned by its citizens are among the worst offenders.

For reef mantas, Indonesia’s Komodo National Park is a ray of hope
- A new study has found that Komodo National Park in Indonesia has an aggregation of 1,085 reef manta rays, currently classified as a vulnerable species.
- Experts say that locations such as Komodo will play an important role in safeguarding the species from extinction.
- Manta rays are under pressure from fishing activity, including targeted fishing and bycatch.
- However, experts say the species is also impacted by tourism and the changing dynamics of the ocean.

Wage-related abuses in fishing industry exacerbated by pandemic response
- The COVID-19 pandemic left migrant fishers in Asia, already a highly vulnerable section of the workforce, with less income and at higher risk of labor abuses, a new report says.
- The brief, commissioned by the International Labour Organization and authored by Cornell University researchers, looked at workers’ experiences in the fishing and seafood-processing industries of Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan from March 2020 to March 2021.
- Common issues they uncovered included employers paying wages below the legal minimum, making illegal wage deductions, deferring wage payments, and not paying wages upon termination of employment.
- Labor shortages caused by border closures due to the pandemic should have given workers more leverage in wage negotiations, but this wasn’t the case, the researchers found.

Indonesia cancels fisheries infrastructure projects in Maluku region amid lack of funds
- Indonesia doesn’t have the money to build the National Fish Bank or a new Ambon port, two infrastructure projects the national government had promised in the province of Maluku, a minister announced last month.
- The obstacle for the National Fish Bank project relates to its chosen location, near an underwater volcano and abandoned mines from World War Two.

Murky provenance of a Chinese fleet clouds Madagascar shrimp fishery
- Thirty-nine trawlers are licensed to catch up to 4,170 metric tons of shrimp in Madagascar’s waters during the 2022 campaign, which officially began on March 1.
- Chinese-owned company Mada Fishery, which holds eight exploration rights did not apply to catch shrimp this year, and its eight vessels are now sitting idle.
- Three of the vessels were previously engaged in fishing violations in the Gambia, and under Malagasy law should not be eligible to fish in Madagascar now — unless there’s been a change in their ownership.
- But a murky document trail and general lack of transparency into the vessels’ ownership makes it unclear whether that has happened; transparency advocates say the implementation of simple measures would have made a significant difference in the investigation of Mada Fishery.

Scaling Palauan tradition to regional fisheries: Q&A with Noah Idechong
- After training as a traditional hunter and fisherman in his village in Palau as a boy, Noah Idechong has since become a “bit of a legend” in Pacific marine conservation.
- He has been a government official, an activist, a politician, a legislator, and the founder of a domestic conservation NGO. Currently, he’s the executive director for Micronesia and Polynesia at the international conservation NGO The Nature Conservancy.
- In all of these roles, Idechong has focused on one main thing: championing the traditional systems the communities of Palau employ to protect and conserve the archipelago’s rich marine biodiversity and domestic fisheries.
- Today, he’s applying that ethos at a regional scale as he helps build more sustainable regional tuna fisheries that benefit the Pacific island nations in whose waters the tuna swim, rather than foreign fishing enterprises.

Boats behaving badly: New report analyzes China’s own fisheries data
- China’s distant-water fishing fleet, which operates on the high seas and in other countries’ waters, is far bigger and catches far more seafood than those of other nations.
- As a result, and also because of numerous high-profile cases of illegal behavior, the Chinese fleet receives intense scrutiny from international NGOs and the media.
- A new report, based mainly on data China released since enacting transparency measures in 2017 as well as a database of global fisheries violations and crew interviews, identified hundreds of fisheries offenses committed by the fleet between 2015 and 2019, and details a range of human rights abuses and environmentally destructive fishing practices.
- However, some experts say that although the Chinese fleet is by far the biggest, vessel for vessel its behavior isn’t all that different from other fleets, and that all share responsibility to reform.

Troubled waters: A massive salmon farm off the coast of Maine is stalled
- Norwegian-backed American Aquafarms was slated to build the largest salmon farm in North America along the coast of the U.S. state of Maine, using a closed-pen system said to minimize waste.
- But opponents say the closed-pen technology is untested at such a large scale, and warn that environmental impacts will devastate the pristine waters.
- The proposed salmon farm would have been right at the shorelines of Acadia National Park, threatening the region’s untarnished views and noise pollution.
- Currently, the project is indefinitely delayed as state officials terminated the lease application on April 19th. However, with Maine leasing the ocean for only $100 an acre ($250 a hectare) per year, opponents worry that future investors will see the coast as a lucrative target.

Pilot program tries to get U.S. aquariums to raise their own fish, not catch them
- A collaboration between the New England Aquarium in Massachusetts and Roger Williams University in Rhode Island has developed protocols for breeding marine aquarium fish, including five species never before raised in captivity.
- Though some fisheries for ornamental fish are responsibly managed and benefit local economies, harmful collection practices like cyanide fishing and overcollecting can harm ecosystems.
- Aquaculture of ornamental fish can improve fish welfare, reduce the spread of disease, take the guesswork out of fish sourcing, and reduce impacts on wild populations.

Stranded coal barge spills cargo, disrupts fishery in Indonesian waters
- An Indonesian coal barge that ran aground off East Java has reportedly spilled much of its cargo and disrupted the local fishery.
- Local fishers blame the spill for turning the water in the area dark and affecting their fishing activities.
- An environmental group has called for an investigation by fisheries and environmental agencies into the incident.
- Indonesia is one of the world’s biggest producers of coal, but has paid a heavy price for that standing, including the massive deforestation wrought to mine the fossil fuel, as well as the numerous environmental and safety incidents associated with transporting and burning it.

Oil spill contaminates wildlife, beaches and protected areas in Peru
- On Jan. 15, a refinery owned by Spanish oil company Repsol spilled nearly 12,000 barrels of oil into the sea off Lima, Peru, as it was pumping the oil from a tanker.
- Experts have questioned why the refinery of La Pampilla was operating that day, when there were unusually high waves caused by the Tonga volcano eruption and tsunami.
- Peru’s Environmental Evaluation and Enforcement Agency (OEFA) has fined Repsol for similar spills on at least three prior occasions, and this time the company could be hit with more than $37 million in fines.
- The spill has spread beyond the Lima coast and out toward islands that are part of a network of protected nature reserves, posing serious threats to marine life and to artisanal fishermen.

The Great Barrier Reef is bleaching — once again — and over a larger area
- The Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing its sixth mass bleaching event, and the fourth event of this kind to happen in the past six years.
- Based on aerial surveys that were concluded this week, bleaching has affected all parts of the Great Barrier Reef, with the most severe bleaching occurring between Cooktown, Queensland, and the Whitsunday Islands.
- Sea surface temperatures around the Great Barrier Reef have been higher than normal, despite the region going through a La Niña climate pattern, which usually brings cooler, stormier weather.
- Climate change remains the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef and other reefs around the world, experts say.

Study links many reported fisheries crimes to just a few repeat offenders
- A new study in the journal Science Advances analyzed roughly 8,000 fisheries offenses reported globally between 2000 and 2020, a database the authors call the “largest existing repository” of reported fisheries offenses.
- The study shows that a small number of companies may be responsible for a large chunk of international industrial fisheries crimes.
- It also shows that the vessels committing abuses, such as unauthorized fishing and human rights and labor violations, often engaged in more than one offense.
- Illegal fishing accounts for one fourth the value of all landed seafood products, roughly $30 billion globally. It contributes to the depletion of fish and other marine wildlife populations.

Fourth round of U.N. talks fail to finalize a treaty to manage the high seas
- U.N. member states met this month in New York to hash out a treaty governing the sustainable management of the high seas, resource-rich international waters that span about two-thirds of the ocean.
- Hopes were high that after 10 years of discussion and three previous negotiating sessions, delegates to the meeting would finalize a legally binding treaty.
- Talks ended March 18 with no deal, amid a failure to reach consensus on several key points, including how to establish marine protected areas on the high seas.
- A movement to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 depends on the swift completion of a high seas treaty, and observers say a deal remains within reach by the end of the year.

‘Small-scale fishers have a Ph.D. in the ocean’: Q&A with Vatosoa Rakotondrazafy
- Traditional fishers along Madagascar’s coastline are grappling with falling fish stocks, cyclones, and competition from industrial trawlers, mostly owned by foreigners.
- In an attempt to better manage the country’s marine wealth and secure local fishers’ rights, communities banded together to form Mihari, a network of locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) that leans heavily on traditional ocean knowledge.
- As Mihari’s national coordinator for six years Vatosoa Rakotondrazafy supported a campaign to reserve fishing areas for small scale fishers and helped create a space for women to fully participate in decision-making.
- She spoke with Mongabay recently about the challenges facing fishing communities, their depth of marine knowledge, and the prospects for securing their fishing rights.

Four new MPAs in Maluku boost Indonesia’s bid to protect its seas
- Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries designated four new marine protected areas in the country’s east in January.
- The new conservation areas are in the waters surrounding the islands of Tanimbar, Damer, Mdona Hiera, Lakor, Moa, Letti and the Romang in Maluku province.
- The newly designated MPAs are home to threatened and protected species, including the green turtle, the scalloped hammerhead shark, and an abundance of coral reefs and other marine ecosystems.
- The four new MPAs bring the Indonesian government two-thirds of the way toward its goal of ensuring “effective management” of 10% of national waters by 2030.

‘There’s hope’ for North Atlantic right whales: Q&A with filmmaker Nadine Pequeneza
- The documentary “Last of the Right Whales” seeks to bring the plight of these gentle giants to audiences that are largely unaware of how close to extinction the species is today.
- North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) were historically decimated by hunting, but the biggest threats to the species today are ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.
- There are an estimated 336 of the animals remaining, more than 80% of which have experienced entanglement in ropes tethered to fishing gear on the sea floor.
- Documentary director Nadine Pequeneza spoke with Mongabay about bringing these threats to public attention, the importance of engaging with and not vilifying fishers, and why she holds out hope for the whale’s future.

Indonesia to tighten regulation of tuna harvest in bid for sustainability
- Indonesia plans to develop a nationwide harvest strategy for its world-leading tropical tuna fishery.
- The fisheries ministry says having a set of rules in place under such a strategy will be crucial to protecting the country’s wild tuna stock.
- The move will also help the government’s ongoing push to achieve sustainability certification for its fisheries and subsequently open them up to the growing global demand for eco-labeled seafood.
- Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of tuna, but its fisheries have long been plagued by poaching and destructive fishing practices.

Seychelles embraces transparency in fisheries, but gaps in data and action remain
- Launched in 2015, an enterprise known as the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) is working to make fisheries more transparent and sustainable.
- The Seychelles joined FiTI in 2017 and recently released its second report to the initiative, which details its government’s efforts to increase public access to information about the management and direction of its fisheries.
- The information released in this report has substantially increased fisheries transparency in the Seychelles, and elucidated the national and foreign fishing interests that are straining local stocks, including yellowfin tuna.
- However, experts say there are still many information gaps and issues that need to be overcome in fisheries management in the Seychelles.

Bleached reefs still support nutritious fish, study finds
- A recent study published in the journal One Earth looked at the nutrients available in fisheries in Seychelles before and after bleaching killed around 90% of the island nation’s coral in 1998.
- Warming ocean temperatures have caused mass bleaching of corals across the tropics, sometimes causing the deaths of these reef-building animals, and the phenomenon is expected to continue as a result of climate change.
- The research found that bleached reefs continue to support fisheries that provide essential micronutrients to human communities.

In Indonesia’s Sulawesi, a community works to defuse blast-fishing crisis
- Decades of blast fishing have destroyed much of the coral reefs off Indonesia’s Lora village, reducing fish catches.
- Increased law enforcement and advocacy by NGOs has helped roll back these destructive practices, but other threats loom, including increasingly unpredictable weather and competition from large trawlers.
- A community organization is seeking to have the region zoned as a conservation area.

Changes to Madagascar’s trawling sector raise questions and hopes
- Madagascar’s auction for nearshore trawling rights has elicited concern from civil society members, who say it was not conducted transparently and opens the door for environmental mismanagement.
- Two Chinese-backed firms won nearly half of the fishing rights. One of them has brought in vessels that were caught fishing illegally in West Africa last year, and the other, which was already fishing in Madagascar, may have violated a national fishing regulation this year.
- But observers have also welcomed other aspects of Madagascar’s fisheries management overhaul this year.
- These include the creation of the Ministry of Fisheries and the Blue Economy, the appointment of scientist and civil society member as the new minister and the joining of FiTI, a global fisheries transparency initiative.

Madagascar’s small fishers cheer new trawl-free zone, but do trawlers obey it?
- Madagascar in July imposed a prohibition on industrial trawlers fishing in waters within 2 nautical miles (3.7 kilometers) of the country’s coast.
- Small-scale fishers, who for years have clashed with the industrial vessels, welcomed the new rule, but say the trawlers are largely ignoring it.
- Vessel-tracking data appear to corroborate their claims, with at least 14 trawlers apparently fishing in the prohibited zone along the west coast in recent months.
- An industry executive said that any incursions by his company were uncommon and accidental. Regulators say penalties will be imposed based on the severity of the violations.

Latest delay casts pall over WTO bid to end harmful fishing subsidies
- International negotiators were set to discuss ending government subsidies that lead to overfishing at the Twelfth WTO Ministerial Conference, scheduled to run Nov. 30 through Dec. 3 in Geneva, Switzerland.
- Days before it was due to start, however, organizers postponed the event indefinitely, due to concerns over the newly announced COVID-19 variant, Omicron.
- Negotiators have been struggling to close the remaining gaps in an agreement that has been 20 years in the works.
- Observers say the ongoing failure to reach agreement on fishing subsidies calls into question the WTO’s ability to adapt to a changing world and meet the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Overfishing threatens to wipe out bowmouth guitarfish in Indonesia, study says
- A study has found that uncontrolled fishing of wedgefish, a family of rays, in Indonesia threatens to push the bowmouth guitarfish to extinction.
- The bowmouth guitarfish and the white-spotted guitarfish are the most commonly caught wedgefish species in Indonesia, with their fins supplying the shark fin trade.
- Researchers have called on the government to impose full protection of juvenile wedgefish and a reduction in catches of bowmouth guitarfish specifically to ensure their survival.
- Both the bowmouth and white-spotted guitarfish are critically endangered species, but neither is included in Indonesia’s protected species list.

New research hopes to shine a light on wedgefish, the ‘pangolin of the ocean’
- Wedgefish, a type of ray, are some of the least-known and most endangered fish in the ocean.
- A new research project in Mozambique is employing two types of tags, acoustic and satellite, to better understand two of these critically endangered species.
- Researchers aim to uncover the species’ range and habitat requirements to preserve them from extinction.
- Wedgefish are heavily targeted by the shark-fin trade, and their populations have declined precipitously throughout much of their range.

Will ‘ropeless’ fishing gear be seaworthy in time to save endangered whales?
- Perhaps fewer than 360 North Atlantic right whales are alive today, according to researchers’ estimates.
- Scientists blame the declining population on the twin tolls exacted by ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.
- “Ropeless” fishing gear that minimizes the number of vertical lines in the water that ensnare right whales has emerged as a potential “home run” solution to the entanglement crisis.
- But fishers, industry groups and even ardent proponents of ropeless systems say that it’s not yet a viable replacement for traditional fishing gear in every situation.

Study shows how sustainable livelihood programs for Indonesian fishers can succeed
- Projects offering alternative livelihoods to fishers in Indonesia tend to succeed when they work closely with local NGOs and link participants to markets where they can sell what they produce.
- That’s the finding of a new study that looks at what makes successful sustainable livelihoods interventions tick, including partnership with local people to develop their skills and leverage traditional resource-management knowledge.
- Projects that failed tended not to understand the social context in which they were situated, including gender dynamics, resource and land-tenure systems, and the desires of local fishers.
- The study authors say the findings highlight best practices for alternative-livelihoods projects and are important given that communities with negative past experiences of such projects are less likely to engage with them again in the future.

Kenya port and ship-breaking projects threaten livelihoods and environment
- Plans to build an industrial fishing port and a ship-breaking yard along the Wasini Channel off Kenya’s coast threaten the livelihoods of local communities who depend on fishing, seaweed farming, and ecotourism, residents say.
- Underwater drilling carried out as part of surveys for the proposed port last November damaged coral reefs, while drilling for the ship-breaking yard destroyed seaweed crops.
- Community members say they fear even more devastating impacts once the projects, which also include a smelting plant, get underway in earnest.

Trawling bycatch increases risk of marine life extinction in Brazil
- Up to 50 kilos of fish caught in Brazil are thrown away for every kilo that arrives on land; more than 400,000 tons of marine life were discarded between 2000 and 2018 in just four states.
- Less than 10% of the 25,618 fishing boats registered by the Brazilian government are monitored by satellites, and the program that tracks fishing boats by these satellites is not publicly open and not integrated with worldwide monitoring initiatives.
- At the global level, 19 countries, regions and territories have prohibited trawling in their waters, including two in South America: Chile and Peru.

Brazil a wreck on trawling control
- The country’s lack of statistics and technical information made way for greater deregulation and private sector influence in Jair Bolsonaro’s extremist government
- The lack of control amplifies the impacts of trawling, a technique that uses fine-mesh nets to “scrape” the seabed, sweeping up everything in their path; species of low commercial value return to the waters, almost always dead.
- The sardine catch in Brazil has already fallen from 80,000 tons to about 15,000 tons annually, and stocks of mullet and other species are also shrinking; commercial species that could disappear from the map jumped from 17 to 64 (376%) between 2004 and 2014.

China joins the foreign fleets quietly exploiting Madagascar’s waters
- For decades, fleets of industrial vessels from several nations have fished in Madagascar’s waters.
- Now China appears to have joined the fishing spree, sending at least 14 industrial longliner fishing vessels in the last several years, new evidence shows.
- Clues from official documents indicate that Madagascar’s government may have authorized these vessels to fish, at least since 2019.
- If so, the authorization process was not public, raising renewed concerns about the lack of transparency in Madagascar’s offshore fishing sector.

Indonesia to send more tuna vessels out into international waters
- Indonesia is boosting its tuna-fishing fleet in the high seas, taking advantage of increased harvest quotas.
- The plan is part of a five-year sustainable tuna fisheries policy update to be issued by the Indonesian fisheries ministry by the end of August.
- In addition to the fleet expansion, the ministry also has plans to adopt a tuna-harvest strategy for the country’s waters; limit the number of operating fish aggregating devices; and reduce the carbon footprint of its vessels.
- Indonesia is the world’s top producer and exporter of tuna.

Building back Miami’s Biscayne Bay: Do natural solutions hold hope?
- A massive fish kill in August 2020 was a red flag that historically troubled Biscayne Bay in Miami had passed a biodiversity health tipping point.
- Years of scattered efforts and mixed results of various conservation actors working toward the bay’s recovery have begun to fade in favor of more collaborative, inclusive efforts.
- Scientists and citizens are now focusing their efforts on creative ways to restore biodiversity in Biscayne Bay.

Conservation solutions in paradise: Jamaica’s Oracabessa Bay Fishing Sanctuary
- A group of local fishermen and tourism industry stakeholders established a fishing sanctuary several years ago in Oracabessa Bay in response to a decline in vital Jamaican coastal life like coral and herbivorous fish.
- Surveys indicate an increase in reef health due to the efforts despite challenges, and the conservation model is set to be replicated at multiple other sites in Jamaica.

Indonesian researchers study how to help rays released as bycatch survive
- Researchers in Indonesia are studying the survival rate of manta rays and devil rays released after being caught unintentionally by fishers.
- The study, which has so far tagged five of the animals with satellite trackers, aims to come up with best practices to boost the survival of these threatened rays.
- Populations of mantas and devils rays, from the genus Mobula, have been hit by the global trade of their parts, particularly their gills, for traditional medicine and food.

Sharks on a knife’s edge as Maldives mulls lifting 10-year fishing ban
- Eleven years ago, the Maldives created a 90,000-square-kilometer (34,750-square-mile) sanctuary that banned shark fishing, but fisheries minister Zaha Waheed said recently that the government may be planning to lift the ban.
- Conservationists say reopening shark fisheries in the Maldives would have devastating effects on shark populations and adversely affect tourism, which brings millions of dollars into the country each year.
- There are unofficial reports the Maldivian government will not be lifting the shark fishing ban, possibly in response to the local and international outcry.
- But a local expert says there are still grounds for concern if long-line fisheries are allowed to operate in the shark sanctuary, or if a legislative loophole is introduced that would allow shark fishing to recommence in some capacity.

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