The Fisheye

Halfway through February, and 2019 is already full of oceans and fisheries developments. Whether its legislation in Chile to help combat illegal, unregulated and unreported fisheries; damage to the Great Ocean Cleanup’s plastic-catching system; or strong words and promised action from world leaders, oceans and fisheries are making headlines. Here at Future of Fish, we’ve been thinking about the “big things” to watch in 2019—those initiatives and topics that may be critical drivers of more sustainable fisheries and healthy ocean ecosystems. Given that no one intervention or action alone is going to result in the change we need to see, it’s heartening to read about work happening in a broad range of areas. Here are five things we’re keeping an eye on in 2019. And we’re curious to know: what’s on your radar for this year?

During the months of October and November, we helped to create the space for co-design to occur, and with our partners we conducted 7 workshops across 4 caletas. These were spaces where we rolled out the red carpet for creativity and innovation, and allowed thinking, idea development, and business plan skeletons to emerge: all approaches or ways to improve aspects of the sustainability of the fisheries (mainly hake) that members of the syndicates are embedded in.

At Future of Fish, we’re proud of the work we do to help transition fisheries towards positive social, environmental and economic outcomes for coastal communities and their oceans. Whether we’re working in Chile, Belize, or in the US, our Fisheries Development Model helps us take a structured, design-focused approach to making long-term systemic change.

Chile is taking a big step forward in the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing with the Chilean Senate’s approval of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (SERNAPESCA) modernization project. These new regulations modernize SERNAPESCA, giving it more power to fight illegal fishing and punish the supply chain players who trade in—and profit from—illegally caught seafood.

We’ve been writing about our novel co-design process with the Chilean caletas (fishing coves) involved in the design and demonstration phase of the Fisheries Development Model in our previous blogs. We are proud to be collaborating with these fishing communities, and wanted to take the time to introduce them here.