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Rethinking sustainability of marine fisheries for a fast-changing planet

Many seafood products marketed as “sustainable” are not. More exacting sustainability standards are needed to respond to a fast-changing world and support United Nations SDGs. Future fisheries must operate on principles that minimise impacts on marine life, adapt to climate change and allow regeneration of depleted biodiversity, while supporting and enhancing the health, wellbeing and resilience of people and communities. We set out 11 actions to achieve these goals.

Accounting for existing tenure and rights over marine and freshwater systems

Global commitments to conservation and sustainable development increasingly demand sensitivity to the rights and territories of Indigenous peoples and local communities. However, existing tenure systems are often overlooked by global actors and their initiatives. Using key informant surveys, literature, and established databases, we describe 62 distinct tenure systems (or place-based, governance relationships between people and coasts) across 24 countries. In all systems, people held rights to access and use aquatic resources to support healthy diets, livelihoods, and culture. The three collective-choice rights (i.e., management, exclusion, transferability) were present in 29% of systems – suggesting conditions sufficient for “self-governance”. People gained or held rights due to their residency (in 63% of systems); through historical use (52%), permits (35%), and/or kinship (29%). Our synthesis provides an opportunity for policy and action to recognize these systems of tenure, and to stimulate further actions that illuminate and recognize the rights of communities toward their sovereignty.

Drifting fish aggregating devices in the Indian ocean impacts, management, and policy implications

The Indian Ocean has seen a rise in technologically advanced drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs), significantly increasing tropical tuna catches. These devices, equipped with GPS buoys and echo sounders, enhance fishing efficiency but also lead to increased juvenile tuna and bycatch species catches, ghost fishing, and abandoned gear. This study assesses the technological sophistication, and ecological impacts of dFADs in the region, particularly their role in IUU fishing when they drift into the Somali EEZ. Over a six-month period, 80-dFADs were opportunistically recovered along the four-sample coastline, with 63 being included analysis. None of the recovered dFADs complied with IOTC regulations. The study estimated the potential number of dFADs per km per annum over the Somali shelf as 1395 dFADs that could theoretically be recovered annually. This underscores substantial regulatory non-compliance and emphasizes the need for enhanced monitoring, stricter regulations, and IOTC cooperation to address the ecological and economic impacts on regional marine ecosystems and communities.

Coastal wetland resilience through local, regional and global conservation

Coastal wetlands, including tidal marshes, mangrove forests and tidal flats, support the livelihoods of millions of people. Understanding the resilience of coastal wetlands to the increasing number and intensity of anthropogenic threats (such as habitat conversion, pollution, fishing and climate change) can inform what conservation actions will be effective. In this Review, we synthesize anthropogenic threats to coastal wetlands and their resilience through the lens of scale. Over decades and centuries, anthropogenic threats have unfolded across local, regional and global scales, reducing both the extent and quality of coastal wetlands. The resilience of existing coastal wetlands is driven by their quality, which is modulated by both physical conditions (such as sediment supply) and ecological conditions (such as species interactions operating from local through to global scales). Protection and restoration efforts, however, are often localized and focus on the extent of coastal wetlands. The future of coastal wetlands will depend on an improved understanding of their resilience, and on society’s actions to enhance both their extent and quality across different scales.

Is tuna ecolabeling causing fishers more harm than good?

Nearly 70,000 fishing crew are currently at sea catching the ecolabeled tuna in your sandwich or sushi. Tuna fishing on the High Seas is remote, making it difficult to detect forced labour and important to look into the welfare of fishers on vessels fishing for ecolabeled tuna. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) ecolabel says it is keeping forced labour out of the certified supply chain and that buyers choosing certified tuna significantly reduce their exposure. To determine how this is achieved, an analysis was performed of the primary data published by the MSC at https://fisheries.msc.org for the 3327 tuna vessels listed in its program. The data show that a majority of tuna vessel owners (1970 fishing employers) are participating anonymously. Their involvement in forced labour is unknown, and vessel conditions are untraceable for 74% of the tuna catches reported by certifiers. A majority of MSC’s tuna clients (about 4% fishing entities) refuted forced labour on behalf of 53% of tuna fishers in a template that MSC provides and protects with a disclaimer. Yet, on some of the vessels, tuna fishers have recently reported forced labour. Content analysis showed the information provided by MSC’s tuna clients overall deflects (rather than accepts) accountability for human rights and adverse effects, such as debt bondage. These findings matter to fishers’ welfare because the MSC has reported that its program encompasses 59% of the world’s tuna, making its assurances about lower risks in certified tuna influential in the sector, with potential to undermine criminal and civil enforcement.

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