Connecting local concerns with global trends is more needed than ever

Mundus maris newsletter: February 2021

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Dear <<First Name>>

Thoughout February preparations have intensified for the next leg of the campaign “Stop harmful fisheries subsidies, stop overfishing”. With Dr. Ngosi Okonjo-Iweala as designated new Director General of WTO taking office on 1 March, it is hoped that the overdue negotiations will be concluded this year under her leadership.

In the meantime, the efforts continue in preparation of the next ICCAT meeting to save the endangered Mako sharks in the North Atlantic though a retention ban when caught as bycatch to tuna fisheries. Preparations were also underway to step up support for the UN negotiations to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030, the so-called 30x30 initiative. Together with many others, we join the information campaign scheduled by the Environmental Justice Foundation for March 2021.

And the UNEP report “ Making Peace with Nature ” released this month sums up the challenges we face at all levels and provides guidance for how to tackle the triple crisis of climate, biodiversity collapse and pollution. Humans are a planetary force. We need to put our combined creativity and international collaboration to work towards solutions. We can and must do even more and better than the medical cooperation in search of a corona vaccine. Let’s treat it as an emergency that shifts the priorities. We have already demonstrated the possibility. Let’s go for it!

All this makes the year’s UN motto for World Ocean Day, 8 June, particularly pertinent: “The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods”. Several partners have already signed up with us to make the Day memorable and a learning opportunity. Together, we warmly invite submissions for Mundus maris Awards. The invitation is out in five languages (see below). It’s among the myriad small steps that need to come together to shift the big picture.

End of the month we were finally able to convene another workshop of the Small-Scale Fisheries Academy in a pandemic-adapted format. The local team was ably supported again by chief facilitator Maria Fernanda Arraes Treffner, who joined remotely as travel was out of the question.

Get the summary of some amazing achievements of Academy learners against all odds below. What is sweeter than success in difficult times?

So, let us be clear, the challenges are huge. But feeling small and not doing anything is not an option. Nobody alone can turn the ship around, but together we can. Who would want to take the responsibility for not even trying? Help us reach higher and further, become a supporting member or regular donor of Mundus maris. Connect to the ocean and help to protect our common home.

Mundus maris asbl, Belfius Bank, Rue de Linthout 224, 1040 Brussels, Belgium
IBAN: BE54 0688 9178 6297 BIC: GKCCBEBB

Cornelia E. Nauen and the entire Mundus maris team

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Activities around the world

FAO webinar 'Small, low-cost fish: from bait to plate', 15-16/02/2021

Mundus maris reports on an online seminar organised by FAO in collaboration with four research projects with a geographical focus on Ghana/Gulf of Guinea, East Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It aimed to share interesting research results about production, processing, marketing, consumption and governance aspects of the value chain of small, low-cost fish. The prime concern was how to ensure that people with little purchasing power could retain access to healthy fish food rich in micronutrients.

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Vibrant and vital small-scale fisheries - V2V thematic webinar – 26 Febr. 2021

In the second of the monthly thematic webinars organised by the V2V research partnership about exploring ways for small-scale fisheries from vulnerability to viability, Pip Cohen of WorldFish Center talked about vibrant small-scale fisheries (SSF) amidst a sea of transformation. While the major political fora endorse and recommend SSF as reflected e.g. in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Voluntary Guidelines for securing sustainable SSF and others, the ground realities are more complicated.

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Mundus maris Awards 2021 for UN motto “The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods”

To celebrate the United Nations World Ocean Day: "The ocean: life and livelihoods" we invite you to participate in the Mundus maris Awards 2021 on how to appreciate the ocean and how it is our lifesource, supporting humanity and every other organism on Earth. Texts, pictures and video welcome. The year 2021 also marks the start of the UN Ocean Decade 2021-2030: Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

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Catching up with the Small-Scale Fisheries Academy in Yoff

After more than one year without presential trainings of the Small-Scale Fisheries Academy due to the covid-19 pandemic, a catching-up workshop was convened with some precautionary measures in Yoff, Saturday, 27 February 2021. This not only helped to reconnect and exchange about what had happened in the meantime with the annual workplans of Academy learners, but it was also an opportunity to try the feasibility of a mixed working method with co-facilitation on the spot and remotely.

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