On the heels of the study on the status of European stocks and our press release, Mundus maris organised a panel at the Green Me Film Festival in Berlin on the topic "Production gains of five million tons for prudently managed fisheries in Europe – the next steps". Study author Rainer Froese and Markus Knigge, Adviser to Pew Charitable Funds, discussed with the audience how the recovery of fish stocks could be managed. The Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament will conduct a hearing about the status of European stocks on 27 February with Rainer Froese among the speakers.

On the occasion of the Green Me Film Festival, we had the opportunity to interview Nic Niemann, festival founder and president, and Nkiru Niemann, Director International Affairs & Production at Green Me. They told us about the recent internationalisation of the festival and what they plan to do next.

Mundus maris was among the co-sponsors of the Green Me Film Festival, which took place for the tenth time from 27 to 29 January. We organised a panel discussion (see above) and a stand inviting visitors to make a pledge for the ocean. The most frequent pledge was not to use one-way plastic bags during 2017 and not to buy canned tuna from overfished stocks for the year.

As part of the development of the work plan for 2017 and beyond, the Mundus maris chapter in Victoria Island wants to build on last year's efforts of removing plastic and other debris from the beaches and creeks. To take this further, the idea is to support slum dwellers on Lagos Lagoon in various ways. The men are mostly fishers, the women are often engaged in post-harvest processing and marketing. A project supporting improvements of their living and working conditions would include cleaning up the litter from around their dwellings, but the first step is to listen to what they see as their priority needs.