In this talk, Hugo Salgado reviews the experience of ITQs in Chile. He discusses the observed economic benefits, including creating more secure jobs, products of higher value, and more exports with reduced catches. In addition, he speaks about the challenges that have come with ITQs including industry concentration, unemployment, entry of new fishermen into the artisanal sector, entry barriers in the processing industry, and decreased wages in the harvesting and processing industry. Hugo discusses how the highly concentrated industry now has more political power to influence regulators and the quota-setting process, which has led to quotas being set much higher than biological recommendations, while harvests have been lower than the quotas set during the past few years. Fish stocks do not seem to recover, indicating overexploitation. All of this has generated intense debate between those who are benefitting and those who are being negatively affected by the ITQ system. Hugo asserts that understanding this process is crucial to designing ITQ systems that could contribute to more sustainable fisheries in developing countries, not only from an economic perspective, but also from a biological and social perspective.

As a Mexican marine biologist with a PhD in Environmental Economics and Environmental Management, Dr. Sáenz-Arroyo employs a long-term historical perspective in seeking to understand the role played by humans as intelligent predators in the planet’s ecosystems. She is fascinated by how modern humans perceive environmental impacts and how some sophisticated, but inappropriate, scientific paradigms have prevented society from committing resources to nature conservation. In 2000 she joined Comunidad y Biodiversidad A.C., a Mexican nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging marine conservation through participatory approaches. In her talk, Andrea discusses that although marine protected areas (MPAs) have proven to be a powerful tool to recover species, few have shown economic benefits for their users, especially poor people with limited alternative livelihoods. She describes how the global community remains frustrated by the slow speed at which MPAs are created and their lack of effectiveness in protecting large, vulnerable species, such as sharks and turtles. Dr. Sáenz-Arroyo presents a simple solution in which local agents are able to make financial transactions with global agents to preserve intangible goods and services, which are mostly appreciated by the global community. The solution is illustrated by two case studies, one in the Baja California kelp forest in Mexico and the other in the District of Kubalau, on the Island of Vanua Levu, Fiji.

Dr. Doris Soto, Senior Officer for FAO's Environmental Aquaculture Division, was invited to lead the seminar titled "Enhancing coastal-social ecological systems through aquaculture." Her talk, titled "Global Aquaculture and the challenges to increase food security in a sustainable way" provided unique insight for students and faculty researchers based on her work at FAO headquarters in Rome. Additional speakers in this special topics seminar will include experts from across the aquaculture arena, examining markets and consumer dynamics, innovations in feeds and production systems, regulatory and industry considerations, and key sustainability issued as relate to intensification of sustainable aquaculture.

Salvador Lluch-Cota was born in Mexico and trained as a marine biologist earning his PhD from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur. His talk focuses on fisheries in a changing climate. He discusses how traditional fisheries management practices have proved to be limited, and management is increasingly demanding deeper interdisciplinary understanding of the functioning and changes of the marine ecosystems and the services they provide. During this talk he reviews some of the major observed and predicted impacts of climate variability and change on marine ecosystems, with special focus on fish resources, as well as the challenges to be faced for the adaptation of the fishing sector, the limitations for the construction of fish production projections, and the need for new and renewed management strategies. He concludes by exposing an ongoing effort to build climate change adaptation plans for the industrial fisheries in Mexico.

Guilherme Dutra directs the marine program at Conservation International (CI) Brazil, where he leads initiatives to support the implementation and expansion of the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Network in the Abrolhos Region and other parts of Brazil. Dutra joined CI as a biologist in 1996 after graduating from Brazil’s Federal University of Minas Gerais. In 2000, he obtained a master’s degree in ecology from the University of Campinas, Brazil, while coordinating CI’s Abrolhos project. Since starting work in Abrolhos, Dutra has coordinated efforts to increase knowledge and recognition of the importance of the region's coral reefs and has developed management solutions that can be replicated to influence marine conservation around the country. This talk summarizes the data available on fish populations and fisheries in the Abrolhos Seascape and analyzes the data gaps for managing fisheries in the region. The Abrolhos Seascape lies within a region known for having the highest level of marine biodiversity in the southern Atlantic. In addition, Dutra presents an overview of the region's political and governance contexts. Although there is low human population density along this section of the coast, the region has experienced a large increase in fishing effort in the past two decades as fleets have migrated here from other parts of Brazil. The increased pressure on commercially valuable fish populations has noticeably decreased stock levels. 

Francisco Chavez was born and raised in Peru and has a BS from Humboldt State and a PhD from Duke University. He was one of the founding members of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), where he has pioneered time-series research and the development of new instruments and systems to make this type of research sustainable. In Francisco's talk, he describes the major modes of global interannual to multidecadal variability in the ocean and discussed biological consequences. The impacts on the California and Peru upwelling ecosystems are then used as case studies with a focus on salmon and anchoveta, the most abundant marine resource. Francisco ends the talk with thoughts about how change can and should be incorporated into science and management.

Steve Gaines, Dean of the Bren School, presents the first LAFF sponsored Faculty Seminar. His seminar, “Contribution of Fisheries to Global Food Security,” focuses on to what extent marine products from both wild caught fisheries and aquaculture meet current demand for seafood and protein, as well as their potential to meet future demands.

Recent reports suggest that many well-assessed fisheries in developed countries are moving toward sustainability. Costello et al. examines whether the same conclusion holds for fisheries lacking formal assessment, which comprise >80% of global catch in a paper published in Science. His team finds that small unassessed fisheries are in substantially worse condition than assessed fisheries, but that large unassessed fisheries may be performing nearly as well as their assessed counterparts. Both small and large stocks, however, continue to decline; 64% of unassessed stocks could provide increased sustainable harvest if rebuilt. Results of this analysis suggest that global fishery recovery would simultaneously create increases in abundance (56%) and fishery yields (8 to 40%).

For this seminar, Professor Costello dives into the analytical methods that his team developed using species' life-history, catch, and fishery development data to estimate the status of thousands of unassessed fisheries worldwide

Long-term sustainability of marine ecosystems will require substantially more funding than is likely to be available from governments and philanthropies. This funding gap highlights the importance of developing alternative sources of capital beyond traditional conservation funders. Private, return-seeking investors have emerged as potentially important sources of funding to address this gap. Recent and ongoing research explores the magnitude and impact of private investment in conservation, and examines some of the financial structures that may be used to leverage return-seeking capital for fisheries restoration and management. Professor Tobin is an environmental biologist and attorney by training. He has over two decades of private sector experience, having practiced corporate law and worked in the international finance industry for most of his career, with more recent focus on corporate sustainability, including the management of environmental, social, and reputational risks, stakeholder engagement and communications, business ethics, sustainability strategy, and the development of financial products and services that aim to address broad societal challenges.

Responsible Fishing Areas (RFAs) were created by the Costa Rican Institute of Fishing and Aquaculture in 2008 as a spatial tool to help respond to demands from local communities for a greater voice in managing their local fisheries. While the tool was considered an innovative alternative to other approaches of small-scale fisheries management when it came out, several policy limitations have restricted its use. Today, eight RFAs exist in the Gulf of Nicoya, a highly productive tropical estuary, but these spatial-management strategies have yet to live up to their promises and prove their value to control fish mortality and provide benefits to local communities.

Haiti is the poorest country the western hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. With massive issues related to governance, health, economic growth, and the environment, it is extremely difficult to generate momentum among all levels of society to protect natural resources. Most individuals are concerned only with the here and now — how am I going to feed my family today? Environmental issues in general are a far-off concern, and, despite being a Caribbean island nation, the management and protection of coastal and marine resources are at the bottom of the list. Haiti is only now trying to undertake serious management of its environment, but the issues are often overwhelming, and resources, both human and financial, are extremely scarce. Without a capacity to engage in the enforcement of environmental laws, the current methods of stakeholder engagement and the force of peer pressure are the only remaining routes to success. Following a brief overview of FoProBiM’s history and its successes and failures in engaging in resource management and protection in Haiti based on its holistic approach, there will be a discussion with the audience of the challenges of the current situation.