UN Ocean Conference: Scientists to Demonstrate Fisheries Solutions to Restore Ocean Health & Mitigate Climate Change

Lisbon, 14 June 2022:- In a world first, marine scientists are set to present a groundbreaking series of papers that show how effective fisheries management can bolster the ocean’s ability to withstand the impacts of climate change during a symposium being held on June 26th, ahead of the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

The event, Science Symposium: Fisheries Management as Climate Action, will feature the Professor and Director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, The University of British Columbia (UBC) Professor Rashid Sumaila of the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, who will be joined by leading fisheries and marine scientists and economists from around the world to explore their findings on how the reduction of overfishing can increase the ability of life below water to withstand the impacts of climate change.

Speakers also include IPCC lead author and Professor and Director of UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, Dr William Cheung, Charlotte de Fontaubert, Global Lead for the Blue Economy at The World Bank, Dr Laura Blamey from CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Australia and Professor Alex Rogers, Director of Science at REV Ocean. They will be joined by Francisco Guerreiro, Portuguese Member of the European Parliament (see full list of speakers below).

The scientists will present the series of papers, recently published in Frontiers in Marine Science (How Overfishing Handicaps Resilience of Marine Resources Under Climate Change), which demonstrate in detail how both ending overfishing, and more responsible fisheries management, would significantly improve the health of the marine environment and biodiversity, and so the ocean’s capacity to mitigate the effects of climate change. Contact press@our.fish for more details on the papers.

“The work of these scientists demonstrates that fisheries management can play an important role in the dramatic and urgent action needed to address the climate and biodiversity crisis ”, said Rebecca Hubbard, Programme Director of Our Fish, which is hosting the Symposium, together with the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia, Sciaena, Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe) and the German Postcode Lottery. “We are increasingly learning of the importance of the ocean to planetary health, not least in regulating the climate”.

“Despite the ocean’s importance, we continue to put it under immense pressure from destructive- and over-fishing”, continued Hubbard. “For example, in the EU, over 40 percent of fish stocks are still being overfished, despite the Common Fisheries Policy’s requirement to end overfishing by 2020 at the latest. Maintaining this untenable situation is not only against the law, it is detrimental to the marine environment and dependent communities”.

One of the leading scientists presenting at the symposium, Professor Rashid Sumaila of the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Ocean and Fisheries and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs said, “we must immediately end the destruction of ocean life and restore its health; it is the world's largest realm, housing an astonishing array of biodiversity that provides critical ecological functions, including mitigating the effects of climate change. Overfishing is like tackling climate change by burning fossil fuel.”

Contact press@our.fish for more details on the scientist’s papers.

See the full event program here.

The event is organised by University of British Columbia's Institute for the Ocean and Fisheries and Our Fish and supported by the Dutch Postcode Lottery, Deutsche Umwelthilfe and Sciaena.

Speakers include:

• Dr Rashid Sumaila, Professor and Director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, The University of British Columbia
• Charlotte de Fontaubert, Global Lead for the Blue Economy at The World Bank
• Dr William Cheung, IPCC Lead Author and Professor and Director, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, The University of British Columbia
• Angela Martin, Research Fellow, Centre for Coastal Research, University of Agder, Norway
• Dr Laura Blamey, Quantitative Marine Ecologist, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Australia
• Prof. Alex Rogers, Director of Science at REV Ocean
• Erica Ferrer: NSF Graduate Student Researcher, UC San Diego at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California, USA
• Sebastián Villasante, Professor, Department of Applied Economics, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
• Ibrahim Issifu, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia
• Ivonne Ortiz, Senior Research Scientist and Associate Director, Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies, University of Washington
• Francisco Guerreiro, Member of the European Parliament (Portugal)

Register here to attend the Symposium (A recording will be available)

Contact press@our.fishfor interviews with the scientists.

You are also welcome to join other events:

• Following the Science Symposium on June 26th: Cocktails for Fisheries Management as Climate Action
• June 27th: Early Morning Swim - Dive into Fisheries Management as Climate Action
• June 28th: Breakfast Briefing: Fisheries Management as Climate Action

Note: the June symposium and briefing will not be livestreamed, but video will be made available afterwards. Contact press@our.fish for further details.