Languages

The Nippon Foundation - University of British ColumbiaNEREUS PROGRAMPredicting Future Oceans

News

Climate change effects on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

| Latest News

A range of human pressures is threatening the sustainability of marine fisheries. Amongst those, overfishing, partly driven by Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, is a major stressor. Thirty percent of global fish catch goes unreported, found a recent study by Nereus Program collaborator Sea Around Us.

But the relationship between IUU fishing and climate change is a new topic. I speculate that climate change impacts on fisheries may indirectly increase IUU fishing.

Read More

Investigating ideal fishing conditions for tuna and swordfish in the U.S. northwest Atlantic ocean

| Publication Highlights, Fisheries, Oceanography

Recently published in Fisheries Oceanography by Nereus Alumnus Andre Boustany (Duke University) and Principal Investigator Patrick Halpin (Duke University) was the study “Tuna and swordfish catch in the U.S. northwest Atlantic longline fishery in relation to mesoscale eddies”. This research looks at the effects of different variables on the catch of tuna and swordfish — including mesoscale eddies, which are a type of ocean current, sea surface temperature and fishing gear used.

Read More

Jellyfish for dinner: Is fishing a viable solution to the increase in jellyfish blooms?

| Policy Forum, Climate Change, Ecology and Biodiversity

While jellyfish, with their soft, gelatinous bodies, may seem like innocuous creatures, when they occur in large blooms they can often cause detrimental effects. Jellyfish blooms have been observed to clog power plants, cause mass mortality to fish in aquaculture farms, burst fishing nets and even sink a 10 tonne fishing vessel. It is predicted that jellyfish will benefit from climate change and other anthropogenic changes, such as overfishing, eutrophication and coastal development.

Read More

The status and future of bluefin tunas in our global ocean: The Bluefin Futures Symposium

| Latest News

by Guillermo Ortuño Crespo

For three days from January 18th to 20th, Monterey, California, has become an aggregation hotspot for more than 100 of the world’s foremost experts on the conservation and management of the three bluefin tuna species that inhabit our global ocean. The Bluefin Futures Symposium represents the first-ever international gathering of leading science, policy, industry and conservation leaders to address the current stock status, research efforts and management uncertainties, topics which hold the key to ensuring the future sustainability of harvesting these ocean predators.

Read More

Sea Around Us study finds 30 per cent of global fish catch is unreported

| Latest News

Countries drastically underreport the number of fish caught worldwide, and the numbers obscure a significant decline in the total catch.

The new estimate, released today in Nature Communications, puts the annual global catch at roughly 109 million metric tons, about 30 per cent higher than the 77 million officially reported in 2010 by more than 200 countries and territories. This means that 32 million metric tons of fish goes unreported every year, more than the weight of the entire population of the United States.

Read More

Climate change could cut First Nations fisheries’ catch in half

| Publication Highlights, Climate Change, Fisheries

First Nations fisheries’ catch could decline by nearly 50 per cent by 2050, according to a new study examining the threat of climate change to the food and economic security of indigenous communities along coastal British Columbia, Canada.

“Climate change is likely to lead to declines in herring and salmon, which are among the most important species commercially, culturally, and nutritionally for First Nations,” said Lauren Weatherdon, who conducted the study when she was a UBC graduate student. “This could have large implications for communities who have been harvesting these fish and shellfish for millennia.”

Read More

Partners

Learn More About Our Partners

THE NEREUS PROGRAM

The Nereus Program strives to explore a broad range of perspectives and scientific opinions on ocean sustainability, and to create an inclusive community of researchers and other marine professionals. This principle is founded on the Nippon Foundation’s vision of global capacity building to ensure that our oceans’ legacy is preserved and potential is protected for future generations.

Learn More

Newsletter

Receive our monthly newsletter:
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Follow

Contact Us

The Nereus Program
Aquatic Ecosystem Research Laboratory
2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Open Positions