Seafood is a highly traded commodity that is exposed to a wide range of environmental and social sustainability challenges. Digitalization of the seafood value chain helps to address these challenges. Using Global Value Chain (GVC) analysis, this paper presents a qualitative case study on the conditions for adoption of digitalization by Dutch fisheries. Field results show the different digital technologies available in the Dutch fisheries ranging from sensors, Internet-of-Things, blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence. Despite several identified incentives such as improved fuel efficiency, reduced fishing time, and increased catch productivity, there is in general a low commitment from fishers to adopt digital technologies. First, the benefits are perceived to be uncertain due to costs, investments, and inherent risks associated with technology adoption as well as external risks related to prices, catches and government regulations. Second, there is profound resistance from fishers to collect and share data due to lack of trust between fishers and the government, and among fishers due to competitive nature of fishing. This research proposes design arrangement for implementing digitalization that considers: 1) horizontal coordination (producer organization or association) to move from individualistic to collective fishing practices, 2) viable business model to incentivize data collection, 3) connecting fishers to ecosystem of stakeholders for sharing incentives and risks, and 4) technological solutions to protect strategic interests in sharing data. This study contributes to literature by linking GVC governance, sustainability, and digitalization, and by providing a systems approach that considers coordination, incentives, and risks in fishers’ decision making in GVC.
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Lake Kivu is experiencing unprecedented decline in production of Tanganyika Sardine (Limnothrissa miodon). This study sought to characterise the value chain of this fish species so as to chart its sustainable utilisation. The study performed in 2015 found two chains; an informal chain that takes 30% of the production and a formal chain that handles 70%. The average catch of sardine was 30 kg/day in the high production season and <15 kg/day in the low season. Two thirds of the fishers were not aware of the governing law. Fishing malpractices included fishing in prohibited sites, beach seining and fishing during moratorium period. Majority of fishers were not satisfied with the price offered in the market as costs involved in fishing was 701 Rwanda Francs/kg caught. This is despite the shift in time since the study was performed. Therefore, there is need for re-training of value chain actors, increasinglake surveillance, strengthening internal controls of the Fishers’ Cooperatives and improving information sharing and communication among value chain actors.
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The second Workshop on Tradeoffs Scenarios between the Impact on Seafloor Habitats and Provisions of catch/value (WKTRADE2) was established to provide input on trade-offs aspects to the Working group on Fisheries Benthic Impact and Trade-offs (WGFBIT). As such, the workshop was tasked to: 1) demonstrate the applicability of a set of approaches to better estimate fisheries revenue; 2) establish ways to assess effort reduction scenarios; and 3) explore how to (better) incorporate social factors associated with fisheries. The workshop suggests that to improve estimates of the “value” of an area to fisheries that the contribution margin (income from landings minus variable costs) should be calculated. To do this two complementary approaches (disaggregation and mechanistic) are presented and can be developed using the current ICES VMS and logbook data, supplemented with economic data layers. A modular workflow to integrate the variables into the assessment is also presented. Furthermore, the workshop found that redistribution of total revenue among individual fishers and fishers’ communities will need to be considered to accurately predict displacement effects and impact evaluation on fisheries economics. Applying predictive modelling techniques adds to assessing a static picture (current fishing activity) because it considers displacement effects which may elucidate increased pressure on essential fish habitats, sensitive vulnerable habitats, or previously untrawled areas. To better identify trade-offs between ecological, economic and social factors for use by the ICES working group WGFBIT, the workshop recommends also using integrative approaches (e.g. bioeconomic models, stakeholder engagement) that account for direct linkages between fish, fisheries and benthos dynamics to address issues related to MSFD, CFP and spatial management plans in a consistent way. When considering the effects of displacement the contribution margin should be accounted for as the fishing closures are likely to have indirect (positive or negative) effects. For example, protecting part of the fish stocks might lead to better catch rates and therefore fuel savings, etc. The workshop also found static models to be operational and more easily used to identify impacted fishing fleets. While, dynamic modelling approaches allow for the adaptation of fishing fleets (e.g. displacement, gear modifications), potentially mitigating the estimated impact of spatial and temporal restrictions. Static approaches are easy to use in stakeholder processes, and can facilitate stakeholder engagement. Future development of static and dynamic models will need to account for the influence of other activities (e.g. closures due to wind farm) on fisheries activities. Running scenarios using dynamic models will indicate which areas are most valuable to fisheries after spatial management scenarios are proposed. This elicits the socio-economic valuable fisheries areas. The workshop’s focus was on the spatial management scenarios so far identified by the working group WGFBIT, but the suggested workflow can also be used to address other scenarios, e.g. technical measures aimed at reducing gear penetration depths, disturbance effects and improving selectivity, habitat credits approaches that define credits related to the sensitivity of habitat and convey credits to the fishing industry to manage either collectively or individually. The workshop also identified some follow-up work that working group WGFBIT could take on to both to improve the current scenario testing on spatial restrictions, as well as how to deal with fleet adaptation/effort displacement in reaction to the spatial restrictions. This work would benefit by stronger links to ICES working groups WGECON and WGSOCIAL to ensure the required fisheries economic expertise.
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Recording of the webinar "Insect culture in the Netherlands for feed and food with special focus on bacterial health" from Dr. Olga Haenen (Dutch National Reference Laboratory for Fish, Shellfish and Crustacean Diseases) presenting as part of the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture (CSTFA) Webinar Series.
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Sustainable commercial fishing, species conservation, and bycatch are contentious topics. Great emphasis has been placed on the sustainable sourcing of particular species that we buy at the store and order in restaurants, but how can we trust that the fish on our plates, from a system-wide perspective, have been appropriately sourced? Even in what are commonly considered to be the best-managed fisheries in the world (i.e., Alaskan fisheries), thousands of tons of fish are wasted each year in the interest of providing certain species in certain ways to certain people, at certain prices. Are the management practices and regulations that we think are helping actually having the desired outcomes in terms of the effective use of natural resources?This book presents a framework that can enhance our understanding, research, and regulation of frontline organizing processes in commercial fisheries, which may be generalized to other resource extraction industries. It enables readers to better grasp and respond to the need to develop practices and regulations that involve effective use of all natural resources, rather than just a chosen few. The book is especially important to researchers and practitioners active in the fishing industry, and natural resource managers and regulators interested in understanding and improving their management systems. It is also highly relevant to organization and management researchers interested in coupled human and natural systems, ecological sensemaking, the role of quantum mechanics in organizational phenomena, sociomateriality, and sustainability.The book uses the real-world case of an Alaskan fishing fleet to explore how the commercial fishing industry (which includes businesses, management agencies, regulatory bodies, and markets, among others) entangles itself with natural phenomena in order to extract resources from them. After gaining a better understanding of these processes can we see how they can be improved, especially through changes to regulatory management systems, in order to foster not only more sustainable, but also less wasteful (these two goals are not necessarily interdependent in today's regulatory management systems), natural resource extraction and use. Such an understanding requires exploring how regulations, natural phenomena, human sensemaking processes, and market forces entangle at sea to materialize the fish that make their way to our plates - as well as those that, importantly, do not.
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Caribbean coral reefs are in decline and the deployment of artificial reefs, structures on the sea bottom that mimic one or more characteristics of a natural reef, is increasingly often considered to sustain ecosystem services. Independent of their specific purposes, it is essential that artificial reefs do not negatively affect the already stressed surrounding habitat. To evaluate the ecological effects of artificial reefs in the Caribbean, an analysis was performed on 212 artificial reefs that were deployed in the Greater Caribbean between 1960 and 2018, based on cases documented in grey (n = 158) and scientific (n = 54) literature. Depending on the availability of data, reef type and purpose were linked to ecological effects and fisheries management practices around the artificial reefs. The three most common purposes to deploy artificial reefs were to create new dive sites (41%), toperform research (22%) and to support ecosystem restoration (18%), mainly by stimulating diversity. Ship wrecks (44%), reef balls© (13%) and piles of concrete construction blocks (11%) were the most-often deployed artificial reef structures and metal and concrete were the most-used materials. The ecological development onartificial reefs in the Caribbean appeared to be severely understudied. Research and monitoring has mostly been done on small experimental reefs that had been specifically designed for science, whereas the most commonly deployed artificial reef types have hardly been evaluated. Studies that systematically compare the ecological functioning of different artificial reef types are virtually non-existent in the Caribbean and should be a research priority, including the efficacy of new designs and materials. Comparisons with natural reef ecosystems are scarce. Artificial reefs can harbor high fish densities and species richness, but both fish and benthos assemblages often remain distinct from natural ecosystems. Studies from other parts of the world show that artificial reefs can influence the surrounding ecosystem by introducing non-indigenous species and by leaking iron. As artificial reefs attract part of their marine organisms from surrounding habitats, intensive exploitation by fishers, without clear management, can adversely affect the fish stocks in the surrounding area and thus counteract any potential ecosystem benefits. This study shows that over 80% of artificial reefs in the Caribbean remain accessible tofishers and are a risk to the surrounding habitat. To ensure artificial reefs and their fisheries do not negatively affect the surrounding ecosystem, it is imperative to include artificial reefs, their fisheries and the surrounding ecosystem in monitoring programs and management plans and to create no-take zones around artificial reefs that are not monitored.
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The Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Challenge simulation platform helps planners and stakeholders understand and manage the complexity of MSP. In the interactive simulation, different data layers covering an entire sea region can be viewed to make an assessment of the current status. Users can create scenarios for future uses of the marine space over a period of several decades. Changes in energy infrastructure, shipping, and the marine environment are then simulated, and the effects are visualized using indicators and heat maps. The platform is built with advanced game technology and uses aspects of role-play to create interactive sessions; it can thus be referred to as serious gaming. To calculate and visualize the effects of planning decisions on the marine ecology, we integrated the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) food web modeling approach into the platform. We demonstrate how EwE was connected to MSP, considering the range of constraints imposed by running scientific software in interactive serious gaming sessions while still providing cascading ecological feedback in response to planning actions. We explored the connection by adapting two published ecological models for use in MSP sessions. We conclude with lessons learned and identify future developments of the simulation platform.
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Solomon Islands has relied on highly unsustainable industrial logging since the 1980s. While the development narrative around logging emphasizes its macro-economic importance, it structurally overlooks the impacts on local people's lives. Based on 200 qualitative interviews conducted in 25 villages and 14 logging operations in Malaita Province between 2016 and 2019, this paper demonstrates that the impacts of logging on subsistence and social relations are systemic rather than incidental. By making use of interview quotes, the paper gives voice to rural Solomon Islanders. The results show that the logging industry fails to generate lasting local benefits, while unsustainable logging practices undermine subsistence livelihoods, especially fisheries. Logging triggers conflict that long outlasts the operations themselves, causes sexual exploitation, facilitates excessive alcohol use and reinforces gender disparities by structurally excluding women from decision-making and benefit-sharing. This paper calls for a stronger focus on the social impacts of logging in forestry science, policy and practice.
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From the article: "This article evaluates the application of blockchain technology to improve organic or fair-trade food traceability from “Farm to Fork” in light of European regulations. This study aims to shed light on the challenges in the organic food chain to overcome, the drivers for blockchain technology, and the challenges in current projects."
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Lecture about the regional dimension in the political, economic and social construction of Europe.
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