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.

Alejandro Robles is president of Noroeste Sustentable (NOS), which he co-founded in 2004. For the past thirty years, he has been working to build effective networks of collaboration among key public, private, and civil-society stakeholders to achieve sustainability of coastal communities and conservation of coastal marine ecosystems in northwestern Mexico. In 2006 Noroeste Sustenable (Sustainable Northwest; NOS) co-founded Plataforma Bahía de La Paz, a multi-stakeholder collaboration network formed by small-scale fishermen, sports fishermen, marina owners, eco-tour operators, and civic organizations. The most significant interventions of Plataforma members have been the creation of the Red de Observación Ciudadana, a civil effort to abate illegal fishing; and the restoration of the Ensenada de la Paz, carried out by the fishermen of El Mangltio. In 2008, NOS move its headquarters inside El Mangle, a place designed for gathering of multiple stakeholders to reflect and act upon salient sustainability affairs. El Mangle is at the heart of El Manglito, a traditional fishing community struggling, as many others, to make a living from fishing. Since, 2009, the community of El Manglito, El Mangle, and NOS have been co-evolving as they move forward together to restore the community and the ensenada. In this presentation, Robles tells the story of the continuous process of transformation involving the fishing community of El Manglito, El Mangle, and NOS, and and how all three entities have shaped each other's thoughts and actions to increase social, natural, and economic capital.

A fisheries economist by training, Dr. Salgado focuses his research on using property rights to manage fisheries and incorporating economic incentives into environmental regulation. In a new research partnership with the Chilean Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR), he employs mainly empirical research to explore questions of socioeconomic sustainability in the context of aquaculture. Dr. Salgado’s talk highlights his research in the Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR) in Chile, where he is a member of the Socioeconomic Sustainability working group. As part of this interdisciplinary, multi-institutional initiative, he explores the impact that aquaculture has had on coastal communities across Chile and the current challenges to achieve a sustainable industry. His talk also includes a discussion of the viability of a regulatory structure based on economic incentives for a growing aquaculture sector, as well as how regulatory structures can shape development of the industry, at both small and large scales, along the Pacific coast of South America.

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.