Bottom trawler. Photo by Lisa, Flickr.

A new study suggests the hidden climate costs of bottom trawling in European waters may far outweigh its economic benefits, raising questions about the future of one of the world’s most widespread fishing practices.

An international team of researchers found that bottom trawling in Europe generates an estimated net societal cost of between €2 billion and €16 billion annually, driven largely by the release of carbon stored in seafloor sediments.

The paper, published in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management, analyzed the economic benefits vis-à-vis the environmental costs of commercial bottom trawl and dredge fisheries across European waters between 2016 and 2021.

Bottom trawling involves dragging heavy nets across the ocean floor to catch fish and shellfish species. While the industry provides food and employment, the researchers found the broader public bears substantial costs linked to carbon emissions, habitat destruction, discarded catch and subsidies.

“Our findings suggest society may be losing out while the private sector captures most of the benefits,” said lead author Katherine D. Millage, a marine scientist with Pristine Seas. “The highest quantified cost comes from disturbing carbon-rich seabed sediments, which can release significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Even under conservative assumptions, those climate-related costs are enormous.”

The researchers estimated that carbon emissions associated with disturbed seafloor sediments alone could cost society between €4.9 billion and €18.1 billion per year. By comparison, the largest quantified public benefit—the value of protein supplied for human consumption—was estimated at €2.46 billion annually.

The study also found that nearly one-quarter of Europe’s bottom trawling activity, measured by hours spent fishing, occurred within marine protected areas (MPAs).

“This overlap raises important questions about what protection really means,” said Dr. Maria ‘Deng’ Palomares, paper co-author and manager of the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. “Many MPAs still allow destructive fishing practices that can damage sensitive habitats and undermine conservation goals. Reducing bottom trawling in these areas could provide meaningful benefits for biodiversity and climate.”

The authors emphasize that they are not calling for an immediate shutdown of the industry, but rather for a careful reassessment of fisheries policies and subsidies, leading to a reduction in bottom trawling effort.

At present, Europe provides roughly €1.17 billion annually in subsidies supporting bottom trawling, which is comparable to the sector’s direct employment value. Redirecting those funds toward vessel buybacks, retraining programs and lower-impact fishing methods could help support fishing communities through a transition.

Only about two per cent of Europe’s animal protein is supplied by bottom trawling fisheries, which suggests that food security impacts from reducing the practice may be limited, particularly when accounting for discarded —normally edible— fish, whose lost value for the region was estimated at €220 million.

“Trade-offs between food production, employment and conservation are real,” said Millage. “But our results show there may be pathways to reduce bottom trawling effort while generating greater long-term benefits for society overall.”

The researchers caution that uncertainties remain around exactly how much carbon is released from disturbed sediments, but argue the potential scale of the impacts warrants precautionary action.

“With Europe aiming to reach net-zero emissions and halt biodiversity loss, fisheries policy has an important role to play,” Dr. Palomares said. “This study shows that protecting marine ecosystems and addressing climate change go hand in hand.”

Te paper “Bottom trawling in Europe may cost society billions, study finds” was published in Ocean & Coastal Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2026.108135

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Sunset (yellow) moon wrasse. Photo by John Turnbull, Flickr.

Fish can look “bigger on average” even while they are actually shrinking due to warming waters caused by climate change.

A new paper in Marine Ecology Progress Series, co-authored by the Sea Around Us Principal Investigator, Dr. Daniel Pauly, explains this conundrum and clarifies a misunderstanding that stemmed from the title of a 2020 paper, where the term ‘fish body sizes’ was used to refer to mean body size, that is, the average size of all fish in a population.

Even though the body of the 2020 article detailed the type of measurement that was being considered, the title caused readers to think that it was referring to maximum body size, which is the largest size ever observed for a species or a population. This misunderstanding caused researchers to think that the paper’s findings denied the Temperature Size Rule (TSR) and the Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT), which posit that maximum size declines as temperatures rise.

The new paper, titled “Increasing mean fish length under warming can be reconciled with the temperature-size rule when mortality-to-growth ratios decline,” looks at data from different populations of alfonsino, swordfish and moon wrasse, and shows that even if a fish species’ maximum length shrinks by 10 per cent due to warming, the average size can still increase by up to 25 per cent. This only happens, however, if fish growth exceeds mortality, which may occur in situations where high temperatures strongly increase predation rates.

When warming and deoxygenated waters cause fish in a population to die at an earlier life stage than they would under normal conditions, the maximum possible size in fish (or asymptotic length) decreases, which means that even the biggest fish in that population will not get as big as they used to. Yet, if all fish in that population are growing fast and fewer are dying young, the population can end up looking “bigger on average,” even though the largest possible fish are shrinking.

In simple terms, the analyses show that fish can shrink in maximum size, but increase in average size. Both things can be true at the same time.

This, thus, reminds us that papers must be carefully read before one can conclude that they overthrew well-established rules, such as the TSR, which is part of the GOLT.

The paper “Increasing mean fish length under warming can be reconciled with the temperature-size rule when mortality-to-growth ratios decline” can be accessed here.

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Endemic Antipodean albatross. Photo by Oscar Thomas, Wikimedia Commons.

World Oceans Day (WOD), the initiative proposed in 1992 by Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and officially recognized by the UN in 2008, aims to catalyze collective action for a healthy ocean and a stable climate.

Some of the yearly campaigns thousands of organizations run, inspired by this goal, are guided by the annual action theme that NGO The Ocean Project proposes for WOD. The Ocean Project, together with the World Ocean Network, led efforts to get the UN to recognize June 8th as World Oceans Day.

For 2026, the action theme is “Strong Marine Protected Areas for our blue planet,” which is meant to build on the momentum of recent agreements, such as the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the High Seas Treaty ratified in 2025, and push for stronger ocean conservation actions.

To support this endeavour, every month from January to June 2026, the Sea Around Us will take a deep dive into one MPA in its database and use this blogging space to share, in lay language, what factors make it a successful or unsuccessful MPA.

Moutere Mahue / Antipodes Island Marine Reserve

In April, we are taking a look at the Moutere Mahue / Antipodes Island Marine Reserve,  a 2,173-square-kilometre fully no-take area. It is part of the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands UNESCO heritage site, which lies between the Antarctic and Subtropical Convergences.

The reserve itself surrounds the Antipodes Islands, a group of volcanic cones and vents 750 kilometres south of New Zealand’s South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura. It was established in 2014 and, by law, only diving and anchoring are allowed, as long as there is no damage to the reserve, and they don’t take place in areas closed for research purposes.

All fishing, on the other hand, is forbidden there, with multi-agency patrols conducted by the New Zealand Defence Force and analyses of commercial fishing vessel information from statutory returns and satellite vessel monitoring by Fisheries New Zealand.

Sea Around Us research found that, indeed, little to no fishing takes place in the area, which has been the case for decades. “Analyses of historical fishing effort indicated that there had been very limited commercial fishing recorded in the territorial sea around Antipodes Island and no recreational or customary fishing,” government information states.

Antipodes Island. Photo by Benjamin Hell, Wikimedia Commons.

The absence of fishing activities makes sense as the Antipodes Island is the most remote of New Zealand’s subantarctic islands. Since it lies on the eastern edge of the Bounty Plateau, it features an area of shallower sea (600-1000 metres) amidst the Southern Ocean, where depths average 4000-5000 metres.

According to the NZ Department of Conservation, underwater, extensive rock walls are covered in bright pink layers of encrusting seaweeds, where a range of animals, such as sponges, anemones, and bryozoans, live.

Bull kelp also forms forests down to over 20 metres depth, but there are more than a hundred described seaweeds and, authorities believe, almost certainly many more, as research has been scarce in this hard-to-access place.

Nearshore species such as Antarctic cod are present, as well as offshore species such as lingcod and Patagonian toothfish.

On land, the endemic Antipodean albatross has established its main breeding ground (about 5,000 breeding pairs), while large colonies of eastern rockhopper and erect-crested penguins also exist there, although the Department of Conservation has reported that the latter’s population has declined substantially in the past 20 years, for unknown reasons.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, many of the threats impacting penguins and other animals at the site occur outside of it, and are beyond the control of the management agency, for example, climate change and commercial fishing bycatch.

The organization points out that pathogens such as those causing avian influenza could potentially reach the island and devastate seabird and marine mammal populations.

“Ongoing strict biosecurity, removal of the remaining introduced species and continued controls on access and permissible activities are seen as top priorities for the protection of the site,” the IUCN notes. “Ongoing marine mammal and seabird research is also necessary for informing bycatch mitigation initiatives at national and international scales. If current management controls are kept in place, then the level of threats and their impacts are likely to remain low.”

• January MPA: French Southern and Antarctic Lands
• February MPA: Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park
• March MPA: Los Roques National Park

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From left and top: Maria ‘Deng’ Palomares, Heliana Teixeira, Phoebe Koundouri, Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis, and Sílvia C. Gonçalves.

The Sea Around Us manager, Dr. Maria ‘Deng’ Palomares, is one of the editors of a new research topic in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science titled “Women in Marine Science: 2026.”

Together with Dr. Heliana Teixeira from the University of Aveiro in Portugal, Dr. Phoebe Koundouri, from the Athens University of Economics and Business in Greece, Dr. Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis, from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil, and Dr. Sílvia C. Gonçalves, from the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria in Portugal, Dr. Palomares has taken on the mission of bringing visibility to research conducted or led by women and showcase the diversity of topics investigated by them across the field.

The team expects to receive submissions covering a wide scope of marine science and ocean-related themes, with emphasis on those that highlight advances in theory, experimental work, technological developments and methodological applications to compelling problems, data modelling into policy design and implementation for better management, and interdisciplinary approaches to conservation of marine biodiversity and resources.

“With a strong focus on original science work, this research topic also welcomes submissions that address gender equality aspects, such as challenges or barriers women researchers face across the field of ocean science,” the editorial team pointed out.

For submissions to be accepted, the first or last author should be a researcher who identifies as a woman.

The group welcomes original research papers, reviews or perspective papers, but other types of submissions will also be considered. More information can be found on https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79817/women-in-marine-science-2026

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Los Roques National Park in Venezuela. Photo by Tucanrecords, Wikimedia Commons.

World Oceans Day (WOD), the initiative proposed in 1992 by Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and officially recognized by the UN in 2008, aims to catalyze collective action for a healthy ocean and a stable climate.

Some of the yearly campaigns thousands of organizations run, inspired by this goal, are guided by the annual action theme that NGO The Ocean Project proposes for WOD. The Ocean Project, together with the World Ocean Network, led efforts to get the UN to recognize June 8th as World Oceans Day.

For 2026, the action theme is “Strong Marine Protected Areas for our blue planet,” which is meant to build on the momentum of recent agreements, such as the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the High Seas Treaty ratified in 2025, and push for stronger ocean conservation actions.

To support this endeavour, every month from January to June 2026, the Sea Around Us will take a deep dive into one MPA in its database and use this blogging space to share, in lay language, what factors make it a successful or unsuccessful MPA.

Los Roques National Park

In March, we are taking a look at the Los Roques Archipelago National Park in Venezuela, as it tops the Sea Around Us’ Paper Park Index, which identified marine protected areas where enough fishing takes place to contravene the protection status officially assigned to such sites.

This park, located in the Caribbean Sea north of mainland Venezuela, consists of approximately 350 islands, cays and inlets occupying 1,646 square kilometres and hosting extensive coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves and shallow macroalgae meadows.

Although spearfishing has been prohibited since 1972 and fishing with nets was banned in 1992, there are reports of an important lobster fishery in the area, with underreported catches taken from the restricted zones, including the poaching of sea turtles, a recreational fishery of bonefish (Albula vulpes) and heavy exploitation of West Indian topshell (Cittarium pica) and queen conch (Strombus gigas), even though the fishery for the latter is supposed to have been closed since 1991.

“Lack of staff and funding has meant that illegal fishing and overfishing have always been a serious problem. When the lobster season is closed from February through September, queen conch poaching intensifies,” the Smithsonian Institution’s Atoll Research Bulletin No. 622, published in 2019, states. “In general, management implementation in Los Roques appears weak and vulnerable.”

This situation has not improved ever since, as the country’s economic collapse has created shortcomings in the work of government institutions responsible for law enforcement and fisheries management.

According to a 2022 Oceana report using Global Fishing Watch (GFW) data, from 2017 to 2020, three Venezuela-flagged fishing vessels appeared to spend 30 hours fishing in Los Roques. Two of the three vessels were tuna purse seiners, and the other was a pole-and-line vessel.

Lobster fishers in Los Roques. Photo by Márcio Cabral de Moura, Flickr.

GFW data also showed that fishing within the Los Roques MPA peaked in 2020, with some local fishing boats turning off their automatic identification systems.

Despite Los Roques having seven management zones, four of which are closed to recreational and commercial fishing, transportation, and tourism, enforcement is challenging.

“Current conservation efforts in Venezuela are deficient, given the collapse of government institutions responsible for the management of fisheries. This has led [for example] to noncompliance with fishing regulations designed for elasmobranchs,” a 2021 paper by Marquez et al., published in the journal Ciencias Marinas, reads.

In Los Roques, the main targeted shark species are blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus), Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi), silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis), nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum), and lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris). The latter are known to give birth within the park, which serves as a nursery habitat for juveniles.

Another 18 shark species can be seen in the area, as well as 284 fish species, 77 sponge species, 45 echinoderm species, 140 mollusk species, 200 crustacean species and 69 coral species, data from InternationalParks.org show.

The lack of enforcement of conservation measures is also affected by the repurposing of financial resources to populist activities. In an interview with Mongabay, the president of Venezuela’s Shark Research Center, Rafael Tavares, said that the Ministry for Fishing and Aquaculture tends to concentrate both its human and capital resources on an annual “Fish Fest,” instead of designing measures or public policies to ensure the conservation of threatened marine species.

“Unfortunately, Los Roques seems to be a paper park,” said the Sea Around Us principal investigator, Dr. Daniel Pauly. “Active enforcement, maybe guided by NGOs, is needed to make sure that the four areas where fishing is forbidden really become no-take marine reserves where fish can find a respite and reproduce, and where abundance can be rebuilt. If this is effectively implemented, over time, there is likely to be spillover to nearby areas where fishing is allowed.”

• January MPA: French Southern and Antarctic Lands
• February MPA: Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park
  

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Grouper. Image created with Adobe Firefly.

Aquatic animals that breathe through gills — including most fish and many invertebrates — are the backbone of life in oceans, lakes and rivers. They support biodiversity, shape food webs and sustain fisheries that feed millions of people worldwide. Understanding how these animals grow, reproduce and survive is therefore essential to understanding how aquatic ecosystems work — and how they continue to support human societies.

Yet these environments are changing rapidly. As waters heat up and oxygen levels decline, scientists are racing to comprehend how aquatic species will respond. A new Fisheries Centre Research Report tackles this challenge by examining the physiological limits that shape the growth and survival of water-breathing animals, bringing together decades of research to shed light on how these organisms function in a warming world.

A key focus of the report is the ongoing scientific debate around the Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT) — a hypothesis developed by the Sea Around Us PI, Dr. Daniel Pauly, which links the growth of aquatic animals to the capacity of their two-dimensional gills to supply oxygen to their three-dimensional bodies. Rather than treating individual studies as final answers, the report highlights how progress in complex fields depends on evaluating the weight of evidence across many species, methods and datasets. It shows how differences in data selection, analytical approaches and interpretation can influence conclusions, and why careful, transparent scientific debate is essential.

The result is the product of a body of work built over the past 40 years and aimed at building a unifying framework for understanding how water-breathing animals grow and reproduce. At the same time, the report challenges researchers to continue testing the theory — and to develop alternative explanations that can account for the same wide range of biological patterns.

“A Convergence of Evidence: The Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT)” can be accessed at this link.

The post New report sheds light on how fish grow in a warming, low-oxygen world appeared first on Sea Around Us.

In a series of four posts showcasing country snapshots and designed to mimic a dating app interface, we presented how the Sea Around Us‘ fisheries data help us explore what ocean health looks like in different parts of the world. Each post highlights key strengths and challenges, grounded in catch reconstructions, stock assessments, and nutrition data.

In countries like the Philippines and Senegal, fisheries are deeply connected to food security and livelihoods. Small-scale fisheries support millions of people, and fish provide essential nutrients in national diets. At the same time, high fishing pressure on coastal stocks and the growing gap between where fish are caught and where they are consumed raise important questions about long-term resilience.

In higher-latitude nations such as Canada and Norway, long-term monitoring and strong scientific capacity shape fisheries management. Large Exclusive Economic Zones and decades of data support evidence-based decisions. Yet climate-driven shifts in species distribution and uneven stock recovery show that even data-rich systems face complex and evolving challenges.

Across all four countries used as case studies, one message stands out: healthy oceans depend on balance, resilience, and good information. By presenting fisheries data in a visual, accessible way, this series connects ocean science to everyday conversations—reminding us that strong relationships, like healthy ecosystems, require long-term thinking.

The post Swipe right for healthy oceans appeared first on Sea Around Us.

Labour and human rights abuses, overfishing, unreported, unregulated and illegal fishing, all spurred by subsidies provided to distant-water fishing fleets, are some of the most pervasive practices linked to the global seafood industry.

Witnessing and reporting on all of this are fisheries observers. Often scientists – marine biologists or ecologists –, fisheries observers are tasked by national frameworks, regional bodies, or international fisheries organizations with gathering information that supports sustainable fisheries management. Some are hired by the fishing companies they monitor.

Often attracted to the job by the lure of a life at sea or the steady income, fisheries observers live and work on industrial fishing vessels for months at a time, sharing spaces, routines, meals, and entertainment with the same people they’re reporting on. Nothing further from a ‘sweet gig.’ Often, they are killed at sea.

• Keith Davis, from the United States, disappeared while at sea on a Taiwanese-owned, Panamanian-flagged vessel in 2015.
• James Numbaru Jr., from Papua New Guinea, went overboard from a Chinese-flagged vessel in 2017.
• Emmanuel Essien, from Ghana, disappeared from a Chinese-owned vessel in 2019.
• Eritara Aati Kaierua, from Kiribati, died on a Taiwanese-flagged vessel in 2020.
• Samuel Abayateye, from Ghana, went missing from a South Korean-owned vessel in 2023.

These five cases and their connection to unregulated fishing practices, particularly overfishing, are explored through interviews with investigators probing the industry, researchers, family testimonies, and security-camera footage in the 2025 documentary Fatal Watch, directed by Katie Carpenter and Mark Benjamin

The Sea Around Us PI, Dr. Daniel Pauly, and Australian ichthyologist, Dr. Patricia J. Kailola, are interviewed in the film.

Dr. Kailola recently wrote a review/explainer of the film, which we reproduce below:

This film needed to be made.

Because all over the world people eat tuna – either fresh, or – more usually – as the convenience food: cooked, flavoured, and ready-to-eat in a can. Millions and millions of cans of tuna, representing almost as many living fish.

Tuna are oceanic, pelagic fish; they are caught by a variety of methods, from deep-water handlining, seining, and pole-and-line to industrial-level purse-seine and longline. Thousands of vessels go in search of tuna in all of the world’s oceans – Why? Because there is money to be made from them, lots and lots of money. In the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, for example, USD 2.6 billion-worth of tuna is harvested and sold on world markets each year.

In contrast to land-based resources, offshore fishing activity is not witnessed (ipso facto – it takes place offshore) – so fisheries observers are engaged by regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) wherever possible, to ensure that vessels are licensed and adhere to RFMO rules and regulations: to ‘keep the bastards honest’ by independently recording catches and monitoring the vessel captains’ compilation of log-book, avoidance of protected species, maintenance of quota, crew interactions, and so on. Observers are included in the vessels’ complements and are paid by the RFMOs.

Between a rock and a hard place

Observers are not AI models or from outer space: they are human.

Some fisheries (such as the WCPO purse seine fishery) have 100 per cent observer coverage, and not irregularly by two observers, on the same vessel. In contrast, the WCPO longline fishery will only accept 5 per cent of observer coverage – Something unspoken: the power of the money in the fishery emasculates the rules-maker, the RFMO.

Under that shadow, observers are recruited to be just that – independent observers. Yet, their position is compromised because they are in the care of the very person (the captain) whose activity they are obliged to observe: on the one hand, they have signed a contract and are obliged to observe and report, but on the other… they need to survive.

This film most graphically highlights that issue: among others, Essen and Kaierua stuck to their job descriptions and their perceptions of honesty and ‘what is right’ – but as the film identifies, there was only death and post-mortem honour there.

For a lone fishery observer to ‘waver’ in the face of threats from a captain and 20 crew on a vessel 100 nautical miles from land and on the High Seas, where nominal assistance could only come from a satellite phone call days after the event– Who in his air-conditioned land-based office will throw the first stone?

Does Fatal Watch have a moral?

Only in so much as it reveals the variety of human nature (from immense greed to unwavering honesty).

Does Fatal Watch have a lesson?

Fisheries observers are the media attempting to ensure that there will always be tuna in the ocean and on our plates. While protecting them when they are at work is impossible, we consumers are obligated to ‘call out’ the bad actors in the fishery and demand independent results and severe penalties when breaches are realised. And to do that, consumers need to be informed.

Fatal Watch is, thus, a must-see film for all right-thinking people: it informs. The producers and directors have met a considerable challenge with sound hearts, skill and determination. Thoroughly recommended, especially for secondary and tertiary school students and teachers.

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The information that feeds the map come from the Sea Around Us’ database, which combines officially reported catches from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with carefully reconstructed estimates of what often goes unreported—like small-scale fisheries catches, discards, and bycatch. Together, these datasets help create a fuller picture of how much fishing actually happens, and where.

To place those catches on the map, our researchers use data about where different fish species live, based on global biodiversity information systems like FishBase and SeaLifeBase. Catches are then allocated across ocean grid cells to show patterns at a global scale.

While this approach is reliable for seeing big-picture trends—like the spread of fishing into deeper and more remote waters—it’s not meant to pinpoint the exact spot where every fish was caught. That’s why scale matters: these maps are best used to understand long-term pressure and global change, not individual fishing events.

If you would like to know more about our mapped data, feel free to email feedback(at)seaaroundus.org

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Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park. Image by UNESCO, Wikimedia Commons.

World Oceans Day (WOD), the initiative proposed in 1992 by Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and officially recognized by the UN in 2008, aims to catalyze collective action for a healthy ocean and a stable climate.

Some of the yearly campaigns thousands of organizations run, inspired by this goal, are guided by the annual action theme that NGO The Ocean Project proposes for WOD. The Ocean Project, together with the World Ocean Network, led efforts to get the UN to recognize June 8th as World Oceans Day.

For 2026, the action theme is “Strong Marine Protected Areas for our blue planet,” which is meant to build on the momentum of recent agreements, such as the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the High Seas Treaty ratified in 2025, and push for stronger ocean conservation actions.

To support this endeavour, every month from January to June 2026, the Sea Around Us will take a deep dive into one MPA in its database and use this blogging space to share, in lay language, what factors make it a successful or unsuccessful MPA.

Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park

The 100,000-hectare Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is located in the middle of the Sulu Sea, about 150 kilometres southeast of the Philippine island of Palawan’s capital city, Puerto Princesa. It includes the uninhabited North and South Atolls and the Jessie Beazley Reefs, within which there are three atolls and a large deep-sea area.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to sharks, Napoleon wrasse, and over 700 fish species, as well as rays, whales, dolphins, turtles, and 360 coral species, which comprise almost 90 per cent of all coral species in the Philippines. About 181 of the marine species found there are threatened to some degree, from vulnerable to critically endangered.

Tubbataha is also a breeding and rookery ground for many migratory and resident seabirds, including the critically endangered Christmas Island frigatebird, as well as for the endangered green sea turtles and the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle.

Nowadays known as a premier scuba diving spot, Tubbataha only started to feel the effects of human exploitation in the 1980s. Recognizing its great biodiversity value, the government of the Philippines first protected the area through legislation in 1988 and, in 2006, declared it a Natural Marine Park.

Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park. Image by q phia, Flickr.

“A key aspect of the integrity of the property is the low level of fishing pressure, due to the no-take policies which are in place throughout its area,” this MPA’s UNESCO page reads. This statement corroborates research by the Sea Around Us, which showed that despite having about a dozen park rangers to monitor the entire area, sometimes relying on the support of navy and coast guard vessels, very little to no fishing takes place. The only allowed fishing is to sustain the same park rangers while they wait for the next resupply trip.

Some reports have denounced poaching in the area by Chinese fishing fleets, with a particularly famous incident taking place in 2013, which resulted in 12 people being detained and almost 4,000 square metres of centuries-old coral being damaged. However, more recent cases are hard to find, and it seems that protection and enforcement led by Angelique Songco, head of the rangers and known as ‘Mama Ranger,’ are successful.

UNESCO has also identified general threats from shipping, marine litter, marine pollution and oil exploration, particularly connected to the lack of enforcement of regulations on the High Seas by the appropriate international organizations.

“The threat from solid waste and water pollution remain a serious concern as do the impacts from extreme temperatures and ocean acidification, both a result of climate change, which pose serious threats to the coral reefs and is also likely to impact the other values of the site given the links many of these have to the coral reefs,” the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) notes on its online World Heritage Outlook. “The site has already been impacted by coral bleaching events in the past and is likely to experience further impacts from these events in the future. Potential threats are related to the interest in oil and gas exploration in the Sulu Sea and the reliance on tourism-related income to fund key management activities.”

For the IUCN, these are considered low threats due to recent management measures and designations, such as securing the area as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) to mitigate against shipping impacts.

The organization, thus, says Tubbataha is a good MPA “with some concerns.”

• January MPA: French Southern and Antarctic Lands

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Helostoma temminckii or kissing gourami. Image by Jörn, Wikimedia Commons.

The essay — authored by Dr. Jennifer Jacquet, a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, and Dr. Daniel Pauly, principal investigator of the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries — contends that longstanding animal-welfare models were built around mammals and birds and fail to account for the central biological reality of aquatic life: access to oxygen.

Jacquet and Pauly maintain that the influential “five freedoms” framework guiding global welfare standards was conceived by and for air-breathing animals and therefore omits a critical dimension for fish and other aquatic organisms — the ability to breathe safely in water. They point out that air exposure, crowding, warming waters, and declining dissolved oxygen levels can cause severe physiological stress and pain in these species, particularly in industrial fishing and aquaculture settings.

“Water-breathers without water to irrigate their gills are suffocating,” the authors write, noting that experiments and field studies demonstrate that even brief periods of air exposure can be associated with acute distress and elevated mortality in fish. The essay highlights emerging research showing behavioural and neurophysiological indicators of intense pain during air asphyxiation — the most common method of fish slaughter worldwide — and warns that some proposed alternatives may produce even greater suffering if not carefully evaluated.

Read the full announcement here.

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The Marion Dufresne off the “port” of Crozet. East Island in the background. Photo by Dimitri Damasceno, Wikimedia Commons.

World Oceans Day (WOD), the initiative proposed in 1992 by Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and officially recognized by the UN in 2008, aims to catalyze collective action for a healthy ocean and a stable climate.

Some of the yearly campaigns thousands of organizations run, inspired by this goal, are guided by the annual action theme that NGO The Ocean Project proposes for WOD. The Ocean Project, together with the World Ocean Network, led efforts to get the UN to recognize June 8th as World Oceans Day.

For 2026, the action theme is “Strong Marine Protected Areas for our blue planet,” which is meant to build on the momentum of recent agreements, such as the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the High Seas Treaty ratified in 2025, and push for stronger ocean conservation actions.

To support this endeavour, every month from January to June 2026, the Sea Around Us will take a deep dive into one MPA in its database and use this blogging space to share, in lay language, what factors make it a successful or unsuccessful MPA.

French Southern and Antarctic Lands

In January, we are taking a look at the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises – TAAF), as it was among the worst-performing MPAs in the Sea Around Us’ Paper Park Index.

The area, comprised of the Crozet Archipelago, the Kerguelen Islands, the Saint-Paul and Amsterdam Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, as well as 60 small sub-Antarctic islands, was designated as a national nature reserve in 2006 and enlarged in 2016 to cover more than 672,000 km². Since March 2017, the regulatory framework also applies to the entire EEZ, covering 1.66 million km².

Three-quarters of the marine protected area allow for human activities, which are regulated but not entirely banned.

The TAAF Authority manages the reserve and requires impact assessments and manager approval for all activities in the regulated zones, including measures to mitigate bycatch and interactions with marine mammals and birds, such as “move on” rules if marine mammals are present and specific gear requirements.

The location of these islands, where the cold Antarctic waters are mixed with the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean, makes it a place where large breeding colonies of pinnipeds and king penguins, gentoo penguins, eastern rockhopper penguins, and macaroni penguins can be found, while the waters are home to populations of toothfish and forests of macrocystis and New Zealand bull kelp.

Within the Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises reserve, there is a 120,167-km² Strict Marine Protection Zone where no extractive activity is allowed. However, according to a study by BLOOM Association, a French NGO, the place where protection is supposed to be more stringent is located in an area that has never been the subject of industrial fishing.

To get to this conclusion, BLOOM assessed all fishing activities in the French Southern Territories from 2015 to 2022. After analyzing over 46,000 lines of satellite data corresponding to 159,000 hours of fishing, the NGO demonstrated that the strictly protected zone precisely avoids the areas that are exploited by eight French fishing vessels of 55 to 76 meters in length, mainly targeting Patagonian toothfish and lobster.

In fact, from 2015 to 2019, almost 29,000 tonnes of Patagonian toothfish were caught in the Kerguelen and Crozet Islands, valued at $188 million, data from the Sea Around Us show. This is enough fish to fill out 11.5 Olympic-sized swimming pools. In addition to this, 3,800 tonnes of other species, such as blue antimora, rattails, and mackerel icefish, were caught during this period.

Fishing around the Kerguelen Island before and after the MPA was declared. Image by BLOOM.

“The French government is running a numbers policy, not a protection policy. It is official. This allows it to reach its ‘quantitative objectives’ without ever having to confront the real issues of destruction raised by intensive industrial fishing in metropolitan France,” BLOOM said in a media statement, referring to President Emmanuel Macron’s target of protecting 30 per cent of French waters by 2030, which has been surpassed by 3 per cent with the enlargement of the TAAF. “The President has decided to reach his target figure of ‘strong protection’ (4 per cent of the French EEZ) on the other side of the world, in the southern waters, which are barely frequented or exploited.”

These results, thus, support the case of classifying the French Southern and Antarctic Lands as a ‘misleading MPA’ or ‘paper park,’ meaning an area where conservation targets are reached on paper in terms of square kilometers protected, but where the implementation of conservation goals is questionable.

The post Real MPA or Paper Park? French Southern and Antarctic Lands appeared first on Sea Around Us.

Jump to: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

December

A film festival on the sea in a landlocked French town

Efforts to rebuild Hong Kong oyster reefs now on film

November

World Fisheries Day 2025: Using Sea Around Us data to support a Blu(er) Economy

Sea Around Us team exposes coastal ecosystem pressures at Saint Pierre and Miquelon congress

October

Reflections from Wuhan: A marine economist walks into a river basin symposium

Daniel Pauly shares his views on the WTO deal on subsidies and the High Seas Treaty

September

Fishing down marine food webs and other pressing environmental issues exhibited in Paris

New GOLT book to be released in 2026

From paradise to peril: How deer hunting practices in New Caledonia may be attracting sharks

August

Sea Around Us publishes preliminary results of catch reconstruction update

July

Foreign overfishing fuels Senegal’s deadly migration crisis to Europe

Indian Ocean fisheries fuel global nutrition — but the benefits are leaving the region

Reflections from UNOC 2025: Advancing inclusive ocean sustainability

June

Youth making waves: Advocating for marine conservation at UNOC3

Dr. Daniel Pauly calls out France’s double standards on marine protection

Sea Around Us launches catch reconstruction course to empower global fisheries research

Leading scientists call for permanent ban on high seas exploitation

May

New study reinforces link between gill size and oxygen uptake in fish

Vital research based on Sea Around Us data: Insights from the FishBase and SeaLifeBase Symposium

April

Evaluating the Gill Oxygen Limitation Theory: Insights from the FishBase Symposium

Fisheries disrupt balance of marine nutrients in countries’ Exclusive Economic Zones

On AI and its uses of scientific research

March

Ancient seafloor creature grew like modern marine invertebrates – study

February

Women in Science – The Sea Around Us joins #AccelerateAction campaign

January

Sea Around Us and ProtectedSeas Navigator join forces for greater ocean data transparency

Remembering William N. Eschmeyer (1939 – 2024)

Daniel Pauly’s answers for ocean conservation in one booklet

The post 2025 Blog Posts appeared first on Sea Around Us.

December

Visiting Fellows selected for inaugural cohort of the Africa-UBC Oceans and Fisheries Visiting Fellows Program

November

Sea Around Us PI and Advisory Board members among Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers

World Fisheries Day – What have we learned?

Sea Around Us joins EcoScope 2024 general assembly

October

Fisheries will fail to meet key micronutrient requirements in Southeast Asia

Taking seriously the explanations on shrinking fish in a warming world

Global North’s growing appetite for farmed salmon imperils communities’ access to local fish

A conversation on wildlife corridors and MPAs

Sea Around Us produces new ‘miscellanea’ report

September

Leading scientists redefine the notion of ‘sustainability’ to save the ocean

August

Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean launches new initiative: The Freshwater Hub

Fisheries research overestimates fish stocks

July

‘Crucial milestone’ – The Sea Around Us reconstructs freshwater fisheries catches

New study identifies potential protection areas for critically endangered sharks in Türkiye

Daniel Pauly presents Gill Oxygen Limitation Theory at 2024 EuroEvoDevo

Paper on gigantism makes cover of Journal of Fish Biology

June

Industrial fleets operating in the Indian Ocean turn off monitoring systems, fail reporting obligations

Daniel Pauly receives 2024 Sartún Award

Focus on People: Sea Around Us releases 25th anniversary report

Forty-year-old concepts around fish respiration regain prominence in light of climate change

May

Sea Around Us alumna unveils mural project at UBC

April

Marine sharks and rays ‘use’ urea to delay reproduction

Planet vs. Plastics – Ghost nets

Respiratory stress response that stunts temperate fish also affects coral reef fish

A tiny fish reclaims its space in the Sea Around Us database

A magical weekend of scientific learning and exploring scenic Bamfield

March

Over 100 NGOs, citizen groups and top figures launch coalition for ocean protection

Snappy explains how warmer waters from climate change affect fish

Get to know the women in the Sea Around Us

February

UBC researchers launch Africa-UBC Oceans & Fisheries Visiting Fellows Program

Scientists push WTO to ban fisheries subsidies

Unilateral efforts to combat illegal fishing may spur piracy in certain regions

January

A poster to celebrate the Sea Around Us 25th anniversary

Belizean fishers want changes in policy and practice to revert declining catch trends

Researchers can now access integrated dataset of groundfish biodiversity

Shark alert: Global study documents increasing trend in shark mortality, identifies pathways to save threatened species

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December

Making an inaccessible text available

Large subsidized fleets operating in the Indian Ocean plunder fisheries resources crucial in food-insecure communities

Navigating challenges in scientific publishing: A letter to young scientists

Sea Around Us unveils new logo

November

Tuna species popular in sashimi and poke bowls in sharp decline in the Indian Ocean

Once they have laid their eggs, fish become ‘young’ again

October

AI-powered data-limited stock assessment method more accurate than ‘gold standard’ in predicting sustainable fisheries catches

Sea Around Us project manager joins Sustainability, Predictability and Resilience of Marine Ecosystems program committee

Sea Around Us project manager and AquaMaps coordinator launch aquatic data sciences course

Daniel Pauly and Rashid Sumaila featured in new film pushing for WTO agreement on fisheries subsidies

Toward a one-day conference devoted to the Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory

Advancing Sustainable Seafood Systems and Marine Conservation: Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean & Harvard University Collaboration

September

Egyptian Mediterranean fisheries in urgent need of better management

Overfishing and climate change impacts on New Zealand’s fish populations were hidden – until now

Empowering future leaders and exploring nature conservation at St. Catherine’s College

Market-based solution makes the case for blue carbon

August

Groundfish barely feel the impact of marine heatwaves – showing there’s still time to act on climate change

Fish species show surprisingly narrow combination of traits

Sea Around Us co-authored report sheds light on the overexploitation of Belize’s commercially important marine species

FishBase: A citation powerhouse and essential resource in dealing with global issues

July

Large fish more vulnerable to climate change-induced fish kills

International FishBase and SeaLifeBase Symposium – 2023

Socotra’s catch reconstruction: rising pressure on overfished stocks

June

How warmer waters from climate change affect fish’s biochemistry (and growth)

Indian Ocean catches of pricey and vulnerable sharks and tunas 30 per cent higher than officially reported

Explore the Sea Around Us database – in two minutes

May

Rising catches in the Indian Ocean hint at risk to sustainability

Daniel Pauly receives honorary doctorate from the University of Crete

April

Keep growing – Fish’s growth is not reduced by spawning

Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean researchers urge the EU to support ban on drifting fish aggregating devices

Fish biodiversity facing global change – Sea Around Us co-organizes FISHGLOB conference

March

Paper Park Index helps identify 49 unprotected marine protected areas

Event – Vanishing Fish: The Fight for Global Ocean Justice

February

‘Nobel Prize for environment’ awarded to Daniel Pauly and Rashid Sumaila

Daniel Pauly at IMPAC5 – De facto MPAs vs. paper parks

January

Sea Around Us presents report findings at the European Parliament

Most coral reef sharks and rays may be at risk of extinction

Sea Around Us co-organizes IMPAC5 side event

The post 2023 blog posts appeared first on Sea Around Us.

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December

New FCRR: Marine and Freshwater Miscellanea IV

Researchers push for Saint-Pierre and Miquelon to embrace the sea once again

Daniel Pauly among IMPAC5 keynote speakers

November

EcoScope coordinator visits the Sea Around Us at UBC

Sea Around Us updates catch data to 2019

Expecting aquaculture to ‘feed the world’ may be unrealistic, UBC-led study shows

What if we stopped thinking of fish as commodities?

October

Sea Around Us team salutes the sockeye

A fisheries scientist in Penang, Malaysia

September

Sea Around Us PhD candidate going to COP27

August

Local stakeholder involvement key to understanding protection level of MPAs

“Heading for failure”: UN Sustainable Development Goal for World Oceans

July

Trilobites’ growth may have resembled that of modern marine crustaceans

Unrelated theories coincide on link between respiratory stress and fish reproduction

Video tutorials of CMSY stock assessment method now freely available

June

The Ocean’s Whistleblower – A conversation with Daniel Pauly

May

Daniel Pauly’s book on how fish breathe and grow translated into Chinese

New research pinpoints ‘blue corridors’ for highly migratory fish

April

New sea garden story map showcases Indigenous mariculture practices across the Pacific

Sea Around Us research included in ‘definitive volume on large marine ecosystems’

New measurements show seadragons grow slowly, but in a fashion similar to other bony fish

March

Sea sponges need oxygen, as fish and people do

Protecting 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030 would barely impact fisheries

The mechanisms behind the huge size of individual silver-cheeked toadfish in the Mediterranean

February

Jeffrey Hutchings

New model helps predict climate change-induced early spawning in fish

January

Data confirm link between respiratory stress and fish reproduction

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December

New book recounts the remarkable life and work of Daniel Pauly, The Ocean’s Whistleblower

High impact fishing dominates catches in many parts of the world

How much fish is left? Sea Around Us now provides assessments for over 2,500 stocks

November

Oceana audit finds that Canada is failing its marine fisheries

Dirk Zeller named Australia’s Top Researcher in his field for 2021

“Race to jellyfish” leaves Mexican fishery in turbulent water

October

Nearly 300 scientists ask the WTO to ban harmful fisheries subsidies

What really makes fish become sexually active

Daniel Pauly receives BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology

Documenting mapping global expansion of industrial fishing from 1950 to 2018

September

Daniel Pauly’s biography now available in English

FishBase and SeaLifeBase 2021 Anniversary Symposium

Meet the Members of the FishBase Consortium

August

High cod catches could have been sustained in Eastern Canada for decades, simple stock assessment method shows

The Sea Around Us in the cloud

Paris to host the FishBase and SeaLifeBase Anniversary Symposium

As fishing effort grows, catches decline in the Mozambique Channel region

July

Warming waters alter fish community in Lake Peipsi

Bottom trawling global extent, impacts, and solutions

June

A few missing fish: US West Coast recreational and discarded catches

Sea Around Us updates catch numbers to 2018

Fish nutrient profile now available on FishBase

Sea Around Us’ collaborator says shark fishing should be considered ocean vandalism

May

Cury and Pauly publish Obstinate Nature

William Cheung among top 20 climate scientists according to Reuters

April

Small-scale fisheries can back food security efforts in Arabian Sea countries

Daniel Pauly featured in Extinction: The Facts

Data from baited remote underwater video systems now available on FishBase

March

Tilapias are not precocious, they are just resilient

Daniel Pauly receives Prof. N. Balakrishnan Nair Memorial International Fisheries Guru Award

February

Vanishing Fish now available in Japanese

The Sea Around Us team chooses to challenge

January

The people behind FishBase and SeaLifeBase

Dirk Zeller talks about conservation vs. blue economic growth in Western Australia

Daniel Pauly awarded Beverton Medal by Fisheries Society of the British Isles

The post 2021 Blog Posts appeared first on Sea Around Us.

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December

Nicolas Bailly on how SeaLifeBase was built from an empty shell of FishBaseWho supports FishBase and SeaLifeBase?

November

World Fisheries Day 2020 – what research has found

Seismic surveys affecting fisheries catches

October

Daniel Pauly takes the top spot as the most cited fisheries scientists in PLoS Biology study

Study with the Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean at the University of Western Australia

Cornelia Nauen on how she helped make FishBase a reality

Preliminary assessment of 26 West African fish stocks points at overexploited populations

September

Sea Around Us updates catch numbers to 2016

Deng Palomares reveals the origins of SeaLifeBase

August

Jessika Woroniak awarded James Robert Thompson Fellowship

Popular fish species disappear from Turkey’s Marmara and Black Seas

Daniel Pauly talks about the creation of FishBase

Treating fish as a public health asset can strengthen food security in lower income countries

July

A conversation with Rainer Froese about FishBase

Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

COVID-19 and Brexit can help with the recovery of UK fish stocks

June

FishBase and SeaLifeBase by the numbers

Declining trend in fisheries catches threatens food security in African coastal communities

What is SeaLifeBase and how it came to be

World Oceans Day 2020 – Ocean-related content you can enjoy at home

Putting the spotlight on Southern Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula fisheries

May

Protected areas’ location may hinder conservation efforts of refugee species

Seychelles, a baseline for a Blue Economy

Kicking off the FishBase and SeaLifeBase anniversary celebrations

Sea Around Us collaborator Rainer Froese wins Ocean Award in the Science category

April

Galápagos as a living laboratory for the Anthropocene

March

Sea Around Us’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic

A new use for museum fish specimens

Deng Palomares receives Faculty of Science Excellence in Service Award

Fisherwomen contribute tonnes of fish, billions of dollars to global fisheries

February

Billions lost as illicit fisheries trade hurting nations who can afford it least

Daniel Pauly publishes second edition of his book on how fish breathe and grow

Daniel Pauly wins BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology

January

Climate change-threatened Marshall Islands under-reporting fisheries stats

Recreational fishers catching more sharks and rays

Women in UBC Science: Maria ‘Deng’ Palomares

Are bad subsidies linked to slavery in fisheries?

Sea Around Us co-organizes event with Pulitzer Prize-winner Ian Urbina

The post 2020 Blog Posts appeared first on Sea Around Us.

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December

New assessment method reveals many fish stocks are in urgent need of sustainable management

November

Popular fish in China would increase in value if caught with larger meshes

Daniel Pauly amongst the world’s most cited scientists

China’s Bohai Sea left with only tiny fish

Figuring out the total human impacts on biodiversity

October

Theory explains biological reasons that force fish to move poleward as climate change heats up the ocean

A solution to our plastic problem

Earth’s hot spots “are chunks of the future in the present”: Daniel Pauly

Sea Around Us and Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean joined the Global Climate Strike

How sustainable is tuna? New global catch database exposes dangerous fishing trends

September

What fish should we eat?

Sea Around Us researchers bring novel fish stock assessment methods to West Africa

New technology allows fleets to double fishing capacity — and deplete fish stocks faster

Fisheries Department of Western Australia and Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean conduct data-limited workshop

Daniel Pauly talks oceans data at UWA

PhD opportunities at the Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean

August

The Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean is growing!

Sea Around Us’ Marine Trophic Index included in the list of SDG proxy indicators

Daniel Pauly presents the GOLT at Colombian ichthyology congress

Fish that follow ‘gourmet diet’ more threatened by climate change

July

Want to make a large-scale difference in marine conservation and fisheries? Study with the Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean

Sea Around Us co-hosts successful CMSY workshop in Qingdao

Sea Around Us celebrated 20 years with successful symposium

West African countries encouraged to consider Sea Around Us fisheries data

June

The Sea Around Us initiative turns 20: marine fisheries research to serve global civil society

Daniel Pauly’s biography hits the bookstores

World Oceans Day: Paying attention to marine fisheries

May

Vanishing Fish, Daniel Pauly’s new book is out

Artisanal fisheries’ value hidden in Honduras’ statistics

April

Hidden behind bad numbers: Official stats mask almost all shark and ray species caught in the Mediterranean and Black seas

March

Palomares and Pauly reflect on the challenges and opportunities of historical reconstructions of marine fisheries catches

A gender-balanced world is good for science

February

Rashid Sumaila to talk about the Sustainable Blue Economy in Perth

The importance of coastal fisheries

January

Carbon dioxide emissions from global fisheries larger than previously thought

Most female fish grow bigger than the males: deal with it!

The post 2019 Blog Posts appeared first on Sea Around Us.

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December

Catch reconstructions improve our understanding of fisheries: FAO and the Sea Around Us agree

Fishing pressure and climate change challenge Tokelau’s food security

Industrial fisheries are starving seabirds all around the world

November

Fishing companies lose millions of dollars every year and they don’t know it

Modern slavery promotes overfishing

October

Nothing natural about nature’s steep decline: WWF report reveals staggering extent of human impact, including that of fisheries, on planet

Frontiers awards the Sea Around Us Project Manager

The Sea Around Us laments the passing of Paul G. Allen

Cooperation in the South China Sea

September

Become a Forrest Scholar while studying for your PhD with the Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean

Pauly and Zeller explain the making of the Sea Around Us database

Appetite for luxurious shark fin soup drives massive shark populations decline

August

Half of Russian catches in the Barents Sea thrown overboard

Industrial fisheries’ expansion impacts 90 per cent of the global ocean, causes massive catch decline

July

Support FishBase

June

Want to have a big impact in marine conservation and global fisheries? Study with the new Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean

Half of all high seas fishing grounds would be unprofitable without current subsidies

May

437 million tonnes of fish, $560 billion wasted due to destructive fishing operations

Climate change to cause dramatic drop in Persian Gulf biodiversity and fisheries catch potential

April

Daniel Pauly talks climate change and fisheries in Peru

Bottom trawling causes deep-sea fish populations collapse

March

Shareable catch reconstructions vid

Thai government shares information with the Sea Around Us

Women in fisheries: some amazing stories

Industrial fisheries in Southeast Asia divert millions of tonnes of fish to fishmeal

February

Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean: Scholarships for international students

Sea Around Us data linked to Human Development Index

Mistake in fisheries statistics shows false increase in catches

January

The Sea Around Us now links to Ecosystem Models in Ecobase

An Ocean Mystery: The Missing Catch now available for free viewing

Renowned marine biologists talk about ocean conservation in the Philippines

The post 2018 Blog Posts appeared first on Sea Around Us.

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December

Thailand hides big numbers when it comes to its fish catches in neighbouring waters

November

Daniel Pauly honoured by the Royal Society of Canada

Restricting industrial fishing can make fish more valuable

Daniel Pauly knighted by the French government

Using data to better manage fisheries subsidies

Somali fisheries urgently need better data

October

Shareholders in fishing companies at risk from fisheries over-exploitation: Research

Why early career scientists should go to international conferences

More scholarships available with the Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean

Vanuatu’s hidden stats: small-scale fisheries’ catch 200% higher than reported

Global insurers unite to cut financial lifeline to pirate fishing

World’s largest marine reserve to protect high-value species from climate change-driven exploitation: research

September

Daniel Pauly’s shifting baselines in The New York Times Magazine

Want to study with the new Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean?

Initiatives to strengthen climate change adaptation in Africa – Cape Town

Extreme weather and climate change

August

Film based on the Sea Around Us research triumphs at festivals

Warmer waters from climate change will leave fish shrinking, gasping for air

Nature features the Sea Around Us’ discards paper

Sea Around Us indicators now include Global Slavery Index

July

Daniel Pauly and Dirk Zeller host successful and free webinar

Malta’s missing catch: 700 tonnes of fish go unreported every year

Daniel Pauly named Chevalier de la Légion D’Honneur

Amy Rose Coghlan on why it is important to know about species distribution

Global Atlas of Marine Fisheries: What is happening with marine life?

Sea Around Us’ partner, FishBase, awarded Le Cren Medal

June

Ten million tonnes of fish wasted every year despite declining fish stocks

Illegal foreign fishing and lack of reporting threaten Sierra Leone’s fisheries sector

For Canada’s 150th Anniversary, fisheries scientists want concrete action

These women scientists want you to know more about fisheries

Marine Reserves help mitigate against climate change

May

Dirk Zeller talks about the new Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean

Belated contributions on the biology of fish, fisheries and features of their ecosystems

“An Ocean Mystery: The Missing Catch” creates buzz in Vancouver

April

Thought Antarctica’s biodiversity was doing well? Think again (PHOTOS)

The Sea Around Us at Vancouver’s March for Science (PHOTOS)

Sneak peek: The Sea Around Us’ research featured in the film “An Ocean Mystery: The Missing Catch”

Size matters: the impact of artisanal fisheries in West Africa

Three cheers for biodiversity

Thoughts on UBC’s Reconciliation Totem Pole

On meeting the Dalai Lama

Teaching about Filipino sardines in Canada

The Sea Around Us expands its global presence

March

“An Ocean Mystery: The Missing Catch” to screen at UBC

Unexpected findings in West Africa

Cautious fish evolve out of marine reserves

Making fisheries science accessible

Promoting small pelagic fish in Victoria

Reconstructing world views

The Women in the Sea Around Us

A globetrotter in the search for new adventures

February

Jellyfish fisheries research awarded by the Vancouver Aquarium

Challenges in West Africa

ON VIDEO: Daniel Pauly and the Global Atlas of Marine Fisheries

IOF Seminar Series: Global Atlas of Marine Fisheries

Millions of tonnes of prime fish off limits to humans

The looming extinction of the Maui dolphin

Why did FAO choose to ignore the existence and trends of the reconstructed catch data?

VIDEO: How much is fished in your country’s waters?

January

We need to know how much fish we are catching: Lincoln Hood

Developing love for fishery data

Can Brexit save the UK’s seas?

Daniel Pauly named “Scientist of the Year” by Radio Canada

“Zero is not a good estimate”: Sea Around Us on global fisheries

Daniel Pauly and Dirk Zeller win Ocean Award

In less than two minutes, learn why fish catches are declining

SAVE OUR SEAS: Why is translating good science into good policy so %#*&^ hard?

Sea Around Us’ work leads top 10 conservation wins of 2016

The post 2017 Blog Posts appeared first on Sea Around Us.

December

Sea Around Us updates real catch numbers

In less than two minutes, learn why fish catches are declining

A recording artist with a passion for fish

Global fishery trends in one book

Daniel Pauly on the importance of the Albert Ier Grand Medal

Indigenous people eat 15 times more seafood than non-Indigenous people

The plan to ban fishing in more than half the world’s oceans

November

Impacts of climate change on contaminants in fisheries

Daniel Pauly awarded the 2016 Albert Ier Grand Medal

On #WorldFisheriesDay learn how to use our tools

Sea Around Us discusses future during annual retreat

Sea Around Us’ new Atlas reveals why the ocean is giving us 1.2 million MT less of fish every year

September

A perfect storm: Climate Change and Overfishing

Future fisheries can expect $10 billion revenue loss due to climate change

August

A Look Back: Recreational fishing accounts for half of all fish caught in The Bahamas

Oceana Canada to host science symposium in October 2016

Tools and data for improving fisheries policy worldwide

Sea Around Us data highlighted in The Great Orchestra of Animals

Video: Dr. Dyhia Belhabib concludes West African capacity-building workshop

Under-reporting of Fisheries Catches Threatens Caribbean Marine Life

July

Longtime Sea Around Us member Kyrstn Zylich embarks on new career

Collaborative Research

Nicola Smith visits Rome for the Committee on Fisheries and represents the Bahamas

West African workshop: Fisheries Economics

West African Scientists to work with the Sea Around Us at UBC

The Sea Around Us at COFI 2016

We have a new video section

June

African Fisheries Plundered by Foreign Fleets

A Global, Community-driven Marine Fisheries Catch Database

Nutrition: Fall in fish catch threatens human health

An Antidote to high-tech fishing

Ships flagged for illegal fishing still able to get insurance: UBC study

May

Tim Cashion: Inside the world of fish for feed

New Zealand fishery catch estimated at 2.7 times more than reported: study

Webinar May 17: The View Past Peak Catches: Global Catch Trends in Marine Fisheries

Biodiversity of Sea Around Us catch data

Daniel Pauly named Killam Professor

Video Tutorial: Taxon Distribution Maps

Fisheries Economics

April

New website tool: Taxon Distribution Maps

An unbalanced harvest?

The Economist highlights China’s illegal fishing fleets

Letter urges canadian government to improve Fisheries Act

A new study looks at reforms to improve global fisheries managment

Negotiations to regulate fisheries on the high seas

Can we end ‘ghost fishing’?

March

Major award given for innovation in combating illegal fishing

Daniel Pauly presents at the 2015 Batsheva de Rothschild Seminar

New research suggests 30 percent of the ocean must be protected

Fishing the Red Sea

NOAA webinar presentation: Pauly & Zeller

The imperative for increased monitoring of fishing vessels

Workshop allows teachers and scientists to learn new skills in the Philippines

A rejoinder to comments on “Catch reconstructions reveal that global marine fisheries catches are higher than reported and declining”

A look back at Daniel Pauly’s Ted Talk: The Ocean’s shifting baseline

The ‘Bandit 6’ have all been caught

February

Interactive graphs include reported catch line

Mapping Tool: Tutorial

New Mapping Tool Update

Poaching in Palau

A growing garbage problem

West Africa and Recreational Fishing

How Fish Breathe

Invasive Species, The Mediterranean, and Sea Around Us Research

January

Try our interactive graphs

Try our Mapping Tool

Media following Global Paper

The Missing Fish

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

2016 Peter Benchley Ocean Award recipients announced

Nation of Palau protecting 80 percent of its ocean waters

The post 2016 Blog Posts appeared first on Sea Around Us.

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December

The Sea Around Us: A successful trip to Tunisia

New government aims to protect 10 percent of Canadian coastal waters by 2020

China’s Marine Fisheries at a Crossroad: key issues of a forum held in Xiamen, November 10-12, 2015

Dyhia Belhabib in The Gambia

Vicky Lam: Visit to Xiamen and Qingdao, China

What fish can tell us about the Paris climate talks

November

Ask an Expert: Will oceans be adequately discussed at COP21?

Sea Around Us in West Africa: by Melanie Ang

A presentation by Dr. Daniel Pauly and Dr. Dyhia Belhabib on catch reconstructions

Fish alter migration patterns as global waters warm < New Mapping Tool video tutorial

Users weigh in on Sea Around Us website

October

September

July

June

May

April

March

February

January

The post 2015 blog posts appeared first on Sea Around Us.

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December

Senegal’s missing fish: What reconstructing fish catch can teach us about our oceans

Daniel Pauly talks to Juliet Eilperin about the future of oceans and fisheries

November

Sea Around Us, Oceana organize workshop for the National Symposium of Fisheries

Sea Around Us heads to Philippines for National Symposium of Fisheries

October

Sea Around Us datasets turned into spherical visualizations

August

Sea Around US receives $2.6 million grant from The Paul G. Allen Foundation to improve data on world fisheries

July

Study finds fish catches in Panama vastly under-reported

12th annual FishBase symposium comes to UBC

February

Discussing catch reconstructions in Senegal

January

Breaking ground on illegal fishing in Senegal

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November

Google Earth reveals unreported fishing

Ensuring better fisheries management in West Africa

Eating Bluefin

EU fishing companies reap profits in developing countries, while taxpayers foot the bill

Daniel Pauly recognised for his scientific contributions

October

Documenting history in Turkey

July

ELEFAN in (Daka)R

May

Ambassador to West Africa

Climate change has impacted global fisheries for decades

April

Chinese foreign fisheries catch 12 times more than reported

March

EU Common Fisheries Policy reform, from the inside

February

On using catches to predict abundance

Jellyfish in the Mediterranean

January

A journey to South America

Sea Around Us contributes to one of Smithsonian Magazine’s Top 10 Ocean Stories of 2012

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December

New database of marine aquaculture launched

To everything there is a season

October

Fish could get smaller as the oceans warm

September

Check out our new website!

The Sea Around Us Project returns to West Africa

August

Grading ocean health: 60/100

July

Fishing power grows, but catches are not keeping up

Of leatherbacks and lion’s manes

June

Down at the World Ocean’s Summit

May

Pauly Wins Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest

April

From the Front Lines of the 2012 AAAS Meeting

March

Law That Regulates Shark Fishery Is Too Liberal

TED Talk: Daniel Pauly on Shifting Baselines

February

Fish Farms from Space: The Ground Truth from Google Earth

The fishers of Jamaica are making change mon!

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December

New Study Published in MEPS about Marine Predator Declines

Analysis of FAO Report on Fisheries Statistics

November

Climate change to further degrade fisheries resources

October

Applying science in Belize: from taxonomy to policy

September

Deep-sea fish in deep trouble

August

GOMEX oil spill’s possible impact on fisheries

July

European fisheries policy needs reform

Belize: too precious to drill

June

Underreporting in Madagascar

Atlantic Cod: Past and Present

Daniel Pauly’s surprise sail on the Eloquent

Bigger is better when it comes to MPAs

April

Sea Around Us heads to IMCC2

Response to fishy opinion in the New York Times

March

Can restaurants encourage sustainable seafood consumption?

Screening of End of the Line

February

Fisheries catch re-estimates for the Baltic Sea

Arctic Fish Catches Underreported

January

Global fishing effort increasing and underestimated

Sumaila responds to Branch et al. in Nature

MSC Critique Chosen As Part of Nature’s Top Six of 2010

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December

Scientific American Article Explores Catch Data Controversy

New Study Quantifies Expansion of Fisheries

Leah Biery on oil dispersants: The easy way to clean house

November

Further Declines in Biodiversity for the 21st Century

Understanding impacts of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill: How will fisheries fare?

October

Jellyfish as the Catch du Jour

September

Collaboration with National Geographic on ‘Seafood Print’

How much is that MPA in the ocean?

Scientists question MSC

August

Daniel Pauly talks catch shares

June

Legislators meet to strategize on global fisheries decline

Whale watching: worth a lot

May

Biodiversity in trouble

Sea Around Us speaks at the United Nations

Sea Around Us turns ten

April

Daniel Pauly and others embark on Mission Blue

Mission Blue a success

March

Pauly Receives honorary doctorate in Portugal

Sea Around Us bridges science and society

February

Daniel Pauly delivers keynote at Seafood Summit

Sea Around Us heads to AAAS

January

MEY=MSY

UBC End of the Line screening with Pauly & Sumaila

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December

UNEP video features Rashid Sumaila

November

High seas fleet kept afloat with subsidies

Colombian fisheries bigger than reported

Consumer campaigns, pig feed, and conservation

Sumaila asked to WTO and British House of Commons

Daniel Pauly contributes to the Huffington Post

Daniel Pauly on NPR’s Fresh Air

October

Satellite imagery can improve ocean data

Climate change will affect ocean food supply

September

Aquacalypse Now

May

Daniel Pauly Speaks at IMCC

January

End of the Line premiere

First Global Estimate of Fish Biomass

The post 2009 blog posts appeared first on Sea Around Us.

Caribbean spiny lobster. Photo by James St. John, Wikimedia Commons.

Most of The Bahamas’ signature seafood stocks are being fished harder than the sea can replace them, a new paper led by Sea Around Us researchers and published in Frontiers in Marine Science shows.

These findings are the result of the assessment of 12 of the most commercially and culturally important marine species in the country and draw on reconstructed catch records spanning 73 years (1950 to 2022). They confirm what Bahamian fishers have been saying for a generation: most signature seafood stocks are disappearing from the country’s waters.

Of the dozen species evaluated, 11 are overfished to some degree. Nassau grouper and yellowfin grouper are classified as “grossly overfished.” Queen conch, Caribbean spiny lobster, hogfish, black grouper, rock hind and wahoo are “overfished.” Lane snapper, mutton snapper and gray snapper are “slightly overfished.” Only the dolphinfish, the mahi mahi of beach-hotel menus and offshore recreational trips, is classified as healthy.

To estimate how much biomass —the weight of the population in the water— remains for each of the species, the researchers applied CMSY++, a stock assessment method developed for data-poor fisheries, which they fed with combined reconstructed catches using national landings data provided by the Department of Marine Resources (DMR), long-term PIMS and AGRRA survey data, regional stock assessments from the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern Florida, and IUCN Red List.

“CMSY++ is designed for exactly this situation, a data-limited fishery where the decades of age-sampling and fishery-independent surveys needed for a full traditional assessment are not available, but reconstructed catches and careful priors are,” said Dr. Maria Lourdes ‘Deng’ Palomares, lead author of the paper and manager of the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. “What this work does is stop The Bahamas from flying blind on 12 of its most commercially important species at once. It is a starting point that the previous decade of good intentions and partial surveys could not provide on its own.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE IN NUMBERS

The 73-year reconstruction estimates that The Bahamas has taken roughly 1.3 million tonnes of seafood out of its waters between 1950 and 2022, at an annual average of around 17,500 tonnes. Strikingly, the recreational sector (tourism-driven charter boats, sportfishing, and visiting anglers) is responsible for 46 per cent of the total reconstructed catch over that period. The industrial sector, dominated by the export-oriented spiny lobster fishery, accounts for 26 per cent, artisanal fishers for 23 per cent, and subsistence fishing for 5 per cent.

Caribbean spiny lobster alone is 33 per cent of the country’s total reconstructed catch, roughly 425,000 tonnes over the time series. Queen conch is another 21 per cent. Together, these two invertebrates represent more than half the seafood The Bahamas has extracted from its waters over the past seven decades. Both are now classified as overfished: spiny lobster at 61 per cent of the biomass that would support maximum sustainable yield, which is the theoretical highest catch that a fish stock can sustain in the long-term, given that environmental conditions do not change much. Queen conch, on the other hand, is at 59 per cent.

The reef groupers and snappers tell the hardest story. Yellowfin grouper is at just 40 per cent of the biomass that would support a sustainable harvest, the worst-off species in the paper. Nassau grouper, IUCN-listed as Critically Endangered since 2015, sits at 49 per cent. Catches of Nassau grouper remained above the maximum sustainable yield for nearly 40 years before collapsing from their mid-1990s peak, and have shown no sign of recovery since.

“These species are the backbone of The Bahamas’ domestic seafood supply, supporting commercial and subsistence fishers across the islands and anchoring local food security. Their overfished status means fewer fish in local markets and on local plates unless management action is taken,” said Dr. Krista Sherman, co-author of the study and a researcher at the Perry Institute for Marine Science (PIMS). “These assessments not only improve our understanding of the status of key fisheries but also provide a critical foundation for the sustainable management of these valuable resources moving forward.”

Among the large pelagic species, wahoo is overfished (at 78 per cent of the healthy reference), and dolphinfish is healthy (at 101 per cent). The paper cautions that both are shared stocks in the Western Central Atlantic, and neither has a conclusive population-level assessment for Bahamian waters alone.

“The pattern we see in The Bahamas, a handful of species still productive, most severely depleted, and a gap between what managers can observe and what they can act on, is characteristic of reef fisheries across the tropics,” said Dr. Daniel Pauly, principal investigator of the Sea Around Us, which has reconstructed the catch histories of more than 270 countries and territories since Pauly founded it in 1999. “What makes a difference in this case is the willingness of the Bahamian scientists, led by Dr. Sherman and Dr. Craig Dahlgren at the Perry Institute, to use a rigorous, globally comparable assessment rather than wait for ideal data that may never come. The results should concern anyone who eats Bahamian seafood, and they should motivate the management reforms the country’s own scientists have been advocating for.”

Alongside the paper, PIMS is releasing a set of plain-language species fact sheets for each of the twelve assessed species plus additional culturally important reef species, produced by Bahamian scientific illustrator Andrew Knowles. Each sheet translates the paper’s findings into guidance on identification, biology, fishing method, stock status and sustainability, designed for vendors, restaurants, cooks, anglers and consumers.

The post Eleven of twelve Bahamian seafood species are overfished, new study finds appeared first on Sea Around Us.

Fishing net. Photo by Bicanski, Pixnio.

If humanity wants to continue to derive healthy nutrition from wild-caught fish – as 40 per cent of the global population currently does – it is crucial that fisheries managers and marine conservationists start using the same metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of both sustainable fisheries measures and the establishment of marine protected areas.

A recent study published in Marine Policy shows that, so far, these two sets of actors have had disparate and sometimes conflicting agendas when it comes to their respective marine conservation goals. These goals were established in the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) as target 5 and 10, which calls for all fisheries areas to be sustainably managed by 2030 so that they can continue to provide ecosystem benefits and services (aka seafood), and target 3, which advises the expansion of marine protected areas coverage to 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030 to rebuild marine biodiversity.

“These goals are intrinsically connected as they support both conservation outcomes and fishery productivity,” said Dr. Boris Worm, lead author of the paper and a professor at Dalhousie University. “Yet, we found little evidence of integration when looking at the 19 major fishing areas worldwide. Across those areas, on average, 62 per cent of assessed industrialized fisheries were reported within sustainable limits, while protected area coverage lagged far behind at 10 per cent, with only 3 per cent highly or fully protected.”

According to Dr. Worm, in most jurisdictions, a fundamental challenge lies in the institutional disconnect between agencies tasked with assessing and protecting biodiversity and those that assess and manage fisheries, often leading to poor coordination or conflict over the designation of protected areas.

“Fisheries management typically aims to maximize long-term benefits while maintaining a productive fish stock and ecosystem. This is usually achieved via managing target species close to the abundance that supports maximum sustainable catch. This is different from biodiversity conservation objectives, which aim to restore the abundance and diversity of all species to a level closer to a natural level seen in the absence of fisheries exploitation and other industrial uses,” Dr. Worm said.

The disconnection goes even further, with some Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), which oversee shared fisheries across entire ocean basins, having used closed areas as effective fisheries management measures, yet keeping these areas separated from large-scale MPAs in the same regions. In consequence, the potential joint benefits of these mechanisms may not be achieved.

“There is strong evidence that well-placed and managed protected areas can support nearby fisheries through spillover of larval and adult fish,” said Dr. Daniel Pauly, co-author of the study and principal investigator of the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia. “In addition, the protection of fish habitat can help shelter vulnerable life stages, while elevated biomass, diversity, and reproductive capacity can help build resilience to the effects of climate change.”

The authors propose a model in which management actions in up to 70 per cent of the ocean aim to increase fish biomass to a level which would support maximum sustainable catch, while at least 30 per cent of the ocean is set aside for stronger protection as MPAs or other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs), including and respecting Indigenous and Traditional Territories.

They also recommend that both environmentalists and sustainable fisheries managers use community biomass – the total weight of fish, invertebrates, or other marine species within a given space — as a robust, well-established indicator of abundance, which helps track depletion and recovery of marine life.

“The effectiveness of conservation measures implemented for Target 3 needs to be considered in the context of expected fishery outcomes under Targets 5 and 10. Fisheries management measures primarily aimed at achieving maximum sustainable yield should not be counted as progress toward Target 3, nor should MPAs or OECMs that fail to achieve recovery outcomes above what is expected under sustainable fisheries management,” Dr. Pauly said. “This assessment framework provides a straightforward avenue for correctly classifying area-based management measures as contributions towards either Target 3 or Targets 5 and 10, and for verifying their effectiveness relative to each other and against quantifiable reference points.”

The paper “Integrating global targets for protected areas and sustainable fisheries” was published online in Marine Policy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2026.107152

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