Mystic, Connecticut - 13-15 November 2007


Building upon the successful fisheries workshop held in Del Mar, California in 2005 and arising from several important initiatives that emerged among the participants of that conference, Sand County Foundation, with support from the Alex C. Walker Foundation, Brenda Christensen and Tom Barry, the Bradley Fund for the Environment, and Kingfisher Foundation, brought together more than 50 fishers for a second "Improving Fisheries Management" conference.
 
The timing for this conference was critical for two reasons:

First, new flexibility in national fisheries law is creating space for innovation and new opportunities for participants in the fishing industry to assume higher levels of management responsibility.

Second, several fisher-led monitoring and management projects are coming to maturity. It is important to reinforce the messages of resource holder responsibility, market incentives, adaptive management, and independent review now during this period of interpretation and adjustment to revised legislative and market environments.

The workshop had an Atlantic Ocean focus. It emphasized an exchange of ideas between fishermen. Case studies on management, regulations, cooperative research, and marketing were included.
 
"I came to this meeting believing that we needed to limit the scope of fisheries reform," said David Preble, New England Fisheries Management Council. "I now see that we have got to be thinking much bigger."
 
The conference also included a select number of influential managers, fisheries economists, scientific experts, and donors who participated as observers.

*** FINAL MYSTIC REPORT ***

Meeting Agenda (PDF)

Participant List (PDF)


PowerPoint Presentations from the Conference (PDF):
  • Amy Grondin - Direct Seafood Marketing Program  ( ** For an in-depth look at Washington State Salmon as wildlife and as food, go to Report from the Washington Salmon Lunch at Lark in Seattle )

  • Annie Tselikis - Downeast Initiative: A Pilot Project to Regain Access to Groundfish in Eastern Maine through Community-Based Local Area Management

  • Brent Haglund - Welcome from Sand County Foundation

  • Dennis Nixon - Fighting for Justice: From a Public Resource to a Limited Access Program

  • Jean Guy D'Entremont - Scotia-Fundy Ocean to Plate Integrated Groundfish Pilot

  • Leesa Cobb - Community Based Management: A Community Initiative on Oregon's Southern Coast

  • Patty King - Fishermen and Scientists Research Society: A Proven Model for Effective Collaboration

  • Peter Halmay - On the Road to Co-management in the San Diego Urchin Fishery

  • Wes Erikson - Multi-species Individual Quota Program

New fisheries management system debated
By: Becky Evans
Standard-Times staff writer
January 16, 2008
NARRAGANSETT, R.I. — Stakeholders in New England's fisheries are meeting this week to discuss a controversial management tool that would give fishermen more control over when and how often they go to sea. Read more ...

Event Photos

Del Mar, Calif. - 11-13 January 2005

Fisheries experts increasingly emphasize the impact and usefulness of fisherman-to-fisherman exchanges. Sand County Foundation and the Alex C. Walker Foundation hosted North American fishers at a meeting that advanced the collective understanding of sustainable marine fisheries management.

This workshop was different from previous fisheries management meetings—it was not a debate among biologists and economists. This workshop brought together the people closest to marine resources –fishermen and women. The workshop involved a small set of the best and brightest examples from local initiatives in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The discussions and outcomes were focused on what is possible.

New approaches to establishing user rights, developing management and marketing cooperatives, and distributing quota shares are emerging. The ingenuity of North American fishermen is legendary, leading not only to better ways of catching fish but also to reducing by-catch, creating more robust stock monitoring systems, deploying new technology, and clever enforcement strategies.

We are not suggesting that what has worked in the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Canada, or Alaska should be employed wholesale in other places. We are suggesting that this workshop helped participants see their challenges in a new light, armed them with new ideas, fresh perspectives, and renewed determination. Sand County Foundation will draw upon the proceedings of the meeting to inform policy makers, journalists, donors, and industry analysts about the tremendous conservation potential of fisheries self governance.

The participants were among a small but growing set of people who recognize that their livelihoods and sport hinge upon mutual trust and compliance with performance standards.

This workshop helped to answer the following questions:

  • What are the obstacles to shifting more rights and responsibility to fishermen?
  • How can participants in a fishery work to shape local institutions that are self-financing, self-regulating, fair, transparent, and responsive to the needs of the marine resources?
  • How can fisheries transition from effort-controlled systems to “asset building” systems?
  • How can fisheries diversify or otherwise position themselves to survive downturns or closures associated with stock rebuilding?

*** FINAL DEL MAR REPORT ***

Event Photos

 

 

Bradley Fund for the Environment co-sponsors New Zealand fisheries tour

Sand County Foundation's Bradley Fund for the Environment, along with the Alex C. Walker Foundation, California Sea Grant, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, sponsored a New Zealand fisheries tour in March 2006 for fishing community leaders from the United States who were interested in New Zealand's approach to fisheries management. 


The Bradley Fund for the Environment helped the San Diego Watermen's Association make strides in their groundbreaking fisheries research.