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By Allison Shields (EDF), Catherine Bruger (Ocean Conservancy), and Chris McGuire (The Nature Conservancy) From smartwatches tracking our steps to news alerts on our phones to live traffic updates while driving, data has become central to our daily lives and how we interact with the world. For fishermen traveling miles offshore in search of fish,

Environmental Defense Fund works alongside communities in The Bahamas to co-develop and advance solutions that work for people and nature.

By Jacqui Vogel (EDF) and Dr. Sarah Glaser (WWF) Oceans are under immense threat from climate change. Around the world, oceanographic changes like melting sea ice, warming waters, sea level rise and shifting fish populations make access to marine resources more uncertain and less secure. Climate change threatens to disrupt the communities, supply chains and …

The world is gathered in Dubai for the 28th Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework for Climate Change Convention, otherwise known as COP28. Over a two-week span, government delegations come together to negotiate what actions the world needs to take to achieve a future under 1.5 degrees. This will set the tone …

Extreme weather, driven by climate change, was already hitting these farmers and fishers hard. Then El Niño happened. For the world's food producers, the need for resilience suddenly got 

The approximately 1 billion people who rely on seafood need the world's fishers to adapt to our changing climate.

Mangroves are important for some communities in Ecuador who rely on the crabs that live among the roots to sustain their livelihoods, but the coastal wetland forests are also an important part in fighting climate change.

By Karly Kelso (EDF), Dr. Michelle Tigchelaar (Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions), and Dr. Malin Jonell (Stockholm Resilience Center) This piece was originally published in Swedish here.  The last few years have wrought havoc on the food supply, particularly for the people trapped in the cycle of poverty. COVID, climate change and conflict have disrupted …

Leading Environmental Group Files Amicus Brief in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo

This piece is now available on Mongabay. During New York Climate Week, climate leaders will gather together to make essential decisions to mitigate the effects of climate change. It is critical that our oceans are a priority. The ocean is profoundly underfunded, and yet it is absolutely vital to billions of lives around the world …

Marine protected areas (MPA) are a conservation tool that sets aside part of the ocean to protect it for long-term conservation, similar to the way a state or national park functions on land. These MPAs are an effective way to preserve biodiversity by protecting ecosystems. But how are they utilized by people, and do they …

Traditional aquaculture paired with modern science could make for environmentally friendly, sustainable fishing. 

By Ruth Driscoll-Lovejoy and Amy Folkerts Ocean farmers are making a splash in the sustainable seafood market — and they don’t need state-of-the-art facilities to do it.  Thimble Island Ocean Farm in Connecticut is a commercial seaweed and shellfish farm and serves as an innovation hub for GreenWave, a nonprofit replicating and scaling regenerative aquaculture.

By Julia Mason and Sarah Weisberg What will it take to create climate-resilient fisheries? Fisheries scientists and managers across the US have been sensing a change in the air — and not just the highest temperatures ever recorded, although they probably contribute. There’s a growing sense of climate urgency in fishery management conversations and agendas.

By Lucy Vogt, EDF Seafood Policy Intern Last month, Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW) welcomed environmental businesses, leaders, and shakers — and one brand-new intern. CHOW investigated the intersection between the ocean and the climate by facilitating conversations about ocean opportunities. Even though the ocean covers more than 70% of the earth, produces 50% of …

By EDF’s Jose Ingles, Jimely Flores and Rod Fujita, and Joseph Warren, Stony Brook University Small fish have a big role. Fisheries for sardine, herring and anchovy species collectively produce more yield than any other fisheries worldwide and account for about one-third of total global catches arriving in ports. These fisheries span the globe and …

EDF’s delegation to the climate talks taking place in Bonn, Germany from June 5 to June 15, 2023 give us some insights into the issues they're following.

Environmental Defense Fund led a participatory study to assess how vulnerable recreational fisheries in the Caribbean will be to climate change.

Smartphone-based catch reporting and the SmartPass camera system have been implemented to generate reliable estimates of total effort and total catch in Lampung’s blue swimming crab fishery.

Around the world, 3 billion people depend on fish as a vital source of nutrition. As the climate changes and the global population grows, artisanal fishers are on the frontlines in the fight to address food insecurity and protect marine ecosystems for generations to come.

The following statement was issued by Eric Schwaab, Senior Vice President of People and Nature at Environmental Defense Fund, in response to the recent decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to strike down the regulation governing the electronic monitoring program used by for-hire fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico.

By Ming Sun, Stony Brook University, and Adityo Setiawan, Environmental Defense Fund From warming ocean waters to increased acidification and rising sea levels, it’s no wonder that fish are on the move to find suitable habitat! Climate change is creating dramatic shifts in species’ distributions and affecting their productivity. Fisheries managers who try to ensure …

EDF has been working with partners to make our fisheries more climate resilient. This work includes identifying solutions and developing tools so that fishery managers and fishermen can adapt to changing oceans.

By Nathan Willse, Stony Brook University, and Harlisa Harlisa, Environmental Defense Fund Crustacean fisheries offer enormous opportunities as high-value and potentially resilient alternatives to over-exploited finfish stocks. However, rising global demand for crustacean products and rapid environmental change call for an increased focus on the sustainable management of crustacean stocks. While landings, the catch received …

As global populations grow and fish populations shift or even shrink, one thing is clear: offshore aquaculture in the United States is a matter of when not if. We talked to some experts to better understand what we know, what we need to know, and where we go from here.