GGGI Newsletter - February 2024
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Dear GGGI Members,
We hope that 2024 finds you well and thriving! Here at GGGI, our team is propelling our programs forward to reach the goals we share with you, our members and colleagues. We are working closely with our partners near and far to remove ALDFG and reduce its impacts. Our focus has been on collaborating with our partners to advance global action on the issue of ghost gear.
This month, we are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 GGGI Small Grants, the presentation of our 5th episode of the GGGI Let’s Talk Ghost Gear webinar, our successful completion of a fisher workshop in Rockport, Maine, and information about our upcoming in-person GGGI Annual Meeting. GGGI staff has also promoted Canadian ghost gear leadership, hosted our fourth government round table, and seventh round table for our seafood industry partners. As usual, it’s been a busy season for GGGI!
The GGGI community draws strength from the success of its members: if you have news you’d like shared in a future edition of the newsletter, please send it to our GGGI Coordinator, Laura Walker at lwalker@oceanconservancy.org. If you know someone who might like to hear future news from us, ask them to subscribe!
Sincerely,
The GGGI Team
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GGGI To Hold First In-Person Annual Meeting for Members Since 2019
GGGI will be holding our Annual Meeting exclusively for GGGI members on May 14-16 in Waikiki, Oahu. The meeting will be held at the Outrigger Reef Hotel, and will include breakout sessions for government and seafood industry partners, as well as an optional field trip to learn about ghost gear protocols in the Hawaiian Islands. GGGI Members should watch for communication of future details from jmcgarry@oceanconservancy.org. We respectfully request your room reservations by April 10, 2024. We hope that all of our members will join us to get reacquainted and learn about all the amazing ghost gear projects that have been done since we last met, and lay the foundation for future collaborations!
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Welcome Caitie Frenkel, GGGI's New Membership Specialist
Caitie is the newest addition to the GGGI team, and joins as our Membership Specialist (Consultant) from the west coast of Canada. She holds a BSc in Marine Biology and a MSc in Environmental Studies, both from the University of Victoria, and brings experience from multiple marine sectors including ecotourism, fisheries, research, and NGOs. Caitie is passionate about collaborative work, and believes that connecting across multiple disciplines and perspectives is key to overcoming the challenges our oceans face today.
Caitie has been a GGGI member in different capacities since 2018, including Archipelago, UVic’s School of Environmental Studies, and the TBuck Suzuki Foundation. Her introduction to the GGGI at Archipelago inspired her to leave fisheries monitoring to study commercial fishing gear loss in Canada’s Pacific for her MSc. She used fisher surveys and predictive modeling to understand why, and where, commercial fishing gear becomes lost locally and will be publishing her research to contribute to the scientific literature. Most recently, Caitie was the Sustainability Director at the TBuck Suzuki Foundation where she collaborated with local fishers, First Nations, NGOs, and academics to conduct fisheries sustainability projects.
Caitie will support a variety of the GGGI’s members including those from academia, NGOs, and the private sector. She will also play an active role in organizing member webinars (stay tuned!), fostering new and existing data partnerships, and organizing the monthly GGGI Expert Advisory Council meetings. Caitie is looking forward to meeting the GGGI’s members and focusing her efforts on a global stage.
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Congratulations to the 2024 GGGI Small Grants Recipients
and the Joanna Toole Awardees
The GGGI 2024 awardees have been announced! This year we received many applications requesting more than $500,000 USD. Selecting successful projects was, as always, extremely challenging, and we thank everyone who sent in an application - your work is invaluable. Support for these projects was made possible by the generous support of the Government of Norway, ORCA, and the Joanna Toole Foundation.
In the end, the selection committee, including GGGI staff with input from our Expert Advisory Council, selected the following projects for funding. Congratulations to all successful applicants!
2024 Small Grants Recipients:
LISA ANLRS
Indigo Waters
Patuakhali Science and Technology University
Stand Out For Environment Restoration Initiative
2024 Joanna Toole Awardees
Biosfera
Manta Caribbean Project
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GGGI Continues to Elevate the Importance of Addressing ALDFG at International Policy Fora
To help advance effective and coordinated policy measures for the management of ALDFG globally, GGGI’s leadership team continues to participate in key international policy fora most recently including the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) eleventh session of the sub-committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR 11), the eighty-first session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 81) as well as the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6).
At IMO, whilst progress has been slow, we are supporting the implementation of the action plan to address marine plastic litter from ships including the amendment to MARPOL Annex V regarding the mandate for gear-marking and gear reporting as well as working with member states to ensure complementarity with other policy interventions such as the internationally legally binding instrument on plastic pollution (ILBI).
UNEA-6 brings together world governments, civil society groups, the scientific community and the private sector to shape the global environmental policy focusing on the way in which multilateralism can help tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. The ILBI forms an integral part of discussions, and as such, we continue to engage with member states to ensure cohesion across MEAs whilst informing national positions and providing technical expertise as we prepare for the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution (INC-4) to be held in Ottowa in April.
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Let’s Talk Ghost Gear - Episode 5: Regional Perspectives on ALDFG - Asia,
Recording Available Now!
Thank you so much to our panelists and those who were able to attend and participate in Let’s Talk Ghost Gear Episode 5: Regional Perspectives on ALDFG – Asia. Although we’ve barely scratched the surface of this topic, it was a great conversation and will hopefully lead to many more such conversations to come.
Thanks again and looking forward to connecting during future episodes!
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GGGI Holds Workshop for Fishers, Stakeholders, in Rockport, Maine
On February 10 & 11, 2024, GGGI held a workshop for fishers and stakeholders in Rockport, ME, following on from similar workshops the GGGI has hosted in Portland, ME, Saint John, NB and Halifax, NS. The workshop was well attended by fishers, NGOs, and government agencies, who came together to discuss the practical and organizational aspects of the prevention and removal of ALDFG in Maine waters. Maine is the largest lobster producing state in the U.S., employing over 5000 lobster harvesters and providing over 1 billion dollars of income to the Maine economy. GGGI is doing work in the area to help local fishers overcome obstacles to remove lost gear, which threatens the marine ecosystem and the sustainability of future lobster stocks.
GGGI Associate Director Joel Baziuk provided a presentation entitled Tools for Effective Management of Ghost Gear in the Gulf of Maine. Laura Walker, GGGI Coordinator, and Perry Broderick, Ocean Outcomes Communications and Systems Director, also attended to facilitate the workshop. Discussions held during the workshop included ways in which fishers, NGOs, and government agencies can collaborate to expedite removal of lost fishing gear.
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GGGI Holds Roundtable Meeting with ICCF and Mexican Senate
to Discuss Ghost Gear Legislation
On Wednesday Feb 21st, GGGI Project Coordinator Claudia Cecilia Olimon, International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF), and the Commission on the Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change of the Mexican Senate held a roundtable to discuss a draft decree which amends and adds various provisions of the general law for the prevention and comprehensive management of waste and to the general law of sustainable fishing and aquaculture. The draft decree includes elements to combat ghost gear and it was presented by Senator Alejandra Lagunes, of the Parliamentary Group of the Green Party of Mexico at the LXV Legislature of the Honorable Congress of the Union. The objective was for experts in ghost gear to provide input on the decree. Participants were from the Mexican Federal Government, Senators, technical teams of legislators, and NGOs such as WildCoast, Parley, CEDO, Hagamos Mas and Pesca ABC. Also academics and private sector such as Bureo.
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The Globe and Mail Interviews GGGI Associate Director Joel Baziuk about
Canada's Leadership in Tackling Ghost Gear
While Ghost Gear is an international problem, many countries are creating legislation to address the issue and mitigate the long term, devastating effects on the marine environment and important fisheries. The Globe and Mail spoke to GGGI Associate Director Joel Baziuk to gain his perspective on Canada’s way of confronting the issue.
“Canada is really at the bleeding edge when it comes to directly trying to address this problem in a global context,” he said in an interview. “It is in the top two or three in the world for doing this work in a systematic way, with a dedicated program.”
Canada’s Ghost Gear Fund has delivered almost $58-million CAD to date for cleanup projects. Collectively, those projects have retrieved more than 1,900 tonnes of fishing gear and aquaculture debris in the Pacific and Atlantic regions, both in fresh and saltwater. An ALDFG predictive model developed by GGGI Membership Specialist and University of Victoria graduate, Caitlin Frenkel, may be used in future BC ghost gear removals.
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GGGI Project Coordinator Claudia Olimon Interviewed by
UNAM Radio Program, Habinare
On February 5, 2024 GGGI North American Net Collection Initiative (NANCI) Project Coordinator Claudia Cecilia Olimon was interviewed on the Habitare Radio program, associated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Habitare seeks to generate awareness on environmental issues, and seeks to be a driving force for action in the fight against the destruction of our planet, as well as creating a platform for disseminating research carries out by the UNAM’s Institute of Ecology. The interview includes a discussion of ALDFG and the associated ecological impact on local ecosystems and fishing communities, as well as GGGI’s removal efforts through the NANCI project.
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Welcome to our new GGGI members!
The GGGI continues to grow stronger - a warm welcome to new members Wesward Venture Fisheries Limited and CERMIM and regional seas convention, HELCOM (Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission)!
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We Want To Hear From You!
We're always looking to promote the various stories and successes of our GGGI Members! If you have something ghost gear related that you would like us to put in our newsletter, please email GGGI Coordinator, Laura Walker at lwalker@oceanconservancy.org.
Thanks so much for your support for the GGGI!
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