Ghana Web Notes SFMP Activities

Recent activities of the SFMP  are being reported on Ghana Web, a premier Ghanaian news website. The article reports that the SFMP partner organization Development Action Association (DAA) presented fish processing equipment to the women who exhibited outstanding leadership in advocacy for responsible fishing and safe post-harvest fish handling practices.

McCann Nominated for Peter Benchley Ocean Awards

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, has nominated CRC U.S. Program Director Jennifer McCann for the 2016 Peter Benchley Ocean Awards.

These awards acknowledge outstanding achievement across many sectors of society leading to the protection of our oceans and coasts and the communities that depend on them. Awards are made across a broad range of ocean categories, including national stewardship, science, policy, media, solutions, exploration, youth and activism.

The awards’ website says the honers were “co-founded by Wendy Benchley and David Helvarg and named in honor of Peter Benchley, author of “Jaws” … and celebrate the life and legacy of a man who spent more than 40 years educating the public and expanding awareness of the importance of protecting sharks and ocean ecosystems.”

Winners will be announced Feb. 1.

CRC Authors Chapter in Ocean Resources Management Book

bookcoverThe recently published “Routledge Handbook of Ocean Resources and Management” features some familiar names. US Team Director Jennifer McCann, CRC director emeritus Stephen B. Olsen and Marine Research Assistant Monique LaFrance Bartley co-authored a chapter titled “Marine spatial planning in the United States: triangulating between state and federal roles and responsibilities.” The chapter can be found in the portion of the book devoted to the geography of the sea, under the section titled “Regional developments: key core maritime regions.”

The handbook is available on Amazon and as e-book on Kindle.

CRC Helping Shape IUCN Strategy on Protected Area Capacity Development

CRC’s capacity development experience and expertise have influenced the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) 10-year strategic plan for capacity development in protected areas and the plan’s codifying document, the Strategic Framework for Capacity Development in Protected Areas and other Conservation Territories 2015-2025.

CRC has long been a leader in capacity development of coastal managers and protected area staff through its work with the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association and its Marine Protected Area Professionals certification program as part of the United States Agency for International Development-funded Sustainable Coastal Communities and Ecosystems program (2004-2014).

That experience led the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas to name CRC Coastal Manager Glenn Ricci to its Capacity Development Working Group. The group began working on the strategic plan in 2013, and it was adopted in November 2014 at the World Parks Congress, which convenes once a decade. The recently published framework is a result of the strategy planning process and ongoing refinements. CRC played a leading role in developing the strategy’s program to professionalize protected area management. CRC will continue to participate in the working group and incorporate many of the strategies into its own field programs around the world.

“Fortified Home” Sets New Standard in Resilient Construction

Check out Rhode Island’s first home built to “Fortified Home,” certification standards. This voluntary standard set forth by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety is designed for increased resistance to storm damage. Two other homes in Rhode Island are being built or renovated to Fortified specifications, according CRC’s Pam Rubinoff. Stay tuned for more on CRC’s involvement in this important coastal resilience development.

SFMP Gets Big Coverage in Ghana Newspaper

DailyGraphic-NewsFeature113015The Daily Graphic, considered the widest-selling newspaper in Ghana, ran a center spread special feature Nov. 30 on the crisis in the fisheries sector in Ghana. The story and photos, titled “Revamp the Fisheries Sector,” discussed CRC’s role in addressing the problem through the work of the USAID-funded Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP).

The article discussed key activities of SFMP and mentioned Brian Crawford, CRC’s in-country chief of party for the project.

CRC Seminar Today: The Future of Coral Reef Fisheries Management

reefwebpostJoin CRC Tuesday, Dec. 8, from 3-4 p.m. at the Coastal Institute Auditorium on Bay Campus for the next presentation of our fall seminar series: “Moving beyond simple spatial solutions: what does coral reef fisheries management look like in the future?”

This informative program will be presented by Dr. Austin Humphries, Assistant Professor, Department of Fisheries, Animal, and Veterinary Sciences at URI. The talk will explore how marine protected areas have been widely adopted as a leading ecosystem-based management tool for coral reef fisheries and how there can be negative impacts on cultural traditions, social cohesion, and surrounding fisheries, often making then socially unacceptable. Case studies of coral reef fisheries management in east Africa will be presented.