Lazar Leads Panel at International Forum

CRC senior fisheries management adviser, Najih Lazar, was invited to lead a high-level panel and discussion at the Crans Montana Forum on Africa and South-South Cooperation in Dakhla, Morocco, from March 15 to 20. Portrait of Lazar
The forum brought together heads of state and government, ministers, regional and international organizations, and above all key businesses based in Africa and the South-South.

Lazar led the panel “Ocean Economy and Fishing Industry, A Strategic Sector for Africa,” which addressed issues of concern for the Blue Belt Initiative, a South-South integrated regional cooperation and development tool. Those issues included:

1. Economic potential of the fishing industry
2. Understanding climate-change challenges to sustainability and food security
3. Supporting new integrated coastal observation systems and facilitating their integration globally
4. Encouraging actions for sustainable fishing on the entire value chain in order to
fight ocean warming
5. Fostering the development of sustainable aquaculture, particularly seaweed farming

Web site Home Page for Blue Belt
Lazar is very proud of the Blue Belt Initiative. (It’s Web site just recently launched.) Blue Belt established an African collaborative platform to find practical and locally developed solutions for the impact of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

Lazar’s work upholds CRC’s reputation as an organization where talented, experienced, technical staff are engaged in coastal science and management challenges around the world.

CRC to Hire Business Coordinator for International Projects

The Center is adding an experienced business administrator to its International Team. The Coordinator. International Field Projects will help directors, principal investigators, and technical staff manage the business and fiscal operations of a growing portfolio of multi-institutional, multi-million-dollar projects that are ongoing in several countries around the world.

Responsibilities include administrative, financial, and support services, and operation of systems that track expenses and cash flows relative to annual work budgets.

The successful applicant will possess a bachelor’s degree in business, accounting, or a related field and a minimum of five years of business management experience, including budget preparation and personnel management, income and expense analysis, and managing federal research grants and contracts.

With a unique balance for each project, CRC’s international programs focus on and support: 1) Safe, local, abundant, and sustainable seafood; 2) Thriving coastal communities; 3) Vibrant, well-managed oceans, coasts, and watersheds.

Complete details about this position can be found on the URI Web site at:

https://jobs.uri.edu/postings/3261

CRC a Key Partner in New USAID Project for Madagascar

CRC recently received the great news that a new USAID project in Madagascar has been given the green light.

The project, titled Hay Tao (or “know-how” in Malagasy), will focus on natural resource management and involve several partners, including the World Resources Institute and Blue Ventures, with whom CRC currently collaborates in Madagascar on capacity development for managers of locally managed marine areas. A lagoon in Madagascar

Hay Tao’s lead is Pact, a nonprofit international development organization that works around the world to improve the lives of those challenged by poverty and marginalization. CRC will lead the efforts that focus on coastal communities and marine protected areas. This project will draw on the Center’s more than two decades of similar experience in the Western Indian Ocean region.

The project announcement was made on World Wildlife Day.  According to USAID: “Hay Tao is the largest U.S. environmental investment in Madagascar in nearly a decade and represents the U.S. government’s strong commitment to preserving Madagascar’s unique environmental heritage.” The press release from USAID continues: “Hay Tao, a five-year activity valued at $23 million USD, will be one of two major activities under a Conservation and Communities Project (CCP) operated by USAID. CCP will focus on strengthening and empowering local communities to lead the way on managing nearby natural resources ‘from reefs to rainforests to regulators.’”

Ghana Celebrates Independence Day

Wood Carving of Ghana Fishing Canoe

On its Independence Day, we celebrate our Ghanaian partners in their accomplishments over the last 61 years.  We look forward to continue working with them on ongoing challenges for food security, such as developing a sustainable fishery and managing the Fall Armyworm infestation regionally.

Here are some links to recent efforts:

Fisheries and Food Security: A briefing from the USAID/Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project, January 2018:
https://www.crc.uri.edu/download/GH2014_POL055_CRC_FIN508.pdf

Issue Brief: Ghana’s Small Pelagic Fishery in Crisis, National and Regional Food Security at Risk: https://www.crc.uri.edu/download/GH2014_COM003_CRC_FIN508.pdf

Regional efforts on the Fall Armyworm: https://www.usaid.gov/benin/press-releases/02-13-2018-fall-armyworm-workshop-benin-press

Walsh to Lead Center

 

Portrait of J.P. Walsh
CRC Director, Dr. J.P. Walsh

CRC is pleased to announce that in January Dr. J.P. Walsh will take the helm as the Center’s new director. Dr. Walsh, a coastal geoscientist, comes to URI after serving as Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at East Carolina University (ECU), where he also was a Senior Scientist in the Institute for Coastal Science and Policy and the Co-Program Head of Coastal Processes at the University of North Carolina Coastal Studies Institute. His work explores how sedimentation and marine processes affect the coast and its resources. It has been shared with researchers, students, and community audiences around the world, most recently in France as part of a Fulbright scholarship. Dr. Walsh looks forward to bringing these same interests to CRC’s expertise in coastal management policy and practice.  “My hope,” says Dr. Walsh, is that “the blending of my work with CRC’s talents and experience will yield benefits for coastal communities in Rhode Island and around the globe.”

 

In addition to his role as CRC Director, Dr. Walsh will conduct research and teach at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography.

International Students Arrive at URI

Faculty and staff at the Coastal Resources Center (CRC) welcomed 13 international graduate students to URI and Rhode Island last week with a potluck dinner social.

These master’s- and Ph.D.-degree candidates hail from Eritrea, Ghana, Indonesia, and Malawi. They’ll be furthering their studies at URI’s College of Environmental and Life Sciences and Graduate School of Oceanography with financial support from USAID/Ghana’s Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP), USAID FISH Project in Malawi, and the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Through CRC’s Ambassador Program, the students are receiving logistical support for living in New England, and have been adopted by a new family of friends and well-wishers.

CRC Joins Hundreds of Fishers for World Fisheries Day Celebration in Ghana

 

Dignitaries at high table
Dignitaries at the high table: From left – Paramount Chief of Cape Coast (Osabarima Kwesi Atta II – with microphone in hand); USAID/SFMP Chief of Party (Dr. Brian Crawford); President, National Fish Processors and Traders Association (Mrs. Regina Solomon)

The Coastal Resources Center (CRC), through its USAID-supported Sustainable Fisheries Management Project in Ghana, joined many around the globe to commemorate World Fisheries Day 2016, centered on the theme empowering fishing communities.” The event culminated with fishing communities signing a pledge to promote and commit to responsible fishing practices, in Cape Coast; close to the Castle visited by President Obama several years ago. World Fisheries Day is celebrated every year on November 21. The celebration in Ghana however took place on Tuesday November 22; because Tuesdays are traditional fishing holidays for artisanal fishers in Ghana. The event was organized by the major fishermen and fish processors associations in Ghana and is by the fisher folk and for the fisher folk to express their concerns about declining fish stocks in Ghana’s marine waters and their commitments to support sustainable and responsible fishing practices to rebuild Ghana’s marine fisheries; the marine sector makes up approximately 80% of the country’s domestic landings, employs over 140,000 people and provides 60% of the animal protein in local diet. For more information, click here

US EPA Administrator lauds SFMP Smoker Initiatives during visit to Ghana

Administrator Gina McCarthy of the US Environmental Protection Agency, says 17,000 Ghanaians die annually from air pollution. “Women and children are more vulnerable; 200,000 children in Ghana keep suffering from air pollution. When children suffer, the economy suffers. It is therefore important and ideal to continue developing technologies like clean cook stoves that reduce air pollution.” She made the remarks at a public lecture in Cape Coast after a visit to a focal site of the USAID/Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project – SFMP – in Elmina on Monday, October 10. The visit, forms part of a series of tours in Ghana, to foster greater collaboration and commitment between the US and Ghana Governments relative to climate change.  Click here for full story

“Fishing Communities in Ghana to Benefit from Micro-Insurance”

Coastal Resources Center, four others sign agreement

The Coastal Resources Center of the University of Rhode Island and four other organizations signed an agreement Tuesday, October 11, 2016, in Accra to provide life micro-insurance for fishing communities in Ghana. This initiative is under the auspices of the USAID/Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project, a US Government Feed the Future Initiative. The initiative also forms part of a commitment to transform and develop Ghana’s Fisheries and Agricultural sector. It is also aimed at supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for poverty and hunger reduction. Read full story

US Ambassador to Ghana Urges Ghanaian Fisher folk to Maintain Children in Home Environment

August 12, 2016 – The United States Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P Jackson on Friday, appealed to fisher folk in Elmina, an important fishing port in the Central Region, to maintain children in their home environment with their families and offer them good education instead of trafficking them into child labor-related activities that affect their health and ability to develop properly in life. Ambassador Jackson made the call when he visited the fishing community, which is a focal site of the USAID-funded Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP), implemented by the Coastal Resources Center (CRC) at the Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island. Read the full story