CRC’s work with women oyster harvesters in The Gambia has drawn the attention of the British online development magazine, the New Agriculturist.
A feature story and photos on the success of the TRY Oyster Women’s Association, an initiative supported through CRC’s Gambia-Senegal Sustainable Fisheries Project, appears under its Developments section with the headline, “The world is your oyster – if you TRY!” The piece follows the evolution of the group, its challenges, achievements and future goals and discusses the role of CRC in helping TRY succeed.
New Agriculturist will further publicize the piece through Facebook and Twitter and will highlight it in its January e-newsletter.
A video produced by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) on sustainable fisheries in developing nations features CRC’s Gambia-Senegal Sustainable Fisheries Project (USAID/BaNafaa). Since 2009 CRC has been working in The Gambia on a participatory, ecosystem-based co-management approach to sustainably manage the artisanal sole fishery. The MSC conducted a pre-assessment of that fishery in 2008 that helped identify areas for improvement in sustainable management. Over the last five years, fishery stakeholders have made significant progress and learned valuable lessons in application of the MSC process. These perspectives are shared in this new MSC video featuring The Gambian sole fishery among other developing country fisheries pursuing MSC certification, a recognition of sustainable management of a fishery that may positively influence consumers’ choices.
NARRAGANSETT — CRC has secured $659,238 in grant funds from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for a two-year project focused on educating both experienced and emerging coastal and ocean professionals about the newest management techniques for planning the allocation of uses and resources in increasingly busy and crowded oceans.
“The Coastal Resources Center at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography has a long and distinguished record to bring science, management and policy studies together to address important coastal and oceanic issues,” GSO Dean Bruce Corliss said. “This grant will allow CRC to help groups and institutions address critical needs in marine spatial planning and will have a significant impact on ocean sustainability in the future.”
CRC, which developed for the state a celebrated and model ocean planning document, the Rhode Island Ocean Special Area Management Plan (Ocean SAMP), is providing an innovative training program based on Ocean SAMP lessons learned to a worldwide network of ocean and coastal practitioners. Results from this project, as with all CRC projects, will subsequently inform and enhance the entire portfolio of CRC coastal and ocean management work – knowledge made available to the public.
“This grant has been provided in large part due to the breadth of practical on-the-ground experience and knowledge CRC has attained over decades of work on marine issues. This grant will assist in disseminating best practices and helping other groups and institutions to apply innovative and proven approaches for improved governance of our oceans,” said Jennifer McCann, CRC U.S. programs director and Rhode Island Sea Grant College program extension leader.
The Moore Foundation award is its second for CRC. The first, in 2012, funded an international marine spatial planning symposium based on the learnings of the Ocean SAMP process. The latest award will allow CRC to provide opportunities for national and international practitioners to learn from each other. This includes hosting another symposium and sharing CRC’s process for developing the Ocean SAMP as well as the experiences of other states and regions in proactive ocean planning to protect coastal resources while maintaining and encouraging appropriate development.
“Rhode Island has been a leader in marine spatial planning thanks to the efforts of CRC, which Rhode Island Sea Grant has been proud to support. I congratulate CRC on this grant from the Moore Foundation that will help this team share best practices with professionals around the world,” said Rhode Island Sea Grant Director Dennis Nixon.
The current work will assist other communities and allow Rhode Island practitioners to bring new techniques back to the state.
“We believe smart ocean planning can protect both economic interests and biological resources for generations to come,” said Barry Gold, program director for the Moore Foundation’s Marine Conservation Initiative. “Rhode Island is a leader in ocean planning, and we’re excited to see how CRC can leverage their local experience to help improve sustainable management of oceans around the globe.”
Pamela Rubinoff, a coastal manager at CRC, has become a certified floodplain manager through the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFM). The national certification program recognizes continuing education and professional develop that enhance the knowledge and performance of floodplain managers. ASFM is an organization of flood hazard specialists working in both the public and private sectors around the nation.
Narragansett — Jennifer McCann, extension director for Rhode Island Sea Grant and a coastal manager at CRC, was recognized by the Northeast Regional Sea Grant Consortium for her work in training practitioners locally, throughout the U.S. and around the world in marine spatial planning.
McCann received the region’s individual award for “Outstanding Outreach Achievement” at the consortium’s meeting Nov. 18 in New Bedford, Mass.
Rick DeVoe, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium director, nominated McCann for the award. He cited her work in not only helping to create the R.I. Ocean Special Area Management Plan, but also in bringing lessons learned from that project to practitioners in the U.S. and around the world at the 2012 Baird Symposium on International Marine Spatial Planning. That symposium was a first step toward developing an international community of marine spatial planners, which McCann has supported through a series of communications efforts, including a blog, a video series and a practitioners guide.
“What is so valuable about McCann’s program is that it not only addresses the needs of practitioners today, but it is actively working to build tomorrow’s ocean leaders,” DeVoe wrote.
An extensive survey after the symposium showed that McCann’s efforts are paying off. All respondents reported being more inspired and/or empowered to advance their MSP effort after attending the symposium, and a third reported concrete gains, such as engaging stakeholders with more confidence and success, and making a greater effort to gain political support for their projects. Over half of respondents have focused more attention on identifying and defining key drivers and issues.
DeVoe wrote that he sought out McCann in order to strategize MSP opportunities for the South Carolina Sea Grant program and the South Atlantic Alliance. McCann has also provided tailored MSP technical assistance to the Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Connecticut, and New York Sea Grant programs.
The Providence Journal and The Westerly Sun report on a story about planned collaboration between URI and Indonesian government officials, who will come to the university next fall to study fisheries and marine affairs. CRC and GSO helped forge the relationship with Indonesia years ago and will be involved in this partnership.To read the stories click the links below:
URI builds on its relationship with Indonesian fisheries professionals and educators with an agreement to bring government professionals from the Southeast Asian country to study fisheries management and marine-related fields on campus starting next fall. Read more here.
Brian Crawford, director of international programs at CRC, and Toni Ruchimat of Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, lead a brief ceremony at the Mosby Center on Bay Campus to begin the three-week fisheries course.
A delegation of Indonesian officials studied sustainable fisheries management at URI in September and returned home with much more than the luggage they arrived with. They took home knowledge, skills and commitment to craft their nation’s first fisheries management plan.
Sixteen government and university representatives participated in the three-week program “Leadership for Fisheries Management” offered by the Coastal Resources Center of the Graduate School of Oceanography and the Fisheries Center of the College of Environment and Life Sciences. The group, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), sought out a custom program at URI because of the university’s record of innovation in fisheries, its long history of collaboration with Indonesia and its experience providing a rich, hands-on learning experience. Indonesia’s fisheries leaders knew they needed more than a traditional training class to prepare to develop a national plan for ecologically sustainable, economically strong and resilient fisheries.
“You are not just sitting in the classroom listening to lectures,” said Tonny Wagey, who works in Marine and Fisheries Research and Development at the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. “What I have learned is to open my mind to sharing experiences with colleagues and learning from the ‘doers,’ the local fishermen.” The participants split their time between the Bay Campus and East Farm’s Fisheries Center, and spent time in Point Judith, Jamestown and Hyannis, Mass., listening to and speaking with fishermen, fish processors, local and regional government officials and others. They toured a processing facility one day and went trawling to study selectivity on Narragansett Bay another day.
Yet, the program wasn’t about simply talking to the locals. These fisheries experts were here to learn how to come together as leaders and present a plan to their nation in an effective and convincing way. CRC’s Brian Crawford, one of the course instructors and a fisheries expert, said he could see the participants become more cohesive as the days passed. “They really bonded as a group and developed a degree of trust. That goes a long way since they have been designated as an intra-agency task force to design Indonesia’s first-ever adaptive co-management process for one of the most important fisheries management areas in Indonesia, the Arafura Sea,” Crawford said.
That plan was beginning to take shape by the end of the three weeks because course leaders Crawford, Glenn Ricci of CRC/GSO and Kathy Castro of FAVS/CELS put the participants right to work. They broke into small groups to develop draft elements of a fisheries management planning strategy for their nation, presented their work to the group and had it openly critiqued. “This is a good learning process for us,” said Saut Tampubolon of the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Capture Fisheries. “I am more confident about contributing and taking part in developing a plan.”
Celly Catharina of the United States Agency for Development Environment Office in Jakarta agreed. “It’s important to bring all the different partners together to learn to work toward the same goals,” said Catharina, who attended the program.
The critiques focused on content, process and presentation, with URI staff offering advice learned from years in the field. Crawford, for example, stressed a concept that is a bit new to the Indonesians. “Don’t shortchange stakeholder involvement, that’s very, very important” when developing a plan that the fishing industry and officials will embrace. Catharina agreed that the group would have to persevere to promote a decentralized approach to fisheries management that involves fishermen, the public and other “unofficial” stakeholders. “I’m quite impressed the fisherman here can speak for themselves and weigh in on issues,” she said.
Of the course’s real-world lessons, Castro noted, “They learned about the good, the bad and the not so pretty here in the USA.” We don’t have all the answers for our own fisheries but we can give them examples they can learn from. What we stressed over and over again was that if the fishermen weren’t part of the process, and if they don’t buy into the plan, then your plan is going to fail. For this to happen, fishermen need to want to participate and know how to participate and government has to make room for them.”
Participants will continue to gain from URI’s singular approach to fisheries management after returning to Indonesia: CRC and URI Fisheries Center staff will stay in touch with them to gauge their progress and offer advice.
Check out the article and photos published in Friday’s edition of the Providence Journal. Reporter Richard Salit and photographer Mary Murphy went along with the group of Indonesian fisheries officials for an educational trip aboard the Cap’n Bert out of Wickford.Just one correction to the article: CRC has offered such courses since 1985.
