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How new technology is helping to identify human rights abuses in the seafood industry

Virginia Gewin

February 25, 2021 |

The Counter |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Ghana

A growing number of governments, companies, and nonprofit organizations are working together with new technology and data to identify fishing vessels that are breaking laws and engaging in human rights violations. Using satellite imagery and tracking signals, for example, a philanthropic company and a nonprofit worked with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to help the Ghanian navy arrest four vessels for illegal fishing practices. Technology by itself won’t stop forced labor and unregulated ships, but it can be helpful for cash-strapped governments looking to increase oversight of their fisheries.

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This seaweed can fight climate change

Cory Zapatka Mariya Abdulkaf

February 25, 2021 |

The Verge |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Dover Plains, New York

Symbrosia, a clean-tech startup in Hawaii, is taking seaweed from the ocean and turning it into a powder that can be used to feed livestock to reduce the amount of methane they produce — a key contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. The company worked with an organic farm in Upstate New York to test the product and found that sheep given a high dosage of the supplement had up to 70 percent reduction in methane emission. Creating the powder takes weeks and a lot of steps, but the startup is hopeful the product can become a mass-produced commodity.

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Once destined for raw bars, 5 million oysters are being rerouted to coastal restoration efforts

Lela Nargi

February 23, 2021 |

The Counter |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Jersey

The Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration initiative (SOAR), coordinated by the Pew Charitable Trusts, The Nature Conservancy, and various state agencies, NGOs, and universities, spent millions buying oysters from 100 farms in seven states to put back into the oceans for reef restoration. Working in areas that already have reef monitoring programs, SOAR is supporting 20 reef restoration projects to create habitat for more oysters and other marine species, clean the water, and mitigate coastal flooding. SOAR also helped mitigate potential losses for shellfish farmers due to COVID-19.

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The pandemic could change U.S. fisheries forever. Will it be for better or for worse?

Katarina Zimmer

February 18, 2021 |

The Counter |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

To weather the uncertainties of the pandemic and geopolitical trade disputes, many small, locally-operated fisheries in the United States have upended the way they do business by selling their catches directly to consumers. For example, OC Wild Seafood in California started to sell its spiny lobsters locally. Though the logistics and regulations can make fish-to-dish initiatives challenging, many community-supported fisheries saw an increase in sales and customers in 2020.

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Floating Wind Turbines Buoy Hopes of Expanding Renewable Energy

Sarah McFarlane

February 06, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Scotland

Hywind Scotland is the world's first commercial wind farm using floating wind turbines to generate power for about 36,000 homes a year. This approach — which is being seriously looked at by several countries seeking to reduce their carbon emissions and oil-and-gas companies wanting to expand into renewable energy — allows wind farms to work in deeper waters where there is often stronger winds.

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The new use for abandoned oil rigs

Isabelle Gerretsen

January 26, 2021 |

BBC |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Santa Barbara, California

As oil rigs stop producing fossil fuels and become decommissioned, many are being repurposed into artificial reefs that support populations of marine wildlife with food and shelter. In the United States, more than 500 oil and gas rigs have been converted into artificial reefs. The California-based company Blue Latitudes has worked to raise awareness about this solution throughout the world, though has struggled to make traction with the Golden State’s oil platforms. Yet, reefing a platform is less expensive than completely removing it.

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French Polynesia's pearl farmers combat climate change with sustainable practices

Ashley Westerman

January 22, 2021 |

Public Radio International (PRI) |

Multi-Media |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: French Polynesia, Tahiti

A rapidly changing climate is shaking up how French Polynesian pearl farmers are doing business. Kamoka Pearl Farm is incorporating more sustainable practices like using its own oysters to create the nuclei that form pearls and using fish to organically clean the oysters instead of power washing them.

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Simple change to fishing gear saves thousands of birds in Namibia

Chris Baraniuk

January 19, 2021 |

The Guardian |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Namibia

Tens of thousands of vulnerable bird species have been saved over the last decade thanks to new equipment that has been installed by Namibian fishing boats. By fitting colorful hosepipe to lines towed behind boats, a study has shown that birds are scared away and don’t end up getting tangled in the lines. The material is also fairly cheap to implement, which allowed the solution to be widely implemented.

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In Ghana, a New App is Striving to Save Fishermen's Livelihoods

Ciannait Khan

January 07, 2021 |

Reset |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Ghana

With more than 200 communities along the Ghana coast relying on small-scale fishing, a new app called DASE seeks to hold industrial trawlers accountable for illegally fishing in their seas. The app allows people to take a picture or video of the activity and upload it to a database where it can be used by law enforcement to act. The app is already being adapted for use in other African coastal countries.

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It Spied on Soviet Atomic Bombs. Now It's Solving Ecological Mysteries.

Marion Renault

January 05, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Environmental scientists are using modern computing software to correct, orient, and analyze satellite images from the Corona spy project, launched in the 1960s and ’70s to monitor the Soviet military. The images have revealed human environmental impacts, challenged long-held assumptions, and helped predict future challenges. Within the last two years alone, the images have contributed to new information about climate change including rock glacier movements in Central Asia, shoreline changes in Saudi Arabia, and ice loss in Peru, helping scientists fill in knowledge gaps.

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