Quick Dips
Curated topical articles on the Blue Economy

Seaweed Solutions

• Harrison Tasoff, The Current UCSB • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Researchers say cultivated seaweed can soak up excess nutrients plaguing human health and marine life.

Read more → (5 minute read)


Regulators missing pollution’s effect on marine life, study finds

• Karen McVeigh, The Guardian • Fisheries & Aquaculture • Plastics & Pollution

Increasing chemical and plastic pollution are “significant” contributors to the decline of fish and other aquatic organisms, yet their impact is being missed by regulators, according to a report by environmentalists.

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U.S. Fishery Managers Are Failing to Protect Marine Habitats as Required by Law

• Reynard Loki, Independent Media Institute • Fisheries & Aquaculture

How much is too much? The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has warned that more than a third of the world’s fish stocks are being overfished.

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My Octopus Teacher Oscar Win Raises Profile of Unique African Kelp Forest

• Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch • Fisheries & Aquaculture

My Octopus Teacher, the heartwarming story about a man's friendship with a common octopus, took home the Oscar for best documentary feature Sunday night.

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New sustainable advances help reimagine fish farming: "It's really the wave of the future"

• CBS News • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Fish farms haven't always had the best reputation, but that seems to be changing fast. Many scientists and chefs believe fish farms may be the future of food due to a combination of factors, including overfishing in our oceans and a global population that keeps rising.

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Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions aims for bigger impact

• Ned Daly, SeafoodSource • Fisheries & Aquaculture

The Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions has announced a series of changes aimed at helping the seafood industry achieve greater adoption of sustainable practices and innovation.

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Acknowledging Blue Foods as Key to the Global Food Puzzle

• The Economist Intelligence Unit • Fisheries & Aquaculture

The role of aquatic foods – animals and plants cultivated or captured in marine and freshwater systems – in sustainable food systems is often underappreciated. 

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Enter the era of cell-cultured seafood

• Lou Cooperhouse, Medium • Fisheries & Aquaculture

In July 2018, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) held its first public meeting on the topic of “Food Produced Using Animal Cell Culture Technology.”

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Assessing the habitat benefits of kelp aquaculture in New Zealand and Maine

• Robert Jones, et al., The Fish Site • Fisheries & Aquaculture

How kelp farms can provide habitat for fish and marine invertebrates, whether there are any negative impacts on fish and marine invertebrates during maintenance and harvesting cycles, and how the benefits of restorative aquaculture can be optimised for both the aquaculture industry and nature, are among the key questions to be answered in a new study.

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Fish Habitat—a Safety Net for Ocean Fisheries—Needs Stronger Protections

• Molly Masterton & Brad Sewell, NRDC • Fisheries & Aquaculture

New NRDC report examines “essential fish habitat” in U.S. fisheries management.

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Who holds the key to unlocking seafood traceability?

• World Ocean Initiative, The Economist Group • Fisheries & Aquaculture

A guest blog by François Mosnier, financial analyst at Planet Tracker.

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The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

• Ashifa Kassam, The Guardian • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Ángel León made his name serving innovative seafood. But then he discovered something in the seagrass that could transform our understanding of the sea itself – as a vast garden.

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Shrinking sea meadows store more carbon than forests. Scientists are racing to track what’s left

• Alessandra Prentice & Christophe Van Der Perre, Reuters • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Hundreds of miles from the nearest shore, ribbon-like fronds flutter in the ocean currents sweeping across an underwater mountain plateau the size of Switzerland.

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Aquaculture “poses unparalleled animal welfare threats”

• The Fish Site • Fisheries & Aquaculture

The lack of literature relating to the welfare of many farmed aquatic species has raised grave concerns in a group of reseachers.

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Blue Carbon California: Incorporating Blue Carbon Science into Climate Policy Solutions

• Laura Anderson, Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions • Energy Solutions • Fisheries & Aquaculture

California is home to a diversity of coastal ecosystems like tidal marshes, seagrass beds, and estuaries. These ecosystems provide flood and storm protection, healthy habitats for fish and birds, and recreational spaces. They may also play an important role in addressing climate change.

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Move over, corn and soybeans: The next biofuel source could be giant sea kelp

• Diane Kim, Ignacio Navarrete & Jessica Dutton, The Conversation • Energy Solutions • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Giant kelp, the world’s largest species of marine algae, is an attractive source for making biofuels. 

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“How do we build an aquaculture sector that is serious about SDGs 1 and 2?”

• Rob Fletcher, The Fish Site • Fisheries & Aquaculture

The development of global aquaculture over the course of the next 20 years must be more focused on helping to reduce poverty and hunger – the first two, and most important, of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs).

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Seagrasses Turn Back the Clock on Ocean Acidification

• Kat Kerlin, UC Davis • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Spanning six years and seven seagrass meadows along the California coast, a paper from the University of California, Davis, is the most extensive study yet of how seagrasses can buffer ocean acidification.

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Urchinomics: Series A Fundraise by the ENEOS Group and Large North American Family Office Signals Global Expansion

• Urchinomics • Fisheries & Aquaculture

ENEOS Holdings, Inc. (“ENEOS”) a leading Japanese energy and metal conglomerate and a North American family office with a strong interest in ocean health have participated in the €4,85 million Series A for Urchinomics, the pioneering sea urchin aquaculture venture.

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Sustainable Fisheries and Well-Being

• Laura Anderson, Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Here, Giron-Nava and co-lead author Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, the Deputy Director of the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Program, discuss the importance of social well-being in fisheries and future efforts toward a resilient blue economy.

Read more → (6 minute read)