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Reposted by Dan Steadman

Simon Holmström @simonholmstrom.bsky.social · Jun 27

🌊 Big news from #Vigo: #OSPAR Ministers agreed they will apply the #PrecautionaryPrinciple on #DeepSeaMining.

Norway tried to block it but had to give in. This could seriously complicate their #Arctic mining plans. 👏

A positive step in the right direction.
seas-at-risk.org/general-news...

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · May 12

Yellowfin tuna (fifth most fished species globally) gets half its food from the mesopelagic/twilight zone (200-1000m depth), with some getting up to 94%.

With calls to start fishing in these zones, this study notes the major effect this could have on tuna & their diets. news.mit.edu/2025/deep-di...

Deep-dive dinners are the norm for tuna and swordfish, MIT oceanographers find

MIT oceanographers discovered big fish like tuna and swordfish get a large fraction of their food from the ocean’s twilight zone — a cold, dark layer about half a mile below the surface.

news.mit.edu

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · May 2

Fisheries managers are legally obligated to maintain healthy ecosystems & balance the needs of fisheries & food webs.

This ruling shows we are finally moving towards ecosystem based fisheries management & greater forage fish protection in the Northeast Atlantic: www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-...

Court Ruling Shows Importance of Fisheries Measures to Broader Ecosystem

A verdict May 2 from an international tribunal points a way forward for fisheries managers to protect entire ecosystems, an increasingly critical part of their responsibilities as pressures on the oce...

www.pewtrusts.org

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Apr 13

Bottom trawl fisheries are socially complex. Banning them produces obvious ecological gains in pretty much all cases, but those bans have real consequences and governments must manage transitions carefully.

Fascinating example of this from Malaysia: www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/g...

Prawns and pomfrets: How Malaysia’s looming fish trawling ban could affect your dining options

The ban is the latest in a long line of challenges for Malaysia’s fishing industry, including piracy

www.straitstimes.com

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Reposted by Dan Steadman

European Commission @ec.europa.eu · Apr 11

Plastic pellets are the building blocks of most plastic products.

Small in size, yet harmful.

@europarl.europa.eu and @consilium.europa.eu agreed to our proposals to prevent their spill and to cut it by up to 74%.

We must protect our ecosystems and health from microplastics ↓

europa.eu/!r8tY4t

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Apr 3

@deepseaconserve.bsky.social working very hard on ensuring these VME measures are comprehensive, guided by latest benthic science and in line with UNGA commitments. @pewtrusts.org working very hard to make sure measures conform to CBD OECM criteria!

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Apr 3

Re: future permanence. Management measure reviewed every 5 years. Closures can be expanded, reduced, removed but only if annually received scientific advice from @icesmarine.bsky.social shows changes in status/distribution of VME habitats. Underlying measure here: www.neafc.org/system/files...

www.neafc.org

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Apr 3

Generally agreement between closure areas and fishable benthic depth. Images taken from here: ices-library.figshare.com/articles/rep...

NEAFC request on Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures in relation to long-term biodiversity/ecosystem benefits of NEAFC’s closed areas and areas restricted to bottom fishing (replacing adv...

ICES advises that the VME closures in NEAFC regulatory areas (RAs) achieve long-term sustained in situ biodiversity/ecosystem benefits as long as these closures remain in place. All VME closures in NE...

ices-library.figshare.com

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Apr 3

Hey both, hard to find the right full overlay map but here's a comparison of the NEAFC benthic closures submitted as OECMs (red on left map) and bathymetry of same area (everything not white on right map is <2000m depth)

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Mar 17

Credit to authors Cornell Overfield @overfield.bsky.social and Jessica Ylemo from @cna.org.

Enjoyed this closing remark: "If coastal and flag States fail to establish an RFMO, they may sooner or later find that their squid, hake, and luck have all run out."

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Mar 17

The high seas near Argentina are a squid fishing hotspot, with minimal rules in place for a species that we don't know enough about to set catch limits. A new paper proposes setting up a South West Atlantic Fisheries Organization (SWAFO) to tackle the issue: digital-commons.usnwc.edu/ils/vol106/i...

Options for Sustainable High Seas Fisheries Management in the Southwest Atlantic

The Southwest Atlantic lacks a regional fishery management organization, leaving one of the world’s largest squid fisheries at risk of overfishing during high seas migrations. This article reviews mea...

digital-commons.usnwc.edu

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Reposted by Dan Steadman

BirdLife Marine @birdlifemarine.bsky.social · Feb 17

🚨NEW OPEN ACCESS PAPER🚨details how we delineated six #MarineFlyways using #seabird #tracking data & novel analytical methods

➡️ doi.org/10.1111/geb.70004

🧪 #ornithology #migration #BLScience
@birdlifeglobal.bsky.social

We are grateful to GOBI @iki-germany.bsky.social for funding the project

🧵1/5

Infographic map showing the six marine flyways (Atlantic Ocean Flyway, North Indian Ocean Flyway, East Indian Ocean Flyway, West Pacific Ocean Flyway, Pacific Ocean Flyway, Southern Ocean Flyway) in a spilhaus projection, and the general direction of travel by migratory seabirds

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Feb 6

Wow. Atlantic cod are wild fish whose population should be determined by ocean conditions, prey availability + other nature-driven phenomena.

But instead, FOR *AT LEAST* 600 YEARS, fishing has been the main variable determining how many/what sizes of cod there are. Amazing paper.

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Jan 21

Using light to attract + catch marine species isn't new - massive squid fisheries depend on this - but we didn't know til now that this works for scallops.

Fascinated to see how this method competes with dredging on yield/cost/efficiency as it's clear on environmental impact, this wins hands down.

Bryce Stewart @bd-stew.bsky.social · Jan 21

NEW: 'Disco Scallops' from Cornwall on the menu thanks to chance lights discovery
uk.news.yahoo.com/disco-scallo... #scallopdisco #discoscallops #bemorescallop @robertenever.bsky.social 🕺

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Jan 19

Marine ecosystem models: the future of ocean management and protection?

Only if governments, private sector etc. understand their "plumbing and piping" i.e. the software and infrastructure that makes them work, enabling them to be adapted and applied #EBFM #EBM

Jeroen Steenbeek @jeroensteenbeek.bsky.social · Jan 18

The Ecoscope project blogged about my thesis. A neat summary of what kept me up at night for the past 4 years: ecoscopium.eu/news/article...
#Ecoscopium

EcoScope partner calls for making marine ecosystem modelling more accessible to society, policy and the collaboration with other sciences

Jeroen Steenbeek of EU-funded EcoScope project partner Ecopath International Initiative has published his PhD thesis, entitled Ecosystem modelling for the ocean decade – facing the challenge (Cum Laud...

ecoscopium.eu

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Reposted by Dan Steadman

Jeroen Steenbeek @jeroensteenbeek.bsky.social · Jan 18

The Ecoscope project blogged about my thesis. A neat summary of what kept me up at night for the past 4 years: ecoscopium.eu/news/article...
#Ecoscopium

EcoScope partner calls for making marine ecosystem modelling more accessible to society, policy and the collaboration with other sciences

Jeroen Steenbeek of EU-funded EcoScope project partner Ecopath International Initiative has published his PhD thesis, entitled Ecosystem modelling for the ocean decade – facing the challenge (Cum Laud...

ecoscopium.eu

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Reposted by Dan Steadman

Jamie Gibbon @jgibbon.bsky.social · Jan 16

The frustrating thing is that the paper specifically recognizes that “lost yield” may be due to a specific policy choice to preserve ecosystem health, i.e. Menhaden in the US, but still chooses to “penalize” the US for that choice.

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Jan 14

Interesting to see Norway (a prolific forage fishing nation) trying to better protect seabirds with minimal focus on fisheries impacts such as prey depletion. Northeast Atlantic seabirds desperately need better domestic/international forage fish management: for herring, sprat, sandeel, mackerel etc.

Truls Gulowsen @trulsgulowsen.bsky.social · Jan 14

Nå kommer endelig handlingsplanen for #sjøfugl, blir spennende om den inneholder reelle effektive tiltak etter 8 år i prosess, eller bare nye mål slik som resten av Naturmeldinga…? www.nrk.no/nordland/reg...

Regjeringen legger frem handlingsplan for å redde sjøfuglen

Åtte av ti sjøfugler har forsvunnet – nå kaster regjeringa ut livbøya.

www.nrk.no

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Reposted by Dan Steadman

Nick Graham @nickajgraham.bsky.social · Jan 2

Still hope for coral reefs. Using 28-years of data in Seychelles, we find reefs recovering 4-5 years faster from the 2016 bleaching event, than they did after 1998. Also, a reef that had regime-shifted to macroalgae for over 15 years, is recovering to coral.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Increased resilience and a regime shift reversal through repeat mass coral bleaching

Assessing coral reefs across the inner Seychelles islands, using a 28-year dataset, we document faster coral recovery from the 2016 than the 1998 marine heatwave events. Further, a reef that had regi....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Dec 5

Great to see better forage fish protection in the Mediterranean through the adoption of two new harvest strategies (pre-agreed decision frameworks to prevent overfishing).

This will help the fisheries & biodiversity of this historically overexploited sea basin: harveststrategies.org/blog/2024/11...

GFCM Embraces Sustainable Fishing in the Adriatic with Two New Harvest Strategies - Harvest Strategies

The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) made history last week by adopting harvest control rules for Adriatic sardines and anchovies, the first for this organization. Until now, ...

harveststrategies.org

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Nov 27

Good to see more coverage of the challenging North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission meeting in London.

Many of the issues in NEAFC concern problems that have gone too long without being addressed, especially the mismanagement of the region's ecologically critical pelagic fish species. #EBFM

Oceana UK @oceanauk.bsky.social · Nov 27

This is worrying. For the first time in history, a meeting between NE Atlantic fishing states, incl the UK, EU & Russia, has ended without a compliance report. 😬

This means fishing violations may not be properly sanctioned, putting our seas at HUGE risk.
#OceanNews
www.cmscoms.com?p=42065

North-East Atlantic fisheries face significant challenges in conservation - Ocean and Coastal Futures

The 43rd annual meeting of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) – which includes the European Union, representatives from Denmark in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland, Iceland...

www.cmscoms.com

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Reposted by Dan Steadman

Dr Janne Haugen @jannehaugen.bsky.social · Nov 25

I have a new #EBM paper out in the ICES journal of marine science! This one was a great team effort to develop a performance measure framework for ecosystem-based management. How do we know if we are doing successful ebm? Read here! #OpenAccess #MarineScience academic.oup.com/icesjms/adva...

A performance measure framework for ecosystem-based management

Abstract. Effective management of ocean resources is crucial for achieving desired ecological, economic, and social outcomes. Marine ecosystem-based manage

academic.oup.com

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Nov 22

A fantastic write-up on a difficult meeting of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission by @mongabay.bsky.social. Work to do on reversing mackerel and herring declines, taking more account of ecosystem needs and improving how observers are involved in meetings: news.mongabay.com/2024/11/lead...

Leaders fail to address overfishing near Europe at ‘fraught’ international meeting

Mackerel and herring in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, near Europe, have been dramatically overfished for many years, endangering the stocks and creating potential knock-on effects for marine mammals a...

news.mongabay.com

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Nov 17

International fisheries managers have done a lot to protect marine biodiversity, but there's much more to do. Proud to have been on @deepseaconserve.bsky.social panel on this in the margin of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission annual meeting #EBFM #HighSeas www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-yea...

A 10 year anniversary dialogue on steps towards biodiversity conservation by the North-East Atlantic Fishery Commission (NEAFC)

Last night in London, discussions unfolded during a side event co-hosted by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) in association with The Pew Charitable Trusts and BirdLife International to mark ...

www.linkedin.com

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Dan Steadman @danjsteadman.bsky.social · Mar 21

When making decisions that affect #nature, governments should be asking scientists bigger, bolder and broader questions.

Fisheries managers specifically shouldn't just ask "how much yield can we get?" but "how do we restore biodiversity while optimising seafood production?"

To Improve Fisheries Management and Protect Ecosystems, Decision Makers Must Ask Better Questions

Good scientific advice is the fuel that drives the engine of fisheries management. When managers want to develop comprehensive, long-term policies for measures such as catch limits or gear restriction...

www.pewtrusts.org

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