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Fisheries

Westport
The Groundfish Fleet Restructuring Information and Analysis Project aims to bring the harvest capacity of the fishery in line with resource productivity.

The ocean hosts a dazzling array of life and serves as an invaluable natural resource, all the while contributing 2.3 million jobs and $138 billion annually to the U.S. economy alone. By 2025, an estimated 6 billion people will live within 50 miles of the sea around the world. How will all these people live and eat, while protecting marine resources for future generations? Well-managed fisheries will play a huge role.

At Ecotrust, we invest in fisheries networks and local organizations that actively pursue innovation in the stewardship of fisheries, marine ecosystems and watersheds.

Approach

Our approach to resilience in fisheries, ecosystems, and communities is one that starts with the connection between people and place. We work to strengthen the conservation of regional marine and freshwater ecosystems, recognize and improve community stewardship, support the livelihoods of fishermen, grow collaborative businesses, create financing mechanisms for community-based fisheries, and evolve fisheries management policies. As these features take hold, coastal communities and their unique cultures and fisheries products have a more compelling brand story in urban markets. And we will help tell that story.

How We Work

We co-coordinate the Community Fisheries Network, a national coalition of local organizations that are committed to marine fisheries stewardship that strengthens business development, creates accountability, and increases the amount of local seafood products from well-stewarded waters.

Our Copper River program works to network the efforts of local and tribal organizations to change salmon harvest and hatchery practices, and protect salmon habitat and river flows in one of Alaska’s most fertile salmon watersheds.  

We collaborate with the Whole Watershed Restoration Initiative, which targets high-priority salmon habitat restoration projects in the Pacific Northwest, and leverage the lessons learned in salmon habitat protection and restoration for application elsewhere in the region.

We work with our Marine Consulting Initiatives team to provide technology tools to fishing communities that facilitate transparent stewardship.

We work to secure national and regional policy and management frameworks that allow fishing communities to retain access to fisheries and the assets of fishing. We participate on a National Policy Panel to strengthen public finance policy, lending strategies, and the deployment of New Markets Tax Credits that support the acquisition and development of fisheries quota, permits and local seafood processing by community organizations.

In the arena of finance, we also created the North Pacific Fisheries Trust, a revolving loan fund that supports the long-term ownership of fisheries quota within community-based organizations.

Dig Deeper

Our Work

North Pacific Fisheries Trust

Copper River Program

Community-Based Fisheries Management (CBFM)

Marine Consulting Initiatives

Catch Shares

 


Learn More

Watch webcast video from the World Oceans Summit (February 22-24, 2012 in Capella, Singapore)

Community Dimensions of Fisheries Catch Share Programs: Integrating Economy, Equity, and Environment report by National Panel on the Community Dimensions of Fisheries Catch Share Programs March 15, 2011 (564kb PDF) | 2pp. executive summary (2.5mb PDF)

Oversight Hearing on “Catch Shares as a Management Option: Criteria for Ensuring Success” — Questions for Mr. Edward Backus, VP - CES, Ecotrust March 16, 2010 (172kb PDF) | Full video (.wvx)

Statement by Edward H. Backus, Vice President for Community Ecosystem Services, Ecotrust, on Catch Shares in Fisheries to the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife March 16, 2010 (392kb PDF) | Video Q&A intro 6:28 (YouTube), full 114:22 (gov)

Congressional Testimony: Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife oral version, March 16, 2010 (104kb PDF) | Video 5:18 (YouTube)

Atlas of Pacific Salmon by Xanthippe Augerot and the State of the Salmon Consortium

Skeena River Fish and Their Habitat by Allen G. Gottesfeld and Ken A. Rabnett

Groundfish Fleet Restructuring Project

A Salmon Anchor Habitat Strategy for the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests

Priorities for Salmon Restoration by Coastal Watershed

Fisheries & Wildlife Declines in the North Pacific

Reliable Prosperity: Fisheries

Contact

Megan Mackey
Fisheries Policy Associate
503.467.0784
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