In 2008, the United Nations General Assembly decided that, as from 2009, 8 June would be designated by the United Nations as “World Oceans Day” (resolution 63/111, paragraph 171).  Many countries have celebrated World Oceans Day following the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

The oceans cover about two-thirds of the surface of the Earth and are the very foundations of life. They generate most of the oxygen we breathe, absorb a large share of carbon dioxide emissions, provide food and nutrients and regulate climate. They are important economically for countries that rely on tourism, fishing and other marine resources for income and serve as the backbone of international trade.

Unfortunately, human pressures, including overexploitation, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, destructive fishing, as well as unsustainable aquaculture practices, marine pollution, habitat destruction, alien species, climate change and ocean acidification are taking a significant toll on the world’s oceans and seas.

Peace and security are also critical to the full enjoyment of the benefits that can be derived from the oceans and for their sustainable development. As has been remarked by the Secretary-General: “There will be no development without security and no security without development.” To know more http://www.un.org/en/events/oceansday/

This year’s theme for the Day is “Our oceans, our future” and is connected to the Ocean Conference taking place from 5 to 9 June at United Nations headquarters in New York, where ECOMERS is represented as a part of the French delegation.

To know more about the Ocean Conference http://www.un.org/en/conf/ocean/index.shtml

Workshop on methodologies and techniques of environmental, economic and social monitoring of small scale fisheries

In the framework of FishMPABlue 2 project (co-funded by Med Programme) the Ecomers lab, together with other project partners and Cote Bleue Marine Park, organized the workshop “Methodologies and techniques of environmental, economic and social monitoring of small scale fisheries”. The workshop was held at Cote Bleue Marine Park’s premises in Carry Le Rouet (Marseille, France) on 4-5 April 2017.

About 30 attendees (including project partners, managers and scientists from 11 Mediterranean MPAs) lively and successfully discussed about the methodologies that will be adopted in FishMPABlue 2 to investigate the ecological, economic and social dimension of the socio-ecological system represented by MPAs and small scale fisheries in the Mediterranean.

The workshop was the occasion to underline that both ecological and socio-economic assessments are pivotal to capture the full complexity of these systems and properly manage them.