Changing Context

Today, the commercial fishing industry faces a convergence of forces that threaten the vibrancy of coastal economies, food security, and the sustainable use of the ecosystems on which they depend.

Ecosystem changes in response to climate change, rising competition for marine resources, regulatory challenges due to the pace of these changes and increasing consumer attention to seafood provenance are creating an urgent need for more accurate, timely, fine grained information on the current state of our marine ecosystems including the human economies they support.

WHAT IS THE FISHERIES KNOWLEDGE TRUST?

The Fisheries Knowledge Trust is the first industry-owned platform where fishermen can aggregate, secure and share the knowledge they collect about our oceans into a standardized, accessible repository. The Trust will enable regulators, fishermen and consumers for the first time to access the real-time, first-hand knowledge they need to adapt to our rapidly changing world.

Unlike ad hoc efforts to collect data, the Trust is designed to grow. Built on the principals of ownership, economic self-interest and reciprocity, it uses a combination of technology and governance procedures to ensure that contributors have the confidence they need that their data will remain secure while ensuring data users that the information is accurate. Fishermen will also share in the value of the information they provide.

Process and Products

 

The Trust began its work in the spring of 2019 with a series of scoping meetings in various Atlantic fishing ports. As a result, its team began the process of populating the Trust with industry data. The Trust is being further developed through a grant award from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). This pilot project is focusing on the Atlantic herring/mackerel and Atlantic surfclam/ocean quahog fisheries to develop knowledge products related to offshore wind energy development.

EXAMPLE PRODUCTS

 

Better Informed Offshore Energy Development

Regulatory efforts have struggled to describe fishing practices with the detail required to evaluate potential tradeoffs and mitigate competing ecosystem uses related offshore energy development. By using individual data queries and spatial datasets, this project can produce maps and reports to show fishing spatial needs and generate data products to better communicate the science and understanding of the ecosystem.

Inclusion of Ecosystem Information in Fisheries Stock Assessments

High resolution, accurate, spatially and temporally explicit tow-by-tow catch and environmental data—along with socioeconomic data—is necessary to support industry-based consensus of specific ecological, economic and social forces driving fishery dynamics. These products will be useful for: 1) increasing fishery precision and efficiency; and 2) providing fishery dependent indices of stock abundance accounting for ecological, economic, and regulatory drivers of landings useful for ecosystem-based fishery assessments and management.

Improved Seafood Traceability and Marketing

Consumers are now treating food as a differentiated asset (e.g. “locally-sourced,” “organically grown,” etc.) rather than a commodity. This drives fishermen to provide consumers with more information about their catch, often through expensive certification programs. Fishermen’s knowledge can be used to raise product value, streamline certification proceedings, and inform local, regional, and national marketing strategies to offset the costs associated with operating in the world’s most strictly regulated fisheries.

The Fisheries Knowledge Trust Team

Steven Jacobs: Steven is a Partner at Concitor, an executive advisory firm that specializes in helping large organizations capitalize on emerging technologies.

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA): RODA is a membership-based coalition of commercial fishing industry associations and companies with an interest in improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses.