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The international fish market demand and technological advances are among the main drivers that have damaged marine ecosystems. This situation has resulted in the vulnerability of Small-scale fishing (SSF) communities, who depend on these same ecosystems for various functions and services, including cultural services, the supply of fish for income and food, etc. However, fishers are managing to navigate through some of the twists and turns offered by the market and a range of technologies in a perpetual search for ways to ensure a transition to guarantee viability of SSF, including its cultural dimensions. This thematic webinar by Aliou Sall recorded on 26 April 2024 aimed to share insights into the initiatives by small-scale fishers from a socio-anthropological angle drawing on examples from Senegalese fishing communities.

The annual Assembly of the European Geosciences Union takes regularly place in Vienna because of the huge conference facilities at the Austria Center Vienna able to accommodate the many participants, usually upwards of 10,000. The 2024 edition took place 14-19 April. As in previous years, Mundus maris contributed a presentation to the stream of research work sponsored by the International Association for the Promotion of Geoethics (IAPG). This year's main session was convened by Silvia Peppoloni with co-conveners Svitlana Krakovska, Giuseppe Di Capua, and David Crookall under the title "Geoethics: The significance of geosciences for society and the environment".

Invited by COREN, Comprendre et Agir pour l'Environnement asbl (Understand and take action for the environment), Mundus maris participated in the inspiring Eco-Teens Day in Brussels on Friday, 12 April 2024. Some 180 secondary school students from 16 schools in Brussels showcased what concrete environment friendly activities they had carried out throughout the school year ending soon. An exhibition space showcased their demands for more youth involvement in environment protection.

This thematic webinar lecture was delivered on 29 March 2024 by Dr. Kafayat A. Fakoya as part of the research collaboration on the Vulnerability to Viability Platform focused on small-scale fisheries in Africa and Asia. She holds a PhD in fishseries from Lagos State University (LASU) and is a V2V co-investigator, doing interdisciplinary research and consultancies. She is also a member of Mundus maris asbl with broad interests in research towards sustainable fisheries ecosystems and gender equity.

The mission approach, which the European institutions have taken, is intended to meet major societal challenges by facilitating the mobilisation of many actors doing transdisciplinary work and combining a wide range of funding instruments from European to local levels. The second Mission Forum on 5 March, opened by mission board chair Pascal Lamy, showcased that beyond wonderful aspirations, real action and highlights on change was on the agenda. The entire week was packed with presentations and networking with a strong presence of engaged women leaders not shy to go where it mattered. Here are some impressions from the events.

Over the last 50+ years, the International Ocean Institute (IOI) has been conducting training and capacity building in Ocean Governance with the aim of creating knowledgeable future leaders. Founded by Professor Elisabeth Mann Borgese in 1972, IOI is a globally acting, independent, non-governmental non-profit organisation headquartered in Malta and with offices in all regions of the globe. Here we summarise content from a webinar, convened on 29 February 2024. Speakers made the point that the many global issues were not to be treated as single, almost disciplinary matters. They instisted that it was more goal-oriented to address also the ramifications between issues, whether at the level of the major global treaties, such as the Law of the Sea, the Paris climate agreement or the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or when facing more local management challenges.

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Since more than 20 years, the WTO has had a mandate to phase out harmful fisheries subsidies. Even after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by the UN General Assembly in 2015 which restate this mandate in target 14.6 explicitly, movement in this direction has been painfully slow. An update in 2019 showed an estimate of fully USD 22 billion being spent by governments to support mostly their long-distance industrial fleets! [1] A large coalition of civil society organisations and public personalities has been arguing for many years now that the time for action is NOW. During a recent briefing in preparation of the forthcoming 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi (26-29 February 2024) WTO Deputy Director General Angela Ellard reported on progress with the negotiation process. But she also cautioned that unless concrete measures were taken, the global decline of resources would continue unabated.

Microplastics are increasingly recognised as a growing public health issue. The research reported here was carried out within the framework of an academic collaboration supported by Mundus maris with the University of Belgrano, Argentina. It aims to document the environmental problems represented by microplastics in aquatic ecosystems, with a particular focus on the Buenos Aires coast of the Río de la Plata. The samples were taken at the Buenos Aires Fishermen's Club.

Beating earlier records, the 'love your ocean' platform to promote the seven principles of the UN Ocean Decade was present with more than 60 partners at the international fair for water sports, Boot 2024 in Düsseldorf, Germany. From 20 to 28 January, Mundus maris teams offered games, discussions, networking. We also supported the FishBase sound quiz of our friends at Quantitative Aquatics. We spoke to as many of the visitors streaming through to Hall 11 as we could, and promoted joining the action for ocean literacy, ocean protection and solidarity with low impact small-scale fishers through the Small-Scale Fisheries Academy. 

Maria del Carmen Patricia Morales represents Mundus maris asbl in the Belgian Ocean Decade Committee. The Committee which provides scientific guidance met for its last session of the year on December 1, 2023 in the premises of the InnovOcean Campus linked to the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in Oostende. VLIZ is a Decade Implementing Partner (DIP) and provides the chair and secretariat of the Belgian Ocean Decade Committee (NDC-BE).

Hunger and food insecurity are widespread problems. According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (2019), more than 820 million people in the world were still hungry in 2018. This problem is likely to get worse given the expected increase in the world’s population and the stress on natural resources in times of unsustainable industrial fisheries and agriculture. Michael Fakhri is a professor at the University of Oregon School of Law where he teaches courses on human rights, food law, development, and commercial law. He is the current UN Special Rapporteur, focusing on the right to food and securing sustainable small-scale fisheries. He reports to the Human Rights Council and has asked for inputs by end November 2023.