Tundi AgardyExecutive Director, Sound SeasNGOs: Taking the Lead in Moving Marine Fisheries Toward Sustainability, in Unexpected Ways
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Conservation NGOs have long been vilified by the fishing industry for being nature-centric rather than human-centric, and (in the opinion of many) putting the lives of fishes over those of humans eking out a living to care for their families. However, the role of NGOs is transforming from that of antagonist to that of impartial collaborator, in part due to recognition by both the environmental community and the fishing industry that they have many conservation goals in common. Environmental groups can maintain impartiality because they have neither a vested interest in claiming that fishing has no impact (as much of the industry would have us believe), nor in claiming that fisheries management is working (as most governments insist). NGO staff members are increasingly versed in negotiation, and many are specifically training in conflict resolution. They also often have the sort of multi-disciplinary training that allows them to view a problem from many different perspectives, unlike most specialists in academia.
The ways in which environmental NGOs move fisheries towards sustainability are many fold. Many small local NGOs, and the regional offices of large international groups, work collaboratively with local fishing communities to help safeguard their livelihoods, and often offer the only substantial resistance to large scale industrial fishing that can displace smaller scale, artisanal fishing. In fact, such NGOs can singularly provide the catalyst needed to get different stakeholders together to forge community-based conservation projects. Conservation groups have also been on the cutting edge of exploring innovative management and financing mechanisms for fisheries conservation, such as the use of limited entry schemes, individual transferable quotas, fishing coops, alternative livelihood training, and buy back programs that occur independent of the government. Conservation NGOs also provide a service and move fisheries towards greater sustainability by synthesizing the fisheries and ecosystem science in user-friendly ways often buttressing traditional knowledge with equally-important user knowledge. Finally, NGOs can and do transcend local and national concerns, pushing for fisheries agreements and conservation programs that occur at the regional scales which are most appropriate to conserving shared or mobile fish stocks.
Tundi Agardy is an internationally renowned expert in marine conservation, with extensive field and policy experience in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, North America and the Pacific. She currently heads Sound Seas, an independent policy group based in the Washington, DC area. Formerly the Senior Director for the global Marine Program at Conservation International and a Senior Scientist for the WWF, she assisted local NGOs, government agencies, and multilateral organizations in conservation planning, project implementation, and program evaluation. Her recent clients have included international think tanks, foundations, the World Bank, museums and academic institutions, environmental groups, and consortia with interests in solving local marine conservation problems. Tundi specializes in coastal planning and assessment, marine protected areas, and fisheries management, and has published widely in these fields. She received her Ph.D. in biological sciences and Masters in Marine Affairs from University of Rhode Island, was postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Wellesley and Dartmouth Colleges.
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