Fisheries, Fishing Communities and Whale Populations in a Changing World: Effects of Climate Change, Drug Trafficking and Ghost Nets on Community, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health
Principal Investigator: Amelia Safi
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant):
The present project aims to establish collaboration between the COCIBA department of USFQ and the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health and Master of Public Health Program at Cornell. COCIBA is established in the study of subtidal ecosystems, fisheries and cetacean (whale) health. The MPH and PEH are committed to engaged, interdisciplinary research focusing on the intersection of ecosystem and human health, with attention to climate change and vulnerable populations. The proposed research takes a systems approach to understanding and starting to remedy the cascading impacts of narco-trafficking piracy and abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) – or ghost nets. Fishers are often forced to discard fishing gear by pirates; the ALDFG then compromises reef ecosystems, cetacean health (as whales are caught by the discarded nets) and fisheries, already under increased pressure from climate change. This piracy harms the fishing communities by threatening safety, food security and livelihoods.