GGGI Newsletter - December 2023
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Dear GGGI Members,
Greetings and Happy Holidays to all! How did this year pass so quickly? They say that time flies when you’re having fun, but time also flies when schedules are packed with good work. This newsletter is quite dense as there has been a great deal of newsworthy international activity with regard to ghost gear management. Our team has been traveling around the world to locations including Kenya, Mexico, and Norway to combat ghost gear.
In this issue of GGGI News we will report on the progress made at INC3, (the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment), the first ever conference on ghost gear in Arendal, Norway, gear removals and fisher workshops in Guaymas and Puerto Penasco Mexico, opportunities to apply for GGGI small grants, and new GGGI membership announcements.
Please read on for more details on these subjects and more!
The GGGI community draws strength from the success of its members: if you have news you’d like shared in a future edition of the newsletter, please send it to our GGGI Coordinator, Laura Walker at lwalker@oceanconservancy.org. If you know someone who might like to hear future news from us, ask them to subscribe!
Sincerely,
The GGGI Team
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Happiest of Holidays to All GGGI Members and Friends!
We hope that this season brings you peace, joy, and a greater connections to each other and to the ocean.
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GGGI Policy Specialist Hannah Pragnell-Raasch Speaks Up for Inclusion of Ghost Gear at INC-3
A delegation of ocean plastic pollution experts from Ocean Conservancy, including GGGI Specialist Hannah Pragnell-Raasch, attended and participated in the third round of negotiations (INC-3) for the international legally binding instrument (ILBI) on plastic pollution. Widely known as the “global plastics treaty,” the agreement aims to curb the global plastic pollution crisis, of which the ocean often bears the brunt.
Ocean Conservancy has identified five main priorities for inclusion in the plastics treaty, which include plastics source reduction, measures to address secondary microplastics, plastic fishing and aquaculture gear, design for circularity, and a just transition for informal sector waste collectors.
Pragnell-Raasch represented the GGGI at three side events on fishing gear and hosted a fourth on microplastics, with the goal of a stronger inclusion of ghost gear in the ILBI. In all, over 50 member states spoke in support of including ghost gear in the ILBI . The zero-draft of the ILBI had solely included ghost gear under waste management, so the intervention from member states pressed for stronger provisions that need to go further than just waste management alone but rather cover the entire life cycle of plastic fishing and aquaculture gear. The negotiations will continue in April 2024 at INC-4 in Ottawa, Canada.
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Germany, Costa Rica, and Trinidad & Tobago Join GGGI
We are thrilled to welcome Trinidad & Tobago, Costa Rica, and Germany, and as the newest member of GGGI, the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd countries to join the initiative in preventing and mitigating the impacts of ghost gear.
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GGGI Associate Director Joel Baziuk Presents at International Conference on Ghost Gear in Arendal, Norway
Associate Director Joel Baziuk gave the welcome and introductory speech at the first International Conference on Ghost Gear held in Arendal, Norway. This was the first international conference dedicated entirely to ghost gear and was organized by the Institute of Marine Research and the Directorate of Fisheries in Norway. The conference hosted over 81 participants, including attendees from NGOs, academia, and corporate technology companies looking to prevent ghost gear. The conference attendees, including GGGI, were enthusiastic about taking steps to ensure that the conference continues in future years.
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Applications Open for GGGI Small Grants Program
The GGGI Small Grants Program for 2024 has begun! Grants available are only open to GGGI members.
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GGGI Project Manager Claudia Cecilia Olimon Gathers Fishers for Best Practice Framework Workshop for NANCI Project in Mexico
On November 28 & 30, Claudia Cecilia Olimon, GGGI Project Coordinator for Latin America, led (in coordination with Bureo and Cedo Intercultural) and attended 2 workshops, in Guaymas and in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, to discuss the implementation of the GGGI Best Practice Framework for the Management of Fishing Gear (C-BPF) in the Mexican Pacific hake, shrimp, and sardine fisheries. The meetings were a great success with in sum over 40 attendees including fishers representatives and authorities.
Another purpose of the meeting was to benefit from local fishers' knowledge of the location of ghost gear in order to conduct future removals. Participants also discussed their particular causes of gear loss in order to help GGGI and partners address the specific issues of local fishers, with a focus on end-of-life-gear and recycling.
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GGGI Associate Director Joel Baziuk Appears on CTV to Discuss Ghost Gear
Joel Baziuk of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative joins Keri Adams at CTV Morning Live to discuss the problem of lost, abandoned and discarded gear collecting beneath the waves.
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Ocean Conservancy's Florida Team Removes Ghost Gear from Tampa Bay Waters
Ocean Aid 360 and Ocean Conservancy are working together to rid the waters of forgotten fishing gear.
"It's one of the most dangerous types of debris out there for marine wildlife," J.P. Brooker, director of Florida Conservation for Ocean Conservancy, said. "But also for the general health of our ocean, that gear is often plastic, it breaks down, it degrades in the marine environment."
Without human help, the health of our marine life is at risk.
"It's heartbreaking to see any kind of havoc being wrecked on our marine resources, right? Clean, healthy water drives our tourist economy, it drives our way of life, really, it's our cultural identity," Brooker said.
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Welcome to our new GGGI members!
The GGGI continues to grow stronger - a warm welcome to new members Ashored, CERMIM, the Governments of Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Germany!
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We Want To Hear From You!
We're always looking to promote the various stories and successes of our GGGI Members! If you have something ghost gear related that you would like us to put in our newsletter, please email GGGI Coordinator, Laura Walker at lwalker@oceanconservancy.org.
Thanks so much for your support for the GGGI!
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