By Ellen Liberman
Ghanaians like their sardines fried with shito (a hot black pepper sauce), or stewed with kenkey (a fermented corn dumpling), or complemented by angwa mo (fried rice). There are probably as many variations on a fish dish as there are cooks in this West African country hugging the northern curve of the Gulf of Guinea. The small pelagic fish of its coastal waters—sardines, mackerel, and anchovy—are a staple of the pantry, the diet and the economy. Today the industry employs, directly and indirectly, 10 percent of the population.
Fishing has a long tradition in Ghana. Most use artisanal methods, harvesting from large, motorized canoes. Ghana also has an industrial fleet. Today, the small-vessel fleet has swelled to 14,000 canoes; by the end of 2019, there were 76 registered trawlers. Together, they have harvested the ocean biomass with ruthless efficiency. The trawlers’ bottom nets take the mature and juvenile fish, to transfer by canoe in frozen blocks to the fishmongers on shore, an illegal practice known as saiko. As a result, the marine catch has plummeted from 420,000 tons in 1999 to 294,000 in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Several species are at the point of collapse.
Successful fisheries management is a precarious balance of economics, politics and science. And in 2015 scientists from GSO’s Coastal Resources Center (CRC) began working with their long-time Ghanaian counterparts at the University of Cape Coast (UCC)to find that balance in the Gulf of Guinea. A big part of the problem, says Brian Crawford, retired CRC Senior Coastal Resources Manager, and manager for the Ghana fisheries project, was that the high fishing season coincided with spawning season, so the stocks couldn’t recover. Scientists worked with Ghana’s Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, the Fisheries Commission and stakeholder groups such as the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council, to marry the science with regulations and compliance. It took a couple of tries to get it right.
“The science played a really important role. We got fishermen involved on the technical working group, and the more engaged they became, the more they were able to understand the science and communicate it back to their peers.”Brian Crawford, Ph.D., URI
“The industry agreed to have a closed season, but the timing of the first closure was not the scientifically recognized period, and it was criticized because it had little impact on resource recovery,” Crawford says.
“We needed to do a July-August-September closure. The science played a really important role. We got fishermen involved on the technical working group, and the more engaged they became, the more they were able to understand the science and communicate it back to their peers. There was a super-high compliance rate, which is really unusual in Ghana, where most of the fishing laws are not followed. The engagement of all stakeholders coming to consensus on what should be done—it was an important aspect of getting to that successful first closed season.”
Dr. Denis Aheto, director of UCC’s Center for Coastal Management, says that “it brought the need for management to the fore and gave it public attention for the first time. It’s a very good example of how collaborative research working with government regulators and the industry can really bring about some success in the management of our fishery.”
This is the kind of project the United Nations would like to replicate many times over, worldwide, at every scale: a global collaboration of scientists working with policymakers and stakeholders to solve seemingly intractable problems, to better understand this vast watery frontier and to educate society about the ocean’s role in our survival.
“The overall mission and vision of the Ocean Decade is achieving the science we need for the ocean we want,” says Chelsea Koch, the Decade’s Science Officer. “To develop this transformative ocean science, we need to bring together all aspects of society to come up with new solutions and really shake up the business-as-usual model for how we address the major societal concerns hindering our ability to achieve sustainable development—particularly when it involves the ocean.”
Defining a Decade
In December of 2017, the U.N. General Assembly officially designated 2021-2030 as the Ocean Decade, led by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with a small staff and budget. The U.N. would act as the organizer of the Decade’s over-arching goals, and the convenor-in-chief of a Matryoshka doll of international, national, regional and local groups exchanging ideas, developing plans and securing funding to achieve those objectives.
The announcement kicked off a two-year planning phase, helmed by the Executive Planning Committee, an international group of ocean science leaders, with three U.S. representatives: Margaret Leinen, Ph.D. ’80, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and vice chancellor of the University of California-San Diego, Craig McLean, then-assistant administrator of the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade, also of NOAA.
“All of these were opportunities for the community to weigh in—what are the big issues. We took all of that input and turned it into a set of goals.”Margaret Leinen, Ph.D. ’80, Co-chair, Decade Advisory Board
The IOC had approached Leinen and others early on in 2016, to discuss the U.N.’s plans and seek help. During 2019 and 2020, the executive planning committee presented the concept at major scientific meetings and conducted town halls with nearly 2,000 representatives of the science, non-profit, business, NGO and governmental communities. In addition, more than 50 ocean institutions made written submissions of their scientific priorities.
“All of these were opportunities for the community to weigh in—what are the big issues,” says Leinen, who continues as co-chair of the Decade Advisory Board. “We took all of that input and turned it into a set of goals.”
The implementation plan, released in May 2020, enumerated seven outcomes related to addressing ocean pollution and hazards, protection and restoration of marine ecosystems, sustainable food supply, developing deep knowledge of ocean conditions, making data accessible and increasing ocean literacy.
That October, the U.N. put out an invitation, the first in a rolling series, to submit proposals that aligned with the Decade goals, for its endorsement—official recognition that would give a proposal more prominence and hopefully, attract funders. The Ocean Decade divided these into long-term, multi-year, interdisciplinary and multinational programs, more focused and discrete projects, activities—a one-off, standalone initiative, such as a workshop—and contributions, money or in-kind support.
In its first year, the Decade has tallied 31 programs led by 13 countries, 92 projects from 29 countries, 42 contributions from 13 countries and 277 activities led by 46 countries. More than 25 nations in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Latin America have established Ocean Decade committees to coordinate activities within their own borders.
Despite the prominent presence of Americans on the planning committee, the U.N. Ocean Decade came at a tricky time for the U.S., which has long had a rocky relationship with the international body. The advent of the Trump administration marked America’s general withdrawal from its historical role of international engagement and leadership. For example, in June 2017, President Trump announced that the U.S. would exit the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Trump also had expressed specific hostility toward the U.N. While there had been decades of squabbles over America’s financial obligations, by 2019, the arrears reached $1 billion amid a U.N. cash crisis.
“The question was: how would the US participate in this effort in this environment?” recalls Larry Mayer, Chair of the U.S. Ocean Decade Committee.
“The question was: how would the U.S. participate in this effort in this environment?”Larry Mayer, Ph.D., Chair, U.S. Ocean Decade Committee
In 2020, the U.S. National Committee was formed, hosted by NAS, to serve as an information hub. It issued its own call for proposals called “Ocean-Shots.” A play on “moon shot,” coined in the 1960s, Ocean-Shots would be “transformative research concepts,” that would inspire participation. “Nobody had much idea what the Decade would look like,” says Mayer, paraphrasing his vice-chair Rick Spinrad: “It’s as if we were building the plane and writing the manual to build the plane while we were flying it.”
Worth a Shot
Gail Scowcroft, Associate Director of the Inner Space Center, envisions developing an international network of ocean science research and education institutions, raising the ocean’s profile in science education and policy makers’ and business leaders’ knowledge of the ocean. Based on the Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School in Ghana, CRC director and GSO professor J.P. Walsh wants to establish a Peace Corps for the ocean—a long-term education and research exchange between early- and mid-career scientists from well-resourced and under-resourced nations. Associate Professor Jaime Palter proposes to release an army of drifters, moored buoys, uncrewed surface vehicles, piloted drones and research and volunteer vessels to collect sea-air surface exchange data and make it publicly accessible.
These were among the more than 100 Ocean-Shots U.S. scientists presented in February 2021 at a virtual gathering. While these proposals were meant to be “transformational,” most were expansions or the continuation of work that was already being done.
For example, professor emeritus Thomas Rossby is part of a team that proposed a new industry standard—a network for cooperative science research on commercial ships to provide regular measurements of ocean data, beyond the reach of the small fleet of research vessels—based on work he had been doing throughout his career. Up until 2018, the Oleander, a container ship that runs weekly between Bermuda and New Jersey, was continuously collecting velocity data from its instrumented hull. Each trip provides a snapshot of the currents and water temperature, and over months and years, these snapshots create the big picture of variability and trends.
“It’s a very powerful tool,” says Rossby. “Knowing how the Atlantic behaves and interacts with the atmosphere is a very important scientific question.”
Some of these Ocean-Shots—including those proposed by Scowcroft, Walsh and Palter and their collaborators—were also endorsed by the U.N. as official Ocean Decade programs. The U.S. committee is looking at supporting and developing more.
In April, it released a report outlining its progress to date, which included organizing the most promising Ocean-Shots into broad themes—especially those that represented more inclusive approaches to ocean science and increased access to data. The themes capture the U.N. Ocean Decade’s basic objectives for a clean, productive, healthy ocean that supports world food needs and strengthens the blue economy. These “cross-cutting themes” will be the basis of future workshops that might lead to more interdisciplinary research conducted with government agencies, private industry and non-profits.
“The U.S. National Committee realized early on that they needed to include a broad suite of perspectives. That was a noble mission, and the involvement of early-career professionals has been one of the really bright spots.”Annie Brett, Ph.D., University of Florida
One of the Decade’s strategies was to nurture the next generation of ocean science managers. Young participants were badged as Early-Career Oceanographic Professionals (ECOP) to operate within the Decade’s large remit, doing anything from planning to running a Decade-endorsed activity.
“We’ve been creating our own roles,” says Annie Brett, who teaches maritime law at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, and is one of four U.S. ECOPs acting as a liaison to the National Committee.“The U.S. National Committee realized early on that they needed to include a broad suite of perspectives. That was a noble mission, and the involvement of early-career professionals has been one of the really bright spots.”
At the moment, scientists piloting U.N.-endorsed programs are having lots of Zoom conversations with the aim of figuring out how to turn their ideas into functioning entities with staff and a budget for things like data acquisition and maintenance, or research projects with real goals and outcomes.
Walsh and his partners recently held a virtual event with University of Michigan’s Brian Arbic, who founded the Ghana School in 2015, “to share what people are doing regarding capacity building. The Corps would act as a source for other entities that want to create their own exchange programs of information and best practices, and link among them. The group is now planning a workshop on summer schools, and the CRC is exploring ways it can work with Ocean Corps,” Walsh says.
“The whole team is contributing and many of us are looking for opportunities in our research to offer something linked to the Ocean Corps.”
Scowcroft is in a similar position. As executive director of the Consortium for Ocean Sciences Exploration and Engagement, she wants to build on the foundation of the Global Ocean Science Education workshops that the consortium has held since 2015, to diversify ocean science, educate more decision makers and reform undergraduate ocean science education. At the end of June, during a U.N. Ocean conference in Lisbon, Scowcroft will be collaborating with the IOC on a side event to bring new international partners.
“Even without new funding we can continue to do workshops, but our goal is to broaden participation and include more developing nations and nations that have not had representation in the past.” she says “And for that we would need funding.”
Funding the Decade
The Georgia Aquarium is one of the largest in the world, with a mission that extends far beyond the sea life in its tanks. Three years ago, it co-founded, with the Georgia Institute of Technology, Ocean Visions, a network of scientists and academic institutions addressing climate issues. In October 2021, Ocean Visions won a Decade endorsement for its Global Ecosystem for Ocean Solutions Program, initially focusing on carbon dioxide removal, coastal adaptation, and human health projects. These efforts would bring together the usual suspects from academia with some less-expected partners such as venture capitalists.
The IOC then approached Ocean Visions with its own proposal: apply to host one of eight collaborative centers the Decade hoped to manifest, to work on specific challenges or cover a particular region. Georgia Aquarium’s president and CEO Brian L. Davis was in: “It’s part of our mission—research, conservation, education and community engagement,” he says.
“We want to be strong stewards of the ocean and play an active role in its preservation, getting it into a healthier state, and ensuring that the collective ecosystem can thrive.”Brian L. Davis, Ph.D., Georgia Aquarium
“We want to be strong stewards of the ocean and play an active role in its preservation, getting it into a healthier state, and ensuring that the collective ecosystem can thrive.”
The aquarium pledged $5 million for the first five years; Georgia Tech would provide several hundred thousand dollars in the first year. In May, the participants were completing the paperwork.
This agreement was one of the Decade’s first big successes. So far, the IOC has secured new funding or in-kind commitments from foundations, and the governments of Canada and several european member states, including France, Germany Norway, and Sweden.
But most would agree that the Decade has a long way to go to before it is adequately resourced.
For example, the IOC identified the philanthropic community as a Decade resource. A report extolling this potential noted that from 2009–2020 there were 12,573 foundation grants totaling around $2.1 billion for marine science. And, in 2020, the Decade launched the Foundations Dialogue—a forum of 25 foundations worldwide interested in participating. And several have committed funds, including the AXA Research Fund, from France, which will contribute one million euros toward eight coastal scientific projects.
But the IOC’s first attempts to tap the U.S. ocean foundations received responses that ranged from “icy” to “lukewarm,” says Mark Spalding, president of the Ocean Foundation, a member of the U.S. committee and North American lead for the Foundations Dialogue. Part was due to the IOC’s inexperience building long-term relationships with philanthropic organizations. Part was a function of a U.S. tax law requirement to distribute 5% of a foundation’s assets annually, which tends to be committed to ongoing projects, with little to no money available for new grantees. Still, he says, a case can be made.
“The big philanthropic foundations in the world don’t think of themselves as blue economy ocean science funders, so we need to bridge the gap and explain that the Ocean Decade for Sustainable Development does relate to what these funders care about,” he says.
“A lot of these decade actions are not fully funded, they are hopes, they are dreams,” says NOAA Senior Advisor Liz Tirpak, who leads the working group. “We see it as the basis for discussions with communities that can offer support. It’s a formidable task because partnerships aren’t easy, but it is absolutely crucial, because the federal government can’t do it alone.”
Indeed, the U.N. is trying to marshal the entire world to save the ocean—and humankind in the process. It’s a big lift. And the first year has seen some challenges. The Decade was launched amidst a global pandemic that shut down international travel and rendered major scientific meetings virtual.
But it is early, and despite the frustrations and the scratching for money, there is also a lot of enthusiasm and belief in its potential.
“The ocean science community has suffered too long from scraps left over from other science investments,” Tirpak says. “But as we recognize the role of the oceans in national security, human well-being—never mind trade, commerce, and coastal resilience—there’s an opportunity to build additional support and information that is really the fabric of the ocean economy and a sustainable world.”