Fishermen-led climate policy statements
The Fishery Friendly Climate Action Campaign does not speak with a single voice. Instead, it is a platform that provides opportunities for networking, information sharing, and capacity building to help individuals, businesses, and organizations within the U.S. fishing and seafood industry co-create and amplify their own statements in support of fishery friendly climate action. The statements below represent the fruit of these collaborations. Each letter bears the unique signatures of those who choose to sign it. Although no two statements are alike, all align around a common core message: America must address climate change in the most fishery-friendly way possible, by uplifting decarbonization solutions and policies that work for fisheries and not at their expense. As of January 2023, 26 organizations and 74 individuals and businesses in the fishing industry have utilized the Fishery Friendly Climate Action platform to submit letters and issue statements calling on policy makers at multiple levels to support fishery friendly climate action.
U.S. Fishing Industry Letter to NOAA on Fishery Friendly Climate Action in the National Seafood Strategy, 03/31/2023
U.S. Fishing Industry Letter to EPA on Inflation Reduction Act Ports Program, 01/18/2023
Multi-organization letter to the EPA on Implementation of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, 12/05/2022
Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island letter to the RI Executive Climate Change Coordinating Committee, 12/02/2022
U.S. Commercial Fishing Letter to White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on the Ocean Climate Action Plan, 11/18/2022
National sign-on letter to the White House and implementing agencies from 10 fishing associations and 24 fishing businesses on “fishery friendly” implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, 10/20/2022
Letter from New England fishery associations to New England Senators and coastal district Representatives on the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, 09/08/2022
Northern New England commercial fishing industry response to Biden climate speech: Climate action must support ocean ecosystems and resource-dependent communities, 08/10/2022
Sarah Schumann: The Inflation Reduction Act Offers Hope for Fishery Friendly Climate Action. Saving Seafood, 08/05/2022
Southern New England commercial fishing industry response to Biden climate speech: Climate action must support ocean ecosystems and resource-dependent communities. 07/22/2022
Roger Berkowitz and Sarah Schumann: Don’t endanger aquatic ecosystems in the name of solving climate change. Boston Globe, 06/20/2022
Synthesis of the Views of 20 Southern New England Commercial Fishermen on NOAA’s Role in the America the Beautiful Initiative, 12/28/2021
Fishery Friendly Climate Action Agenda Statement Sign-On
Fishermen and fishery leaders: Use the Fishery Friendly Climate Action platform to develop, circulate, and amplify your own policy statements:
Circulate a sign-on letter through the Fishery Friendly Climate action list serve. Members of the U.S. commercial fishing industry and their representatives are invited to utilize the Fishery Friendly Climate Action Forum email discussion list to circulate policy statements for signatures. This is a great way to expand the diversity and breadth of signatures on your statement, and achieve maximum impact and solidarity across regions and fisheries. Join the Forum here.
Publish your policy statement on this page. Statements that have been circulated for signatures through the Forum may be published on this page. Statements must first be approved for this purpose by initiators of the statement and the campaign’s Advisory Council. Contact Sarah Schumann for more information.
Defining “fishery friendly climate action.” In order to ensure consistency in messaging, policy letters published on this page should include the following definition of “fishery friendly climate action” (this is not a requirement for circulating letters through the list-serve, or for op-eds/LTEs).
Fishery friendly climate action simultaneously reduces, sequesters, or avoids GHG emissions at scales sufficient to hold warming well below 2°C (while pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C), while also:
● Avoiding collateral impacts on ocean, coastal, estuarine, and watershed environments;
● Avoiding interference with the harvest and provision of wild seafood for the public;
● Contributing conservation co-benefits that enhance the resilience of these ecosystems to climate change and other stressors; and/or
● Facilitating the voluntary adoption of cost-effective, locally appropriate technologies and practices to reduce fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by fishing vessels and shoreside businesses.