ocean trust news

Ocean Trust Receives Multiple Conservation Awards In 2007
Ocean Trust’s leadership in coastal restoration was recognized during two separate award ceremonies in 2007. In June, Ocean Trust received top conservation awards from the US Fish & Wildlife Service and Coastal America for its leadership in building one of the largest public/private restoration partnerships and its role in restoring the Bahia Grande shallow water coastal estuary to provide nursery habitat for a variety of fish, shellfish and migratory waterfowl. The EPA Gulf of Mexico Program also awarded the seventy- nine partners associated with the Bahia Grande Restoration Project a Gulf Guardian Award for 2007 at the November 14 Gulf of Mexico Program awards ceremony. Thor Lassen, president of Ocean Trust accepted the award on behalf of the Bahia Grande partnership. This was the third award given to the Bahia Grande project where Ocean Trust has played a key role in its management, and the fifth national conservation award for Thor Lassen and Ocean Trust. Read more about each conservation award… EPA Gulf Guardian Award 2007Coastal America & USFWS Wetlands Conservation Awards 2006 DOI Cooperative Conservation Award 2005 NOAA Environmental Hero 2004

Sea Bass Chardonnay: A Wine With A Cause
Promoting Greater Enforcement to Help Restore Chilean Sea Bass Fisheries
Anyone can raise issues, but how many offer solutions…one you can drink and enjoy? With the sale of each bottle of Chilean Sea Bass Chardonnay, AV Imports will contribute a portion of all proceeds to help put Chilean Sea Bass back on the table with improved enforcement and management of this species. The efforts of this partnership are to promote greater compliance and enforcement of vessel monitoring and regulatory programs that have had a dramatic impact on reducing illegal and unregulated fishing, and helped with overall management of the Patagonian Toothfish (Chilean Sea Bass). “The Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) used to track fishing vessels in the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) management zone along with the enforcement of the Dissostichus Catch Document system used to monitor trade in Chilean Sea Bass have reduced illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by 75%,” said Thor Lassen, president of Ocean Trust. “We want to insure that these programs have adequate funding to continue the progress made with the Chilean sea bass resource,” continued Lassen, “so we are happy to join in a partnership with companies like AV Imports to make a positive contribution to sustain this fishery.” For more information on the Chilean Sea Bass Chardonnay contact: sarah.morris@avimports.com Links: CCAMLR: http://www.ccamlr.org Chilean Sea Bass Management Fact Sheet: http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2002/mar02/noaa02031.html Brochure on how the CDS program works: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/sfweb/nsil/toothfish%20brochure.pdf U.S. Chilean Sea Bass Management News: http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2004/sep04/noaa04-093.html Chilean Sea Bass Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/trade/chile.pdf Ocean Trust & Ocean Garden take steps to protect endangered porpoise in the Sea of Cortez Conservation Agreement - In June, Ocean Garden Products and Ocean Trust met with several environmental groups to discuss the vaquita marina and shrimp fishing in the Upper Gulf of California (GOC) and worked out an agreement to protect the vaquita marina while promoting the sustainability of the fisheries and fishing communities in the GOC by eliminating the bycatch of vaquita marina, stopping illegal fishing, and improving the efficiency of shrimp fisheries so that bycatch is reduced while supporting fishermen and local communities Conclusion - The Mexican Sea of Cortez shrimp fishery is among the most sustainable trawl shrimp fisheries incorporating advanced management tools such as satellite vessel monitoring systems, observers and light weight nets along with turtle and bycatch reduction devises, closed areas and seasons. Perhaps even more significant is that when confronted with environmental issues, Ocean Garden Products and the fishing groups in the Upper GOC worked with Ocean Trust to fact find the issues and identify positive areas of cooperation to enhance sustainability of their fishery and the ecosystem in the Sea of Cortez.