World Seafood Congress 2017

The focus of the World Seafood Congress, WSC 2017, is “GROWTH IN THE BLUE ECONOMY – Practical approach and cutting edge research for market innovation, safe seafood supply and food integrity”.

NAMMCO will present the talk “Sealing and Whaling and Blue Growth: Coherence or Paradox?” at the session “Building Capacities in Fishing Communities” (Monday, September 11th).

Abstract:

International governance of marine resource use is facilitated around a novel concept – ‘blue growth’: “improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities”, which endorses the principles of low carbon, resource efficiency and social inclusion.

Is excluding marine mammal resources from the discourse coherence or paradox?

The presentation will explore the blue potential of North Atlantic marine mammal resources, based on their present conservation status and the exploitation footprint on the environment. As one example, the talk will focus on the EU seal ban, which has seriously decreased the revenue opportunities, both direct and indirect, for Greenlandic hunters – the situation being especially alarming in the smaller communities dependent on hunting – while it has no effect in reducing the number of seals killed, as the seal meat is the main purpose of the hunt while skins only represent a by-product, now unutilised.