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Coastweek --
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is proud to announce the
winners of the latest round of its scholarship program. The
program provides funding of up to £4,000 to support research
looking at environmental improvement, supply chain management or
best practice in fisheries management. The two winners, Lily
Zhao from the University of Washington, USA and Timothy
Munyikana Kakai from Pwani University, Kenya were selected from
a record 70 applications from 30 countries.
Lily Zhao from the
University of Washington, USA and the Stockholm Resilience
Centre in Sweden won the award for her project mapping the trade
flows of octopus from small scale fisheries in East Africa.
Octopus are a common food in the region and little is known
about the export and interdependencies between countries in
terms of product flow. Zhao’s research will complement the MSC’s
initiative to map the sustainability of octopus fishing across
the Western Indian Ocean.
Timothy Munyikana
Kakai from Pwani University in Kenya will trial the use of LED
lights on nets to reduce turtle bycatch in Kenyan artisanal
fisheries. Sea turtles are often entangled in or captured by
commercial and artisanal fisheries along Kenya’s 600km coast and
this remains a threat to the five species of sea turtle in the
region. Several studies have revealed that illuminating fishing
nets with LED lights can reduce sea turtle capture by 40%1-60%2
so, if the trial is successful, this project has the potential
to make a real impact on the water.
Oluyemisi Oloruntuyi,
Head of the Developing World Program at the MSC said: “We were
very impressed with the quality of entries this year, ranging
from the development of new tools for bycatch reduction to
assessing the impact of land development on fish and coral
community structures. It is a testament to the breadth of marine
research taking place globally that we are able to fund projects
in Kenya and across East Africa, where sustainable fisheries are
vital not only for the health of our oceans, but for food
security and poverty reduction.”
The MSC scholarship
research program is now in its seventh year. The 2016 winners
are investigating Mexican cooperatives combating illegal
fishing, researching the socio-economic impacts of seaweed
farming in Indonesia and monitoring tuna populations with
genetic sequencing. To register your interest in the 2018
scholarship program, please email
standards@msc.org. |
