{"id":1944,"date":"2021-08-02T16:07:21","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T23:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coral.org\/news\/with-healthy-fisheries-everyone-wins\/"},"modified":"2021-09-23T08:26:15","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T15:26:15","slug":"with-healthy-fisheries-everyone-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/with-healthy-fisheries-everyone-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"With Healthy Fisheries, Everyone Wins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?app=desktop&amp;v=F8qg1Sfj300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Santos Banegas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been fishing off the coast of Puerto Castilla, Honduras, for the last 35 years. At the start of his fishing career, he remembers routinely catching 300 to 500 pounds of fish a day, which meant he could easily feed and support his family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, he\u2019s lucky if he catches 30 to 40 pounds of fish each day. Banegas\u2014and many other fishers around the world\u2014now faces a difficult choice: Buy larger, more expensive boats that can take him farther out into the ocean in search of fish, or go hungry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F8qg1Sfj300\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fish are disappearing from Puerto Castilla and other fisheries around the world because of overfishing, or the practice of catching too many fish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When people overharvest fish on reefs and elsewhere, they begin to deplete fish populations. This, in turn, means that fishers have to intensify their efforts to catch something. This downward spiral can lead to the collapse or near-collapse of fish stocks, an outcome with consequences for coral reef ecosystems and the humans who depend on them for food and jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overfishing threatens coral reefs by disrupting the delicate balance of the ecosystem\u2019s food web. On healthy, sustainably fished reefs, plant-eaters like parrotfish and surgeonfish regularly graze on seaweed, also called macroalgae, keeping it at low, manageable levels. But when people overharvest these herbivorous fish, the macroalgae begins to grow unchecked, which can eventually smother the reefs and make it more difficult for coral larvae to settle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But beyond harming coral reefs, overfishing also contributes to poverty and hunger.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fish who live in coral reef ecosystems feed millions of people around the world, including the residents of some of the world\u2019s poorest countries. What\u2019s more, fishing provides critical income for millions of families, assuring the livelihoods of 10 to 12 percent of the world\u2019s population. Coral reefs alone support 6 million fishers in 99 countries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unless we stop overfishing and save coral reefs, many communities around the world will face food crises and economic instability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s why we are so committed to protecting, promoting and maintaining healthy fisheries. To address this acute issue, we work with local communities to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/making-the-case-for-a-biological-corridor\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">create new marine protected areas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and help to improve the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/blog\/finding-resilience-in-honduras\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">management of existing protected areas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which give fish populations a chance to rebound.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve launched a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/blog\/community-scientists\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">community scientist program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to gain a better understanding of what\u2019s happening to local fisheries, and we\u2019re supporting <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/aquaculture-an-alternative-to-overfishing-in-honduras\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">aquaculture<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and aquaponics, two sustainable fish and food cultivation practices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019re <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/want-to-protect-fisheries-involve-the-community\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">partnering with local communities<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to develop collaborative, ground-up solutions. And we\u2019re working directly with fishers like Banegas to help raise awareness about overfishing and encourage sustainable fishing practices, which not only help protect coral reefs, but also the health and livelihoods of communities around the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With healthy fisheries, everyone wins.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Santos Banegas has been fishing off the coast of Puerto Castilla, Honduras, for the last 35 years. At the start of his fishing career, he remembers routinely catching 300 to 500 pounds of fish a day, which meant he could easily feed and support his family. Today, he\u2019s lucky if he catches 30 to 40&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/with-healthy-fisheries-everyone-wins\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading &#8594;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_genesis_transparent_header":false,"_genesis_hide_siblings_nav":false,"_genesis_hide_flyout":false,"_genesis_subtitle":"","_genesis_subheading":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[311],"tags":[151,16,256,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-1944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news","8":"tag-healthy-fisheries","9":"tag-honduras","10":"tag-mesoamerican","11":"tag-trujillo","12":"entry"},"acf":[],"template_part":"\n<article class=\"article article-post post-1944 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail category-local-news tag-healthy-fisheries tag-honduras tag-mesoamerican tag-trujillo entry\">\n\t<div class=\"entry-image\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/with-healthy-fisheries-everyone-wins\/\">\n\t\t\t<img width=\"740\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Santos-photo-740x400.png\" class=\"attachment-preview size-preview wp-post-image\" alt=\"Honduras fishers return to shore\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"entry-meta\">\n\t\t<ul class=\"post-categories\">\n\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/category\/local-news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Local News<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"entry-body\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/with-healthy-fisheries-everyone-wins\/\" class=\"entry-title-link\">With Healthy Fisheries, Everyone Wins<\/a><\/h2>\t\t<p>Santos Banegas has been fishing off the coast of Puerto Castilla, Honduras, for the last 35 years. At the start of his fishing career, he remembers routinely catching 300 to 500 pounds of fish a day, which meant he could easily feed and support his family. Today, he\u2019s lucky if he catches 30 to 40&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/with-healthy-fisheries-everyone-wins\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading &#8594;<\/a><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Santos-photo.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Santos-photo.png","author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/author\/admin\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Santos-photo.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}