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Even one drop of water raises the ocean.

Fish are an essential part of the marine ecosystem and when populations are disrupted, every aspect of the ocean will change, from its biodiversity to its water salinity (Zabel et al., 2003). The effects of changes in the ocean will effect everyone on the planet, from consumers, to businesses, to governments, to international organizations. Education is an essential part of successfully implementing our solution. As we outline in our plan, there are many steps that can be taken to reverse the negative trends we see in the ocean fisheries. Some steps need to be taken by individuals, some need to be made by businesses, some need to be enacted by governments. However, the basic foundation that is required for the implementation of these steps is for the people involved to understand the problem and the benefits of the solution. We cannot force the implementation of our plans; our plans need to be accepted. To this end, we recognize that educating people at all levels of involvement is an important part of our plan.

Broad public education

The Demand for Fish

The amount of fish we consume now is twice the amount consumed in 1973. This has be largely due to developing nations, whose urbanization, population and income growth have led to higher levels of animal products consumed. In 1973, China accounted for 11 percent of the global fish consumption, but after 24 years, that number rose to 36 percent (Ahmed et al., 2003). In order to quell the demand for fish, education efforts must reach the developing world and those who are most dependent on fishing.

The Population Crisis

In 1999, the world's population reached 6 billion and has been growing exponentially ever since (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 1999). As the population grows at an ever increasing rate, the ability of the world's natural resources to feed, clothe, and supply everyone becomes increasingly strained.  There is an ever-increasing demand for fish, as well as for the possible alternatives to fish. One method of reducing fish consumption would be to inform individuals of the advantages of becoming a vegan or vegetarian, especially in certain rapidly developing countries.  Mission 2011 does not support replacing the protein and nutritional value gained from fish with other animal meats, especially cattle: the beef industry is a large contributor to global warming through activities ranging from the clear-cutting of forests to methane production by cattle (Marian, 2007). We do endorse obtaining the necessary nutrients from combinations of grain/wheat/flour and legumes/vegetables/beans. Additional information on combining foods to achieve optimal protein intake

Note from Somani: PLEASE DON'T DELETE ANYTHING. Feel free to edit but please don't delete.

Some references for the education team can be found on the "Call to Action" page.

Also, information on getting protein from non-animal sources can be found on Protein in the Vegan Diet and on this Protein Information Sheet.

...Key points include 46% of Californians are "very concerned" that fish/seafood is being overfished, but 56% still eat seafood more than once a week. http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/survey/S_206MBS.pdf. From Public Policy Institute of California.

   Our plan for education would include informing people of the negative consequences of fish consumption in hopes to reduce it, such as toxic mercury content which can be found in fish species of the oceans. Another possible approach would be to inform individuals of the advantages of becoming *** Being vegeterian avoids problems like:a vegetarian. In terms of alternatives, **** diseases caused due to high cholestral
we would encourage aquaculture, and make fishermen aware of it as a possible job opportunity other than fishing from the oceans.

• • Hydroponics in poor countries...?
    • Used for fresh water

• Use celebs to talk about fish problem

• ADVOCATE FAMILY PLANNING

• On the restaurant menus that serve sea food should be marked that it deals with an endangered fish, which would discourage the consumers.

• Have fisheries in the School and College Curriculum (worked in India--The education board has made it compulsory for every student to have a subject Environment Education before getting their graduation.)

• Have international drawing competition about 'SAVING THE OCEANS' among students. (Camlin color contest has again worked in India in creating awareness about environment problems)

• Advertisement on search pages like Google or Yahoo! which links to trivia quizzes on fisheries make people aware of it)
  have events held in colleges or educational institutions which collect money for FISH

• 'Wash your hands', 'don't drive drunk' and 'Have safe sex' posters and banners in public places have worked in the past...So we propose to have captions and banners like "save the fish" in public places.

• just as it is mandatory to have 'Smoking is injurious to health' written on every cigarette pack, on every place where there is a recipe of dealing with endangered fish, there should be a mandatory caption like 'Save the fish'. Though it might not be effective immediately, it would atleast make people aware of the problem and make them know that something is wrong. This might help people solve the problem in the long run.

• (on a lighter note)
  • have a facebook group or orkut community "save the fish-we need you"

• media - channel 1, CNN, BBC

• magazines - Time

• lectures and talks in schools

• create an organisation to have lesson plans-- give a day to terrascope.

• World Ocean Day

• Create special interests group to be focussed on the this problems

• donations from high profile people.

• university movement

• integrate the ideas of fish conservation into school curricula. Just like schools have mandatory Health classes, schools can also integrate environmentalism into mandatory classes. If we can educate children about safe sex, we can educate children about protecting the earth.

Education

            News, media, environmental channels---

            When this proposal goes before a committee of international diplomats for approval, we want to make sure the public is apprised of what is going on.  By making the consideration of the proposal very public, placing coverage and information about the treaty on news channels, radio etc while inform the public of what their governments are voting on.  This can spark interest in the subject at hand and rally people for a change towards better oceans. 

            Underwater camera so that people can see whats going on under the oceans-I'm not sure if we need to say anything about this one.

            Getting celebrities to sponsor these campaigns

            People love to support the causes of their favorite celebrities, and nowadays, the famous are using their influence as public role models to support various causes, from aids awareness to St. Jude's ResearchHospital.  By recruiting a few well known celebrities to support our proposal, such as Angelina Jolie, etc, then public awareness of the situation will increase rapidly from the simple matter of having a celebrity associated with it.

            Approving grassroots organizations that a further our mission

            Putting it in the school and college curriculum

            Advertisement on fisheries and oceans on the TV, radio and Newspapers

            Documentaries

            Documentaries are also an effective way of alerting the public to the current situation.

Quelling the Demand for Fish

"Global consumption of fish has doubled since 1973, and the developing world has been responsible for nearly all of this growth. Countries with rapid population growth, rapid income growth, and urbanization tend to have the greatest increases in consumption of animal products, including fish products, and the developing world has experienced all three trends. China, where income growth and urbanization have been major factors, dominates consumption of fish products. It accounted for about 36 percent of global consumption in 1997, compared with only 11 percent in 1973. India and Southeast Asia together accounted for another 17 percent in 1997, with total consumption doubling since 1973" (Ahmed et al., 2003).

We also recognize that protein replacement in societies entirely dependent on fish, or in countries with little arable land, is much more difficult and less practical.  In conclusion, Mission 2011 strongly supports education programs that encourage people with access to alternative sources of protein to substantially decrease their consumption of fish (i.e. people in developed countries, like the United States and European Union).

Key groups to educate

Governments

Governments are in charge of much regulation and international policy decision, thus they have a great degree of power in any area of management. Our plans require a large degree of international cooperation and national legislation, so knowledgeable governments are critical to the implementation of our plans. The loss of fisheries production will have negative effects on many countries. Unless the governments are aware of these issues, they cannot make the necessary decisions to mitigate these effects.

Businesses

If businesses understand the benefits they can eventually derive from the protection of the resource upon which they rely, they can become a valuable partner in pressuring governments to implement regulations and to join international conservation movements.

Fishermen

Incentives for fishermen and large-scale fisheries to implement sustainable policies must be clearly identified and promoted. Fisheries should also be made aware that proceeding along the status quo will only cause further damage, and eventually deplete the industry beyond a profitable level.  Education through activities such as workshops has the potential to convince the industry that changing fishing practices will improve production and profitability over the long term. Broadcasting the existence of government incentives for switching to environmentally friendly fishing methods will also be an element of the education campaign.

Consumers

People should be encouraged to understand that there is a problem with the ocean and that their daily efforts and attitudes can ultimately prevent a global disaster. The problem the world faces now concerns not only fish, or even merely the oceans, but rather is a part of the global exploitation of the Earth's resources. Examples of methods to engage the interest of individuals include, but are not limited to: documentaries, advertisements, books, and school programs to teach children to value and preserve the environment.

One possible method for raising public awareness of the issue of the world's fisheries is to follow the lead of other global activists. An excellent example is former United States Vice-President Albert Gore and his film, "An Inconvenient Truth." Gore succeeded in executing a "multimedia plan for informing the public about the dangers of global warming" (Koeppel, 2007). What if Gore's tactic was applied to raising awareness about global fisheries?

The commercial success of Gore's film is quite apparent. It has become the fourth highest grossing documentary in history and earned two Oscars at the 2006 Academy Awards (Wray, 2006). Even more impressive is that the film earned half of its revenue outside the United States (Koeppel, 2007). The success of the film means that there are now many more people around the world who have some idea of the devastating effects that global warning will have on our planet.  And perhaps many of those people now possess more motivation to do something about mitigating those effects. It also suggests that there is an appetite among the public for information about our planet. If we appeal to that appetite by presenting the facts of a global issue in a format that is interesting, entertaining, and easily accessible, we can reach a wide audience with our message, both domestically and abroad.

Several factors other than pure entertainment value contributed to the popularity of "An Inconvenient Truth". One of these factors was the identity of the narrator: a former presidential candidate who is memorable, engaging, and controversial for his own sake Another factor is the widespread knowledge about global warming that already exists in popular culture. In order for a film about the plight of global fisheries reach a sizable audience, we would have to have similar assets on our side: both a well-known public figure (or several figures) presenting the message and simultaneous educational campaigns to raise awareness about the problem that are separate from promotion of the film itself.  Used properly, film and media will be powerful tools in the fight to save the oceans.

In developed countries, it is also important to educate people on the impact of sportsfishing, which has risen 9% in the past five years (NOAA, 2007). People no longer have the luxury of fishing for recreation: fish populations globally are at risk, and each fish taken out of the ocean makes a difference. In order to feed those who are most dependent on fish, and in order to bring the oceans back to MSY, we must advocate the end of sportsfishing. However, in cases where sportsfishing is critical to a local economy or is still strongly desired, sportsfishing should be implemented on a catch-and-release basis only, with strong enforcement of catch limits as set by a government.

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Recommendations:

Country Level:

1. Developed countries should be encouraged to aid less-developed countries in adapting to non-fish economies (e.g through preferential trade rates for goods and services other than fish) and to aid with educational efforts in those developing countries that may not be able to fund these campaigns.
2. Countries should integrate ecology and ocean curricula into their mandatory educational systems so that all students will have a basic exposure to the issues and concepts behind this and other global environmental problems.
3. Countries should provide training and job opportunities for fishermen so that the transition from fishing to other jobs is smoother. Training the fishermen for alternative jobs such as aquaculture, ocean research, and regulatory observation on fishing boats would help the fishermen to smoothly shift out of fishing and yet work continue to work in ocean-related vocations.

Business Level:

1. Companies should be educated as to the advantages of becoming more sustainable. In the long run it makes businesses more efficient, more profitable, and more competitive.
2. Companies interested in sustainability should lobby the government to provide subsidies to companies who fish sustainably (employing equipment that does not harm the ocean environment) or who want to diversify to other fields.

Individual Level:

1. The public should be educated about the ocean problem and how their everyday actions hold the key to solving this complex problem. This can be achieved by advertisements, and documentaries such as "An Inconvenient Truth" or even by exposure to the problem in popular culture.
2. Classes should be introduced at all educational levels, even beyond the mandatory core suggested under "Country Level" educational goals.
3. Organization of school and university activities: debates, quizzes, workshops, research opportunities, or competitive activities about how we can become sustainable consumers of our resources would help to spread awareness among people.
4. World Ocean Day: Currently there is an Oceans Day Program sponsored by a collaboration between the Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education, the California Coastal Commission, Spectral Q Aerial Art and regional partners along the west coast of North America. Spreading such programs worldwide would help create large-scale awareness of the issue.
5. Advertisements: Advertising on popular Web sites like Google or Yahoo! will further help in increasing awareness. The Ad Council is currently running a campaign focusing on Oceans Awareness using Ariel from the Disney movie "A Little Mermaid". Extension of such programs will help increase overall knowledge of these issues.
6. Campaigns in Public Places: Celebrity endorsement may also help raise awareness as well as money for the cause. Such events can be held at educational institutions or in other public places

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Works Cited

Ahmed, M., Delgado, C.L., Meijer, S., Rosegrant, M.W., Wada, N. (2003). The Future of Fish: Issues and Trends to 2020. International Food Policy Research Insitute and WorldFish Center. Retrieved 18 November 2007, Website: http://www.ifpri.org.

An inconvenient truth (2007). Retrieved 11/9/2007, 2007, Website: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=inconvenienttruth.htm

Health Effects (2007).Retrieved November 20, 2007, from US Environmental Protection Agency: Mercury Website: http://www.epa.gov/mercury/health.htm

Koeppel, P. (2007). The marketing of an inconvenient truth. Ezine, 11/9/2007.

Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences (2007). Global Warming Facts and Our Future. Retrieved 17 November 2007, Website: http://koshlandscience.org/exhibitgcc/causes04.jsp. 

National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries Statistics Division. (2007). By the Numbers: Saltwater Fishing Facts for 2006. from: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/PartnershipsCommunications/recfish/BytheNumbers2006.pdf.

Numprasertchai S, Igel B, Managing knowledge through collaboration: multiple case studies of managing research in university laboratories in Thailand Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2004.03.001

Smith R, Resolving the Tragedy of the Commons by Creating Private Property Rights in Wildlife, Website: http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj1n2-1.html

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (1999). The World at Six Billion Website World Wide Web: http://www.ifpri.orgun.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbillion.htm.

Wray, L., & Flanagan, C. (2006). An inconvenient truth about youth. Electronic version. Washington Post, pp. A17. Retrieved 11/9/2007.

Zabel R, Harvey C, Katz S, Good T, Levin P. (2003). Ecologically Sustainable Yield Website: http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/17216?fulltext=true&print=yes .