On November 19 Ernesto headed to the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle, accompanied by Professor Dave Fluharty. The expo is the largest commercial marine trade show on the West Coast, serving commercial mariners from Alaska to California. It also is host to many information booths and sessions that researchers and scholars can find useful as they navigate the future of fisheries management, global warming, and global policies.
“It was an excellent occasion to meet interesting people and get to know the latest developments in all things maritime: from technology to marketing and management,” said Ernesto.
Ernesto was especially intrigued by an exchange with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) stand, where they presented NOAA’s initiative on charting US Pacific coastal waters. “It’s exciting because it is an initiative similar to Europe’s Emodnet project,” noted Ernesto.
He also had an enlightening experience with the Washington Trollers Association, learning for the first time of their bid to fish salmon with trolling lines and make this very sustainable practice profitable by developing an upscale market.
Ernesto also gained useful insight into the illegal activity of Russian crab fishers and how they undermine US jobs. This, in combination with a new evidence on global warming and its effects on the fishing industry around the world would continue to impact jobs in the future, demonstrated the importance of such expos and discussions.
The final event, a seafood lunch, was served at the Seattle Fishermen Terminal. “It was a truly enjoyable experience,” Ernesto discussed.
Next on Ernesto’s list? He’ll head to the Seattle Office of International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC), a bilateral US-Canadian organization to manage this common stock, to discuss global management of Halibut in the worlds oceans.