Dear <<First Name>>,

This year was again strongly affected by the covid pandemic, but also pierced the media with increasingly impatient and insistent messages to act up on the climate and biodiversity crises affecting more and more people in all regions of the world. But beware, the men, women and children already in precarious or vulnerable conditions were again affected most seriously. Justice and practice of solidarity thus come into even sharper focus, as we need to strengthen our collective ability to overcome this enormous triple challenge. Scientists have been at the forefront with their early warnings, but we are clearly slow and late learners.

Valeria Mariani submitted one of the winning contributions to World Ocean Day

In the on-going and intensifying efforts to make sure it’s not too late, Mundus maris focused its work this past year on a few key topics. We organised an international invitation for written and/or visual contributions to the UN Motto for World Ocean Day 2021 (8 June) “The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods” which triggered lovely contributions from individuals and groups in 10 countries. We also organised, often together with local partners, more than a dozen events on or around the day itself with at least as high a mobilisation effect as in years prior to the pandemic! That was a wonderful illustration of what good collaboration across boundaries can achieve.

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A moment of intense debate during the last Academy workshop in Yoff, Senegal

We intensified work in support of implementing the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication and more in general the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030. This entailed sharing experiences with the Small-Scale Fisheries Academy in Senegal in conferences, workshops and various publications as well as workshops to revitalise and project the Academy’s work forward with facilitators and learners on the ground.

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John Cass' artwork Sleeping Guardian, part of the 'Casa dei Pesci'

Exchanges about collaboration with the Academy in other countries are ongoing as a result. We also extended practical support to an emblematic initiative of ocean stewardship by artisanal coastal fishers in Tuscany, Italy, through the ‘Casa dei Pesci’ (the House of the Fish). They protect a coastal strip from destructive – and illegal – bottom trawling by bringing out marble sculptures and other intert obstacles uniting action on the ground with sciences and arts for the rehabilitation of the marine ecosystem and innovating approaches, all the while also safeguarding some of the positive age-old marine traditions.

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The recognition of the multifaceted contributions of the artisans of the sea needs to translate also into action against practices undermining their sustainability. This is why we actively collaborated with more than 100 civil society organisations demanding a stop of harmful subsidies to industrial fisheries in the WTO. The WTO missed the deadline end 2020, but the swell of voices requesting delivery – at last – is growing all the time to act against such subsidies which perpetuate overfishing and the implementation gap concerning agreed targets for coastal and ocean protection. We will not rest next year to continue campaigning. We look forward to join forces with many others to make the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA) a success. These are steps to advance implementing the Voluntary Guidelines and bring about solid improvements. But to maintain and even extend these results, we need your help. We are grateful for collaboration with and support from Fair Fish International in advancing work with the SSF Academy in Senegal, including on the new FishBase Guide App for Android, which is an innovative step towards promoting sustainable fish production and consumption.

Thanks also to several donors hearing our appeal in the November Newsletter for one-time or regular donations. However, we appeal to you and other readers and followers to become godparents for the extension of Academy activities. We need at least 40 additional regular donors with monthly contributions of 50€ or many more able to chip in smaller amounts or any other regular or one-time gift. An anonymous donor will double all donations received between now and end January 2022. Get the satisfaction of moving ocean protection forward thanks to your contribution to the ‘gift economy’ of mutual support and benefit from a healthier ocean for your own living conditions. Join the journey for positive change. Thanks so much for whatever you can do.

Mundus maris asbl, Belfius Bank, Rue de Linthout 224, 1040 Brussels, Belgium IBAN: BE54 0688 9178 6297 BIC: GKCCBEBB

For more stories, have a look at our website in five languages: www.mundusmaris.org. You’ll also find links to all newsletters issued throughout the year. Contact us any time at info@mundusmaris.org. We continue welcoming help from all interested ocean lovers, including retired professionals who would like to put their lifelong experience at the service of the sustainability and blue justice causes we work for. 5 December has been declared by the UN as International Volunteer Day – we say, join us to get satisfaction out of doing useful things for the common good throughout the year and specifically for people less fortunate than some others – join us and make a difference! Heartfelt Season’s greetings.

Cornelia E. Nauen and the entire Mundus maris team