Join MAP at the Ballard SeafoodFest in July

Due to the success of our booth at the Fremont Fair, the Mangrove Action Project plans to participate in the 35th Ballard SeafoodFest on the weekend of July 25-26. The event is located in the historic Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. With entertainment for all ages, beer and wine gardens, a plethora of seafood vendors, arts and crafts and our unique contests, it’s a great, old fashioned summer party. Find out more about the SeafoodFest here.

We will have a booth at the fair where MAP staff and volunteers will educate fair-goers and hand out brochures about the loss and degradation of mangrove habitats and the resulting effects on the environment and the livelihoods of coastal communities.

As part of the Shrimp Less, Think More campaign, MAP’s presence at the Seafood Fest will also serve to raise awareness of the destructive actions of the shrimp and aquaculture industries on the mangroves and their ecosystems. We hope to further promote our Consumer’s Pledge to avoid farmed shrimp, and increase the number of signees. T-Shirts and calendars will also be available for purchase, with all proceeds going to support MAP and its worldwide programs to protect and restore the mangroves.

If you’d like to volunteer to help with the booth, please contact us via email. We would love to have your help!

MAP at the Fremont Fair

The Mangrove Action Project’s booth at the 2009 Fremont Fair was a huge success! MAP staff and volunteers distributed brochures, talked with fairgoers, answered questions, and promoted the work of MAP and the Shrimp Less, Think More campaign. The audience was very receptive to our work and everyone came away more informed and aware of the issues of mangrove loss and industrial aquaculture. Many people donated to our cause and offered to volunteer with MAP in the future.

The Fremont Fair also marked the official unveiling of the campaign’s Consumer Pledge, an effort to get individuals to make informed choices about the source of their shrimp and to avoid imported, farmed shrimp due to the ecological and health issues associated with shrimp farming. The pledge was enormously well received, with 102 people signing the list and agreeing to avoid farmed shrimp.

Join us at the Ballard Seafood Fest in July and the BlueFestival in October, and look for MAP and the Shrimp Less, Think More campaign at other events around the Seattle area in the next few months!

Submit artwork now for 9th MAP Children’s Mangrove Art Calendar

Every year the Mangrove Action Project sponsors a fun and exciting Art Contest for children 6 to 13 years old.
 
We invite all primary school children from tropical and sub-tropical nations, and whose schools are located near mangroves, to create art telling us “why mangroves are important to me and my community”.
 
Selected winners will be published in a 2010 calendar to be distributed internationally to raise awareness of mangrove forest ecology. This creative contest aims to promote appreciation and awareness of mangrove forests, and to encourage and listen to creative voices of children living in mangrove areas.
 
Help us launch this program in your school by contacting science and art teachers in your area and encouraging them to work together on this fun and innovative project.
 
Who Can Enter?
 
Age Limit:  6-13 years old
 
What kind of art can be submitted?
 
Technique: Paint, color pencil, ink, collage, pastel, crayons, etc
 
Dimensions: Canvas, or paper, 45 cms x 30 cms. (18 in. x 12 in)
 
The art work should be in a horizontal format (long length across, the shorter length vertical), in order to fit on the calendar page. (We had received wonderful art work  in a vertical format, but sadly were unable to use it.)
 
Artist Identification: On the back of each art work please write (in English) the full name and age of the artist, the school’s name, address, city or town, country, and the title of the art work.
 
When is the deadline?
 
Please, we must receive the artwork in MAP’s office by the end of 31 July, 2009.
 
Mailing instructions:
 
The art work has to be mailed in a small tube, such as the ones for mailing posters. Make sure the art is sent in certified or registered mail to:
 
Mangrove Action Project
PO Box 1854
Port Angeles, WA 98362-0279 USA
 
Please mail in a tube or flat in a box, but not folded!
 
Please also include your local NGO contact.
 
All entries selected at the national level should be submitted to the same address.
 
How will entries be judged?
 
Each school will hold its own exhibition and select 3 or more winners in art. Winning entries will be collected in each country by a participating NGO and then mailed to MAP’s office to be judged by a team of artists.
 
What are the prizes?
 
1st Prize will receive a certificate + calendar and the recognition of being published in an International calendar with global distribution.
 
2nd Prize will receive a certificate + calendar and the recognition of being published in an International calendar with global distribution.
 
3rd Prize will receive a certificate + calendar and the recognition of being published in an International calendar with global distribution.
 
Schools will receive 2 Calendars
 
NGOs will receive 10 Calendars.
 
Who do I contact?
 
Please let us know if your school plans to participate by contacting:
 
Monica  Gutierrez-Quarto
Calendar Project Coordinator
c/o Mangrove Action Project
PO Box 1854
Port Angeles, WA 98362-0279 USA
 
tel./ fax  (360) 452-5866
e-mail: monicagquarto@olympus.net or mangroveap@olympus.net

Mangrove Action Project sponsors Earth Day 5k Run for the Mangroves

Runners at the Starting Line

On April 19th, the Mangrove Action Project and the Shoreline, WA neighborhood hosted the Earth Day 5k Run to promote mangrove issues, MAP, and environmental responsibility. The run was open to runners and walkers of all abilities for the 5k course at Paramount Park. Kids also took part in the 1/3 mile fun run.
 
Over 180 runners participated, with their registration fee being donated to the Mangrove Action Project’s efforts to conserve and restore the world’s mangrove forests, and to draw attention to the issues surrounding shrimp aquaculture. At the end of the race each participant received a tree to take home and plant.
 
The Earth Day 5k motto was, “Think Globally, Act Locally.” As such, MAP had a booth at this event to provide information and answer questions about the organization, mangrove issues, and shrimp aquaculture. The booth was staffed by Executive Director Alfredo Quarto and MAP’s new Communications & Development Coordinator Austen Moore. Mr. Quarto also made a speech to the participants following the event.
 
All in all, the event was a major success for MAP. Look for other MAP-sponsored events in the future!

Pledge to Avoid Imported Shrimp

Given the environmental, community, and health threats posed by imported shrimp, I pledge to take steps to:

• Know that the source of the seafood I purchase is sustainable
• Avoid using imported shrimp
• Choose wild or farmed shrimp from the U.S. or Canada

See who has already signed the pledge!

- CALL-TO-ACTION -

Please ask your local restaurants where they source their shrimp and encourage them to sign the pledge by contacting shrimp.campaign@mangroveactionproject.org.

Public forum: Can fisheries and wild fish survive with feedlots in our state and offshore waters?

Around the world, coastal environments and economies, wild fish and other marine life have been affected by the expansion of large-scale farming of fish, shrimp and certain kinds of shellfish. Few safeguards are in place as marine feedlots produce commodity seafoods, resulting in habitat loss, pollution, competition for food, and diminished access and quality of life for coastal residents. Citizens can turn the tide by educating elected officials about the need to protect our local waters and tidelands, as well as keeping open cage fish farms from the Straits of Juan de Fuca and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), 3-200 miles offshore, currently promoted by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce/NOAA.

Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Location: Leif Erikson Hall
2245 NW 57^th
Seattle, WA 98107

6-7 pm Refreshments and Leikarringen Norwegian dancers

7-9:30 pm “Industrial Aquaculture: Food or Folly?”

Anne Mosness, Go Wild Campaign:  NOAA’s promotion of salmon, geoduck and blackcod farming in Washington State and the “National Offshore Aquaculture Act” allowing thousands of cages in our EEZ.

Laura Hendricks, Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat:  Degradation of tidelands and loss of forage fish/salmon habitat from industrial geoduck production.

Alfredo Quarto, Mangrove Action Project (MAP):  Impacts of large-scale shrimp farming and MAP’s “Shrimp Less, Think More” consumer campaign to decrease consumption of farmed shrimp.

and special guest:

Kurt Willy Oddekalv, Leader of Norges Miljovernforbund (Green Warriors of Norway):  Advocating major changes in the global fish-farming industry and in Norway.

Informational displays:

Risks from Bristol Bay’s proposed Pebble Mine and offshore oil and gas drilling;
Puget Sound clean up activities;
Wild fish restoration projects;
Fishing and conservation organizations.

Event donations and tabling requests are welcome.

Contacts:

Anne Mosness eatwildfish@aol.com, 360-671-6478
Alfredo Quarto mangroveap@olympus.net, 360- 452-5866

Download event flyer (pdf)

Shrimp Less, Think More at Slow Food Nation

One of the highlights of the campaign has been participating in Slow Food Nation over Labor Day weekend, where over 60,000 people congregated in San Francisco to celebrate “the birth of a broad and inclusive food movement to build an American food system that is sustainable, just, and delicious.”

At Changemakers Day, MAP staff organized a panel, Is Something Fishy? Aquaculture, Seafood, and Sustainability.  Aquaculture is the world’s fastest growing food sector, worth $70 billion and providing over one-third of the seafood consumed worldwide. This dynamic panel brought together activists, policy experts, fishermen, a retailer, and a chef to discuss ways of overcoming the industrial food dilemmas created by aquaculture. It addressed the harmful impact of shrimp and salmon farming on the environment, communities, family fishing businesses and consumer health, and focused on strategies for reforming policy and increasing consumer awareness.

Consumers are often confused about how to purchase and use sustainable seafood. This panel was both informational and fun; it provided resources and guidelines to help Changemakers promote clean, sustainable seafood that is at the heart of Slow Food, and also provided a taste of delicious smoked wild salmon!

Panelists included Laura Anderson, owner of Local Ocean Seafood; Ben Bowman, policy analyst at Food and Water Watch; Diane Morgan, Cookbook Author; Anne Mosness, Go Wild!; and Alfredo Quarto, Mangrove Action Project.

11 Local Chefs Pledge to Avoid Imported Shrimp!

Because shrimp is the most popular seafood in America, and because most shrimp is consumed in restaurants, one of the most ambitious goals of Shrimp Less, Think More has been getting local chefs and restaurants to avoid imported shrimp.  We are proud to announce that 11 local chefs have taken a formal pledge vowing to avoid imported shrimp!

The chefs and restaurants participating include:

Rose Ann Finkel  Pike Brewery
Greg Atkinson Northwest Essentials
Diane LaVonne Diane’s Market Kitchen
Peter Burke Ray’s Boathouse
Johnathan Sundstrom Lark
Kevin Davis  Steelhead Diner
Adam Stevenson Earth and Ocean
Dustin Ronspies Art of the Table
Dave Storm Portage Bay Cafe
Erin Fetridge Stumbling Goat Bistro

Thank you to these amazing chefs for taking this active step toward stopping the imports of unsustainable shrimp.

Learn more about the Chef’s Pledge at our website.

First Canadian Shrimp Fishery Certified Sustainable

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) recently certified the Canadian northern prawn trawl fishery as a sustainable and well-managed fishery. It is the first shrimp fishery in Canada (and only the second in the world) to earn the MSC certification. According to Brad Ack, the regional director for MSC Americas,

“This is a notable milestone, as northern prawns are the first Canadian fishery to gain MSC certification, and we are looking forward to others following. Seafood buyers around the world can now add one of the largest wild shrimp fisheries to their ‘buy list’ of fisheries that have MSC’s independent, third-party assurance of sustainability.”

Read more about this decision here. This is good news that is consistent with the message of our campaign: Always choose shrimp from the U.S. and Canada and avoid imports!

New Seafood Watch Guides Now Available!

We are pleased to announce that the new Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Guides are now available to download.

Although they are very similar to past versions, there is one notable change on the West Coast Guide: Wild salmon from Oregon and California are no longer listed as sustainable choices. Due to extremely low populations of Chinook and Coho salmon this year, the Pacific Fishery Management Council closed the commercial salmon fisheries in Oregon and California. Read about all of the changes in the guides here.

There are no changes in recommendations about shrimp; always avoid imported shrimp and instead choose local, sustainable varieties!