working out of small research camps deep in the jungle, out of cell and internet range, for sometimes weeks and months on end, these researchers have not only generated crucial data that is safeguarding the rainforest ecosystem, but also developed a training system for an entire new generation of conservation scientists who are reshaping the brazilian scientific and political community.

as global climate change accelerates and deforestation rates in the amazon rainforest reach a five-year high, their work may hold the key to the survival of both the rainforest and the global human community that depends on it.

the rainforest fragments project: a grand experiment

the strident shrieks of a macaw rang out over my head as i walked down the tiny, muddy footpath that wound around giant ferns and towering banyan-like trees. around our single-file group, the rainforest sung with a thousand voices of cicadas, insects, and birdsong, interrupted suddenly by a scattershot of crashes signaling the arrival of a troop of capuchin monkeys.

a few hundred feet later, a brilliant blue morpho butterfly bigger than my hand floated across the trail like a wandering will-o’-the-wisp, disappearing back into the shadowy green tapestry of undergrowth. walking through this experience like a child in wonderland, i almost forgot that i was in the middle of a giant science experiment: brazil’s biological diversity of forest fragments project.

spanning roughly 100 square kilometers — that’s about 25,000 acres — the biological dynamics of forest fragments project, or bdffp for short, is the largest and longest running ecological study in the world. for nearly four decades, the researchers here have been studying a collection of “forest fragments” — large squares of untouched rainforest standing in former farmland that mimic the isolated patchwork increasingly being created throughout the amazon by human clearing and burning activities.

dr. jose luis camargo, an expert plant ecologist and the director of field research at bdffp, was our guide to the mysteries of the forest. with twinkling eyes and a knack for talking perfectly normally about waking up in his hammock next to a tarantula, camargo has over 30 years of experience in the rainforest and trains the graduate students who form the heart and soul of bdffp. he shared his knowledge with us with the warm voice of a lifelong teacher, tinged with deep reverence for the ecosystem he studies.

“we have a series of fragments here of different sizes — 1, 10, and 100 hectare fragments — as well as matching plots in the continuous forest,” camargo said.  

the uniqueness of this setup is that it allows the researchers to compare the populations of trees and animals in the nearby continuous forest to those in areas that are cut off, or “fragmented,” from the main ecosystem, he explained.

some of these differences need no scientific training to recognize — for example, the blue morphos and monkeys that mesmerized me in the continuous forest plots were conspicuously absent when we visited a forest fragment — but other changes can be more subtle. forest fragments are drier, camargo told us, and the trees are more vulnerable to being felled by wind storms. some species of birds that thrive in deep shade vanish from edges of the fragments. 

there are dozens of studies at bdffp on the effects of fragmentation on the populations of bats, snakes, butterflies, and even termite, but the two most important data sets come from monitoring birds and trees, camargo said. the tree biodiversity census in particular, provides the researchers with an instrument to measure the pulse and vital signs of the forest- how many trees die, how many grow, and how the species diversity changes. 

“[in total], we are monitoring trees in almost 100 hectares spread in this forest — something like 66,000 individual trees,” camargo said.

“in the last 10 years, we added another area of 25 hectares to the study and in this case we got kind of crazy and we measured and marked all trees bigger than 1 centimeter across. that was about 250,000 trees.”

it is field research on a scale that is difficult to grasp. but despite its grandeur, the foundations of bdffp originated from a single innovative idea by one scientist trying to understand the richness and interconnectedness of natural life and find out how society could best preserve it.

the ‘godfather of biodiversity’

in 1976, young u.s. scientist thomas lovejoy, in search of a “scientific adventure,” flew to the amazon for the first time to study bird populations. back then, only a single highway crossed the mighty rainforest, which at the time was 3% deforested (today deforestation is at 20%).

lovejoy was working as employee no. 13 for a budding organization called the world wildlife fund, and a debate was raging in the conservation community as to whether it was best for species to try to protect a single large area of land or several small fragments adding up to the same area. it was, lovejoy recalls, “white hot as only an academic controversy can be when there is no data.”

his days in brazil, however, gave the young lovejoy an idea about how to get that data.

“i knew there was a law that required any ranching project in the amazon to leave 50% of the land in forest. suddenly, i wondered if you could persuade the brazilians to arrange that 50% so we could have a giant experiment,” lovejoy said.

despite facing skepticism, lovejoy got a plane ticket back to the amazon. within hours of meeting with the brazilian officials, he had secured the permission of every major agency to supervise the land clearing and arrange to leave giant squares of forest intact. the bdffp was born.

the effect the new research project had on rainforest policy in brazil was nearly immediate and very far-reaching, lovejoy said, even though it took more than a decade to get solid data on exactly how much biodiversity was being affected by fragmentation.

“every protected area created once we started this was really large, and they only got larger. they knew we were asking the question, and they concluded that large was probably important.” lovejoy said.

as it turned out, large was indeed important when it came to the health of an ecosystem. for example, the team found that even their largest 100 hectare fragment would lose half of all its interior forest bird species in less than 15 years if it was isolated from the main forest. in a year’s time, 30% of the trees died off in the fragments, compared to 5% in the un-fragmented forest.

“when you take a cookie-cutter to the forest you start the whole process of species loss.” lovejoy said, summarizing the conclusions of over three decades of research that have earned him the title “godfather of biodiversity.”

“it’s sort of like a radioactive mineral, which loses radioactivity, but instead these fragments lose species.”

a training place for environmental scientists

due in no small part to the work of bdffp, about 60% of the amazonian rainforest is currently under government protection from logging, mining, or other developments. but perhaps even more important than the results of the data were the impacts on brazil’s scientific community from young graduate students who, for the first time, had the opportunity to conduct in-depth research on ecological issues in a rich and immersive environment.

“i didn’t realize at first the potential for capacity building that was here. when i first got here, there was very little research going on and what was going on was basic research,” lovejoy said.

“now, brazil has one of the largest groups of conservation biologists of any country other than a first world country, and probably more than some of them.”

more than 80 researchers currently work at bdffp, including a population of about 45 graduate students, a majority of which are brazilians, who cycle through in the process of completing their master’s or ph.d. degrees. they are housed in seven field research camps scattered around the forest plots, equipped with hammocks, running water, and cooking facilities. most of the students have their first experience of the amazon ecosystem here, camargo said.

“we are really proud at bdffp that we are increasing the number of trained people in conservation and in ecology in general,” camargo said.

“we not only just train them but we try to give some incentive to stay in the amazon. this place needs more trained people to deal with the complexity of the forest and the public politics for this forest,” he said.

cassiano gatto is one of those students who decided to dedicate himself to the amazonian region. now a ph.d. candidate, gatto has been working for six years at bdffp leading research into the effects of fragmentation on birds. he’s an avid birder: the kind who can casually identify the latin names and subspecies of birds by their individual voices while strolling about in some of the earth’s richest avian biodiversity.

“manaus is a mecca for biologists. each one of the places in the amazon has its own secrets, and its own huge richness in species,” gatto said.  

empowering local and native communities to preserve that natural heritage is of particular importance to gatto. he explained that scientists, ngos, and communities are working together to create “sustainable development reserves” — protected areas that allow for people to harvest resources from the land but also include research and education on how to sustainably manage resources and avoid over-exploitation of the rainforest.

“i’m not that guy that is against development,” gatto said. “but it needs to be in a planned way, at least, a rational way, and the benefits must be shared with a lot of people because these are public lands.”

corruption and the lobbying power of a few powerful representatives in brazil’s congress is currently spoiling these public lands, gatto said. recently, brazil’s president michel temer, who is under corruption charges, moved to reduce the consequences for land thieves and dissolved a protected reserve the size of denmark to benefit mining interests.

other students of camargo have gone on to fight such influence directly in brazil’s political sphere. rita mesquita, a bdffp graduate, joined government environmental agencies and at one point became the lead person organizing conservation for the entire state of amazonas.

“my students are my children,” camargo said. “if i can convince my students, in a good way, to solve some problems related to sustainability — not imposing them, just to show some alternatives — then i think i’m doing my part.”

science and education historically has played a crucial role for sustainable development in brazil. in 1979, before bdffp started, a revolutionary brazilian scientist, eneas salati, proved for the first time that the amazon rainforest makes its own rainfall by recirculating rainwater back into the atmosphere. by showing that cutting down the rainforest also would disrupt the hydrological cycle of the entire south american continent, salati laid the groundwork for decades of political conservation action.

today, scientists at bdffp continue salati’s work, charting the growing impact of climate change and deforestation on the the rainforest’s hydrological cycle and educating people about its importance. every year, lovejoy brings celebrities, politicians, and students from brazil and around the globe to the little camps to experience the magnificence of the amazon, and camargo leads brazilian graduate students on a monthlong field course to understand the ecology of the amazon basin.

“we have to change the way the society thinks, and we are going to be able to do that only through education,” camargo said.

the watchtower

the best education also includes moments of deep realization, mingling insight, and awe. mine came on our second day in brazil, when camargo and lovejoy took our group to watch the sunrise over the forest canopy. we woke at 4 a.m. and climbed a watchtower that stands on a biological reserve right at the border between manaus and the forest, the place where city meets jungle.

standing suspended some 150 feet in the air and looking out over the canopy, i was immediately transported to a primeval age. billows of steam streaked with pink and red from a slow sunrise rose from a sea of trees of every possible hue of green and yellow — virgin forest stretching to the horizon. toucans hooted and monkeys barked below me, greeting the new day. 

after nearly half an hour of enrapturement, we looked to the other side of the watchtower. there, glimmering through pre-dawn smog, the thousand lights of manaus with its 2 million inhabitants and counting stretched to another horizon dotted by smokestacks and skyscrapers. the dim sound of motorcycles, cars, and machines came floating on the breeze, mixing with the birdsong. 

it is at the confluence of these two worlds: the primeval and the modern, the natural and the human that the survival of our species may be decided. scientists like gatto and camargo stand at this frontline, a bridge between both worlds. theirs is a science that isn’t merely at the service of development but instead in service to the good of humanity.

“we have no choice but to be optimistic, because otherwise we wouldn’t do anything,” lovejoy said one night in response to a question about the hardships of conservation.

it’s a remarkable statement on the nature of hope that rings even truer since the 2016 election. from the great civil rights movements to the cold war, humanity’s story is one of finding hope in the darkest of places. the crises of climate change, species extinction, and environmental destruction are no different.

when it comes to preserving the rainforest and all of its gifts for future generations, we can find hope in knowing that the world’s next eneas salati or thomas lovejoy might be one of the graduate students trudging through the narrow rainforest paths of the bdffp.
 

the story of the rocket stove began in 1979, when winiarski, a ph.d. graduate in mechanical engineering, was working at the epa. after his wife died in a freak traffic accident leaving him with three sons to raise, winiarski made what he called a religious vow to dedicate the rest of his life to doing the right thing.

“i said ‘lord i can’t handle this but if you somehow help me get through this, i’ll try to devote all my expertise, time and talents to where it will do real good in the world,’” winiarski said.

his search for a cause brought him in contact with aprovecho — spanish for “to make best use of” — a non-profit based in cottage grove, oregon, that was focused on improving cookstove technology for the approximately 3 billion people worldwide that still cook indoors over an open fire or traditional cookstove.

according to the world health organization, over 4 million people die prematurely due to indoor air pollution from cooking or heating with wood, animal manure, or coal.

“you go into places into places in south america and then they don’t even bother cleaning the walls because the next day it will be all be black again. the cobwebs are like stalagmites of creosote,” winiarski said. “and the women has the baby on her back and they are breathing this all the time.”

drawing on his childhood experience with efficient fire-making as well as his years as an engineer and scientist, winiarski set about developing a set of basic stove design principles to improve combustion efficiency which became the origin of the rocket stove.

the key, winiarski explained, is the insulated vertical combustion chamber which concentrates the heat and also produces a strong upwards draft from the warm air being drawn upwards. another major component is that the fuel (usually wood) must be introduced bit by bit so all of the material burns efficiently without overloading the combustion process. finally, a sleeve at the top of the stove circulates the hot gases rising from the fire around the cooking pot, maximizing heat transfer to the food.

these simple innovations put aprovecho research center on the frontlines of a revolution in clean cookstove technology. studies indicate that rocket stoves can reduce the amount of fuel used by 39% to 47% compared to an open fire, and can reduce emissions by about half what is produced by an open fire or traditional chimney stove. in many developing countries, using less wood is directly linked to decreased deforestation and the increased efficiency means that less co2 gets released into the atmosphere. the higher temperatures inside a rocket stove also drastically reduce black carbon, a particulate component of wood smoke that is a large contributor to climate change.

despite its many benefits, winiarsky has never attempted to patent his rocket stove technology, insisting instead on open sourcing his basic principles to be shared, adapted and improved by stove makers and entrepreneurs around the world.

“i’m so proud that i’ve created local businesses for people that do a good job on the stoves,” winiarski said.

andrew mclean, chief operations officer at aprovecho, explained the importance of having the rocket stove design be fluid and adaptable to fit regional cooking styles.

“in china all they want is high heat all the time because they are using a wok. in mexico they’re boiling beans; so a low simmer for a very long time and they also need a griddle for tortillas,” mclean said.

 “in africa, they have a huge pot they’re making a very thick porridge in and they’re pounding the top of it all the time so they need a very durable stove that won’t break down from all the force.”

aprovecho now operates 30 laboratories serving communities in 15 different countries around the world such as nepal, india, senegal, and china. local rocket stove manufacturers can come to these labs and have their rocket stove prototypes tested for their efficiency and emissions level using the same technology which aprovecho developed and uses in oregon.

every summer, aprovecho also hosts a “stove camp” in oregon where students and researchers from the international labs come and learn how to operate the testing equipment such as the emission monitoring hoods. representatives of the u.n. high commission for refugees and the world food programs have attended these events in past years.

“this has advanced far beyond what i would have hoped for or i could have imagined,” winiarski said.

but he’s not done yet. besides his ongoing research into garbage incinerator and dehydrator designs, winiarski is also working on an improved prototype of the rocket stove that uses double vortex directed airflow in the chimney to improve mixing of oxygen and fuel molecules and push the stove’s efficiency to new records. 

they said they were inspired to come to standing rock to help create permanent winterized structures for the water protectors opposing the dakota access pipeline, while also demonstrating sustainable alternatives to modern building.

“we tried to build a school using no cement and as few conventional building materials as possible, which generate a lot of waste and use a lot of oil to transport,” said wade farrel lucas, one of the builders on site.

situated on land at the sacred stones camp, the school is being built using an old technique called straw-bale building. to form the walls, straw bales were stacked and woven together with baling twine, tied down to the ground with steel rods then covered completely with a natural clay-based plaster to prevent moisture and rotting.

first developed by early pioneers trying to withstand winter out on the american plains, the concept shares its general principles and reliance on local and earth-based material with a whole family of ancient natural building techniques including cob, earth bag, and adobe. the bales create thick, super-insulated walls — perfect for north dakota winters, which can see temperatures as low as -40 degrees fahrenheit.

a straw-bale house can be as durable as a conventional house and is also easy to construct without relying on expensive or imported materials. for the standing rock school, the clay earth used to make the plaster was sourced essentially on site from the river wash of the nearby cannonball river. the straw bales were donations, and the only non-local materials were the two-by-fours, sheet metal, and plywood used for the roof.

“a lot of people don’t know the resources that are available to them right here, right now,” lucas said. “this is a step forward from our current petrochemical industry.”

the sentiment was echoed by other members of the building team as well.

“i’m here to fight oil not just the pipeline,” said william haliburton, who helps runs the kitchen for the building crew. “this whole [sacred stones] camp is run on propane. we’re trying to make a model that shows by example that we’re not needing those things.”

for heating, the structure relies entirely on a single large rocket mass heater built directly into one of the walls. unlike conventional wood stoves, a rocket mass heater is designed to burn wood at extremely high temperatures by insulating the combustion chamber and chimney.

in this case, the stove and chimney were built out of cob, a mixture of clay and loose straw fiber, which act as the insulant and also as a thermal mass, capturing the heat produced. as a result, lucas said the stove requires 25% less wood than a regular fireplace would need to produce the same amount of heat.

another unique feature of the stove is that the chimney draft pipe runs back down through a large cob bench that protrudes from the wall.

“all the heat gets absorbed in the bench. you can feel it, it’s warm right now,” lucas said, gesturing to the smooth, rounded structure.

as the protest camps grew in size over the fall and early winter months, air quality issues arose due to the smoke from all of the individual camp and cooking fire. but the complete combustion process of the rocket mass heater also has positive implications for air pollution.

“it actually doesn’t produce smoke; when it comes out of the chimney pipe it’s just water and co2,” lucas said.

for lucas, the sacred stones school is only the latest in a series of trips to different areas of the u.s. to help construct earth homes and cob rocket heaters and help educate people about their benefits. it was while attending a natural building colloquium near santa barbara, california, in october that he joined a group of fellow builders interested in going to help support the standing rock movement.

whatever the outcome of the broader fight against dakota access pipeline, the school will likely remain to serve families at camp and on the reservation. unlike some of the larger camps which are on legally contested land, the sacred stones camp is situated partly on a tribal land trust and on private land owned by ladonna bravebull allard, an early leader of the standing rock movement. the school is part of a larger plan by allard to have the sacred stones camp become a permanent self-sustainable eco-community for tribal youth. informal classes have already been held showcasing indigenous and traditional skills.

“someone came to teach basket-weaving and we had a woman here the other day teaching drop-spinning [with] wool,” haliburton said.

lucas also hopes that the school will become a permaculture learning center in the future. for now, however, the building is home and bunk for the dozen or so members of the building crew as temperatures plummet and blizzards howl outside the thick stucco walls.

“we were really glad that we got this up before winter so that people can see how resilient and how comfortable these buildings are,” lucas said. “hopefully, this can be an example for future building projects at the standing rock reservation.”

a community supported fishery functions by the same principles as the popular community supported agriculture programs: customers sign up in a membership system and receive regular shares of fresh seafood caught and processed on-site by local fishermen who distribute the product at community drop-off points. with its emphasis on providing direct access to sustainably harvested fish, the concept has grown from a single 2007 pilot program in maine to nearly 50 operations across the united states.

the burgeoning movement seeks to address serious problems within the current fishing industry.

of the approximately 5 billion tons of seafood consumed per year in the u.s., as much as 90% is imported according to noaa’s fishwatch. a portion of those imports actually complete the full carbon-intensive round trip of globalization. the fish fingers and salmon fillets in restaurant chains, for example, are likely to have been harvested in fishing grounds off the west coast, shipped to asia for cheap processing, and reimported to u.s. supermarket shelves.

this disconnected commodity market contributes to a host of issues that include an increased carbon footprint, illegal fishing, and food safety issues. oceana, an international nonprofit focused solely on oceans, reported in september that their investigation found up to a third of seafood sold in the u.s. is mislabeled or fraudulent. destructive trawling practices and overfishing also increase under this system, as fishermen in a highly competitive, low-price market are forced to target large quantities of only the most popular species. in a csf, on the other hand, customers get to develop a direct relationship with the source of their marine food.

“we have 100% traceability,” said aaron longton, a commercial fisherman of 18 years and the ceo of the port orford sustainable seafood csf in oregon. “when you buy seafood from us, you know what boat landed it, and when and where, and what fishing method they were using. we’re all hook-and-line, which is better for the base of fish, which is also better for resilience in the face of climate change.”

community supported fisheries function off a business model called the triple-bottom line, which takes into account the concepts of economy, ecology, and equity. in other words, a company that follows the triple-bottom line bases its decisions on promoting a strong economy, supporting the social frameworks of its community, and preserving natural resources and ecosystems.

a case-in-point is the community of port orford, whose fishermen were early leaders in the csf movement and also established one of the first marine reserves in oregon, a sanctuary for the rockfish that have supported the town’s economy for decades.

fishermen conservationists: the port orford csf

perched on the edge of the pacific, port orford — pop. 1,100 — is the westernmost and oldest coastal settlement in oregon and a traditional fishing community. but when longton first arrived there in 1999, the town was facing plummeting groundfish stocks and a salmon population crisis. in response, oregon’s state government and other non-governmental marine organizations were pushing regulations to close off traditional fishing grounds across the coast for conservation purposes.

“our fishing opportunities and ability to make a living was eroding at such a rapid rate,” longton said. “we joined up because we wanted to have local input on our future.”

partnering with four other commercial fishermen, longton joined the port orford ocean resources team a small startup non-profit dedicated to crafting community-led solutions to the port’s problems. leesa cobb, who has been heading the team as director for the past 14 years, is a fisherman’s wife and longtime advocate for fishing issues.

“we’re really looking at taking innovative ideas that we either come up with or learn from our colleagues around the country and applying it here,” cobb said. “the marine reserve is a good example of that.”

following the triple-bottom line concept, the team asked the state and ngo’s to allow the port orford community to craft its own reserve proposal in collaboration with scientists and local citizens. high resolution and gis mapping were employed to find out where a protected area would be ecologically effective and have the most minimal impact on fishing activities. the team also ran a large social outreach and education campaign on marine reserves, facing resistance from community members in the process.

“it’s extremely difficult working with fishermen. they’re very individualistic,” cobb said. “and when you talk to people about doing something different in their businesses practice, whether it’s conservation based or anything, they tend to get a little defensive.”

while a protected area would ultimately help ensure the ecological survival of the fish stocks, it also involved an immediate income loss for a community that had already been hit hard by timber conservation efforts. so in 2009, the team decided to start a new initiative to market their member fishermen’s products directly to customers — and the port orford csf was born.

“it had been 30 years since you could buy port orford fish in port orford. anything that was sold here was sold to corporate interests and left in a truck,” longton said. “there was no multiplier effect and no access. it was like a seafood desert in a fishing town just because of the way the system was designed.”

the revolutionary approach changed the economics of the entire fishing port. by doing their own processing, delivery, and marketing of premium-quality seafood, the csf was able to cut the middleman costs and pay their fishermen more for every pound of fish, in turn pushing the larger corporate buyers to up their game. all the fishermen in the port, even those not affiliated with the csf, are benefiting from the increased competition, according to longton.

“seven years ago these fish were being purchased for 50 cents a pound and i imagine it could have been the same now had we not been there. we went to 80 cents and we got matched, then we went to a dollar and we got matched… we’re about a $1.50 now,” longton said.

from the occasional farmers market and local co-op sales, the csf now serves 350 members in other nearby coastal cities such as bandon and coos bay, as well as larger inland markets along the i-5 corridor. a testimony to the success of the triple bottom line concept, port orford’s reserve remains the only one out of nine marine reserves implemented in oregon that was planned, sited, and proposed by local fishermen, rather than large ngos.

this reserve, named redfish rocks after the vermillion sub-species of rockfish that dwell in the area, is being managed by a community stakeholder team that handles education initiatives and research. tom calvanese, one of the scientists working on the team, called the reserve a “living laboratory.”

“we already have evidence that says that a marine protected area is better equipped to deal with things like ocean acidification and global warming because the population there is more diverse, more resilient, and healthier,” calvanese said. “but you can’t just fence it off and walk away.”

his current work involves studying fish movement patterns and biodiversity at the redfish rocks reserve, so that future protected areas can be designed to have the maximum positive impact on ecology and fish stocks. in true port orford style, this research will in turn benefit the fishermen’s understanding of their marine resources and management of the fishery.

cs fishery in garibaldi

nearly 200 miles north up the oregon coast, in the port of garibaldi, fishermen jeff wong has taken a different tack on sustainable seafood. the cs fishery incorporates direct restaurant sales and wholesale channels as well as the traditional share system. according to wong, this allows him to quickly distribute the larger hauls that fishing boats often bring in.

cs fishery in garibaldi operates nearly waste-free, reusing fishing byproducts as bait and selling the rest to local farms for compost. with a creative business approach and a focus on social change and education, wong compares his csf to a “tech startup.”

“we’re trying to do things that not only benefit us locally but also raise awareness of bigger issues,” wong said.

one example is the fishery’s upcoming sustainable canned tuna brand for which a percentage of the profits will go to prevent human trafficking and slavery in the thailand seafood industry. wong also leads tours of the west coast oyster industry for his csf customers on which he speaks about the negative effects of warmer waters and ocean acidification on shellfish.

the fishery is also using its mutual relationships with restaurants to promote lesser known species and catch-of-the-day to food aficionados in the metropolitan portland area.

“we have chefs that are kind of able to pivot on the fly,” wong said. “they are able to utilize these products to create a trend and a demand, which are two important aspects to get people to eat underutilized species.”

currently, wong is campaigning for restaurants to serve large quahog and gaper clams — which are being shipped to canada as bait — instead of the small and popular but severely depleted manilla clam. cs fishery’s fishing fleet also is targeting abundant west coast octopus stocks in a bid to replace imported octopus products from spain.

working with larger food providers like restaurants is one way of increasing the reach of traditionally small scale csf’s, but challenges still remain in scaling up the model.

“the reality is a lot of the seafood that is eaten isn’t consumed by the individual consumer that participates in a community supported fishery, ” said niaz dorry, director of the northwest atlantic marine alliance which helped found the csf movement.

however, according to dorry, that may be beside the point. the growth of the csf nationwide has sensitized consumers who were only concerned about land food issues to the overarching problems of the marine industry and empowered fishermen to become more active players in shaping fishing policies, she said.

indeed, whether it is through triple-bottom line management in port orford or social outreach initiatives in garibaldi, these fisheries are changing the idea of seafood as merely a resource to be extracted and consumed.

it is this vision that may prove crucial as climate change looms on the horizon, with outbreaks of toxic algae already threatening the crabbing industry on the west coast and warmer waters disrupting traditional fish movements.

by acknowledging that valuing human livelihoods means valuing the ecosystems that support them, the csf model may hold the key to enabling fishing communities to survive and thrive in this challenging environment.

if you are interested in learning more about csfs or joining a csf near you, see localcatch.org.