Fisheries specialist will strive to support fishing livelihoods and marine resources to foster healthy, productive seas across all project sites
San Diego, CA, January 12, 2020 – Sustainable Fisheries expert Dr. Pablo Granados-Dieseldorff has joined the Waitt Institute team as its Sustainable Fisheries Director. With over 20 years of experience in the field, Pablo will bring a wealth of stakeholder-centered experience to project initiatives to support livelihoods and healthy environments. Pablo has worked with artisanal, recreational, and commercial fishers in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Oceania, as well as along the Pacific from Alaska to Patagonia.
“Fisheries recovery and sustainability is attainable with adequate and science-based fisheries management,” said Dr. Granados-Dieseldorff. “Fisheries are best managed using a place-based approach that carefully considers their complexities, like the variety of essential habitats and life-histories of target species, the multiple stakeholders involved in their use from fishers to governments, and the local and global markets and end consumers on the social dimension. It’s a genuine honor to have been selected as a member of the multi-disciplinary Waitt Institute team and to be able to address fisheries sustainability with partners on the ground.”
Sustainable fisheries are an important part of country’s Blue Economy. Over 120 million people around the world are directly dependent on commercial capture fisheries for their livelihoods, with many more dependent in the growing aquaculture industry. The international seafood trade accounts for over US $50 billion a year in seafood markets. By supporting healthy and productive fisheries that can be successful well into the future, sustainable fisheries initiatives can protect food security, livelihoods, and cultural resources at the local and global scale.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Granados-Dieseldorff join our team to bring his incredible expertise to bear in leading our work to help countries achieve healthy ecosystems, food security, and sustainable blue economies,” said Executive Director, Dr. Kathryn Mengerink.
Before joining the Waitt Institute team, Pablo built and expanded Fair Trade USA’s Seafood Program as the Fisheries and Aquaculture Coordinator to support implementation of the international Capture Fisheries Standard, which aims to provide markets-based frameworks for fisheries conservation and management. He also led the implementation of the Fish Forever initiative as the Marine Science and Implementation Director at RARE. His work with RARE included programs in Belize, Brazil, Mozambique, Indonesia, and the Philippines, where he worked closely with small-scale fishing communities, scientists, and local governments to implement Marine Protected Areas, support fisheries management based on Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries, develop local enforcement and monitoring, and secure market access to grow fisheries value.
Pablo also worked as the Director of Punta de Manabique, the largest Marine Protected Area in Guatemala’s Caribbean coast. He has an undergraduate degree in Biology from his home country’s Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, a Masters in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from Louisiana State University, and a Doctorate in Marine Geography and Applied Biodiversity Sciences from Texas A&M University.
With the diversity of commercial and recreational fisheries at all eight Blue Prosperity Coalition project sites, Pablo will help support balancing the sustainable, healthy livelihoods of fishers and fisheries-related industries with the protection and management necessary to ensure thriving marine environments that will sustain communities now and into the future. Pablo is based in Guadalajara, Mexico with his family.
The Waitt Institute creates and implements sustainable ocean plans in partnership with committed governments and local stakeholders. They currently have partnerships with the governments of the Azores, Barbuda, Bermuda, Curaçao, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Maldives, Samoa, and Tonga. The Waitt Institute is a founding member and the organizing body of the Blue Prosperity Coalition, a network of NGO’s, academic institutions, foundations, and other organizations working together to assist committed governments to protect the environment and improve the economy at the same time. Founding members include the Waitt Institute, National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, Oceans 5, Ocean Unite, Dynamic Planet and the Waitt Foundation.
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Waitt Institute
Canon Purdy | cpurdy@waittfoundation.org | +1 415 747 4360