0:00:00.526,0:00:02.686 I'm a marine biologist 0:00:02.710,0:00:05.845 here to talk to you[br]about the crisis in our oceans, 0:00:05.869,0:00:09.847 but this time perhaps not[br]with a message you've heard before, 0:00:09.871,0:00:13.165 because I want to tell you[br]that if the survival of the oceans 0:00:13.189,0:00:16.775 depended only on people like me, 0:00:16.799,0:00:20.021 scientists trading in publications, 0:00:20.045,0:00:22.791 we'd be in even worse trouble than we are. 0:00:22.815,0:00:24.716 Because, as a scientist, 0:00:24.740,0:00:27.104 the most important things[br]that I've learned 0:00:27.128,0:00:30.608 about keeping our oceans[br]healthy and productive 0:00:30.632,0:00:34.441 have come not from academia,[br]but from fishermen and women 0:00:34.465,0:00:36.994 living in some of the poorest[br]countries on earth. 0:00:37.379,0:00:39.378 I've learned that as a conservationist, 0:00:39.402,0:00:43.242 the most important question is not,[br]"How do we keep people out?" 0:00:43.728,0:00:48.746 but rather, "How do we make sure[br]that coastal people throughout the world 0:00:48.770,0:00:50.158 have enough to eat?" 0:00:51.079,0:00:54.685 Our oceans are every bit as critical[br]to our own survival 0:00:54.709,0:00:57.845 as our atmosphere,[br]our forests or our soils. 0:00:57.869,0:01:01.457 Their staggering productivity[br]ranks fisheries with farming 0:01:01.481,0:01:03.583 as a mainstay of food production 0:01:03.607,0:01:05.297 for humanity. 0:01:05.321,0:01:07.170 Yet something's gone badly wrong. 0:01:07.976,0:01:10.848 We're accelerating[br]into an extinction emergency, 0:01:10.872,0:01:16.249 one that my field has so far[br]failed abysmally to tackle. 0:01:16.273,0:01:20.392 At its core is a very human[br]and humanitarian crisis. 0:01:21.316,0:01:24.202 The most devastating blow[br]we've so far dealt our oceans 0:01:24.226,0:01:25.981 is through overfishing. 0:01:26.005,0:01:29.664 Every year, we fish harder,[br]deeper, further afield. 0:01:29.688,0:01:32.585 Every year, we chase ever fewer fish. 0:01:32.912,0:01:36.590 Yet the crisis of overfishing[br]is a great paradox: 0:01:36.614,0:01:40.813 unnecessary, avoidable[br]and entirely reversible, 0:01:40.837,0:01:45.607 because fisheries are one of the most[br]productive resources on the planet. 0:01:45.631,0:01:49.384 With the right strategies,[br]we can reverse overfishing. 0:01:49.846,0:01:52.958 That we've not yet done so is, to my mind, 0:01:52.982,0:01:55.878 one of humanity's greatest failures. 0:01:55.902,0:01:58.599 Nowhere is this failure more apparent 0:01:58.623,0:02:02.155 than in the warm waters[br]on either side of our equator. 0:02:02.179,0:02:06.023 Our tropics are home to most[br]of the species in our ocean, 0:02:06.047,0:02:10.036 most of the people whose existence[br]depends on our seas. 0:02:10.445,0:02:14.216 We call these coastal fishermen and women[br]"small-scale fishers," 0:02:14.240,0:02:16.470 but "small-scale" is a misnomer 0:02:16.494,0:02:22.174 for a fleet comprising over 90 percent[br]of the world's fishermen and women. 0:02:22.198,0:02:25.940 Their fishing is generally[br]more selective and sustainable 0:02:25.964,0:02:28.285 than the indiscriminate destruction 0:02:28.309,0:02:31.449 too often wrought[br]by bigger industrial boats. 0:02:31.473,0:02:34.561 These coastal people have the most[br]to gain from conservation 0:02:34.585,0:02:36.222 because, for many of them, 0:02:36.246,0:02:41.196 fishing is all that keeps them[br]from poverty, hunger or forced migration, 0:02:41.220,0:02:44.856 in countries where the state[br]is often unable to help. 0:02:45.313,0:02:47.544 We know that the outlook is grim: 0:02:47.568,0:02:50.981 stocks collapsing[br]on the front lines of climate change, 0:02:51.005,0:02:54.671 warming seas, dying reefs,[br]catastrophic storms, 0:02:54.695,0:02:57.283 trawlers, factory fleets, 0:02:57.307,0:03:01.641 rapacious ships from richer countries[br]taking more than their share. 0:03:01.665,0:03:05.109 Extreme vulnerability is the new normal. 0:03:05.692,0:03:09.533 I first landed on the island[br]of Madagascar two decades ago, 0:03:09.557,0:03:12.848 on a mission to document[br]its marine natural history. 0:03:12.872,0:03:16.041 I was mesmerized[br]by the coral reefs I explored, 0:03:16.065,0:03:18.321 and certain I knew how to protect them, 0:03:18.345,0:03:20.967 because science provided all the answers: 0:03:20.991,0:03:23.816 close areas of the reef permanently. 0:03:23.840,0:03:26.822 Coastal fishers[br]simply needed to fish less. 0:03:26.846,0:03:30.315 I approached elders here[br]in the village of Andavadoaka 0:03:30.339,0:03:32.094 and recommended that they close off 0:03:32.118,0:03:35.658 the healthiest and most diverse[br]coral reefs to all forms of fishing 0:03:35.682,0:03:38.388 to form a refuge to help stocks recover 0:03:38.412,0:03:43.048 because, as the science tells us,[br]after five or so years, 0:03:43.072,0:03:46.905 fish populations inside those refuges[br]would be much bigger, 0:03:46.929,0:03:49.345 replenishing the fished areas outside, 0:03:49.369,0:03:51.903 making everybody better off. 0:03:51.927,0:03:54.734 That conversation didn't go so well. 0:03:54.758,0:03:55.940 (Laughter) 0:03:55.964,0:03:59.290 Three-quarters of Madagascar's[br]27 million people 0:03:59.314,0:04:01.495 live on less than two dollars a day. 0:04:01.519,0:04:04.335 My earnest appeal to fish less[br]took no account 0:04:04.359,0:04:06.356 of what that might actually mean 0:04:06.380,0:04:08.746 for people who depend[br]on fishing for survival. 0:04:08.770,0:04:11.341 It was just another squeeze from outside, 0:04:11.365,0:04:13.891 a restriction rather than a solution. 0:04:14.338,0:04:18.591 What does protecting a long list[br]of Latin species names mean to Resaxx, 0:04:18.615,0:04:20.886 a woman from Andavadoaka[br]who fishes every day 0:04:20.910,0:04:22.735 to put food on the table 0:04:22.759,0:04:24.521 and send her grandchildren to school? 0:04:25.941,0:04:30.398 That initial rejection taught me[br]that conservation is, at its core, 0:04:31.219,0:04:34.755 a journey in listening deeply, 0:04:34.779,0:04:38.278 to understand the pressures[br]and realities that communities face 0:04:38.302,0:04:40.122 through their dependence on nature. 0:04:40.146,0:04:43.877 This idea became[br]the founding principle for my work 0:04:43.901,0:04:46.933 and grew into an organization[br]that brought a new approach 0:04:46.957,0:04:48.314 to ocean conservation 0:04:48.338,0:04:52.440 by working to rebuild fisheries[br]with coastal communities. 0:04:53.150,0:04:56.811 Then, as now, the work[br]started by listening, 0:04:56.835,0:04:59.282 and what we learned astonished us. 0:04:59.644,0:05:01.383 Back in the dry south of Madagascar, 0:05:01.407,0:05:04.779 we learned that one species[br]was immensely important for villagers: 0:05:04.803,0:05:06.904 this remarkable octopus. 0:05:06.928,0:05:11.306 We learned that soaring demand[br]was depleting an economic lifeline. 0:05:11.330,0:05:14.988 But we also learned that this animal[br]grows astonishingly fast, 0:05:15.012,0:05:18.196 doubling in weight[br]every one or two months. 0:05:18.220,0:05:21.899 We reasoned that protecting[br]just a small area of fishing ground 0:05:21.923,0:05:23.448 for just a few months 0:05:23.472,0:05:26.625 might lead to dramatic[br]increases in catches, 0:05:26.649,0:05:29.992 enough to make a difference[br]to this community's bottom line 0:05:30.016,0:05:32.950 in a time frame that might[br]just be acceptable. 0:05:33.895,0:05:35.333 The community thought so too, 0:05:35.357,0:05:39.986 opting to close a small area of reef[br]to octopus fishing temporarily, 0:05:40.010,0:05:42.216 using a customary social code, 0:05:42.240,0:05:45.875 invoking blessings from the ancestors[br]to prevent poaching. 0:05:46.930,0:05:50.242 When that reef reopened[br]to fishing six months later, 0:05:50.266,0:05:53.432 none of us were prepared[br]for what happened next. 0:05:53.945,0:05:55.822 Catches soared, 0:05:55.846,0:05:59.013 with men and women landing[br]more and bigger octopus 0:05:59.037,0:06:01.227 than anyone had seen for years. 0:06:01.251,0:06:03.791 Neighboring villages saw the fishing boom 0:06:03.815,0:06:05.331 and drew up their own closures, 0:06:05.355,0:06:08.911 spreading the model virally[br]along hundreds of miles of coastline. 0:06:08.935,0:06:10.523 When we ran the numbers, 0:06:10.547,0:06:13.824 we saw that these communities,[br]among the poorest on earth, 0:06:13.848,0:06:18.506 had found a way to double their money[br]in a matter of months, by fishing less. 0:06:19.584,0:06:21.116 Imagine a savings account 0:06:21.140,0:06:23.603 from which you withdraw[br]half your balance every year 0:06:23.627,0:06:25.150 and your savings keep growing. 0:06:25.174,0:06:28.578 There is no investment[br]opportunity on earth 0:06:28.602,0:06:31.578 that can reliably deliver[br]what fisheries can. 0:06:32.244,0:06:35.601 But the real magic went beyond profit, 0:06:35.625,0:06:39.656 because a far deeper transformation[br]was happening in these communities. 0:06:40.442,0:06:42.384 Spurred on by rising catches, 0:06:42.408,0:06:46.989 leaders from Andavadoaka joined force[br]with two dozen neighboring communities 0:06:47.013,0:06:52.346 to establish a vast conservation area[br]along dozens of miles of coastline. 0:06:52.735,0:06:55.791 They outlawed fishing with poison[br]and mosquito nets 0:06:55.815,0:06:57.877 and set aside permanent refuges 0:06:57.901,0:07:00.494 around threatened[br]coral reefs and mangroves, 0:07:00.518,0:07:03.235 including, to my astonishment, 0:07:03.259,0:07:06.998 those same sights that I'd flagged[br]just two years earlier 0:07:07.022,0:07:11.425 when my evangelism for marine protection[br]was so roundly rejected. 0:07:11.449,0:07:14.094 They created a community-led[br]protected area, 0:07:14.118,0:07:17.736 a democratic system[br]for local marine governance 0:07:17.760,0:07:21.355 that was totally unimaginable[br]just a few years earlier. 0:07:21.950,0:07:23.482 And they didn't stop there: 0:07:23.506,0:07:26.828 within five years, they'd secured[br]legal rights from the state 0:07:26.852,0:07:29.867 to manage over 200 square miles of ocean, 0:07:29.891,0:07:34.987 eliminating destructive[br]industrial trawlers from the waters. 0:07:35.011,0:07:38.067 Ten years on, we're seeing[br]recovery of those critical reefs 0:07:38.091,0:07:39.702 within those refuges. 0:07:39.726,0:07:42.663 Communities are petitioning[br]for greater recognition 0:07:42.687,0:07:44.353 of the right to fish 0:07:44.377,0:07:46.956 and fairer prices[br]that reward sustainability. 0:07:47.502,0:07:51.216 But all that is just[br]the beginning of the story, 0:07:51.240,0:07:54.804 because this handful[br]of fishing villages taking action 0:07:54.828,0:07:57.587 has sparked a marine[br]conservation revolution 0:07:57.611,0:07:59.992 that has spread over thousands of miles, 0:08:00.016,0:08:02.714 impacting hundreds of thousands of people. 0:08:02.738,0:08:06.572 Today in Madagascar, hundreds of sites[br]are managed by communities 0:08:06.596,0:08:09.564 applying this human rights-based[br]approach to conservation 0:08:09.588,0:08:13.146 to all kinds of fisheries,[br]from mud crabs to mackerel. 0:08:13.170,0:08:17.770 The model has crossed borders[br]through East Africa and the Indian Ocean 0:08:17.794,0:08:20.302 and is now island-hopping[br]into Southeast Asia. 0:08:20.326,0:08:25.070 From Tanzania to Timor-Leste,[br]from India to Indonesia, 0:08:25.094,0:08:27.363 we're seeing the same story unfold: 0:08:28.502,0:08:30.534 that when we design it right, 0:08:30.558,0:08:35.249 marine conservation reaps dividends[br]that go far beyond protecting nature, 0:08:35.273,0:08:36.790 improving catches 0:08:36.814,0:08:40.688 and driving waves of social change[br]along entire coastlines, 0:08:40.712,0:08:43.797 strengthening confidence, cooperation 0:08:43.821,0:08:48.043 and the resilience of communities[br]to face the injustice of poverty 0:08:48.067,0:08:49.685 and climate change. 0:08:50.543,0:08:53.601 I've been privileged to spend my career 0:08:53.625,0:08:58.524 catalyzing and connecting these movements[br]throughout the tropics, 0:08:58.548,0:09:00.604 and I've learned that as conservationists, 0:09:00.628,0:09:03.341 our goal must be to win at scale, 0:09:03.365,0:09:05.365 not just to lose more slowly. 0:09:06.143,0:09:09.300 We need to step up[br]to this global opportunity 0:09:09.324,0:09:11.270 to rebuild fisheries: 0:09:11.294,0:09:14.279 with field workers to stand[br]with communities 0:09:14.303,0:09:18.615 and connect them, to support them[br]to act and learn from one another; 0:09:18.639,0:09:21.767 with governments and lawyers[br]standing with communities 0:09:21.791,0:09:24.702 to secure their rights[br]to manage their fisheries; 0:09:24.726,0:09:28.218 prioritizing local food and job security 0:09:28.242,0:09:31.868 above all competing interests[br]in the ocean economy; 0:09:31.892,0:09:36.512 ending subsidies for grotesquely[br]overcapitalized industrial fleets 0:09:36.536,0:09:39.417 and keeping those industrial[br]and foreign vessels 0:09:39.441,0:09:41.632 out of coastal waters. 0:09:41.656,0:09:43.418 We need agile data systems 0:09:43.442,0:09:46.298 that put science[br]in the hands of communities 0:09:46.322,0:09:50.733 to optimize conservation[br]to the target species or habitat. 0:09:51.204,0:09:55.736 We need development agencies,[br]donors and the conservation establishment 0:09:55.760,0:09:59.164 to raise their ambition[br]to the scale of investment 0:09:59.188,0:10:02.235 urgently required to deliver this vision. 0:10:02.991,0:10:04.325 And to get there, 0:10:04.349,0:10:07.482 we all need to reimagine[br]marine conservation 0:10:07.506,0:10:11.229 as a narrative of abundance[br]and empowerment, 0:10:11.253,0:10:13.254 not of austerity and alienation; 0:10:13.278,0:10:18.197 a movement guided by the people who depend[br]on healthy seas for their survival, 0:10:18.221,0:10:21.848 not by abstract scientific values. 0:10:22.719,0:10:26.901 Of course, fixing overfishing[br]is just one step to fixing our oceans. 0:10:26.925,0:10:32.520 The horrors of warming,[br]acidification and pollution grow each day. 0:10:32.544,0:10:34.457 But it's a big step. 0:10:34.481,0:10:36.710 It's one we can take today, 0:10:36.734,0:10:39.409 and it's one that will give[br]a much-needed boost 0:10:39.433,0:10:41.423 to those exploring scalable solutions 0:10:41.447,0:10:44.217 to other dimensions[br]of our ocean emergency. 0:10:44.241,0:10:46.622 Our success propels theirs. 0:10:47.287,0:10:49.541 If we throw up our hands in despair, 0:10:49.565,0:10:51.086 it's game over. 0:10:51.110,0:10:55.429 We solve these challenges[br]by taking them on one by one. 0:10:56.348,0:11:00.395 Our overwhelming dependence[br]on our ocean is the solution 0:11:00.419,0:11:03.641 that has been hiding in plain sight, 0:11:03.665,0:11:07.315 because there's nothing small[br]about small-scale fishers. 0:11:07.339,0:11:11.038 They're a hundred million strong[br]and provide nutrition to billions. 0:11:11.062,0:11:14.634 It's this army of everyday[br]conservationists 0:11:14.658,0:11:16.320 who have the most at stake. 0:11:16.344,0:11:19.967 Only they have the knowledge[br]and global reach needed 0:11:19.991,0:11:23.174 to reshape our relationship[br]with our oceans. 0:11:23.980,0:11:28.760 Helping them achieve this[br]is the most powerful thing we can do 0:11:28.784,0:11:30.826 to keep our oceans alive. 0:11:30.850,0:11:32.001 Thank you. 0:11:32.025,0:11:36.428 (Applause)