The Catch

Hurricanes have become a part of life in Jamaica—with disastrous consequences. In response, the country’s government has made a vow to improve the country’s resilience and spread consciousness about climate change, but what does that look like? To find out, The Catch’s reporting team speaks with Matthew Samuda, the Jamaican cabinet minister leading climate, environment, and sustainable development...

The coastline is never too far in Jamaica, no matter where you are. But there is a fierce battle playing out over access to the island nation’s beaches, pitting new developers against local fisherpeople who rely on the ocean for their livelihood. And all of this is made worse by natural disasters and other effects of climate change that are rapidly reshaping the landscape itself. The reporting tea...

Jamaica has become a major vacation destination, selling an image of pristine waters and untouched beaches. But the demands of tourism often go against the needs of the local ecosystem. To better understand how natural and human factors are impacting Jamaica’s reefs, host Ruxandra Guidi talks with Chauntelle Parkins, the chief scientist at the Port Royal Marine Laboratory. Then, a hotel worker-tur...

On Season 7 of The Catch, host Rux Guidi and her reporting team head to Jamaica to see firsthand how the country is rebuilding from Hurricane Melissa with natural tools that promote coastal resilience. First, the team talks to artisanal fisher Michael Henry in Port Royal about the changes he’s seeing in the harbor. Then museum director Jonathan Greenland shares more about Port Royal and Jamaica's...

On Season 7 of The Catch, host Rux Guidi and her reporting team head to Jamaica to see firsthand how the country is rebuilding from Hurricane Melissa with natural tools that promote coastal resilience. These nature-based solutions, such as seagrass and mangroves, routinely support better outcomes after severe storms, particularly as Jamaica, and other coastal communities around the world, face inc...

On our final episode of this season of The Catch, host Ruxandra Guidi and the reporting team head once again to the local fish market to hear directly from sellers on the challenges they face. Rux then sits down with regional expert and former U.S. official Kathryn Paik, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to hear about Chinese investment in the region that’s driving develop...

On this episode of The Catch, Rux and the reporting team head to the island of Tetepare, in the western Solomons, to speak to park rangers tasked with protecting local marine life. Much of their work on the island is focused on combating poachers, with insufficient support from the government. Despite these challenges, as one ranger put it, “we still continue to survive.” Learn more about your ad...

There’s good news for the ocean coming out of the United Nations’ annual meetings in New York: 60 countries ratified the High Seas Treaty, meaning the landmark agreement can now be implemented. The Catch reporting team was on the ground in Nice, France, this summer to observe the latest diplomatic push.  Then, we head back to the Solomon Islands, where host Ruxandra Guidi hears firsthand from obse...

Host Ruxandra Guidi and the reporting team meet with descendants of climate refugees who arrived in the Solomon Islands in the 1960s from the atolls of Kiribati. This community, like many others across the Solomon Islands, continues to grapple with climate-fueled changes today. According to Alec Hughes, a coastal and marine management expert based in Munda, Solomon Islanders are witnessing changes...

Host Ruxandra Guidi and the reporting team head to the island of Munda to join local fisher Tingo Leve as he fishes for skipjack tuna. The team then hears about the landmark Nauru Agreement, whose signatories control a big portion of the world’s tuna supply. Finally, the reporting team is joined by Adrian Wickham of SolTuna, the Solomon Islands’ top cannery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

To kick off Season 6 of The Catch, host Ruxandra Guidi and her reporting team head to the Solomon Islands to hear about this Pacific island nation’s deep connection to the ocean. First, the team heads to Honiara’s fish market to hear firsthand from local fishers, processors, and sellers. Then they head to the Solomon Islands National Museum to speak with one of the museum’s archaeologists, Ruben S...

The Catch is returning for another season, this time on tuna. Climate change is pushing this lucrative fish out of the Pacific islands’ waters, and host Ruxandra Guidi heads to the Solomon Islands to learn more. That’s coming up on Season 6 of The Catch. Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Catch hosted a live podcast taping at the United Nations’ third annual Ocean Conference in Nice, France. Moderator Philippe Cousteau was joined by former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.N. Special Envoy for the Ocean Peter Thomson to discuss diplomacy’s importance to our ocean. Our panelists followed this discussion by looking closely at the challenges and successes of the tuna fisher...

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, roughly 4 in 10 people working in small-scale fisheries are women. Half are fishers themselves, and half process the fish, like Cary Badgie, from Gambia, whom the reporting team met as she salted and preserved the local catch. Female activists and entrepreneurs also underpin these fishing communities, as you’ll hear from Senegalese climate...

In a region characterized by high unemployment, food insecurity, and depleted fish stocks, many fishers are forced to migrate. The fishmeal plants dotting the coast have only exacerbated these existing problems, economist Rashid Sumaila notes, saying that “overfishing would still be an issue in West Africa without the plants. But the plants make them worse.” On this episode of The Catch, host Ruxa...

On this episode host Ruxandra Guidi and her team cross over into Senegal to see how the fishmeal industry's impact compares. She hears from local fishers as well as environmental NGO Environmental Justice Foundation's Bassirou Diajar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Foreign fleets off the Gambia’s shore are straining local fish stocks by “coming in at night and fishing illegally,” Sanyang fisher Alagie Gasama says. And the lack of enforcement, or even political will, by the government leaves these fishing communities to struggle on their own. On this episode of The Catch, host Ruxandra Guidi continues her journey along the Gambian coast by hearing directly fr...

Gambians eat an estimated 55 pounds of fish a year, the most fish consumed per person in the region. This trend is shifting, though, with the arrival of the fishmeal plants, which directly affect these communities' food security. And as local activist Lamin Jassey points out, the fishmeal plant companies "never asked [the community], they never asked the young people" whether they wanted these pla...

Small pelagic fish off the West African coast are being scooped up in large numbers and ground into a product called fishmeal. This fishmeal is then used to support animal production and aquafarms around the world. How is this industry impacting local fishers? And what does this mean for the global supply chain? Host Ruxandra Guidi partners with Gambian reporter Mustapha Manneh to look at fishmeal...

Coming up on Season 5 of The Catch, host Ruxandra Guidi reports from the Gambia and Senegal to hear firsthand how the fishmeal plants are impacting these communities and whether the industry, which underpins much of aquaculture, can be turned sustainable for all. Follow and listen to The Catch wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This past week, Foreign Policy magazine hosted a live taping on Marine Protected Areas at the United Nations General Assembly. This discussion was moderated by Matt Rand, Senior Director of Marine Habitat Protection at the Pew Charitable Trusts.   Joining Matt on the stage was: Monica Medina, the former Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs....

Reporter Caroline Losneck joins The Catch once again to share with host Ruxandra Guidi how Maine's iconic lobster fishing is adapting to new arrivals. First, Losneck explores how green crabs, an invasive species, are being turned into a delicacy by the local culinary scene. And then, she visits a new training program that's helping to change the face of the fishing industry. Learn more about your...

Maine based reporter Caroline Losneck reports on how the state's iconic lobster industry is changing due to forces like climate change, a changing labor market, and damage to fishing areas. Caroline shares with host Ruxandra Guidi how local fishers are adapting by finding new sources of income and how communities as a whole are banding together to provide more resources to protect the industry. Le...

This week, Bali-based reporter Febriana Firdaus explores how Indonesia has been affected by environmental damage from land reclamation projects put in place to bolster the country's tourism industry. Land is a premium for this country of 17-thousand islands. And so the country is expanding its buildable land by dumping sand into the water, negatively impacting the small scale fisheries who live an...

For today’s episode we head to South Africa’s southern coast, where journalist Rasmus Bitsch saw firsthand the tension between local populations and environmentalists over plans to expand designated marine protected areas. The country is moving forward to implement the United Nations’ 30 by 30 goals, which seek to protect 30 percent of the world’s oceans by the year 2030. While environmentalists c...