A leading Simon Fraser University researcher in ocean economies hopes to advance equity in the seafood industry and coastal communities through a prestigious international fellowship.
Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, applied resource economist and assistant professor in SFU's School of Resource and Environmental Management, has received a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, one of only seven awarded globally this year.
Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, applied resource economist and assistant professor in SFU's School of Resource and Environmental Management, has received a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation.
This fellowship supports mid-career scientists and experts from around the world to advance knowledge and innovation in ocean protection. With $150,000 in funding over three years, fellows each complete an original, research-based marine conservation project.
"It's really humbling," says Cisneros-Montemayor. "Being part of this global community that's committed to improving oceans for both people and the environment is huge."
Cisneros-Montemayor is the director of the Ocean Equity Lab at SFU, where he leads research on ocean and coastal social-ecological systems to support the equitable development of coastal communities and advance the blue economy.
The blue economy refers to a shift away from traditional extractive models of ocean governance to one where marine resources drive economic growth while centering equity and sustainability.
He's also the deputy director of the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Centre, one of the largest international research networks focused on advancing ocean equity, well-being and health in coastal communities around the world.
"The overarching purpose of my research is to increase economic benefits for coastal communities," says Cisneros-Montemayor. "The work that I'll be undertaking as part of this fellowship is central to a lot of work I'm currently doing at SFU and with Ocean Nexus."
With support from this fellowship, Cisneros-Montemayor is investigating inequity within international sustainable seafood supply chains to understand how to better support coastal communities who produce global seafood supplies.
Consumers of certified sustainable seafood may assume that higher price tags translate to economic gain for coastal communities and fishers. However, Cisneros-Montemayor notes that this is generally not the case.
"I'm asking a really simple question. If there are people that care about the future of our oceans and can pay for more sustainably sourced seafood, and there are people fishing who care about sustainability to protect oceans and their livelihoods, why doesn't this money ripple through the supply chain to the people that actually produce the fish?"
To identify factors that keep capital from flowing back to coastal communities and fishers, Cisneros-Montemayor will work with small fishing communities in Sonora, Mexico to understand where products go once they leave fishing docks.
Cisneros-Montemayor explains that coastal communities not receiving fair pay is a sustainability concern as much as it is a human rights and inequity issue.
"Everyone has the right to support themselves and their families through the work that they're doing. In a lot of fisheries, unfortunately, that's not always the case. One of the reasons why oceans are so degraded is because people aren't making enough money to sustain themselves with the fish that they're catching, so they are pushed to catch more fish. It creates a negative feedback loop," he says. "It's fundamentally unfair for the people that are working on the ocean, taking that risk and providing food for all the rest of us to live in such a vulnerable economic state."
Cisneros-Montemayor hopes that what he learns in Sonora can be used to better understand similar inequities experienced by coastal communities around the world, and help implement more equitable financial models.
