Plastic is everywhere in daily life in the United States, from synthetic fabrics to toys to disposable utensils, straws and bags. While plastic is cheap for the average consumer, its impacts cost Americans $436 billion to $1.1 trillion per year—and that’s likely an underestimate, according to a new report from Duke University scholars.

Preferential access areas are designated marine spaces where small-scale and artisanal fishers are granted priority access. In partnership with Duke’s Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab and the Nicholas Institute, Global Fishing Watch has integrated a reference layer into its map of vessel-based human activity at sea to display all current PAAs worldwide, providing an opportunity to study this policy tool in more depth.

A Fuqua Insights article highlights findings from an international group of researchers—including John Virdin and several other Duke scholars—who studied the marine impacts disclosures of 75 of the largest companies in the ocean economy. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Duke University have renewed their commitment to advancing sustainable fisheries and food security by signing an agreement to establish a five-year framework for joint initiatives to support small-scale fisheries worldwide. John Virdin will lead Duke University's work on the new effort, which will build on the Illuminating Hidden Harvests initiative.   

The Illuminating Hidden Harvests initiative—a collaboration between FAO, Duke University, WorldFish and the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability—brings together more than 800 experts to examine the contributions that small-scale fisheries make to sustainable development at the national, regional and global levels. A new collection from Nature and the Nature portfolio and partner journals presents some of the project’s findings, together with opinion pieces on the initiative.

John Virdin, director of the Nicholas Institute's ocean policy program, joined the Transforming Tomorrow podcast to discuss his work analyzing the activities of the biggest companies operating in the ocean. Virdin explained efforts to bring the companies together to make progress on conserving the oceans, where the major impacts of their actions are and what factors are influencing their behaviors.

Over seven years, an 800-strong team of researchers and surveyors—led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N., Duke University and WorldFish built a global dataset that aims to make small-scale fishing more visible. The work culminated with a study in Nature that details the global impacts "so that it will be clear for governments that small-scale fishing cannot continue to be overlooked in terms of policymaking,” former Duke faculty member Xavier Basutro told Mongabay.

A new article in Nature, coauthored by the Nicholas Institute’s John Virdin, reveals how small-scale fisheries make large contributions to communities, economies and diets around the world. The work builds on research started through Illuminating Hidden Harvests, a global initiative of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Duke University and WorldFish.

Nicole Franz (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and John Virdin (Nicholas Institute) joined the Duke World Food Policy Center's Leading Voices in Food podcast to discuss the significant role small-scale fisheries play in food security, economic development and community livelihoods. The episode also highlights collaborative efforts between academia and international organizations like FAO, painting a comprehensive picture of the state and future of small-scale fisheries.

Billions of dollars have been earmarked for ocean conservation and climate action, according to a 2022 paper from the Asian Development Bank Institute. While firm estimates of global aid and public financing for ocean-related projects are scant, the amount of money may be “an order of magnitude” below what is needed to achieve ocean conservation targets, John Virdin, director of the Ocean Policy Program at the Nicholas Institute, told Dialogue Earth.

A coalition of experts has launched a free online training course to shed light on the impact of small-scale fisheries and help governments and nonprofit organizations collect crucial data, writes the Oak Foundation. The course is part of a wider effort to create guidelines for decision-makers on governing small-scale fisheries by a coalition, including Duke University.

A new e-learning course is supporting countries’ efforts to collect data on the impact of small-scale fisheries using an approach developed by experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Duke University and WorldFish.

Small-scale fisheries are “widely recognized as one of the most vulnerable food-production sectors in the face of climate change,” Tarub Bahri, fishery resources officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, told the Economist Impact blog. The Illuminating Hidden Harvests study estimates that 492 million people around the world depend at least partially on engagement with small-scale fisheries for their jobs and livelihoods.

An annual report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) highlights the organization's work with Duke University and WorldFish on the global Illuminating Hidden Harvests initiative. “Part of Duke’s mission is to provide knowledge in the service of society, and this partnership with FAO allows us to conduct actionable research that can help support the millions of livelihoods worldwide that are dependent upon small-scale fisheries," said John Virdin, director of the Ocean Policy Program at the Nicholas Institute.

Building on a global study released earlier this year, a new paper led by Duke University researchers provides global estimates of the number of livelihoods supported by small-scale fisheries, distinguishing between subsistence and commercial fishing. The paper, published in the journal Nature Food, uses measures of subsistence fishing to highlight the importance of small-scale fisheries as a safety net for local communities.