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The 'Maritime Security 2024: Innovations and Partnerships for the Future' was a 2-day meeting from 8-9 October, 2024, hosted by the Government of Cape Verde in the capital Praia as part of a wider process of exchange of experiences under the Yaoundé Architecture of cooperation. Over the years, the format put more and more emphasis on seeking innovative responses to what was few years ago a hot spot of piracy and maritime insecurity. It is driven by the G7++Friends of the Gulf of Guinea (FoGG).

The energy transition in the fisheries sector is not just about reducing emissions and fighting climate change—it's about ensuring the sector remains competitive on the global stage and stays resilient in the long-term. Organised by ClientEarth, Oceana and Seas at Risk, this event of the EU Ocean Week took place Thursday, 3rd October 2024, at lunch time at the exhibition space of Talk CEC, 141-143 Chaussée de Wavre, 1050 Ixelles, Brussels.

The documentary X-Trillion shows the journey of 14 women crossing the North Pacific Ocean in a sailing ship to document at least the surface plastic that has been dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The eXXpedition’s all-women crew led by Emily Penn sailed 3,000 miles taking samples to make the unseen, seen.

From 30 September to 4 October 2024 it was Ocean Week in and around the European Parliament organised by 'blue NGOs' in Brussels, led by Seas At Risk, BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, ClientEarth, Oceana, Surfrider Foundation Europe, and WWF. Supported by some 140 organisations, including Mundus maris, they launched the new 'Blue Manifesto' for a healthy and productive ocean. It identifies 50 concrete cross-cutting and sectoral policy asks, thus providing a clear roadmap towards a healthy ocean in 2030. The event 'Rethinking fisheries' convened in a big tent in front of the Parliament on 1 October was an excellent opportunity to cast light on the changes urgently needed to rebuild resources and enable prosperous low impact fisheries.

A broad coalition of local organizations in Senegal is calling on the new government to take decisive action to improve conditions for its people. A silent march demanded a national effort to help young people remain in the country and build a better future. Mundus maris expresses its solidarity with the affected families in Senegal and beyond. It supports the coalition’s call for deeper government, professional, and civil society engagement to stop the exodus and invest in human capital, institutions, and decent working conditions.

In March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly decided to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop a legally binding international treaty to address plastic pollution throughout its lifecycle, from production to disposal. This treaty, expected to be the most ambitious to date, could be finalised between 2024 and 2025, and would regulate plastic use in a similar way to climate change agreements. It is currently in a particularly critical phase of the international negotiations where proposals to drastically reduce plastic use and replace fossil fuel feed stock by biodegradable raw materials meet with resistance from countries and lobbies wedded to gas and oil.

The annual FishBase-SeaLifeBase Symposium is the occasion to showcase advances in biodiversity research and use of the global information systems to promote recovery and sustainable use of marine and freshwater resources and their ecosystems. This year's symposium was convened by the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 2 and 3 September 2024. Day one was focused on new findings in conjunction with the Gill Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT), day two gave room to a broader cross section of biodiversity related topics with a focus on the Mediterranean.

The 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) is scheduled for June 2025 in Nice, France. Costa Rica and France are the co-organisers. UNOC3 is to rally more political, financial, technical and societal engagement in support of the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development (SDG 14). An extensive preparatory process is ongoing with conferences e.g. in Costa Rica in June and at the UN in New York in July 2024. Ten themes have been identified to shape the programme in Nice. They are at the centre of so-called Ocean Action Panels. Mundus maris has responded in the public consultation to underpin three of them.

Fish Party and Mundus maris have several years of cooperation under their belt in the effort to address the challenges to people active in the fisheries and aquaculture sector and the resources accessed in Nigeria or brought in from outside to meet the needs of a still fast growing population. Beyond identifying the challenges, they focus on what can be done to identify and promote solutions for people and planet, in ways that are inclusive for women and youths. The latest joint event was a webinar on 20 July 2024.

Upon invitation of the organising committee at the FAO, Cornelia E Nauen of Mundus maris attended the second SSF Summit taking place in the premises of FAO from 5 to 7 July 2024. The first day was exclusively reserved for members of the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) Working Group on Fisheries with a thematic focus on customary tenure rights for small-scale and indigenous fisheries. During the weekend, with some 300 participants admitted, the emphasis shifted towards sharing recent experiences and regional group discussions focused on translating these experiences into next steps of implementation to be carried for the ensuing meeting of the Committee of Fisheries (COFI36).

As part of the preparations for the next global small-scale fisheries congress, regional gatherings are convened by the research platform 'Too Big To Ignore' (TBTI) and its partners under the suggestive title 'Bright spots - Hope spots'. The one for Europe gathered a small group of researchers and fishers near Larnaca, Cyprus, from 1 to 3 July 2024. Katia Frangoudes based at IUEM/UBO, Brest, France was the principal host not sparing any effort to make the meeting professionally productive in the lovely atmosphere created by traditional Cypriot hospitality.