The Catch

Latest Episodes:

S2: Part V: Pressure Points Apr 18, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, host Ruxandra Guidi follows the market for Mexican blue shrimp up the supply chain to see what pressure importers and consumers can have on ensuring the shrimp is not caught illegally. She'll hear from sustainable importers and packages and talk about how they are trying to implement different practices as well as the limitations they face. She'll also hear how pressure from international markets such as the US could force the Mexican government to implement meaningful change to how the Gulf of California is fished.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S2 Part IV: The Cartel of the Sea Apr 11, 2023

Show notes

In today's episode host Ruxandra Guidi looks at the conditions in the Upper Gulf of California that have allowed Mexican cartels to embed themselves into nearly all aspects of the fishing industry. She investigates the weak response from the Mexican government in rooting out the cartels, and tries to learn what, if anything, can be done about all this.

This episode features conversations with Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and Carlos Tirado, a local fishers leader who runs a large artisanal shrimp fishing operation and is an advocate for sustainable fishing.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S2 Part III: The Embargo Apr 04, 2023

Show notes

On today’s episode of The Catch, host Ruxandra Guidi continues her exploration of the Upper Gulf of California to learn more about what can be done to stop illegal gillnet fishing. We hear from Zak Smith, a senior attorney and the director of global biodiversity conservation at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). He led an effort to force a U.S. embargo on seafood from the area.

Guidi then reports on the efforts made by the NRDC and others to compel Mexico to follow its own laws to protect the vaquita. She and her travel companions venture out on a boat to see firsthand whether or not tighter restrictions have impacted local fishers and the market for the highly desirable blue shrimp.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S2 Part II: A Complex Web Mar 28, 2023

Show notes

On today's episode, we look into what led to the dire situation faced by the vaquita and the fishing communities in the Upper Gulf of California. Host Ruxandra Guidi and her travel companions learn more about the history of fishing in the area and how demand for high value seafood such as the totoaba and blue shrimp led to a dire situation for the vaquita porpoise.

In this episode, Guidi speaks to Carlos Tirado, a champion of sustainable fishing in the Upper Gulf. He's also the leader of the Regional Federation of small-scale fishers, an independent association.

Later, she heads out on the water with Captain Naya to explore an area where scientists had hoped to study and protect vaquita in captivity.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S2 Part I: The Aquarium of the World Mar 21, 2023

Show notes

In the Part One of our new season of The Catch, host Ruxandra Guidi along with co-reporter Ernesto Méndez and marine biologist Alex Olivera travel to the Upper Gulf of California to meet with local experts and shrimp fishers. The underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau once deemed this area "The Aquarium of the World" because it was so rich in biodiversity. But unfortunately much of this ecological wonder is under threat due to illegal gillnet fishing. At the center of everything is a small porpoise called the vaquita whose numbers have dwindled to less than a dozen.

In this episode Guidi speaks to local fishers and hears from environmentalist Rick Brusca as well as former NOAA fisheries official Barbara Taylor. They discuss how the highly desirable blue shrimp endemic to the Gulf of California has been tied up in conservation efforts to protect the vaquita.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bonus Episode: The High Seas Treaty Mar 14, 2023

Show notes

After nearly two decades of negotiating, the United Nations passed an agreement called the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty, also known as the High Seas Treaty. Host Rux Guidi is joined by Lisa Speers, the Natural Resources Defense Council's Director of the International Ocean Program and Duncan Currie, a lawyer with the High Seas Alliance, to hear more about this recent breakthrough.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coming Soon: Season Two of The Catch Mar 10, 2023

Show notes

Coming up on this season of The Catch, we head to the upper Gulf of California, to see what a porpoise, a fish whose bladder fetches tens of thousands of dollars on the black market, and the highly desirable—and delicious—colossal shrimp tell us about the complicated world of fishing. This spring, Foreign Policy is partnering with the Walton Family Foundation for season two of The Catch, hosted by Ruxandra Guidi. We'll hear how local fishermen are caught between providing for their families and protecting marine habitats. And how governments, importers, and consumers all have a role in returning balance to the upper Gulf of California. Follow and listen to The Catch in English or Spanish wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part VI: The Fate of Fishing Jul 13, 2022

Show notes

In the final installment of our series we hear from two U.S. congressmen—Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, and Garret Graves, a Louisiana Republican—who are working to curb illegal fishing practices. We learn about the ways individual countries such as Japan and China are adapting their laws to hold industrial fishers more accountable. Finally, chef and food advocate Barton Seaver talks about his quest to teach others how to think and eat more conscientiously.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part V: Game Changing Diplomacy Jul 06, 2022

Show notes

This year, the future of squid and the oceans in general is being determined by a relatively small group of diplomats and representatives who are working on new agreements to regulate the laws of the oceans. With new incentives to curb fishing subsidies, new marine protected areas, and new laws for the high seas, collectively these agreements could have a major impact on the health of the Earth's oceans and the viability of all fishing stocks.

Today on The Catch we go behind the scenes—first to the United Nations, where we meet up with Lisa Speer from the Natural Resources Defense Council and learn about the work she's doing to help shape U.N. negotiations over a new treaty governing the high seas. Next we hear from Matt Rand, an oceans expert with the Pew Charitable Trusts, on what it takes to get various sides to come together to create and expand marine protected areas.

Finally, host Ruxandra Guidi speaks with Rashid Sumaila, a fisheries economist, and the World Trade Organization's Santiago Wills about a new agreement on subsidies that's been decades in the making.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part IV: The High Seas Jun 29, 2022

Show notes

A look at the international efforts being done to curb Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported fishing. Host Ruxandra Guidi hears from Peter Hammarstedt a captain from the organization Sea Shepherd as well as Dyhia Belhabib, Principal Investigator at Ecotrust Canada and an Executive Director at Nautical Crime Investigation Services. The two discuss ways in which NGOs are assisting log enforcement to root out bad actors and what can be done to better monitor international waters.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices