The Catch

The race to catch squid off the coast of Peru is increasingly pitting local artisanal fishers against huge multinational fleets. Host Ruxandra Guidi, along with her Lima-based reporting partner Simeon Tegel, travel to Paita, Peru, to get a firsthand look at one of the country's top fisheries: squid.

We begin with Lima-based reporter Dan Collyns as he joins the Peruvian Coast Guard as they patrol Peru’s waters and work to prevent illegal fishing. We hear from local fisherman Eduardo Garcia, Javier Chiroque, and Atias Aguilar on what it’s like to be out at sea day-in and day-out. And finally, we then hear from Edwin Houghton, the president of the Paita Fishing Boat Owners’ Association on why the Peruvian government should do more to help these fishermen.

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

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

In part three of our series, host Ruxandra Guidi and reporter Simeon Tegel return to Lima to hear from officials and NGOs on how sustainability could be improved. Voices in this episode include Peruvian Coast Guard Captain Jesus Menacho and Alfonso Miranda, President of CALAMASUR. They two speak to Carlos Martín Salazar with the Instituto del Mar de Peru about ways to improve sustainability with data. And finally, they hear from Patricia Majluf, a well-known conservationist and Senior scientist at Oceana, who dared to take on the fishing industry and rein in overfishing while in office.

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

On this week’s episode of The Catch, host Ruxandra Guidi and reporter Simeon Tegel continue to follow squid, or pota, as it's known locally in Peru. They hear from fisherman Armando Chinchay on how artisanal fishers are faring against larger industrial fleets. Then they head to two processing plants to speak to Gerardo Carrera of Produmar and Hector Olaya of Fisholg & Sons about how squid has changed the local and national economy. And finally, they speak to Juan Carlos Sueiro, Director of Fisheries at Oceana, about the state of squid in Peru.

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

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