IT guru at PEW Charitable Trusts, Dawn Borg Costanzi joins us on the SYWTBAMB podcast. Her job? To help track international fisheries. Which wasn’t what she thought she would do initially. Originally, Dawn was going to go into software design. In this episode, we chat about how the fishing world captivated Dawn’s interest and how she’s navigated working for private entities and a large NGO. We chat about how vessels are tracked, both on the water and in port, IUU fishing, and why her work is so impactful.
Connect with Dawn: website
Quick Links
Pew Charitable trusts
FAO
IUU
Code of Conduct of Responsible Fisheries
Toothfish
Fish-I Africa
Show Notes
0:35 From studying IT during college in Malta, to becoming a software developer for the FAO, Dawn tells us how she started her career working on a project tracking fishing vessels and then how her career slowly shifted to policy making.
4:03 Dawn talks about fisheries tracking and a questionnaire designed for governments in order to report their progress in implementing the code of conduct of responsible fisheries.
9:30 Dawn explains how to fight IUU fishing by providing to authorities a system that can help tracking vessels’ catch and by implementing port state measures in order to monitor the vessels that enter.
13:14 Dawn gives an insight on the process of creating projects with countries around the world. She brings up an example of tracking illegal fisheries in Africa.
17:02 Dawn explains how to change our behavior as consumers starting by being more aware of the sea food production. She also points out the responsibility of all the chain actors in their actions that can go towards this shift in consumer behavior.
23:52 Dawn explains how she never envisioned her life or future job, instead she always took the opportunities as they came. However, she knew that she wanted to make a difference in the world.
30:36 What fisheries tracking would look like in a perfect world?
36:15 What is Dawn’s favorite sea creature?
42:10 Dawn gives two different field stories related to her job at the FAO
45:02 Some tips for listeners to take from this episode on fisheries