An Ecology & Society Special Feature featuring four papers from OceanCanada members, titled: Canada and Transboundary Fisheries Management in Changing Oceans: Taking Stock, Future Scenarios.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), signed in 1982 and going into force in 1994, was the product of intensive international debates from the 1950s onward. UNCLOS continues to be the subject of vital debates on new initiatives that seek to clarify or expand the scope of the ocean regime.
Electronic tags are significantly improving our understanding of aquatic animal behavior and are emerging as key sources of information for conservation and management practices. Future aquatic integrative biology and ecology studies will increasingly rely on data from electronic tagging. Continued advances in tracking hardware and software are needed to provide the knowledge required by managers and policymakers to address the challenges posed by the world’s changing aquatic ecosystems. We foresee multiplatform tracking systems for simultaneously monitoring the position, activity, and physiology of animals and the environment through which they are moving. Improved data collection will be accompanied by greater data accessibility and analytical tools for processing data, enabled by new infrastructure and cyberinfrastructure. To operationalize advances and facilitate integration into policy, there must be parallel developments in the accessibility of education and training, as well as solutions to key governance and legal issues.
Devoted to assessing the state of ocean and coastal governance, knowledge, and management, the Ocean Yearbook provides information in one convenient resource.
Regional initiatives relevant to Arctic environmental protection occurred mainly through the Arctic Council. The council’s ninth ministerial meeting was held in Iqaluit, Canada, and the council’s six working groups continued their co-operative efforts. Documentation from the ministerial meeting and working groups may be found at the council’s website (http://www.arctic-council.org). Other international activities of note included: efforts by the Arctic five coastal states (Arctic 5) towards preventing unregulated high seas fishing in the central Arctic Ocean (CAO) and enhancing protection of polar bears; convening of the fifteenth session of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council; establishment of the Arctic Coast Guard Forum; and final adoption within the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of a Polar Shipping Code.
The goal of the ‘Catching Ripples’ workshop was to further develop our understanding of regime shifts and other forms of rapid change at the land-sea interface. Workshop participants explored how linking social theory with ecological theory may help to address the challenge of rapid change, and to consider the emergent concept of linked ‘Social-Ecological Regime Shifts’ (SERS). The workshop was thus designed to draw on the insights of an interdisciplinary group of applied scholars and practitioners engaged in assessing or navigating the biophysical, social and policy dimensions of regime shifts and rapid change in coastal watersheds.
With aquaculture operations fast expanding around the world, the adequacy of aquaculture-related laws and policies has become a hot topic. This much-needed book provides a comprehensive guide to the complex regulatory seascape. Split into three distinct parts, the expert contributors first review the international legal dimensions, including chapters on the law of the sea, trade, and access and benefit sharing for aquatic genetic resources. Part Two discusses how the EU and regional bodies, such as the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO), have addressed aquaculture development and management whilst the final part contains twelve national case studies exploring how leading aquaculture producing countries have been putting sustainability principles into practice. These case studies focus on implementation approaches and challenges, in particular emphasizing ongoing national struggles in attaining effective aquaculture zoning and marine spatial planning. Students and scholars of environmental law and politics will find this contemporary volume an invaluable addition to the limited academic literature critiquing aquaculture law and policy. Policy makers, international bodies and NGOs will also find its insights particularly informative when ensuring sustainable aquaculture regulation and development.
Session Six concludes with a Keynote Address that provides a global perspective on the conservation of migratory species, delivered by the Executive Secretary of the CMS, followed by a robust discussion of projections and pathways.
This panel focuses on the socio-economic and cultural significance of American eels. The
discussion covers an overview of eel fisheries, socio-economic uses, international eel markets, dominance of Asian aquaculture, and the role of the American eel for aquaculture seed stock and for the consumption market.
On October 23-25, 2015, the “American Eel Symposium: Future Directions for Science, Law, and Policy” was hosted by the Ocean & Coastal Law Journal (OCLJ) and the Center for Oceans & Coastal Law at the University of Maine School of Law, as well as the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI). Organizing partners and financial sponsors were the Sargasso Sea Commission, the Marine & Environmental Law Institute (MELAW) at Dalhousie University, the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.