OceanCanada Newsletter – Winter 2017

Posted on by d.burnside

OceanCanada–Vancouver Aquarium Speaker Series

Charting a Sustainable Course: Exploring Canada’s Fisheries

We are very excited to announce a new speaker series that we are jointly hosting with our partner, Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre. The first event, held on February 28, was a great success! Here is a sample of this season’s lineup:

February 28, 2017

History of Aboriginal and Commercial Fisheries on the NW Coast and Implications for the Future
Moderator, Rashid Sumaila, OceanCanada Director

  • Dave Barrett, Manager, Pacific Fisheries Monitoring and Compliance Panel
  • Dane Chauvel, Organic Ocean and commercial fisherman
  • Alejandro Frid, University of Victoria Environmental Studies and Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance
  • Rupert Gale, Ritchie Foundation and recreational fisherman
April 11, 2017

Current Issues and Future Projections for Local, Aboriginal and Commercial Fisheries
Moderator, Andrew Day, Vancouver Aquarium

  • Owen Bird, Executive Director, Sport Fishing Institute of BC
  • Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, UBC
  • Other speakers to be announced.
September 12, 2017

How Climate Change and Pollution are Affecting our Oceans
Moderator, Eric Solomon, Vancouver Aquarium

  • Juan José Alava, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, UBC
  • Peter Ross, Coastal Ocean Research Institute
  • Other speakers to be announced.

November 7, 2017

Making Sustainable Choices
Moderator, Ann-Marie Copping, Vancouver Aquarium

  • Allison Witter, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, UBC
  • Other speakers to be announced.

OceanCanada New Working Paper Series Launched

OceanCanada has recently launched a Working Paper series, the first paper being Adaptive Governance of Social-Ecological Regime Shifts in Coastal Fishery Systems: A Case Study of a Potential Regime Shift in a Shrimp Fishery System in Northern Newfoundland, Canada by PhD Candidate Evan Andrews and Professor Derek Armitage, members of OceanCanada’s Atlantic Working Group based at the University of Waterloo.

Researcher in Profile – Dr. David VanderZwaag

Dr. VanderZwaag, OceanCanada Law and Policy Working Group Co-lead, is Professor of Law. He holds the Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Ocean Law and Governance at and is Associate Director of the Marine and Environmental Law Institute, Dalhousie University, where he teaches international environmental law. He is a member of the IUCN’s World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) and Co-chair of the WCEL’s Specialist Group on Oceans, Coasts and Coral Reefs. As a co-founder of the Australian-Canadian Oceans Research Network (ACORN), he has done research and lectured in South and Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Europe, and the Caribbean. In addition, he is an elected member of the International Council of Environmental Law, and serves on the editorial boards of Ocean and Coastal Management, Marine Policy, Ocean Yearbook and Yearbook of Polar Law. Dr. VanderZwaag has authored over 150 papers in the marine and environmental law field. His most recent book publications are: Aquaculture Law and Policy: Global, Regional and National Perspectives (edited with N. Bankes and I. Dahl; Edward Elgar, 2016); Routledge Handbook of National and Regional Ocean Policies (edited with B. Cicin-Sain and M. Balgos; Routledge, 2015); Polar Oceans Governance in an Era of Environmental Change (edited with T. Stephens; Edward Elgar, 2014); Recasting Transboundary Fisheries Management Arrangements in Light of Sustainability Principles: Canadian and International Perspectives (edited with D.A. Russell; Martinus Nijhoff, 2010); Towards Principled Oceans Governance: Australian and Canadian Approaches and Challenges (edited with D.R. Rothwell; Routledge, 2006); and Aquaculture Law and Policy: Towards Principled Access and Operations (edited with G. Chao; Routledge, 2006). Some of his recent presentations include:

 

  • Ottawa, ON, October 26, 2016. Canadian fisheries management: moving from legal laggard to legislative leader. Oceana Canada Science Symposium
  • St. John’s, NL, July 30-August 3, 2016. Canada and the protection of marine species at risk: paper promises, paltry progressions. International Marine Conservation Congress.
  • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 27-29, 2016. Ocean acidification: a tangled and tepid international governance seascape. World Environmental Law Congress, Biodiversity and Marine Ecosystems Session, Supreme Court of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
  • Halifax, NS, March 29, 2016. Renewable ocean energy and the international law and policy seascape: tangled currents. Offshore Renewable Energy Governance Panel, EU Centre of Excellence, Dalhousie University.
  • Hobart, Australia, February 9-12, 2016. Marine species on the move in the northwest Atlantic: a sea of transboundary governance challenges. Species on the Move Conference, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and University of Tasmania.

Partner and Collaborator News

United Nations University – Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-IWEH) and McMaster University are co-sponsoring the Spring 2017 Public Lecture, Facing Climate Change: The Environmental Commissioner’s 2016 GHG Progress Report, on March 21. The keynote speaker is Dr. Diane Saxe, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. Other co-sponsors include Ontario Climate Consortium, City of Hamilton, and Sustainable Hamilton/Burlington.

In 2016 Oceana Canada commissioned a comprehensive public analysis on the state of Canada’s fish populations and concluded that a lack of government transparency was threatening recovery efforts. Oceana Canada Wavemakers called on the Canadian government to increase transparency, and it responded. At Oceana Canada’s symposium last year, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced the release of critical fisheries data and a new investment of $24 million per year toward supporting healthy fish populations. Read more here.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has launched a unique program for marine vessels operating in the Port of Vancouver to address concerns about underwater vessel noise affecting at- risk marine life. Starting this year, the port authority is adding new incentive criteria to its existing EcoAction program to include harbour due rate discounts for quieter ships. This makes Canada the first country in the world with a marine noise reduction incentive. Read more here.

New Partner

The T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation has recently joined the OceanCanada Partnership. Since its establishment, it has been involved in numerous habitat-related campaigns, including efforts to halt pulp and sewage pollution, destructive logging practices and water diversions. Working with other organizations, the Foundation played a leadership role in the campaign that led to the cancellation of the Kemano Completion Project on the Nechako River – a development that threatened millions of salmon in the Fraser watershed. In addition to its campaigns, the Foundation has initiated marsh reclamation projects and established a riparian nursery dedicated to rearing native plants for stream restoration.

Research in the News

2017
2016

New Video

Members of OceanCanada’s Knowledge Mobilization Working Group have produced a short video based on footage of students and postdoctoral researchers filmed during our May 2016 conference at UBC. Interviewees talk about the importance of research to inform policy for the future health of Canada’s ocean regions and the communities that depend on them. View it on Vimeo.

Recent Publications

Click on the titles for further information and abstracts.

Alava JJ, Calle N. 2017. (Science) Pipelines imperil Canada’s ecosystem

Alava JJ et al. 2017. (Global Change Biology) Climate change-contaminant interactions in marine food webs: towards a conceptual framework

Ban SS et al. 2016. (Global Ecology and Conservation) Identifying potential marine climate change refugia: a case study in Canada’s Pacific marine ecosystems

Bennett NJ et al. 2017. (Biological Conservation) Conservation social science: understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation

Cheung WWL, Reygondeau G, Frölicher TL. 2016. (Science) Large benefits to marine fisheries of meeting the 1.5°C global warming target

Cheung WWL et al. 2016. (Fish and Fisheries) Transform high seas management to build climate resilience in marine seafood supply

Cisneros-Montemayor AM et al. 2017. (Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences) Towards an integrated database of Canadian ocean resources: benefits, current states, and research gaps

Hoover C et al. 2016. (The Solutions Journal) The continued importance of the hunter for future Inuit food security

Khan A, Charles A, Armitage D. 2016. (Climate Policy) Place-based or sector-based adaptation? A case study of municipal and fishery policy integration

Saunders P, Haward M. 2016. (Ocean Development and International Law) Politics, science, and species protection law: a comparative consideration of southern and Atlantic bluefin tuna

Teh LSL, Cheung WWL, Sumaila UR. 2016. (Regional Environmental Change) Scenarios for investigating the future of Canada’s oceans and marine fisheries under environmental and socio-economic change

Teh LSL, Hotte N, Sumaila UR. 2017. (Maritime Studies) Having it all: can fisheries buybacks achieve capacity, economic, ecological, and social objectives?

Teh LSL et al. 2016. (PLoS One) Impact of high seas closure on food security in low income fish dependent countries

Tyson W, Lantz TC, Ban NC. 2016. (Arctic) Cumulative effects of environmental change on culturally significant ecosystems in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Recent Presentations

  • Victoria, BC, March 7, 2017. Sumaila, Rashid. A simple bio-economic model of the effects of subsidies on small scale (pelagic) fisheries. Pices 2017 Pelagic Symposium.
  • Seattle, WA, March 2, 2017. Pinkerton, Evelyn. Co-management and access presentation. Fisheries Access Workshop, University of Washington School of Marine and Environmental Affairs.
  • Seattle, WA, March 2, 2017. Sumaila, Rashid. Effective high seas management is necessary for the sustainability of the global ocean. Fisheries Access Workshop, University of Washington School of Marine and Environmental Affairs.
  • Seattle, WA, March 2, 2017. Teh, Lydia and Harrington, Lucy. Employment presentation. Fisheries Access Workshop, University of Washington School of Marine and Environmental Affairs.
  • New York, NY, February 16, 2017. Sumaila, Rashid. Improve high seas fisheries management and increase economic, social and ecological benefits for our oceans. Our Ocean Our Future, High Seas Alliance and Natural Resources Defense Council, Ocean Conference Preparatory Meeting Side Event.
  • Sapporo, Japan, Hokkaido University, February 2, 2017. Sumaila, Rashid. What is sustainability under the global warming? Sustainability and Ecology Seminar Talks, Institute for International Collaboration.
  • Victoria, BC, January 24-25, 2017. Sumaila, Rashid. Ways to ensure future for fisheries. BC Young Fishermen’s Gathering.
  • Winnipeg, MB, December 6-7, 2016. Hoover, Carie, MacMillan, K, MacPhee, S, and Loseto, L. Regional indicators for marine monitoring in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. ArcticNet.
  • Winnipeg, MB, December 6-7, 2016. Mauro, Ian. Fishing with our hands: visualizing commercial and traditional activities in Pangnirtung’s char fishery. ArcticNet.
  • Winnipeg, MB, December 6-7, 2016. Newell, Sarah, and Doubleday, Nancy. Applying current ethical frameworks when conducting research in the Arctic. ArcticNet.
  • Cancún, Mexico, December 1-2, 2016. Sumaila, Rashid. Biodiversity, resilience and sustainability. 3rd Science for Biodiversity Forum. Mainstreaming biodiversity for well- being: contributions from science.
  • Vancouver, BC, November 24, 2016. Bennett, Nathan. Conservation social science: understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve local to global conservation policy and practice. Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) Seminar Series (UBC).

See our website for a complete list of publications and presentations by Working Group.

If you have OceanCanada-related news for our next newsletter, please contact Anne Marie Goodfellow, OceanCanada Coordinator, at a.goodfellow@oceans.ubc.ca.

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