The OceanCanada Partnership is a 6-year research initiative (2014-2020) funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The Partnership is currently comprised of 19 formal research partners, including universities from coast to coast, community organizations and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
The central goals of OceanCanada are to understand and address threats facing Canada’s Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific coastal-ocean regions and seek opportunities to develop a shared vision for the future of our oceans – one that promotes the health and well-being of people living on coasts as well as the marine environment. Our initiative is highly interdisciplinary, and our research integrates a wide range of expertise from many fields of study, including economics, law, geography, ethics, fisheries science and oceanography.
The strength of our partnership lies in our goal of integrating insights from across these broad fields with local and traditional knowledge in order to help inform policies at the regional and national levels that are responsive to community needs. Such a holistic view is necessary for developing policies that reflect a shared understanding of emerging threats, challenges and opportunities.