OCEANCANADA NEWS
Nathan Bennett Receives 2018 Early Career Conservationist Award Congratulations to Nathan Bennett, Postdoctoral Fellow in the OceanCanada Partnership, for receiving the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB)’s 2018 Early Career Conservationist Award, for his leadership in advancing the role of social science on conservation policy, and his research which provides critical insights into the role of indigenous people in conservation in Canada, the relationship between small-scale fishers and marine protected areas in Thailand and the Mediterranean Sea, and the effective and equitable governance of marine protected areas globally. The award was conferred at the North American Congress for Conservation Biology (NACCB) in Toronto, July 21-26, 2018.
Derek Armitage Receives Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision Congratulations is also in order for Derek Armitage, Professor at the University of Waterloo, for receiving the 2017-2018 Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision. Derek stated that “the award reminds me of what a wonderful privilege it is to work with, mentor and learn from thoughtful and committed people… I am also driven to create opportunities for students as a high priority, whether that is helping to secure funds for field work or conferences, by getting students involved in research and writing projects, or by connecting them into larger networks of researchers and research partners.”
Television Interview with Rashid Sumaila on Oceans Day, June 8, 2018 China Global Television Network’s Susan Roberts interviewed Rashid Sumaila on Oceans Day about the Blue Economy and its impact on Africa’s economy. View the interview here.
Rashid Sumaila at IMBeR Summer School Rashid Sumaila was a lecturer at the ClimEco 6 Summer School, Interdisciplinary Approaches for Sustainable Oceans, hosted by IMBeR (Integrated Marine Biosphere Research project), August 1-8, 2018, at Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. Topics covered included the following:
- impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and implications for food security;
- modelling;
- social and economic research techniques;
- governance and managing marine resources;
- several “how to” workshops related to writing, research, and social media.
PARTNER & COLLABORATOR NEWS
Friends of Port Mouton Bay Story Map Friends of Port Mouton Bay (FPMB), a volunteer group located in Port Mouton Bay, Nova Scotia and OceanCanada teamed up in 2016 to create a community asset mapping project. Community assets are anything that community members find valuable, be it a place, a thing, a person or a group of people.
The project aimed to generate baseline information about the community using interviews, public surveys, and background research. Today, that information has been used to create an interactive ESRI Story Map that showcases not only the community’s assets, but also potential risks facing those assets. A story map combines spatial data with images, videos, and other media to help visualize the story of a place or a critical issue. The FPMB Story Map will take you on a tour of the community’s many assets, using public participatory GIS mapping to highlight concerns for future community planning.
Dive into the New SeaChoice Website! SeaChoice, a partnership between Living Oceans Society, an _OceanCanada_partner, the David Suzuki Foundation, and Ecology Action Centre, has launched a new website to help consumers navigate seafood sustainability issues. The website provides information on such things as aquaculture and fisheries, seafood markets, labelling, and traceability. Visit the website here.
OceanCanada featured in Too Big To Ignore June 2018 Newsletter OceanCanada was highlighted in TBTI’s June 2018 Newsletter. You can read the feature article here. The entire digest can be accessed here.
VIDEO UPDATE
Natalie Baird, graduate student at the University of Manitoba, and Attagoyuk Ilisavik students, Pangnirtung, have won the FOCUS! Climate Change Video Contest in the post-secondary competition for the film ᑕᕆᐅᖅ ᑕᑯᔭᓐᓂᒃ / Tariuq Takujanniq / The Ocean From My Eye. They share the prize with Olivia Seneshen of Capilano University for her film A New Blueprint for an Old Home. The films were screened and winners announced at the Red Carpet Screening in Vancouver on June 9, 2018.
MEDIA COVERAGE
July 19. Scientist sees harmful fisheries subsidies taking toll on global fish stocks. Pew Trusts. July 12. Sharks honoured on new Canadian postage stamps. The Star Vancouver. July 1. High seas fishing would go broke without ‘massive’ subsidies: study. The Siasat Daily. June 28. Je propose de transformer la haute mer en banque à poissons. Le Temps. June 25. 'Fish Wars' loom as climate change warms waters. Truth Dig. June 21. Sistemas de ordenamiento pesquero deberían reflejar realidades del cambio climático. Fish Information and Services. June 19. Stock ittici: si spostano più veloci delle normative per la loro allocazione. Regionie Ambiente. June 18. El cambio climático ha aumentado los conflictos pesqueros entre los países. Diario Financiero. June 17. El cambio climático acrecienta los conflictos entre países por la pesca. Eco Diairio. June 17. Third of Gulf's marine life could be extinct by 2090, study finds. The National (UAE). June 15. El cambio climático fomenta los conflictos entre países por la pesca. Diario Siglo XXI. June 15. 'Fish Fights' could erupt as climate change drives species across borders. Ecowatch. June 15. Researchers say out-of-date regulatory system hasn’t kept up with the realities of global warming. Tunisie Soir. June 14. Climate change has fish moving faster than regulations can keep up. Science Daily. June 11. Government subsidies play key role in profitability of high sea fishing. The University of Western Australia News. June 8. Rashid Sumaila discusses sea use in Africa. CGTN America. June 7. Much of high seas fishing industry would be unprofitable without government subsidies. Eurasia Review. June 7. La mayoría de la pesca en alta mar ya no es rentable sin subvenciones. Europa Press. June 6. Study on economics of fishing on the high seas. Phys.org. June 6. High seas fishing would go broke without 'massive' subsidies: study. France 24. June 6. High seas fishing would go broke without ‘massive’ subsidies: study. Breitbart. June 6. More than half of industrial fisheries aren’t turning a profit: study. The Star Vancouver. June 6. High seas fishing isn’t just destructive — it’s unprofitable. National Geographic. June 6. Study on economics of fishing on the high seas. EurekAlert. May 26. Ecologistas urgen al comisario de Pesca a acabar con la sobrepesca antes de 2020. La Opinión A Coruña. May 25. Calls to end wasteful EU overfishing. Food Ingredients First. May 24. EU fisheries commissioner urged to ‘seize the moment’ to end overfishing. Undercurrent News. May 24. Karmenu Vella recebe apelo para terminar com a sobrepesca na Europa. Jornalda economia do mar. May 24. Nueve medioambientalistas instan a Karmenu Vella a poner "la casa en orden". Industrias Pesqueras. May 23. Nine ocean leaders urge for an end to EU overfishing. Safety4Sea. May 23. Ocean Summit sponsored by the Volvo Group spotlights the problem of plastic in the world’s oceans. Recycling Product News. May 23. Global ocean leaders urge Commissioner Vella to end EU overfishing. European Supermarket Magazine.
RESEARCHER IN PROFILE
Olga Koubrak is a third year PhD student at the Marine and Environmental Law Institute at Dalhousie University. She is a member of OceanCanada’s Law and Policy Working Group, contributing to the Changing Oceans theme. As fish stocks distribution shifts in response to changing climate, Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) must ensure that they consider these changes in their research, management and institutional arrangements. Olga's current project is reviewing four RFMOs in the North Pacific to see how these organizations are tackling the issue of climate change.
Olga is also interested in conservation of marine species at risk at national and international levels. After writing her Master’s thesis on legal frameworks protecting sawfish in the Caribbean, she collaborated with scientists, policymakers and NGOs working in the region to bring about implementation of the agreed-upon commitments. All species of sawfish, a shark-like ray with a long toothy rostra (as in the photo), are critically endangered world-wide. Two species of sawfish are found in the Caribbean, making the region a lifeboat for these unique animals. Olga is also involved in the development of the Caribbean Regional Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks and Rays and assists members of the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Network (WIDECAST) with legal questions.
In the Canadian context, Olga is part of the team that is reviewing the federal government's policy response to the unprecedented level of right whale mortality in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2017. She also seeks to identify legal barriers to the application of dynamic ocean management tools to the protection of Canadian species at risk and develop solutions. This research involves balancing the legal principles of certainty and fairness with the ecological reality of change and uncertainty.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Bennett NJ. 2018. (Marine Policy) Navigating a just and inclusive path towards sustainable oceans.
Cheung WWL. 2018. (Journal of Fish Biology) The future of fishes and fisheries in the changing oceans.
Eddy TD, Cheung WWL, Bruno JF. 2018. (PeerJ) Historical baselines of coral cover on tropical reefs as estimated by expert opinion.
Coristine LE, Jacob AL, Schuster R, Otto SP, Baron NE, Bennett NJ, Bittick SJ, Dey C, Favaro B, Ford A, Nowlan L, Orihel D, Palen WJ, Polfus JL, Shiffman DS, Venter O, Woodley S. 2018. (FACETS) Informing Canada’s commitment to biodiversity conservation: A science-based framework to help guide protected areas designation through Target 1 and beyond.
McIvor R, Milewski I, Loucks R, Smith R. 2018. (Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science) Estimating nitrogen loading and far-field dispersal potential from background sources and coastal finfish aquaculture: a simple framework and case study in Atlantic Canada.
Milewski I, Loucks RH, Fisher B, Smith RE, McCain JSP, Lotze HK. 2018. (Marine Ecology Progress Series) Sea-cage aquaculture impacts market and berried lobster (Homarus americanus).
Oyinlola MA, Reygondeau G, Wabnitz CCC, Troell M, Cheung WWL. 2018. (PLoS One) Global estimation of areas with suitable environmental conditions for mariculture species.
Pinsky ML, Reygondeau G, Caddell R, Palacios Abrantes J, Spijkers J, Cheung WWL. 2018. (Science) Preparing ocean governance for species on the move.
Sala E, Mayorga J, Costello C, Kroodsma D, Palomares MLD, Pauly D, Sumaila UR, Zeller D. 2018. (Science Advances) The economics of fishing the high seas.
Stephenson RL, Wiber M, Paul MS, Angel E, Benson MA, Charles A, ..., Pinkerton E, … Sumaila UR. 2018. (Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences) Integrating diverse objectives for sustainable fisheries in Canada.
Tittensor DP, Eddy TD, Lotze HK, Galbraith ED, Cheung WWL, Barange M, Blanchard JL, Bopp L, Bryndum-Buchholz A, Büchner M, Bulman C, et al. 2018. (Geoscientific Model Development) A protocol for the intercomparison of marine fishery and ecosystem models: Fish-MIP v1. 0.
BOOK CHAPTERS
Saunders P. 2018. (Environment in the courtroom) The role of international environmental law in Canadian courts.
VanderZwaag DL. 2018. (East China Sea: how to build confidence and promote cooperation) Sustaining transboundary fisheries: international coordinates, sea of challenges.
VanderZwaag DL. 2018. (Emerging Arctic legal orders in science, environment and the ocean) Arctic Ocean governance: shifting seascapes, hazy horizons. (In Japanese).
BOOK
Pulsifer P, Taylor DRF, Parsons MA, Berkman PA. 2018. Mediation, data sharing and interoperability. Volume 7 in Geographical Information Management in Polar Regions. Modern Cartography. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
MAGAZINE ARTICLE
Sumaila, Rashid. 2018. Letters from ambassadors and partners. Hokkaido University Magazine Litterae Populi. Spring Issue.
RECENT PRESENTATIONS
Washington, DC. July 26, 2018. Sumaila, Rashid. Environmental issues in the South China Sea. Panel member at 8th Annual South China Sea Conference.
St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. July 25-27, 2018. Koubrak, Olga. The Caribbean legal seascape for shared marine living resources: treaty obligations, examples of implementation and suggestions for the course forward. Latin America and Caribbean Congress for Conservation Biology.
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. June 28, 2018. Sumaila Rashid. MPAs are like retirement accounts: leakages undermine them. 5th International Marine Conservation Congress.
Gothenburg, Sweden. June 25-29, 2018. Sumaila, Rashid. Marine plastic pollution in a circular perspective. Policy session, World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists.
Paris, France. June 21, 2018. Gaill, Françoise; Sumaila, Rashid; Roberts, Callum. High seas: why we must act now. Roundtable, The High Seas: What’s at Stake?
Washington, DC. June 5, 2018. Cheung, William. Exploring future seafood sustainability under scenarios of climate change and socio-economic development. 4th International Symposium on the Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Oceans.
Halifax, NS. June 4, 2018. VanderZwaag, David. The precautionary approach in coastal/ocean governance: beacon of hope, seas of confusion and challenges. IOI Summer Course on Ocean Governance: Policy, Law and Management.
Washington, DC. June 4, 2018. Cheung, William. Vulnerability of deep-sea fishes to climate change. 4th International Symposium on the Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Oceans.
João Pessoa, Brazil. June 3-8, 2018. Koubrak, Olga. An elusive safety net: a review of conservation and management of vulnerable elasmobranchs under the Species at Risk Act and the Fisheries Act in Atlantic Canada. Sharks International 2018.
Kunshan, China. June 3, 2018. Sumaila, Rashid. Case analysis on sustainable fishery. 2018 Blue Pioneer Program, Duke Kunshan University.
Kunshan, China. June 2, 2018. Sumaila, Rashid. We need the ocean more than the ocean needs us. International Symposium on Blue Economy and Marine Conservation, Duke Kunshan University.
Halifax, NS. May 26-30, 2018. Bennett, Nathan. The enablers and barriers to local environmental stewardship. Communities, Livelihoods and Conservation Conference.
Vancouver, BC. May 25, 2018. Sumaila, Rashid; Seitzinger, Sybil; Lopez-Correa, Catalina. How can Canada’s three oceans be part of the solution in addressing climate change challenges? Panel, Peter Wall Institute, University of British Columbia.
Dalian, China. May 20-21, 2018. VanderZwaag, David. Governance of the Central Arctic Ocean: fishy focus, foggy future. Fifth Sino-Canadian Exchange on the Arctic, Dalian Maritime University Law School.