News

The Atlantic Working Group has two new members.

Dr. Simon Courtenay is Canadian Water Network Scientific Director and Professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo. Prior to joining the Canadian Water Network in 2013, Simon was a Research Scientist for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (and a Research Professor at the University of New Brunswick) where he worked on salmon assessments, estuarine ecology and aquatic monitoring. Among his many roles, Simon is actively engaged in the Northumberland Strait Environmental Monitoring Partnership (NorSt-EMP) and the Community Aquatic Monitoring Program (CAMP) which is examining the health of estuaries in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. Several graduate students, including Nicole Stamnes and Sondra Eger, are working with Simon on these initiatives.

Governance across the land-sea interface is an emerging challenge. The propensity for, and intensity of social-ecological interactions across this interface (e.g., eutrophication, sedimentation) are being exacerbated by cross-system threats (e.g., climate change). We draw on a systematic review of 151 peer-reviewed papers on governance and land-sea connections to (1) outline the current state of the literature, (2) examine the predominance of different approaches to address land-sea interactions, (3) characterize how governance is conceptualized within these approaches, (4) investigate governance challenges, and (5) provide insights into effective governance. The review finds that the number of relevant papers published per year has generally been increasing, and most of these papers are found in interdisciplinary journals. Ecosystem-based management is the most predominant approach found in the literature as a means to address land-sea interactions. Papers referring to ecosystem-based management are more likely than those referring to alternative management approaches (e.g., integrated management) to highlight science-policy integration and the need to account for interactions between ecosystem components as elements of effective governance. The main governance challenges include determining boundaries, addressing cross-scale effects, and accessing knowledge. However, few empirical studies of governance across the land-sea interface have been completed. A richer conceptual framework of governance is required to improve our ability to navigate the rapid social and environmental change occurring across the land-sea interface.

Oceanic ecosystem services support a range of human benefits and Canada has extensive research networks producing growing datasets. We present a first effort to compile, link and harmonize available information to provide new perspectives on the status of Canadian ocean ecosystems and corresponding research. The metadata database currently includes 1,094 individual assessments and datasets from government (n=716), non-government (n=320), and academic sources (n=58), comprising research on marine species, natural drivers and resources, human activities, ecosystem services, and governance, with datasets spanning from 1979-2012 on average. Overall, research shows a strong prevalence towards single-species fishery studies, with an underrepresentation of economic and social aspects, and of the Arctic region in general. Nevertheless, the number of studies that are multi-species or ecosystem-based have increased since the 1960s. We present and discuss two illustrative case studies—marine protected area establishment in Canada, and herring resource use by the Heiltsuk First Nation—highlighting the use of multi-disciplinary datasets drawn from metadata records. Identifying knowledge gaps is key to achieving the comprehensive, accessible and interdisciplinary datasets and subsequent analyses necessary for new sustainability policies that meet both ecological and socioeconomic needs.

The global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 include several targets related to the challenges facing the world’s fisheries. The targets make specific reference to improving small-scale fishers’ access to markets, combating IUU fishing, and reforming fisheries subsidies. Given that about 37% of fish and fish products are traded internationally, trade-related policies can play a significant role in helping the global community to meet many of the SDGs related to fisheries. This Special Issue brings together a range of new contributions on this critical interface. It focuses on trade in aquaculture products, fisheries subsidies, tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and trade measures used to address Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. Its objective is to explore how trade policies can be deployed to support the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and fisheries and thereby contribute to achieving the SDGs.

A variety of disciplines examine human-environment interactions, identifying factors that affect environmental outcomes important for human well-being. A central challenge for these disciplines is integrating an ever-increasing number of findings into a coherent body of theory. Without a repository for this theory, researchers cannot adequately leverage this knowledge to guide future empirical work. Comparability across field sites, study areas and scientific fields is hampered, as is the progress of sustainability science. To address this challenge we constructed the first repository of theoretical statements linking social and ecological variables to environmental outcomes. Stored in a relational database that is accessible via a website, this repository includes systematically formalized theories produced from researchers studying resilience, environmental conservation, common-pool resource governance, environmental and resource economics and political ecology. Theories are explicitly linked together in the database to form the first coherent expression of the types of human-environment interactions that affect outcomes for natural resources and, by extension, the people who use them. Analysis of this repository shows that a variety of types of theories exist, from the simple to the complex, and that theories tend to thematically cluster by scientific field, although the theories of every field were related in at least some way to theories from other fields. Thus there is much potential for increased interaction across these fields, hopefully with the help of resources such as this repository. The theories and variables employed to express their arguments are publicly viewable in a wiki-like format, as a resource for the scientific community.

This report takes a landscape approach in examining Canada’s marine coasts. While focus is placed on the shoreline as the interface between land and water, the scope of interest extends landward and oceanward to the degree that those areas affect the sustainability and well-being of coastal communities and ecosystems.

The spring 2016 edition of the OceanCanada Newsletter contains updates from across the partnership, an interview with advisory board chair Rosemary Ommer, profiles of OCP investigators, students, and post-doctoral fellows, and an interactive map of HQP developed by Evan Andrews (University of Waterloo). Read it below or online here.

Dr. Nancy Doubleday (OCP Arctic Working Group) and students Sarah Newell (PhD. candidate) and Kathryn Pringle (B.A. candidate), participated in the 3rd Annual Spring Water Forum at McMaster University on April 18. The Water Forum is organized by the McMaster Water Network, a University-wide initiative to connect water science, technology and policy to deliver local and global impacts. The network provides opportunities for students, both undergraduates and post-graduates, and faculty to engage with the community and develop partnerships on issues related to this important and life-giving resource.

Voluntary measures may be an alternative or addition to legislation for marine protected areas (MPAs), yet the effectiveness of these measures is rarely analyzed. The application and effectiveness of voluntary measures was reviewed for MPA management in developed nations where complex jurisdictions and legislative processes make voluntary measures appealing to management. Four types of voluntary measures were identified: sacrifice of access, sector- or activity-specific restrictions, voluntary stewardship, and education or outreach, with sector- or activity-specific measures being the most common. Very few papers (only 20 of 144) provided thorough assessments of outcomes or effectiveness of voluntary measures; of these, less than a quarter pointed to successful outcomes in connection with voluntary measures for MPAs or marine conservation more broadly, while half indicated mixed or uncertain results. The main factor to which failure of voluntary measures was attributed was the lack of leverage to discourage non-compliance. Key factors for the success of voluntary measures included community support, cohesive user organizations, and good governance (i.e., leadership, financing, a perception of fairness). To improve efficacy of voluntary measures for MPAs, empirical research is needed to establish effective circumstances where, when, and how voluntary measures can be applied to address management objectives.