Policy Briefs

Access to marine resources and the ocean is important for the well-being of coastal populations. In Canada, the ability of many coastal and Indigenous communities to access and benefit from the ocean is a growing issue. Access for coastal and Indigenous communities should be a priority consideration in all policies and decision-making processes related to fisheries and the ocean in Canada. Taking action now could reverse the current trend and ensure that coastal and Indigenous communities thrive in the future.

Conservation and environmental management can produce both positive and negative social impacts for local communities and resource users. Thus it is necessary to understand and adaptively manage the social impacts of conservation over time. This will improve social outcomes, engender local support and increase the overall effectiveness of conservation.

• Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is an important fishery in the Mediterranean Sea;
• The effectiveness of the current management of Atlantic Tuna is questioned;
• The stock status, economic benefits, and the amount of jobs generated by the bluefin tuna fishery can be increased markedly with improved management;
• Solution: implement economic incentive management approaches that are backed strongly by science.

Conservation and environmental management can produce both positive and negative social impacts for local communities and resource users. Thus it is necessary to understand and adaptively manage the social impacts of conservation over time. This will improve social outcomes, engender local support and increase the overall effectiveness of conservation.

There are 38 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the world, located in the Caribbean, Pacific and Atlantic-Indian-Ocean-Mediterranean-South (AIMS) China Sea regions. The SIDS are on the front line of climate change, highly vulnerable to extreme weather events and sea-level rise. These factors, combined with pressure on the limited natural resources that these island nations need to sustain their economies and ensure their populations' livelihoods, mean that they are the first to be severely affected by global climate variations and water crises.