Marine governance in an industrialised ocean: A case study of the emerging marine renewable energy industry

The world׳s oceans are currently undergoing an unprecedented period of industrialisation, made possible by advances in technology and driven by our growing need for food, energy and resources. This is placing the oceans are under intense pressure, and the ability of existing marine governance frameworks to sustainably manage the marine environment is increasingly being called into question. Emerging industries are challenging all aspects of these frameworks, raising questions regarding ownership and rights of the sea and its resources, management of environmental impacts, and management of ocean space. This paper uses the emerging marine renewable energy (MRE) industry, particularly in the United Kingdom (UK), as a case study to introduce and explore some of the key challenges. The paper concludes that the challenges are likely to be extensive and argues for development of a comprehensive legal research agenda to advance both MRE technologies and marine governance frameworks.     

Assessment of eco-labelling schemes for Pacific tuna fisheries

Developments in fisheries governance in recent decades—notably the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and its implementing agreements—have established a framework of principles, standards, institutions and regulations that is broader and more complex than traditional fisheries management, which has generally focused on individual target species. As this framework has evolved, a number of seafood eco-labelling schemes have also developed. These schemes aim to identify well-managed fisheries and give competitive advantage to their products, thus translating the environmental awareness of consumers into direct support for sustainable fishing practices. This paper evaluates a number of these schemes in the context of international fisheries governance principles and considers the conservation benefits that may result from sustainability certification of Pacific tuna fisheries. The paper briefly summarises developments in eco-labeling of Pacific tuna fisheries in relation to the evolution of fisheries management, where focus has shifted from the maximum sustainable yield of individual tuna species to ecosystem-based approaches that directly consider the broader environmental impacts of fishing. The paper discusses two different ‘Dolphin Safe’ eco-labels, the third-party scheme of the Earth Island Institute and the intergovernmental scheme of the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program, and two broader eco-labels offering sustainability certification of fisheries, ‘Friend of the Sea’ and the ‘Marine Stewardship Council’. The role played by seafood-industry associations with sustainability claims, such as the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, is also considered.     

How sustainable is sustainable marine spatial planning? Part I—Linking the concepts

Marine spatial planning (MSP) has emerged worldwide as a tool for sustainable ocean governance. This paper reviews how sustainability and ecosystem-based management (EBM) have been included so far within the MSP general framework, by carrying out: (1) a review on the links between sustainability, EBM and MSP in EU maritime policy initiatives; (2) an analysis on the differences between ecosystem-based MSP versus MSP focused on delivering blue growth; and (3) a discussion on how adaptive management may address some of the main challenges found in achieving sustainable ocean management. From the EU Green Paper (2006) to the MSP Directive Proposal (2013), MSP processes based on the principle of EBM have been recognized as a necessary tool to ensure maritime sustainable development. Although ecosystem-based MSP has been recently presented as the best way to ensure both ecosystem conservation and development of human activities, most national and European MSP initiatives seem to follow a MSP approach focused in delivering blue growth. A challenge, therefore, arises: how to adjust policy decisions to properly preserve ecosystems and the services they provide? If truly implemented, an adaptive approach seems to be a way forward in ensuring that spatial planning, management and policy-making in marine spaces can be continuously adjusted, thus allowing for sustainability.     

Understanding influences in policy landscapes for sustainable coastal livelihoods

Ensuring sustainability of livelihoods for communities residing in coastal environments of the Global South has gained considerable attention across policy making, practice and research fields. Livelihood enhancement programs commonly strategize around developing people's resilience by diversification of income and subsistence activities, but are criticised for inadequate appreciation of local contexts. This in part results from the application of theoretical approaches in practice which are informed disproportionately by dominant science-based narratives and utilised by actors in higher level political arenas. This leads to the prioritization of objectives that do not necessarily reflect local livelihood conditions. There is an urgent need to address the multiple challenges that limit the possibility for sustainable livelihoods in spatially and temporally dynamic environments. This paper presents an analysis of the policy landscape in which intervention strategies for sustainable coastal livelihoods emerge. It examines how livelihood improvement approaches take shape in the context of conservation, rural development, and regional resource governance. Drawing from analyses of broader regional policies and an extensive literature review, a conceptual framework is presented. It details various influences that can flow up or down multi-scaled governance structures to affect policy and management - from agenda-setting narratives of policy makers to the dynamic and changeable nature of livelihoods. Case studies from the Arafura and Timor Seas region are introduced to illustrate some of these trends. The discussion highlights challenges encountered in the pursuit of sustainability for coastal and marine-based livelihoods, and suggests directions for more effective long term policy, management and strategic interventions.     

Fragmentation in high seas fisheries: Preliminary reflections on a global oceans governance approach

Notwithstanding the wide range of actions taken to strengthen the legal regime of international fisheries, overexploitation and the risk of depletion of stocks have been strong concerns for decades. Indeed, the regime of international fisheries law is currently not rooted in sustainability, and it does not adequately take into consideration the impact of fishing activities on the wider marine environment. One of the main causes lies in fragmentation of international fisheries law: a lack of coordination between instruments and institutions, and gaps in effective coherent structures for fisheries management. Areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), including the high seas, are particularly prone to this lack of coordination and integration.One alternative to reach a durable management of high seas fisheries might be found in a ‘global oceans governance approach’. This paper explores how this approach could impact the fragmented regime of fisheries. It suggests that governance-based perspectives underline concepts rooted in adaptability and interactions, concepts that suggest to approach international fisheries law not as a static set of rules but as an evolutive process. Reflecting on an overarching goal of coordination and possible management challenges in ABNJ provides an interesting starting point to develop a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of oceans governance on the fragmented legal regime of high seas fisheries. We now need to see how to give effect to governance, a task that remains, at this point, a work in progress.     

New Zealand oceans governance: Calming turbulent waters?

In March 2000, New Zealand began the development of a national oceans policy. The oceans policy has weathered a number of challenges, most notably the dispute between Maori and the Crown over title to coastal land and water. This dispute stalled the development process in mid 2003 until work recommenced in November 2005. This paper analyses developments in New Zealand oceans governance, identifying the interaction between state, community and market as important influences that can help explain complexities of policy development, lack of sectoral integration and a change in policy direction.     

Positioning fisheries in a changing world

Marine capture fisheries face major and complex challenges: habitat degradation, poor economic returns, social hardships from depleted stocks, illegal fishing, and climate change, among others. The key factors that prevent the transition to sustainable fisheries are information failures, transition costs, use and non-use conflicts and capacity constraints. Using the experiences of fisheries successes and failures it is argued only through better governance and institutional change that encompasses the public good of the oceans (biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, sustainability) and societal values (existence, aesthetic and amenity) will fisheries be made sustainable.     

“联合国海洋科学促进可持续发展十年”:内容与评述

为了找到逆转海洋健康状况衰退的有效途径,联合国决定自2021年启动“联合国海洋科学促进可持续发展十年”(以下简称“海洋十年”)计划。2020年12月31日获得联合国大会审议通过的《“海洋十年”实施计划》以“构建我们所需要的科学、打造我们所希望的海洋”为愿景,描绘了“海洋十年”的预期成果、挑战与目标,以及实施、治理、协调、筹资、监督与审查等机制。“海洋十年”被联合国喻为“一生一次”的计划,是联合国发起的海洋大科学综合性顶层计划,它将通过激发和推动海洋科学领域的变革,在全球和国家层面构建更加强大的基于科技创新的治理体系来实现海洋的可持续发展。这将深刻改变人类对海洋的认知与行为模式,深刻影响乃至引导海洋秩序的演化过程,也会对海洋区域合作整体布局产生较大影响。建议我国以“海洋命运共同体”理念为指导,积极参与“海洋十年”,作为深度参与全球海洋治理的核心抓手,尽快组建“海洋十年”国家委员会,制定中国行动方案,与国际社会一道推进海洋的可持续发展。     

A collective approach to Pacific islands fisheries management: Moving beyond regional agreements

The sustainable management and profitable development of the Pacific island tuna fisheries is the key ocean governance challenge for the Pacific islands region in the short and medium term. Resolving these challenges is fundamental to the long term future of the region and its ability to implement oceans governance across all resource and conservation concerns.     

Regional oceans governance mechanisms: A review

The development of regional governance for the protection of the environment, sustainable use of natural resources and conservation of its biodiversity is unquestionably a cornerstone of international environmental law and policy. With regard to marine and coastal issues, it has mainly been taking place through Regional Seas programmes, Regional Fishery Bodies and Large Marine Ecosystems mechanisms. Based on a similar geographical approach, however, these regional mechanisms raise concerns relating to their coordination and efficiency, and possibly overlap in what they aim to achieve. This paper provides a review of existing regional oceans governance mechanisms, assessing their individual and collective capacities to move towards ecosystem-based management, and highlighting options to make the regional landscape more coherent and effective.     

Human empowerment: Opportunities from ocean governance

Stimulus to reach the millennium goals of poverty abatement and empowerment, including education and employment, for the large part of the population in the coastal zone can be found in the resources and services of oceans and coasts; the required financial means, given political will and right priorities, can be provided through implementation of the related international conventions, in particular UNCLOS with the EEZ, the Common Heritage of Mankind and other provisions, Agenda 21 [1] of UNCED and the WSSD 2002 Ocean Targets; the motivation is the necessity to address over-exploitation, depletion and destruction of resources, habitats and coastal ecosystem services, global changes, as well as economic transformations and social conditions of poverty, employment and unequity. Achieving adequate management and protection of natural assets as ecosystems and their services, habitats, biodiversity requires that the socio-economic and human security needs of the coastal populations are met. One way to reach the goal is to enable them, representing about 50% of the global population and increasing, to fight poverty and cope with uncertainties and changing conditions of employment, environment and sustainability through proper governance of the coastal and ocean assets. This includes provision of education and knowledge as regards these assets and their proper uses. They include energy, water, food, transportation and trade, communication, coastal developments, tourism, recreation and ecosystem services, as well as the need to properly manage them.The present economic system cannot fully harmonize with the required governance, partly since the ecosystem resources and services are not internalised in the market-oriented system. This calls for a revised education and training system, more comprehensive than the present, taking into account the social, cultural and environmental requirements, and stressing the sustainable development paradigm. In order to achieve ocean governance and comprehensive human security an understanding of the system is needed. This is substantiated through the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development as well as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.The aim here is to discuss some of the issues in context of implementation of related ocean conventions and commitments, which include achieving ocean governance, and to elucidate opportunities given by oceans and coasts, also in generating employment and providing for basic human needs.     

Fishing for the future: An overview of challenges and opportunities

This paper surveys the current state and major trends in global fisheries; the environmental and social dimensions of fisheries; and explains how the international community has tried to meet the policy challenges associated with oceans and fisheries. The ocean and the freshwater ecosystems of the world make significant contributions to people's well-being via the many vital social and environmental services they provide (for example, food and nutrition, employment and incomes, carbon cycling and sequestration). The impact that the increase in fishing since the 1950s has had on wild fish stocks, and the significant increase in aquaculture production in the 20th century, have resulted in severe environmental impacts. This has significant effects on marine ecosystems and the health of oceans. The erosion of the resource undermines communities' long-term interests, including food security, employment, and income. Attempts by the global community to address challenges of sustainable production by improving the governance and management of fisheries resources range from national management of fisheries resources, to regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) for international fisheries stocks. These attempts have not always successfully met the challenge of balancing current and future use of fisheries.     

SOFIA’S choices: Discourses,values, and norms of the World Ocean Regime

Some scholars have thought the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea would transform marine politics and policy by incorporating social values of equity and justice via the Common Heritage of Mankind and authentic conservation of an essential part of the biosphere, displacing the dominant commodification of the ocean. Likewise, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization has claimed that the “productivity paradigm” of growth in fishery catch has been replaced by balanced norms of sustainability. This article tests these claims by asking “What is the ‘generative grammar’, or value-based blueprints, of governance for the World Ocean?” using a quantitative content analysis of all extant State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) reports (1995–2016). Not only does the analysis disprove the FAO’s assertions, this research reveals an otherwise invisible, non-codified economistic regime governing the World Ocean that is guided by the norms of sheer volume production, named here simply the “World Ocean Regime.” This partially explains why the marine world is experiencing structural ecological changes, including massive biodiversity loss partly driven by overfishing. The analysis finds that overfishing, ecological life support, moral aesthetic values, social equity, and science are very minor concerns for the World Ocean Regime. Governance is the second-most important set of discourses, but this governance is clearly driven by economic values and norms. The World Ocean Regime has critical implications not only for the sustainability of the World Ocean, but the planetary system that depends on the World Ocean.     

Sustainable seafood consumption in China

Changing forms of seafood consumption in China hold immense significance for the marine ecosystems that supply this market, and are a fundamentally important challenge to address for global environmental sustainability. Drawing on recent findings from extensive ethnographic and survey research with seafood traders and consumers in China, this paper analyses policies for improving sustainable seafood consumption in China. The paper evaluates how existing policy initiatives undertaken by civil society and the government are affected by the distinctive social, economic and political context in China, and discusses how future efforts can better build on this context. To improve sustainable seafood consumption will require an effective strategy for working in a market environment characterised by a much greater public interest in food safety than food sustainability, and by a governance environment characterised by the strong role of the state.     

Adaptive governance and the human dimensions of marine mammal management: Implications for policy in a changing North

As climate change has driven dramatic changes in Northern sea ice regimes, marine mammals have gained iconic status around the world reflecting the perils of global warming. There is a tension between policies that have international support like a ban on seal hunting or whaling, and the adoption of adaptive, flexible rules that are likely to work in Northern places. Whereas most wildlife policy focuses on biological information to inform policy strategy, this analysis focuses on the “human dimensions” of Northern marine mammal management. This research examines ways in which human relationships and modes of governance affect conservation success. Standard analyses of risk to animal populations focused on direct sources of take are inadequate to address multi-causal, complex problems such as climate-induced habitat loss or increased industrialization of the Arctic Ocean. Early conservation policy strategies focusing on the moratorium of take have eliminated or reduced such practices as commercialized hunting and high levels of fisheries bycatch, but may be less relevant in an era in which habitats and climate changes are key drivers of population dynamics. This paper argues that effective adaptive policy requires new ways of learning about and governing human interactions with marine mammals. Through an exploration of marine mammal management in three Northern regions (Alaska, Nunavut, and the Finnish Baltic Sea coast), the paper analyzes the extent to which these marine mammal management regimes are practicing adaptive governance, that is, building cross-scale (local to international) understanding while allowing actors at the local scale the flexibility to direct the creation of rules that are ecologically robust and likely to succeed. Lessons are taken from these examples and used to propose selected policy and research recommendations for the marine mammal policy community.     

Mexico’s coasts: Half-way to sustainability

Sustainability was estimated through a Sustainable Capacity Index defined as the combination of three aspects (state of the environment, quality of life of the human population, and pressure applied by human activities), used as a guideline for the differentiation of sustainability situations. We identified five different municipality groups, in terms of sustainability, as well as two thresholds, beyond which sustainable capacity was not present: below the sustainable capacity lower threshold, close to the sustainable capacity threshold, optimum situation, close to the sustainable capacity higher threshold, and above the sustainable capacity higher threshold. In general Mexico was found to be in an apparent balanced situation, in the sense that it is not overweighed around extreme values, the majority of the coastal municipalities falling in the optimum sustainable situation, within the cross comparison, characterized by medium coastal cities. We can conclude that Mexico has reached a critical point where it has to decide about the direction its coastal development has to take, since our results suggest that Mexican’s municipalities are half way to sustainability. The ideal situation would be that the optimum situation would maintain its actual low pressure with high state, but could increase its quality of life. This work provided a rapid monitoring and cross comparison tool for an estimation of the sustainable situation of Mexico’s coasts, repeatable in time, and in phase with the recent national coastal zone management principles and strategies.     

Monitoring the state of the Solent

The development of the State of the Solent report and establishment of a set of coastal and marine indicators to measure the ‘health’ of the Solent was one of the original Flagship Projects developed when the Solent Forum was established in 1992. It was recognised that integrated coastal zone management requires robust indicators of sustainability that gauge the ‘health’ of the coast in relation to environmental, economic and social activity. The indicators selected for the Solent were, as far as possible, nested within established indicator sets that had been developed at the national and European levels. In developing the coastal sustainability indicators for the Solent and publishing the State of the Solent reports, a number of lessons were learned related to data compilation and the benefits of a participatory process to develop the indicators.     

The evolution of legal instruments and the sustainability of the Peruvian anchovy fishery

Landings statistics of the Peruvian anchovy fishery show that the fishery went through a phase of explosive and uncontrolled growth from its establishment in the mid-fifties until its collapse in 1972. After the collapse, a second phase from 1973 to 1984 was characterized by unfavorable warm ocean conditions and low catches. A third phase, from 1984 to the present, with propitious ocean-environmental conditions and modern governance, can be further divided into a controlled growth period (1985-1994) and a sustainable landings' period (1995 to present). The most recent period of the third phase has enabled the fishery to maintain its catches and be labeled as one of the most sustainable fisheries worldwide. This article highlights the evolution of the legal system that provides for the current sustainable landings and governance of this fishery. Results show that General Fisheries Acts were enacted independently of failures to sustain anchovy landings. The three Peruvian Fisheries Acts were a reflection of broader national socio-political changes and were enacted mainly to define the role of the state and private investment and to delimit foreign involvement in the fishery industry. By contrast, the enactment of secondary legislation to control quotas and fishing seasons increased as the fishery moved towards stable landings. During this phase, enacted secondary legislation showed also a clear peak during strong positive sea surface anomalies driven by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) 1997-1998, providing evidence of rapid adaptive management. The role of Fisheries Acts in defining access rights at the national level from a multilevel governance approach is discussed and further key elements that contributed to the transition towards sustainability are suggested.     

Coastal management challenges from a community perspective: The problem of ‘stealth privatization’ in a Canadian fishery

Intertidal clam fisheries seem ideal candidates for the devolution of management authority from government to local stakeholders. In St. Mary's Bay, Nova Scotia, a private firm recently applied for a 10-year renewal of a large (1,627 ha) lease for quahog clam aquaculture. This case study examines the challenges of implementing community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in rural fisheries within a broad integrated coastal management (ICM) institutional environment that favours corporate stakeholders. The challenges facing clam harvesters in rural Digby Neck, Nova Scotia arise from poor communication and coordination within government and between government and communities, as well as higher-level policy conflicts. The most important challenge arises from ‘stealth privatization’ of clam beaches. A single firm was granted rights of first refusal to depurate all clams harvested from closed (polluted) beaches in the region, resulting in the de facto privatization of all (polluted and unpolluted) clam beaches. Experiences in other parts of Canada suggest there may be community-based governance approaches that avoid the pitfalls associated with corporate management of clam beaches. New thinking is required about how to moderate the ‘privatization paradigm’ so prevalent within senior levels of government in order to ensure environmental and social sustainability in rural fishing communities.     

Social licence in the marine sector: A review of understanding and application

Our global oceans are threatened by climate change, overfishing, pollution and a growing list of other impacts that demonstrate an urgent global need for sustainable ocean management. Whilst marine conservation initiatives and protected ocean spaces have increased over recent years, ocean management still lags behind the terrestrial sectors in incorporating and involving communities in its development. ‘Social licence to operate’ is used broadly across the terrestrial literature, but its understanding and application within the marine has been limited to date. This review sought to collate and synthesise instances of social licence in the marine realm as documented in the literature, aiming to create an understanding that may inform future research and development of social licence. Its results determine that social licence is yet an emergent concept in the marine sector but there may be great potential for its application in the marine context. Social licence has become an important theme for development in marine industry and resource use, particularly towards exploring communication and stakeholder engagement. This paper identifies future themes and areas requiring investigation and application in this domain.