Were you on holiday/in the field during July and August? Catch up on The Skimmer!
In case you missed it, last month’s issue of The Skimmer featured original articles: Expanding our view of voices that matter: New perspectives on ocean stakeholders. As economies, technologies, and climate shift, it is critical to reexamine our views of who...
Expanding our view of voices that matter: New perspectives on ocean stakeholders
In recent years, stakeholder engagement has been widely recognized as integral to effective marine conservation, marine ecosystem-based management, and marine spatial planning. There are many different definitions of the term ”stakeholder”, but at its most inclusive, it is any “person, organization, or group with an interest (professional or societal) or an influence on the marine environment or who is influenced directly or indirectly by activities and management decisions.” The list of stakeholders engaged in any marine conservation or management process depends on the context of the specific project, but, in practice, typical stakeholders engaged in marine conservation and management processes include local industries, coastal residents, management agencies, and conservation organizations.
The world is changing rapidly though. New information and technologies, new forms of social interaction (often fostered by social media), increases in tourism around the globe, shifting economies, globalization, global climate change, and other factors make it critical to continually reexamine traditional views of who ocean stakeholders are, their relative importance, and how we engage them.
In this issue of The Skimmer, we feature three recent studies that highlight new (or often underrepresented) voices in ocean management processes, as well as thoughts on how these voices can be brought into decision making for marine ecosystems.
- One of these studies found the value of marine stewardship activities is greater than the revenues from commercial finfish and whale watching activities in the US state of Massachusetts.
- Another study presents the concept of “extra-local ecosystem services” – ecosystem services provided by coastal and marine ecosystems that are distributed beyond the ecosystem itself, including regionally and globally.
- A third study – of place attachment to the Great Barrier Reef – found a community of people with strong attachment to the reef who do not necessarily have ongoing direct experience with it.
The Slimmer Skimmer: An end to harmful fisheries subsidies may be coming soon – and that could help a marine ecosystem near you
Editor’s note: The Slimmer Skimmer is a new feature to give a brief update on a topic critical to marine ecosystem management. We are starting off our Slimmer Skimmer series with one of fisheries subsidies. The World Trade Organization is currently working to...