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Archives for July 2016

July 2016

International Symposium on Capacity Building for Sustainable Oceans

Nereus Director of Policy Yoshitaka Ota acted as moderator at the International Symposium on Capacity Building for Sustainable Oceans from July 19 to 20 in Tokyo, Japan.

The symposium brought together representatives from scientific organizations, government, industry, academia, civil society, and international organizations from around the world in order to explore a variety of approaches to bettering the health of the world’s coasts and oceans.

CINVESTAV Lecture in Merida, Mexico

Nereus Director of Science William Cheung participated in a lecture at the Centre for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (CINVESTAV) in Merida, Mexico, from July 25 to 26.

Rethinking the Role of Salps in the Ocean

Salps, a type of gelatinous zooplankton, are often confused with jellyfish and while jellyfish research has increased drastically, salps have been ignored. The authors write that there “has been no comprehensive study on the biology or ecological impact of salps in almost 20 years”. This paper looks at four misconceptions about salps, including that salps are jellyfish, salps are rare, salps are trophic dead ends, and salps have a minor role in biogeochemical cycles.

International Seabed Authority Workshop

Senior Nereus Fellow at Duke University, Daniel Dunn, co-organized a workshop from July 12th to 15th on the development of a strategic environmental management plan for deep sea mining on the Mid-Range Atlantic Ridge. The workshop, held in Lisbon, Portugal, was carried under the International Seabed Authority.

Instability in the South China Sea: Ecosystem challenges and political complexities

One of the most significant – and increasingly bitter – international disputes of recent years has engaged legal claims over maritime territory in the South China Sea. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 (UNCLOS), to which the main protagonists are parties, states are entitled to claim an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) conferring sovereign rights and jurisdiction up to 200 nautical miles of maritime space from their coasts. In the South China Sea, however, this position has been complicated by historical claims over a series of small islands and reefs within the southern section of this area.

The role of transnational corporations in global fishery reform

It’s important to address the activities of transnational corporations in global fishery reform, argues a new letter co-authored by Nereus Program Principal Investigator Henrik Österblom, Stockholm Resilience Centre, and published in PNAS.

The paper is a commentary on “Global fishery prospects under contrasting management regimes” by Costello et al., which found that sound management reforms could increase annual catch by 16 million metric tons, at $53 billion in profit. The authors highlighted ten countries that “provide the most compelling and urgent case for fishery reform” — China, Indonesia, India, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan.

Towards an integrated database on Canadian ocean resources: benefits, current states, and research gaps

“Towards an integrated database on Canadian ocean resources: benefits, current states, and research gaps” was recently published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, authored by Nereus Fellow Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor (UBC), Director of Science William Cheung, and OceanCanada Director Rashid Sumaila (Nereus Honorary Research Associate).