Ocean assets are estimated to provide up to US$24 trillion globally and ocean services are valued between US$1.5 trillion and US$6 trillion a year. However, the current rate of ocean resource exploitation risks a potential impact of US$8.4 trillion across ocean sectors over a 15-year period (Haugan et al., 2024). Excessive economic activity and systemic […]
Marine & Ocean Issues
Beyond Tokenistic Engagement: Reimagining Coastal Community Participation in Marine Spatial Planning
At a time of growing human demand for the use of marine space and its resources (Ehler, 2021; Koehler et al., 2017), Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) has been proposed as a novel process that could foster sustainable marine governance (Pyć, 2019). By 2023, around 126 countries had adopted MSP in some form (IOC-UNESCO, 2024), including […]
Strengthening Coastal Resilience and Relationships: Reflections on the 2025 Coastal Zone Canada Conference
Canada is a country defined by its coasts. Spanning over 243,000 kilometers along the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific oceans, the country’s coastline is the longest in the world. Coastal areas have been crucial to marine and human life for millennia. However, in recent decades, these areas have experienced extensive environmental and human pressures that place […]
Reflections from the One Ocean Science Congress, Nice, France, 3-6 June 2025
My first glimpse of the Mediterranean was caught from the tram window as I arrived in the Old Port of Nice. A graduate of Dalhousie University’s Master of Marine Management program, I was on my way to present my master’s research at the One Ocean Science Congress (OOSC)—an event that felt dynamic and expansive like […]
Managing Coastal Development in Nova Scotia in the Absence of the Coastal Protection Act
Nova Scotia is defined by extensive, beautiful coastlines, where approximately 70% of the population lives within 20 kilometres of the shore (Government of Nova Scotia, n.d.a; NSECC, 2018). These coasts are vital to the province’s economy, providing essential ecosystem services, and contributing profoundly to the identity, pride, and way of life of Nova Scotians. […]
The Role of International Statutes in Policy-Making
Global environmental governance has long played a significant role in how environmental policy becomes enacted around the world. In this blog post, we discuss the role of international environmental bodies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and the United Nations Convention to Combat […]
From Water Pollution Studies to Legislation and Regulatory Action: Celebrating 50 Years of Contributions of the Canadian Ecotoxicity Workshop
What can a half century of research achieve? This question was top of mind at the fiftieth Canadian Ecotoxicity Workshop (previously the Aquatic Toxicity Workshop), sponsored by the University of Waterloo, on 6-9 October 2024 in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. This series of meetings began in the 1970s directly after the formation of the federal government department, […]
Book Review: Securitizing Marine Protected Areas: Geopolitics, Environmental Justice, and Science by Elizabeth De Santo
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are widely considered to be the best tool to protect ocean biodiversity. Generally speaking, an MPA is an area of the “ocean set aside for long-term conservation aims” (IUCN, 2017), although many other types of ocean protection fall into this category, including marine reserves, marine sanctuaries, or marine parks, all of […]
The Ocean at Science-Policy Interfaces: Books EIUI Team Members Are Reading
The ocean is vast, occupying about 71 percent of the Earth’s surface and holding 97 percent of its water. These dimensions alone highlight how the ocean dominants Earth. However, size is only one of many factors that position the ocean in critically important roles for the well-being of the planet. Food sources, transportation and communication […]
New Paper: On the Development of Criteria for Determining the Effectiveness of Technical Working Groups
Use of scientific information in evidence-based decision-making is critically important in contending with coastal and ocean management concerns. Evidence can reach policy- and decision-makers through a wide variety of channels, or it may not reach them at all due to a host of hurdles that can encumber information pathways. Furthermore, a myriad of information […]