Working Group V A Sustainably Harvested and Productive
Working Group V – A Sustainably Harvested and Productive Ocean Outcomes of the First Global Planning Meeting and regional workshops: UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021 -2030) 1
A sustainably harvested and productive ocean Whereby ensuring the provision of food supply and alternative livelihoods Society now depends on the ocean more than at any time before. It is a vital source of nourishment, supporting directly the livelihood of about 500 million people, especially in the poorest nations, and, indirectly, the global population. Ocean economies are among the most rapidly growing and promising in the world, providing benefits to many sectors of great economic value, such as fisheries, biotechnologies, energy production, tourism and transport, and many others. The Decade should create a better understanding of the interactions and interdependencies of the environmental conditions and processes, the use of resources and the economy. A major task in context of the development of the ocean economy will be in documenting the potential impacts from environmental changes on the established and emerging maritime industries and their ability to generate growth, especially for LDCs and SIDS. Defining safe and sustainable thresholds for economic operations in the ocean will help policy-makers and stakeholders in implementing a truly sustainable blue economy. New research should develop and flesh out sustainable blue-green growth agendas and link it to efforts in ecosystem protection.
A Sustainably Harvested & productive Ocean Working Group 5 Recommended activities in support of the Decade • Knowledge gaps and research priorities 1. Ecosystem function and sustainability at the ecosystem level (rather than at the species level) and strengthen research on trophic gaps to better understand the inter-relationships between species Regulations and planning: § Development of compliance standards and targets for sustainable fishing § North Pacific: Establish guidelines for aquaculture: waste treatment, chemical susbtances, GMO & endemic species, monitoring and evaluation, food safety Pacific Community: § Impacts of offshore industrial tuna fisheries on inshore tuna fisheries (linkages and exchanges) § Trophic cascades from fishing (technological impacts) and fish stock assessments North Pacific: A primary goal is to reduce overfishing and realize sustainable use of marine ecosystem services § Improve identification of ecosystem thresholds (MSY, tipping points, etc. ) • Data access and sharing: § Determining data needs for sustainable development sectors and identifying best practices for data access § Improve stock assessments (especially for data-limited species), shared across the region § Develop indicators of sustainability 3
A Sustainably Harvested & productive Ocean Working Group 5 Knowledge gaps and research priorities North Pacific: Effective management and maintenance of a sustainable ecosystem require improved understanding of trophic linkages Recommended activities in support of the Decade • Capacity-development, transfer of marine technologies and innovative solutions: § North Pacific: Build capacity in ecosystem-based management § North Pacific: Improve monitoring of fishery removals, including on-vessel and remote monitoring § North Pacific: Develop and share advanced technologies with standard methodologies to improve ecosystem monitoring § Development of an early warning system to manage food security risks, including outreach and awareness building § Define ecotypes and monitor biodiversity & ecosystem structure § Improve modelling to understand species interactions and food web structure, population dynamics of tarfet fishery and keystone species 2. Links between ocean health, impacts on resources and Blue Economy sectors Pacific Community: ecotoxicology and fish diseases North Pacific: define chemical & biological impacts of aquaculture, including introduced species North Pacific: existing and emerging issues affecting physical health (red tides, mercury, etc. ) as well as psychological health (loss of way of life and culture). 4
A Sustainably Harvested & productive Ocean Working Group 5 Recommended activities in support of the Decade • Knowledge gaps and research priorities 3. Improve understanding on how the Blue Economy sectors and climate variability and change impact fisheries Pacific Community: Climate change, oceanic/atmospheric systems impacts on fisheries and resources North Pacific: § Sustainability requires understanding climate change impacts on fishery production, distribution, community structure, and catch as well as ecosystem impacts of extreme events § Process studies on impacts of OA, deoxygenation § Improved observations and data dissemination as well as coupled physical-biological modelling (including forecasts and projections) • Ocean literacy: § Global scale literature summary on species distribution expected changes over time Social sciences: North Pacific: § Understanding social structures to enhance resilience of coastal communities and reduce vulnerabilities (social justice and equity issues to identify effective policies in light of future climate change, understand relationship between people and resources) § Feasibility varies by community (small scale diversity in social structure and vulnerability - important to understand social structure for artisanal fishery) 5
A Sustainably Harvested & productive Ocean Recommended activities in support of the Decade Working Group 5 Knowledge gaps and research priorities 4. Challenging biases 5. Understanding the future of food production from the ocean Pacific Community: value chain analysis, fisheries based adaptation options and social/governance research North Pacific: (Western Pacific) coastal/small scale, high per capita fish consumption and high dependence on fisheries for levelihoods, diet, nutrition, survival, food security, cultural/subsistence/food security in SIDS and for indigenous communities (North Pacific): economic driver 6
A Sustainably Harvested & productive Ocean Recommended activities in support of the Decade Working Group 5 Knowledge gaps and research priorities 6. Increase knowledge on impacts of the Blue economy activities on seabed ecosystems health and sustainability and understanding the trade-offs between uses of the ocean and its resources North Pacific: § Impacts of Blue economy sector activities on fisheries, and vice-versa § A primary goal is to provide food security through ecologically-friendly and sustainable aquaculture § Improve regional and biogeochemical modelling to assist aquaculture siting 7
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