A fuzzy ontology: on the relevance of ecocentrism in marine environmental ethics

Governing human interaction in the maritime space implicitly rests on the ascription of value to this space. Environmental ethics helps to disentangle the many concepts of value that may come in conflict. As a particularly contested concept, ecocentrism assigns value not just at the atomistic level, but also at the holistic one. It has, however, been subject to criticism, thus challenging the validity of recent approaches to ocean management implicitly resting on ecocentric grounds. This paper provides a new justification for ecocentrism in the marine realm. Instead of relying on notions of community or teleonomy in nature, this paper builds on its ontology. It considers “the Area” beyond national jurisdiction and its declaration as “common heritage.” While a shared understanding of this concept is necessary to put it to practice in the intergovernmental sphere, the paper argues that any characterization of its ontology is subject to fuzziness. In the light of disagreement, fluctuation, and uncertainty on the atomistic level, a holistic perspective on the Area is necessary. Ecocentrism thus allows to overcome the conceptual hindrances and facilitates the implementation of a genuinely common heritage.

Identifying the Blue Economy Global Epistemic Community

The following article aims to identify the characteristics of the epistemic community of Blue Economy researchers, through the description of its scientific production, its special organization and clustering. The information was examined using bibliometric techniques on 302 research works using the Web of Science databases (JCR) between 2013 and 2021. At the same time, VOSviewer software was used to represent the relationships metrically and visually between the data and metadata. A set of research works is reviewed which relates environmental conservation and its implication in the development of the territory, and the relationship between technology and the improvement of ocean management, to highlight those state interventions where benefits are generated for the population or where there is an important challenge for improvement.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence Biogeochemical Model: A Modelling Tool for Fisheries and Ocean Management

The goal of this paper is to give a detailed description of the coupled physical-biogeochemical model of the Gulf of St. Lawrence that includes dissolved oxygen and carbonate system components, as well as a detailed analysis of the riverine contribution for different nitrogen and carbonate system components. A particular attention was paid to the representation of the microbial loop in order to maintain the appropriate level of the different biogeochemical components within the system over long term simulations. The skill of the model is demonstrated using in situ data, satellite data and estimated fluxes from different studies based on observational data. The model reproduces the main features of the system such as the phytoplankton bloom, hypoxic areas, pH and calcium carbonate saturation states. The model also reproduces well the estimated transport of nitrate from one region to the other. We revisited previous estimates of the riverine nutrient contribution to surface nitrate in the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary using the model. We also explain the mechanisms that lead to high ammonium concentrations, low dissolved oxygen, and undersaturated calcium carbonate conditions on the Magdalen Shallows.

Hemispheric asymmetry in ocean change and the productivity of ecosystem sentinels

Climate change and other human activities are causing profound effects on marine ecosystem productivity. We show that the breeding success of seabirds is tracking hemispheric differences in ocean warming and human impacts, with the strongest effects on fish-eating, surface-foraging species in the north. Hemispheric asymmetry suggests the need for ocean management at hemispheric scales. For the north, tactical, climate-based recovery plans for forage fish resources are needed to recover seabird breeding productivity. In the south, lower-magnitude change in seabird productivity presents opportunities for strategic management approaches such as large marine protected areas to sustain food webs and maintain predator productivity. Global monitoring of seabird productivity enables the detection of ecosystem change in remote regions and contributes to our understanding of marine climate impacts on ecosystems.

Synthesis of Thresholds of Ocean Acidification Impacts on Echinoderms

Assessing the vulnerability of marine invertebrates to ocean acidification (OA) requires an understanding of critical thresholds at which developmental, physiological, and behavioral traits are affected. To identify relevant thresholds for echinoderms, we undertook a three-step data synthesis, focused on California Current Ecosystem (CCE) species. First, literature characterizing echinoderm responses to OA was compiled, creating a dataset comprised of >12,000 datapoints from 41 studies. Analysis of this data set demonstrated responses related to physiology, behavior, growth and development, and increased mortality in the larval and adult stages to low pH exposure. Second, statistical analyses were conducted on selected pathways to identify OA thresholds specific to duration, taxa, and depth-related life stage. Exposure to reduced pH led to impaired responses across a range of physiology, behavior, growth and development, and mortality endpoints for both larval and adult stages. Third, through discussions and synthesis, the expert panel identified a set of eight duration-dependent, life stage, and habitat-dependent pH thresholds and assigned each a confidence score based on quantity and agreement of evidence. The thresholds for these effects ranged within pH from 7.20 to 7.74 and duration from 7 to 30 days, all of which were characterized with either medium or low confidence. These thresholds yielded a risk range from early warning to lethal impacts, providing the foundation for consistent interpretation of OA monitoring data or numerical ocean model simulations to support climate change marine vulnerability assessments and evaluation of ocean management strategies. As a demonstration, two echinoderm thresholds were applied to simulations of a CCE numerical model to visualize the effects of current state of pH conditions on potential habitat.

Floating Islands, Frontiers, and Other Boundary Objects on the Edge of Oceania’s Futurity

Technological advances have challenged numerous social and political domains over recent decades, including the materialities and imaginaries of islands and islandness in Oceania. Since the early 2000s, a plurality of schemes, discourses, politics, anxieties, and hopes have coalesced around the possible construction of artificial islands, referred to as floating islands, floating nations, floating cities, or seasteads, depending on the new islands’ imagined purposes and peoples. If achieved, these new, de novo, islands will contribute to an ongoing regional geopolitical remaking that requires urgent attention. However, in examining floating islands as boundary objects, this article suggests that, even if never realized, they are exceptional points of focus for perceiving and reflecting on the uncanny, disruptive character of capital at work in the contemporary Pacific Islands in tension with multi-state regional policy initiatives for collective governance and sustainable ocean management. Moreover, this article argues that floating islands are not the only “artificial islands” producing tensions between communities, states, and international ocean governance frameworks. Deep-sea concessions for mineral exploitation, the spatialization of high-seas fishing rights, and large- and small-scale conservation zones similarly raise issues of the fixity or fluidity of territoriality, sovereignty, rights of access and restriction to common or uncommon marine spaces and their resources, as well as conflicting imaginaries and ideologies around the ocean and Oceania as an open frontier.

Susan Lynn Williams: the Life of an Exceptional Scholar, Leader, and Friend (1951–2018)

Susan Lynn Williams (1951–2018) was an exceptional marine ecologist whose research focused broadly on the ecology of benthic nearshore environments dominated by seagrasses, seaweeds, and coral reefs. She took an empirical approach founded in techniques of physiological ecology. Susan was committed to applying her research results to ocean management through outreach to decision-makers and resource managers. Susan’s career included research throughout the USA in tropical, temperate, and polar regions, but she specialized in tropical marine ecology. Susan’s scholarship, leadership, and friendship touched many people, leading to this multi-authored paper. Susan’s scholarship was multi-faceted, and she excelled in scientific discovery, integration of scientific results, application of science for conservation, and teaching, especially as a mentor to undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Susan served in a variety of leadership positions throughout her career. She embodied all facets of leadership; leading by example, listening to others, committing to the “long haul,” maintaining trust, and creating a platform for all to shine. Susan was an important role model for women in science. Susan was also a loyal friend, maintaining friendships for many decades. Susan loved cooking and entertaining with friends. This paper provides an overview of the accomplishments of Susan in the broad categories of scholarship, leadership, and friendship.