Tag Archives: marine policy

Using plankton lifeforms to assess the state of the pelagic habitat

Change in plankton communities can affect the functioning of marine ecosystems. Plankton play a critical role in global oxygen production (one out of every two breaths we take was produced by phytoplankton!), are integral to nutrient and carbon cycling, and … Continue reading

Posted in Knowledge Exchange, Marine Conservation, MSFD, OSPAR, Plankton, Policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Increasing Confidence in Evaluating GES for Regional Assessments of Pelagic Habitats – ICEGRAPH

We’ve just had a new project funded! ICEGRAPH: Increasing Confidence in Evaluating GES for Regional Assessments of Pelagic Habitats is a £190,000 project funded by EMFF/MMO to fill some of the scientific gaps around assessing state and understanding change in pelagic … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, Indicators, Marine Conservation, MSFD, OSPAR, Plankton, Policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Putting a historical plankton dataset to work for marine policy challenges

In marine ecology, it is widely accepted that monitoring data spanning long time-scales are essential for understanding ecosystem change, especially for the detection of community shifts linked to climate variability. Data spanning multiple decades are also essential for biodiversity policy, … Continue reading

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Science-policy collaboration is the key to sustainable management of Japanese marine ecosystems 海洋生態系の持続可能な管理に向けた科学と政策の協働

During the week of October 28, 2018, hundreds of top marine scientists are meeting at the annual PICES conference in Yokohama to discuss the latest research on Pacific marine ecosystems and the implications for their sustainable management. As many of … Continue reading

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Can Northeast Atlantic pelagic habitat indicators be applied to the Arctic?

Northeast Atlantic marine waters have a long history of collaborative management, with OSPAR the cooperative mechanism for marine environmental management in the Northeast Atlantic. OSPAR is collaboratively implementing ecosystem-based management in this region to meet the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, Indicators, Marine Conservation, MSFD, OSPAR, Plankton, Policy, students, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Plankton as ‘prevailing conditions’

Plankton make useful indicators for large scale environmental change in our oceans. Firstly, they are very sensitive and responsive to changes in their environment, so changes in plankton ‘reflect’ wider climatic and oceanographic processes. Secondly, as the base of the … Continue reading

Posted in Indicators, Knowledge Exchange, Marine Conservation, MSFD, OSPAR, Plankton, Policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

IMCC Symposium session: From science to evidence – innovative uses of biodiversity indicators for effective marine policy and conservation

The International Marine Conservation Congress will be held in June 2018 in Kuching, Malaysia. My colleagues Ian Mitchell (JNCC), Saskia Otto (University of Hamburg), and I will be co-convening the below session. If you are interested in speaking, please send … Continue reading

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What makes a good pelagic habitat?

The Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) and the more recent EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008) require the conservation, maintenance, sustainable use, and/or improvement of biodiversity. However, little scientific research has been done into how to characterise and manage pelagic … Continue reading

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Priorities for the marine environment after Brexit – a biodiversity perspective

Marine biodiversity has gotten lost in the talk about what Brexit means for the UK. While some attention has been paid to commercial fisheries, including a recently-launched Parliamentary inquiry, the post-Brexit future of UK marine habitats and species has received … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, Brexit, Fisheries, Indicators, Knowledge Exchange, Marine Conservation, MSFD, OSPAR, Plankton, Policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Decreasing primary productivity linked to decreased fishery production – an opportunity for management?

As the ocean’s major primary producers, phytoplankton are the base of the marine food web, with changes to their abundance, biomass, and community composition resonating upwards through zooplankton to fish, seabirds, and cetaceans. Our understanding of the direct relationships between … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, Fisheries, Marine Conservation, MSFD, OSPAR, Plankton, Policy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments