Taskforce on Ocean Governance

Conflict & Diplomacy

With rich resources and strategic value, the oceans have long been an arena of conflict and of diplomacy among nation-states. Though less wide-spread than in past years, disputes over claims to Exclusive Economic Zones and Continental Shelves continue in some areas. Furthermore, as uses of the oceans expand, the need for collaborative management of Regional Seas increases as well. States must cooperate to reduce the negative impacts of issues ranging from pollution to overfishing to increased shipping, marine mining, and off-shore energy production. Piracy and international organized crime complicate oceans governance even further and often require a coordinated response via groups like INTERPOL or CITES. Given the scope of these issues, there are many overlaps with other clusters and we expect that members will have a wide array of topical interests. The uniting force is a focus on the international aspects of oceans governance, whether carried out through states or transnational actors.

If you’d like to join the cluster, please click here to become a member. This will allow you to post information on the page and give you the opportunity to receive information and updates via the Oceans Taskforce listserve.

While we do not have funding ourselves, we do hope to foster joint projects via Working Groups, which would bring together cluster members to write grant proposals, put together collected volumes/special issues, or develop webinars, workshops, syllabi, or similar products. All projects should focus on the cluster topic and fit within the ESG Science Plan (http://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/research-agenda/). Working group members should come from more than one institution and should have sufficient expertise to accomplish project goals. Forming a working group can help you to expand your professional network. It will also provide mentoring from the cluster leaders and access to logistical support like web-conferencing from ESG headquarters. To submit a Working Group proposal, please fill out this form and send it to the cluster leader(s) listed below. If you’d like to propose a Working Group that fits in more than one cluster, please send it to the leaders of each cluster in a single e-mail. Scroll down for descriptions of active Working Groups

 

Cluster Leaders:

DG Webster
Dartmouth, USA
d.g.webster@dartmouth.edu

Rachel Tiller
SINTEF, Norway
racheltiller@gmail.com

 

Active Working Groups

Uncertainty at the Tuna RFMOs
Co-Leads: Mark Axelrod (Michigan State) and D.G. Webster (Dartmouth)
Products: A workshop and a joint paper

Description: This project began before the taskforce was created. In fact, it was one of several projects that catalyzed our decision to foster community around the issues of oceans governance. The co-leads secured funding from the International Studies Association for a workshop on Uncertainty in International Regimes in the winter of 2017. Prof. Axelrod also received some support from Michigan State University to undertake data collection from the reports of the 5 regional fisheries management organizations dealing with tunas and other highly migratory species. The main research question for this working group is, “under what conditions does scientific uncertainty lead policy-makers to reject or adhere to scientific advice?” Preliminary results reveal an interesting interaction between uncertainty and price: for low-priced stocks, increasing uncertainty surprisingly correlates with more adherence to scientific advice, but total uncertainty is correlated with less adherence; in contrast, for higher-priced stocks, the reverse is true. We’ve also looked at change in scientific uncertainty and can show that, on average, reported uncertainty has decreased over time. This is not correlated with the likelihood of scientists making any recommendation to act, but does affect the type of management recommendation.

Participants: Oran Young, Peter Haas, Ron Mitchell, Leandra Gonçalves, Sikina Jinnah, David Kerstetter, James Bence, Michael Jones, Nataliya Stranadko

Co-Clusters: Science, Risk, & Uncertainty, Fisheries

Closed to new participants.