There could be a geospatial and socio-ecological intersection between climate change, energy production, and sustainable fisheries management in the United States. Marine renewable energy generation efforts are currently being planned, studied, and initially implemented in the country as a response to climate change. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is...
After the commercial exploitation of humpback whales (Megaptera Novaeangliae) ceased, population trends in the North Pacific increased with the implementation of federal protective legislation. The recovery of the population prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to divide the population into 14 Distinct Population Segments (DPSs) based on discrete geographic...
Sea otters fulfill a keystone role in several Northeastern Pacific nearshore ecosystems. However, their influence has been absent in Oregon coastal waters since their extirpation in the 19th and early 20th century. Interest has been growing for a translocation attempt to reintroduce sea otters to Oregon from one or more...
The complex challenges that Oregon’s commercial fishing community faces are mainly driven by four sources of change: climate change, change in management regulations, societal shifts, and market trends. Challenges include increasing competition for ocean use, management decisions that prioritize economic efficiency over community values, and an increasingly uncertain environment. The...
Commercial fisheries are coupled human-natural systems that cross state borders and integrate private, public, academic sectors and interests. These systems integrate complicated relationships between coastal socioeconomics, resource management and environmental realms. Previous findings from West Coast-based studies have identified aging trends in commercial fisheries participation, commonly referred to as the...
In Oregon, commercial fishing is estimated to contribute $544 million in income and 10,000 jobs per year to coastal communities. However not all fisheries are reaching their allocated quotas for catch. In 2017, 187.6 million pounds of non-whiting groundfish trawl quota worth $67 million was not attained, nearly three times...
As societies we face many environmental issues that need to be addressed through sound management. Whether in the terrestrial or marine environment, effective management techniques from natural resource management (NRM) agencies must be used continually to address these issues. Law enforcement has been used as one approach and an extension...
A number of groups in the United States have expressed concern regarding the state of public ocean literacy and the capabilities of the future marine STEM workforce. This pilot study explores some of the requirements for workforce development and the expansion of ocean literacy by introduction of fundamental ocean properties...
Ocean users and marine scientists both have connections to the sea. This research explores how the nature of their connection to the sea leads to different perceptions of risk and comfort with uncertainty, and how these differences might be important to consider when one group has information another group needs....
Despite its promise as a potentially beneficial new source of energy, the ocean-based renewable energy industry is still in its infancy, and like any new idea there are many unknowns with the potential to affect both people and our natural environments. A permit for marine renewable energy (MRE) must cut...