Deep Dives
Thought-provoking research providing extensive learning opportunities

Plastic Drawdown: A rapid assessment tool for developing national responses to plastic pollution when data availability is limited, as demonstrated in the Maldives

Royle, J. et al., Global Environmental Change Plastics & Pollution

Developing a common understanding of a jurisdiction’s plastic waste stream and the solutions available to decision-makers is vital to build consensus across stakeholders and to align on an evidence-based portfolio of priority instruments.

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Ocean Management is Not Yet Sustainable. A New Approach Could Change That.

Nicola Frost, et al., World Resources Institute

Unsustainable development along coastlines is destroying vital marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, seagrass meadows and mangrove forests.

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Restorative Aquaculture for Nature and Communities

The Nature Conservancy Fisheries & Aquaculture

There is a pressing need to provide food for people within planetary limits—including new approaches that actively restore ecosystem health.

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Climate-Friendly Seafood: The Potential for Emissions Reduction and Carbon Capture in Marine Aquaculture

Jones, A.R. et al., BioScience Fisheries & Aquaculture

Mariculture products may offer a climate-friendly, high-protein food source, because they often have lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emission footprints than do the equivalent products farmed on land.

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The Century-Old Renewable You’ve Never Heard Of

Mark Betancourt, Eos Energy Solutions

Ocean thermal energy conversion could power the world’s tropical islands, if it ever gets out of the “innovation valley of death.”

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Net illumination reduces fisheries bycatch, maintains catch value, and increases operational efficiency

Senko, J.F. et al., Current Biology Fisheries & Aquaculture

Illuminated gillnets reduce total discarded fisheries bycatch biomass. This includes decreases in elasmobranch, Humboldt squid, and finfish bycatch. 

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Impact Report: 5 Years of Blue Action

Blue Action Fund Fisheries & Aquaculture

The Blue Action Fund is celebrating its five-year anniversary by sharing inspirational stories of the projects and people impacted by our work to support ocean protection and sustainable coastal livelihoods.

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Scientists made an incredible discovery in the ocean's 'twilight zone' off Tahiti

Rachel Ramirez, CNN

That a coral reef so large and so beautiful had yet to be discovered emphasizes how little we still know about the world's oceans, scientists say.

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Connecting the Dots: Plastic Pollution and the Planetary Emergency

Environmental Investigation Agency Plastics & Pollution

The toxic pollution resulting from rampant overproduction of virgin plastics and their lifecycles is irreversible, directly undermines our health, drives biodiversity loss, exacerbates climate change, and risks generating large-scale harmful environmental changes.

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Consider the Ocean: Climate change’s invisible solution

Douglas Wallace, Canadian Institute for Climate Choices

The oceans should no longer be ignored in Canada’s efforts to reach net zero.

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Another Record: Ocean Warming Continues through 2021 despite La Niña Conditions

Cheng, L. et al., Advances in Atmospheric Sciences

The increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from human activities traps heat within the climate system and increases ocean heat content (OHC).

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To Protect 30 Percent of the Ocean, the United States Must Invest in the National Marine Sanctuaries Program

Mirza, Z. et al., Center for American Progress Fisheries & Aquaculture

For the 50th anniversary of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, the United States must ensure that sanctuaries are able to fulfill their mandate of protecting the ocean and Great Lakes and preserving their cultural history.

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Why the Ocean Matter in Climate Negotiations

Turley, C. et al., COP26 Universities Network,

COP26 Universities Network Briefing.

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Marine spatial planning and ocean accounting: Synergistic tools enhancing integration in ocean governance

Gacutan, J. et al., Marine Policy

Ocean Accounting and Marine Spatial Planning are frameworks used in strategic decision making for the Ocean.

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Norwegian Sea ecoregion – Aquaculture Overview

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Fisheries & Aquaculture

Aquaculture is an important industry for coastal communities in the ecoregion. In the past, industry growth has been governed by profitability concerns; currently, however, environmental concerns are governing aquaculture developments. Competing interests from other human activity sectors and recreational uses in coastal areas is changing the outlook for the industry.

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Global rarity of intact coastal regions

Williams, B.A. et al., Conservation Biology

Management of the land–sea interface is essential for global conservation and sustainability objectives because coastal regions maintain natural processes that support biodiversity and the livelihood of billions of people.

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Decoding Coral Reefs: Exploring Their Status, Risks and Ensuring Their Future

Lauretta Burke & Katie Wood, World Resources Institute

The ins and outs of coral reefs can be confusing. Here’s a deep dive into what makes a coral reef, why they’re threatened and how they’re doing now.

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The unspoken challenges of blue carbon

Megan Howell, The Fish Site Fisheries & Aquaculture

Blue carbon is emerging as a new conservation game-changer and climate mitigation strategy, but practitioners say that investors and policymakers should think twice before they fall for the hype.

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A Research Strategy for Ocean-based Carbon Dioxide Removal and Sequestration

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

A Research Strategy for Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal and Sequestration says current levels of CO2 emissions greatly exceed the ability of nature to remove it from the environment, and reducing carbon emissions alone may not be enough to stabilize the climate.

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The Global Pandemic Has Shown We Need an Action Plan for the Ocean

Murphy, E.J. et al., Frontiers in Marine Science

The challenge is urgent. There is an immediate requirement to go beyond calls for action to deal with aspects of the impacts of climate change and human activities on the ocean.

Read more → (15 minute read)