Gender and early career status: variables of participation at an international marine science conference

Conference participation is an important part of academic practice and contributes to building scientific careers. Investigating demographic differences in conference participation may reveal factors contributing to the continued under-representation of women in marine and ocean science. To explore the gender and career stage dimensions of participation in an international marine science conference, preferences of presentation type (oral/poster) as well as acceptance and rejection decisions were investigated using 5-years of data (2015–2019) from an International Marine Science Conference. It was found that early career scientists were more likely to be women, while established scientists were more likely to be men. Although overall, gender did not show a significant effect on the decisions to “downgrade” requests for oral presentations to poster presentations, early career scientists were significantly more likely to be downgraded than established scientists. Given that more women were often early career scientists, more women than men had their presentations downgraded. Other indicators and evidence from conference prize-giving and recognition awards point to a gender gap remaining at senior levels, highlighting the need for further actions as well as monitoring and researching conference participation from a gender perspective.publishedVersio

Insect feeds in salmon aquaculture: sociotechnical imagination and responsible story-telling

Salmon aquaculture is a growing industry with increasing challenges of feed sustainability and availability. This global sustainability issue has led to calls for novel feeds. Aquafly, a Norwegian research project, has performed small-scale tests using the black soldier fly as an ingredient in salmon diet. However, in order for insect feeds to become a reality on the industrial scale, workable scientific, technical and political solutions have to be envisioned in tandem. In this study, we studied, elicited and assessed sociotechnical imaginaries in the Aquafly research consortium, using the approaches of concomitant ELSA research, the Ethical Matrix and Quantitative Story-Telling. We show how the sociotechnical imaginaries develop together with the scientific trajectory of the project, and how this also affects the assessment of the ethical and environmental impacts of the technology, including issues of food and feed safety and security, fish health and welfare, pollution and efficient use of waste streams. We show how there are intrinsic challenges when dealing with global sustainability issues in the research project. For instance, overcoming the problem of salmon feed scarcity may aggravate the challenges caused by intensive aquaculture. We report the results of a Quantitative Story-Telling exercise that indicates that Aquafly can be seen as part of a larger economy of technological promise, and discuss if and how this critique can be employed and integrated into scientific and technical imagination in a research project, contributing to Responsible Research and Innovation.publishedVersio

Holistic evaluation of management policies: What are the consequences of modified gear use on Georges Bank?

Georges Bank haddock is a recently recovered fish stock in the New England groundfish fishery. Due to federal constraints under the Magnuson-Steven Act, however, this stock cannot be optimally exploited due to the bycatch of other critical species in the New England groundfishery such as cod and yellowtail flounder which are overfished. The Ruhle trawl and Separator trawl are examples of recent advances in gear technology that have been shown to significantly increase haddock to bycatch ratios. This study models the groundfish fishery through a mixed stock yield model which incorporates technological interactions. We also develop a socio-economic model that quantifies the amount of employment and producer surplus associated with three trawl types. Our results explore policy situations regarding the use of the new trawls. By bridging the biological and socio-economic models, we are able to view the fishery as a system that more accurately represents stakeholder views. Our model shows that each trawl, when used exclusively, produces different optimum strategies and therefore an optimum management strategy would most likely include a combination of trawl types. Our results also support the logic of using modified trawls for haddock fishing trips in which bycatch is strictly regulated as the Ruhle trawl is able to maintain 80% of catches caught by a conventional trawl while reducing bycatch up to over 60%. This paper is a first step towards an aid for policy makers to examine fishery gear trade-offs and the resulting biological and socio-economic consequences of different management actions within the constraints of the Magnuson-Stevens Act

Science, the endless frontier of regulatory capture

In this paper we explore five recent cases of regulatory capture in Europe and zoom in on a form of corporate penetration which is based on a strategic use of the image and legitimacy of science. We examine cases in which lobbyists present themselves as upholders of science and of evidence-based policy, intervene directly in the methodological and ethical aspects of science for policy-making, thus imprinting their own agenda on the societal functions of science. We propose the existence of a process whereby private interest ascend an ideal ‘epistemic ladder’. In this vision, lobbying intervention moves from questioning the evidence to questioning its legitimacy, all the way to acting as to create a worldview where not only the evidence, but the very idea of regulation, become irrelevant or undesirable, other than as a vehicle for the pursuit of private interest. Caught in this project, science and its future appear vulnerable.publishedVersio

“Sustainability is not a vegan coffee shop.” Eliciting citizen attitudes and perspectives to localize the UN sustainable development goals

Integrating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into national legislation includes a need for their localization. The authors posit that this concept of localizing the SDGs is achieved if the goals are appended to an existing policy process with local implications, termed a “policy vehicle.” For this study, Q-methodology was used to gather local perspectives on the legislative process for coastal planning in Norway (the “policy vehicle”), the “proxy” legislation through which the SDGs are localized for the case study municipality of Andøya, Norway. The overall aim of the study was to understand potential pathways for enabling approaches to societal transformations where focus is placed on fostering human agency and capacities. The authors demonstrate how Q-methodology can be applied for enhanced stakeholder engagement in local decision-making processes as a starting point to enable social transformations for sustainability in a social-ecological system.publishedVersio

Tracking integrated ecosystem assessments in the ICES network: a social network analysis of the ICES expert groups

The advice the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) provides to its member countries is crucial for the sustainable management of shared marine resources, and the conservation of relevant marine ecosystems. In 2014, ICES made a strategic decision to integrate marine and social sciences in a new type of assessment framework called “integrated ecosystem assessments” (IEA) to deliver advice on societal trade-offs between different policy options. The IEA-focused expert groups formed before and after this period now cover all major ecoregions. To track the progression of IEAs in the ICES network over time, we conducted a social network analysis (SNA) on expert group attendance for the years 2015–2019. The IEA-focused expert groups generally ranked lower in the overall ICES network. Our study shows that some IEA-groups become more connected over time, while others decline. We also evaluated the role of workshops in the ICES network, particularly their role in the development of IEA knowledge. Our study shows that workshops play an important role in ICES network connectivity. The study demonstrates how social network analysis can be used to study an organization such as ICES and determine the effectiveness, or impact, of that organizational function.publishedVersio

Multidisciplinary perspectives on living marine resources in the Arctic

Many areas in the Arctic are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We observe large-scale effects on physical, biological, economic and social parameters, including ice cover, species distributions, economic activity and regional governance frameworks. Arctic living marine resources are affected in various ways. A holistic understanding of these effects requires a multidisciplinary enterprise. We synthesize relevant research, from oceanography and ecology, via economics, to political science and international law. We find that multidisciplinary research can enhance our understanding and promote new questions and issues relating to impacts and outcomes of climate change in the Arctic. Such issues include recent insights on changing spawning migrations of the North-east Arctic cod stock that necessitates revisions of socioeconomic estimates of ecosystem wealth in the Barents Sea, better integrated prediction systems that require increased cooperation between experts on climate prediction and ecosystem modelling, and institutional complexities of Arctic governance that require enhanced coordination.publishedVersio

Kunnskapsinnhenting for Sameksistens mellom fiskeri- og havvindsnæring - En kartlegging av eksisterende kunnskap og erfaringer om effekter og konsekvenser av etablering av havvind for norsk fiskerinæring.

Mange land i Europa planlegger utbygging av store havvindparker som svar på det økende behovet for fornybar energi og energisikkerhet. Norge, som er verdensledende innen flytende havvindteknologi, står i startgropen av et stort fornybar energi løft for havvind langs kysten. Det er ukjent hvilken effekt havvind vil ha på havmiljøet i norske farvann eller hvordan vindparker vil påvirke andre sektorer som opererer i havområder, som fiskeri. Samtidig krever den norske regjeringen at havvindutviklere planlegger for sambruk og sameksistens av nye vindparker med fiskerier og inkluderer «... planlagte tiltak for å bedre sameksistens i prosjektområdet og med berørte interessenter. Planen skal beskrive planlagte tiltak, inkludert involvering av berørte interessenter. » Vårt utgangspunkt i denne rapporten er fiskerinæringens bekymring for at den store utbyggingen av havvindparker vil ha ødeleggende effekter på gyte og oppvekst miljøet, påvirke vandring og rekrutering hos viktige bestander og på den måten ødelegge deres levebrød som fiskere. For å undersøke disse påstandene, og for å fylle forskningshullene om nødvendige krav til troverdig sameksistens, gjennomførte vi dybdeintervjuer med fiskere og fiskerinæringen i Norge, og de ulike interessegruppene innenfor utvikling av havvind. Videre har vi sett på skriftlige meninger / kronikker fra Norsk presse og gjennomført en litteraturgjennomgang av alle fagfellevurderte artikler og rapporter om effekten av havvindparker på fiskeri og det marine levemiljøet. Basert på dette legger vi frem kunnskapshullene om effekt av havvindparker i de tre først åpnede områdene i Norge (Hywind Tampen, Utsira Nord og Sørlige Nordsjøen II) på fisk og fiskeri. Basert på kunnskapshull anbefaler vi hvor man bør fokusere fremtidig forskning og datainnsamling, samt hvilke forholdsregler man bør ta for å redusere mulige negative effekter på fisk og fiskeri når det er mangel på kunnskap.Kunnskapsinnhenting for Sameksistens mellom fiskeri- og havvindsnæring - En kartlegging av eksisterende kunnskap og erfaringer om effekter og konsekvenser av etablering av havvind for norsk fiskerinæring.publishedVersio

Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals for Marine and Coastal Management in Norway: A Venture Overdue

Meeting global challenges requires regional and local alignment of institutional and business practices. The purpose of our work is to understand, using qualitative systems analysis, how the Sustainable Development Goals can be achieved through local, cross-sectoral solutions. In this chapter, we start by reviewing the status quo of marine and coastal management in Norway and contrast with the United Nations’ expectations for localization of the Sustainable Development Goals. One key finding is that despite vast knowledge on ocean and coastal use and management, Norway has very few examples of actual localization of the Sustainable Development Goals. We present a case study from Andøy Municipality where we use Social-Ecological Systems mapping to spawn awareness and spur local businesses to harness relevant sustainability targets at the local level.publishedVersio

The social science of offshore aquaculture: uncertainties, challenges and solution-oriented governance needs

Aquaculture technology is on the move, enabling production in more open and exposed ocean environments around the world. These new systems offer solutions to environmental challenges facing conventional aquaculture, yet new technologies also create new social challenges while potentially exacerbating, or at minimum recreating, others. Offshore aquaculture research and governance are still in early stages, as is our understanding of the social repercussions and challenges associated with development. This paper provides an evaluation and reflection on offshore aquaculture from a social science perspective and is based on findings from a modified World Café group discussion method including the thoughts and experiences of social science experts. Key challenges and uncertainties including a lack of an appropriate regulatory framework, societal perceptions of offshore aquaculture, and offshore aquaculture’s contribution to society were identified. The governance implications of these challenges are discussed as well as the need for social sciences to address these challenges through transformative and transdisciplinary approaches that bridge science and society