Salmon, sensors, and translation : the agency of Big Data in environmental governance

This paper explores the emerging role of Big Data in environmental governance. We focus on the case of salmon aquaculture management from 2011 to 2017 in Macquarie Harbour, Australia, and compare this with the foundational case that inspired the development of the concept of ‘translation’ in actor-network theory, that of scallop domestication in St Brieuc Bay, France, in the 1970s. A key difference is the salience of environmental data in the contemporary case. Recent dramatic events in the environmental governance of Macquarie Harbour have been driven by increasing spatial and temporal resolution of environmental monitoring, including real-time data collection from sensors mounted on the fish themselves. The resulting environmental data now takes centre stage in increasingly heated debates over how the harbour should be managed: overturning long-held assumptions about environmental interactions, inducing changes in regulatory practices and institutions, fracturing historical alliances and shaping the on-going legitimacy of the industry. Environmental Big Data is now a key actor within the networks that constitute and enact environmental governance. Given its new and unpredictable agency, control over access to data is likely to become critical in future power struggles over environmental resources and their governance. © The Author(s) 2018

Australia and Canada in Regional Fisheries Organizations: Implementing the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement

In the late 1980s and early 1990s a number of factors and events coalesced to encourage the international community to re-examine high seas fisheries issues. The need to enhance the effectiveness of regional fisheries organizations led to the development of the 1995 United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement, dealing with straddling and highly migratory stocks. Both Canada and Australia played a significant role in the development of this agreement While having much in common, each state had different interests and concerns Canada\u27s attention was focused on the problem of straddling stocks, while Australia \u27s interests have been primarily, though not exclusively, directed at highly migratory species. This paper analyses Australian and Canadian practices in relation to regional fishenes organizations, with a particular emphasis on the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement

Improving science uptake in coastal zone management : principles for science engagement and their application in south-eastern Tasmania

Sustainable management of the coastal zone represents a considerable challenge to Australian society. This challenge is rooted in the complexity of the biophysical and sociocultural characteristics of coastal areas, including uncertainty about system characteristics and processes, and the diversity of stakeholders, their interests, values and perspectives, and the jurisdictions involved in coastal governance and management. Given this complexity of coastal zone management, scientific and other forms of knowledge can affect decision-making and human action in diverse ways, which will often depend on the ability of scientists to engage effectively with relevant stakeholders.<br /

Salmon, sensors, and translation:The agency of Big Data in environmental governance

This paper explores the emerging role of Big Data in environmental governance. We focus on thecase of salmon aquaculture management from 2011 to 2017 in Macquarie Harbour, Australia, andcompare this with the foundational case that inspired the development of the concept of ‘translation’in actor-network theory, that of scallop domestication in St Brieuc Bay, France, in the1970s. A key difference is the salience of environmental data in the contemporary case. Recentdramatic events in the environmental governance of Macquarie Harbour have been driven byincreasing spatial and temporal resolution of environmental monitoring, including real-time datacollection from sensors mounted on the fish themselves. The resulting environmental data nowtakes centre stage in increasingly heated debates over how the harbour should be managed:overturning long-held assumptions about environmental interactions, inducing changes in regulatorypractices and institutions, fracturing historical alliances and shaping the on-going legitimacyof the industry. Environmental Big Data is now a key actor within the networks that constituteand enact environmental governance. Given its new and unpredictable agency, control overaccess to data is likely to become critical in future power struggles over environmental resourcesand their governanc

The GULLS project: a comparison of vulnerabilities across selected ocean hotspots and implications for adaptation to global change

The GULLS project, `Global learning for local solutions: Reducing vulnerability of marine-dependent coastal communities' has been underway since October 2014. The project has been investigating six regional `hotspots': marine areas experiencing rapid warming. These are south-east Australia, Brazil, India, Solomon Islands, South Africa, and the Mozambique Channel and Madagascar. Rapid warming could be expected to have social, cultural and economic impacts that could affect these countries in different ways and may already be doing so. GULLS has focused on contributing to assessing and reducing the vulnerability of coastal communities and other stakeholders dependent on marine resources and to facilitate adaptation to climate change and variability through an integrated and trans-disciplinary approach. It includes participants from Australia, Brazil, India, Madagascar, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The research programme has been divided into six inter-linked components: ocean models, biological and ecological sensitivity analyses, system models, social vulnerability, policy mapping, and communication and education. This presentation will provide a brief overview of each of these components and describe the benefits that have resulted from the collaborative and transdisciplinary approach of GULLS. Following the standard vulnerability elements of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, the vulnerabilities of coastal communities and other stakeholders dependent on marine resources in the five hotspots will be compared using a set of indicators derived and populated from results of the research programme. The implications of similarities and differences between the hotspots for adaptation planning and options will be described

Governance mapping: a framework for assessing the adaptive capacity of marine resource governance to environmental change

Marine social-ecological systems are influenced by the way humans interact with their environment, and external forces, which change and re-shape the environment. In many regions, exploitation of marine resources and climate change are two of the primary drivers shifting the abundance and distribution of marine living resources, with negative effects on marine-dependent communities. Governance systems determine ‘who’ makes decisions, ‘what’ are their powers and responsibilities, and ‘how’ they are exercised. Understanding the connections between the actors comprising governance systems and influences between governance and the environment is therefore critical to support successful transitions to novel forms of governance required to deal with environmental changes. The paper provides an analytical framework with a practical example from Vanuatu, for mapping and assessment of the governance system providing for management of coral reef fish resources. The framework enables a rapid analysis of governance systems to identify factors that can encourage, or hinder, the adaptation of communities to changes in abundance or availability of marine resources

Patterns of care and survival for adolescents and young adults with acute leukaemia – a population-based study

We report a population-based study of patterns of care and survival for people with acute leukaemia diagnosed at age 15–29 years during 1984–94 in regions of England and Wales covered by specialist leukaemia registries. There were 879 patients: 417 with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and 462 with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). For ALL, actuarial survival rates were 43% at 5 years after diagnosis and 37% at 10 years. Survival improved significantly between 1984–88 and 1989–94 for those aged 15–19 at diagnosis. Patients entered in national clinical trials and those not entered had similar survival rates. Survival rates were similar at teaching and non-teaching hospitals and at hospitals treating different numbers of study patients per year. For AML, survival rates were 42% at 5 years after diagnosis and 39% at 10 years. Survival improved significantly between 1984–88 and 1989–94. Patients entered in the Medical Research Council AML10 trial had a higher survival rate than those who were in the earlier AML9 trial. Survival did not vary with category of hospital. We conclude that survival has improved for adolescents and young adults with acute leukaemia but that there is at present no evidence that centralized treatment results in a survival benefit for patients in this age group. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig