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MARINFORSKFISK-Marine ressurser og miljø - fiskeri

Winners and losers in the climate casino: Arctic marine resources under climate change

Alternative title: Vinnere og tapere i klimakasinoet: Arktiske marine ressurser under klimaendring

Awarded: NOK 12.0 mill.

The main purpose of the project is to study climate change effects in various fisheries in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters. Among the fisheries we study are cod fisheries in both the Barents and Bering Seas, pelagic fisheries for herring and mackerel in the Nordic Seas, and crab fisheries in various places in the region. The fisheries are analyzed within a common, theoretic framework and we track main impacts of climate change through the natural and societal parts of the seas and the economic activities they support. Our interdisciplinary and comparative perspective builds on experiences from our case studies to identify common and case-specific challenges. Our results will increase the understanding of climate-related challenges for Arctic marine resources and support integrated ocean management. The research project utilizes an extensive data material and builds upon several recent and on-going initiatives in Norway and abroad. The focus is especially on biological and economic productivity changes, resilience of ocean resource management systems, and international governance. A successful project will contribute to the research front with regard to the interdisciplinary understanding of Arctic marine environments and fisheries. A key moment is a close and continuous collaboration between researchers from different disciplines who share a common perception the issues at hand. Further, the project relates to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 on life in the ocean, contributes to the ongoing UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, and aligns with Norwegian policy objectives regarding integrated ocean management. The project is near the halfway mark, and progress is as planned. Several papers are in review. Publication and other project activites are continually reported on the project page: https://snf.no/en/personnel/sturla-f-kvamsdal/casino/. The last year, five new articles have been published, several editorials and scientific presentations in various settings. A session under the Bergen Fisheries Economics Workshop 2023 was dedicated to the project.

More than anywhere else on earth, climate change affects Arctic marine environments, resources, economies, and societies. Higher temperatures, retreating sea ice, increasing acidity, and many other vectors of change redefine conditions of biological life, ecological structures, and socioeconomic opportunities in the high north. Direct impacts on Arctic marine resources, in particular fish stocks, can benefit fishing and related activities, but indirect and systemic effects are less investigated. Assessing the impacts of climate change on the oceans, marine ecosystems, and communities that depend on them is a complex problem that requires convergence research – intimate collaboration between multiple scientific disciplines – to improve our ability to understand the pathways and effects of change. We propose a research project that seeks to uncover pathways of climate-driven change in Arctic marine resources by applying a framework for integrated ecosystem-based management. The proposed project will combine insights from a series of case studies to identify priorities for integrated ocean management in the Arctic. We aim to study impacts of climate change on fish, shellfish and their fisheries in the extended Arctic, which includes the Barents, Nordic and Bering Seas. We focus specially on biological and economic productivity changes, resilience of ocean resource management systems, and international governance. We will strengthen and complement the existing interdisciplinary approach on ecosystem-based fisheries management towards 1) a pan-Arctic perspective on Arctic marine resources under climate change and 2) understanding inherent complexities arising from the increasingly intertwined interactions between society and the natural environment it uses for its support. The project we propose leverages existing knowledge to support integrated ecosystem-based management of Arctic marine resources in the climate casino.

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MARINFORSKFISK-Marine ressurser og miljø - fiskeri

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