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Chapter Summary
The major challenges faced by society today are global and transnational. They are difficult to solve not just because of their scale but because they need nations to act in ways that, over the short term, may yield little direct advantage to them. While steps have been made in the right direction, many challenges remain in developing sustainable human interactions with oceanic ecosystems. This chapter examines some of these challenges and also explores initiatives and agreements that have worked toward developing solutions. The chapter begins with an overview of oceanic ecosystems as integral to sustaining life on this planet. Ocean management challenges are described with an emphasis on fisheries, pollution, energy, coastal development, and climate change. Global responses to address these problems are explored, particularly through international agreements and marine protected areas. Providing a Canadian context, this chapter examines Canada’s oceans and fisheries. The collapse of Canada’s east coast groundfish fishery is used as a case study, exploring the nature of collapse, some reasons for the collapse (foreign and domestic overfishing, imperfect science and management, inappropriate incentives for processing plants and fish workers, changing environmental conditions, predators), and lessons learned. This chapter then explores Indigenous use of marine resources and some Canadian responses for ocean management, examining Canada’s Oceans Strategy and the establishment of various types of protected areas. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the benefits and concerns associated with aquaculture as an alternative to wild fisheries.
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
- Discuss the nature of oceanic ecosystems and explain their similarities to, and differences from, terrestrial ecosystems
- Identify the main challenges facing the oceans
- Outline some of the global management responses to these challenges
- Describe the reasons behind the collapse of Canada’s east coast groundfish fishery
- Discuss the background of Indigenous use of marine resources
- Describe some current conflicts regarding marine resources
- Demonstrate an understanding of Canada’s main strategies for ocean management
- Illustrate some of the challenges regarding aquaculture