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AbstractThe Marshall Decision of Canada's Supreme Court inspired the Mi'kmaq in the 1700s regarding recognizing fishing rights to the Mi'kmaq communities. Despite this recognition, the Mi'kmaq communities did not have access to commercial fisheries due to the denial of absolute recognition of territories and rights and underrepresentation and participation in resource allocation, governance, and decision-making processes. A potential approach to these issues is the development of third-party Indigenous community-based sustainability certification standards for the American lobster (Homarus americanus) commercial fishery of Nova Scotia by Mi'kmaq communities. An Indigenous certification is a market-based tool that focuses on a holistic approach to the sustainability of the resource, followed by independent accreditations and standards. This study identifies the gaps, challenges, and opportunities of Indigenous-based certifications for the American lobster commercial fishery. We adopt a participatory approach to conventional policy analysis and perform a secondary analysis of existing legal and scientific resources to glean valuable information for supporting the establishment of an Indigenous certification for the American lobster. Certification could provide benefits such as increased control over fisheries management, governance, rights, and socioeconomic interest, building capacity for Mi'kmaq communities, and improving stakeholder relationships. However, there are issues with the entry points of certification for Indigenous peoples related primarily to the dominant actors in accreditation. This study will support further research and engagement of the Mi'kmaq people toward developing an Indigenous certification scheme.

Publications costs were supported by the University of St Andrews to IO-Y and the New England Aquarium-Marine Conservation and Action Fund (MCAF) to NK. ; The concept of Blue Economy (BE) is recognised as central for sustainable development that incorporates socio-economic benefits and ecological conservation. However, in Africa, much of the emphasis on BE is placed on economic gains; as a result, traditional livelihoods and small-scale local operations are outcompeted by international corporations and government initiatives, with little or no regard for social inclusion and environmental sustainability. We argue that successful BE initiatives in Africa accentuate the involvement of local communities and promote sustenance of the natural ecosystem. We define success in terms of the sustainability balance among ecological, social and economic aspects. Drawing on extensive expert experiences, observational data and literature review of case studies across the African continent, we highlight two critical findings. First, large scale BE initiatives prioritise economic gains at the expense of environmental degradation and the exclusion of local communities. Second, using the full spectrum sustainability (FSS) evaluation, we show that successful BE interventions considered ecological, economic, socio-cultural and institutional objectives. Drawing on these case studies, we propose the adoption of a collaborative framework which amalgamates the top-down and bottom-up approaches to BE management. Achieving the goal of successful blue growth in Africa is now even more challenged by the implications of COVID-19 on the BE sectors. Reimagining and rebuilding a resilient BE in Africa post-coronavirus will require a strong political commitment to promoting a balance between economic, social and environmental benefits in line with the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. ; Publisher PDF ; Peer reviewed

The Working Group on Maritime Systems (WGMARS) is a forum for interdisciplinary perspectives on ecosystem science, advice, and governance. It engages with maritime stakeholders from across the North Atlantic to take into consideration and better understand their perspectives. From 2020-2022 WGMARS is focused on methodological, operational, contextual, and science management aspects enabling ecosystem-based maritime management/governance. Topics addressed in this report include the ways that behavioural economics could inform and could be used for an enhanced understanding of fisheries management, the development and use of integrated ecosystem assessments (IEA) in ICES, the types and extent of connectivity among ICES expert groups based on Social Network Analysis (SNA) and the ways in which (IEA), Ecosystem Based Management (EBM), and MSP (Marine Spatial Planning) are implemented in different European Union (EU) member states, the EU, and the United States. Plans for a systematic literature review of the relevance of behavioural economics in fisheries management were developed. Related work on nudging in fisheries management and compliance with marine mammal protection regulations was summarized. Interviews with ten ICES regional IEA expert groups have been completed. Preliminary analyses have identified commonalities and differences among groups, in relation to topics such as contributions to ICES advice, the role of social scientists, the maturity of the IEA they conduct, resource needs, the role of stakeholders and the balance between descriptive and quantitative science. SNA, using a database of 2015-2019 attendees at ICES expert groups, is being used to quantify the centrality of a node expert group in relation to other expert groups in any given year. Four measures of centrality have been adopted: degree centrality, betweenness centrality, closeness centrality, and eigenvector centrality. Results of the analysis will reveal the strengths and types of connections among ICES expert groups, which are expected to influence the effectiveness and impact of ICES ecosy stem and sustainability science.With regard to the implementation of IEA, WGMARS reviewed the development of the national IEA program in the United States, based on reported talks from relevant scientists and managers. At future meetings, the outcomes of this review will be compared those for IEA implementation in other countries and regions .