Ocean acidification: an additional stressor to fisheries governance
Prof. Juan Carlos Seijo, Universidad Marista de Merida
This seminar discusses an additional ecosystem stressor, ocean acidification, affecting governance of fisheries targeting vulnerable sedentary and low mobility marine species. To deal with the effects of ocean acidification, quantitative and qualitative criteria and methods to aid decision-making in an environment of risk and uncertainty are also presented.
Changes temperature and salinity affecting habitats of marine species can influence significantly their metabolism, individual growth rates, seasonal reproduction and the distribution of many species over space and time. Organisms in benthic and neritic environments are susceptible to changes in saturation of carbonates, and even small changes in concentrations of CO2 in oceanic waters can cause negative impacts in calcifier organisms, like mollusks, echinoderms and crustaceans, as well as ecologically valuable critical habitats such as corals. To deal with the possible effects of ocean acidification (OA) this seminar presents equilibrium and dynamic bioeconomic frameworks and trajectories to account for the OA stressor affecting marine species and the likely performance of their fisheries over time. Alternative management strategies are considered to mitigate the bio-ecological and economic effects of this environmental stressor. Questions addresed in this seminar include: How can the effects of OA be incorporated into the bioeconomic reference points for fisheries governance and management?, what is the effect of OA on calcifier species having different life cycles and resilience capacity? and How should we deal with the new uncertainties inherent in the effects of ocean acidification in the absence of probabilities of occurrence of possible future IPCC scenarios for OA?. Finally, consioderations for adaptation to OA effects, and strengthening resilience of fishing communities are discussed.
About the speaker
Juan Carlos Seijo obtained his MSc (1979) and Ph.D. (1986) degrees at Michigan State University in Resource Economics. He is currently a Professor of fisheries Bioeconomics at Marist University of Merida, (founding President of this University, 1996-2004). He is scientific reviewer of Fisheries Research, Fish and Fisheries, ICES Journal of Marine Science, Marine Resource Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Aquaculture, Scientia Marina, among others. He has taught fisheries Bioeconomics courses in Chile, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Panamá, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Venezuela, and Taiwan. He has been visiting professor of the University of Stirling, The University of Delaware, and Oceanic University of Taiwan.
Venue: UNU-MERIT, Room 0.16
Date: 21 November 2018
Time: 10:00 - 11:00 CET
