Institute Activities Related to Oceans & Coasts
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“Innovation at the Regional Fishery Management Councils” – February 2009
This report, the first from the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum, describes practices being implemented by Regional Fishery Management Councils to address serious economic and environmental challenges now facing their industry. Four innovative practices are profiled: a public scoping process in the South Atlantic; management areas in the Pacific designed to protect depleted rockfish stocks; treating council members as executive decision makers in New England; and developing an allocation policy in the Gulf of Mexico. Each section of the report includes links for more information. The Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum (www.fisheriesforum.org) is a partnership of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University; the Center for Ocean Solutions, managed by the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University; and the Environmental Defense Fund.

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“Balancing U.S. Interests in the U.N. Law of the Sea Convention” - October 2007

This policy brief provides guidance from an interdisciplinary panel of experts about whether the United States should accede to the United Nations’ Law of the Sea Convention. Rather than offer a complete summary of the convention’s provisions, the brief highlights how the convention addresses three important considerations: Emerging territorial disputes over expanding Arctic waters; concerns about the role of international tribunals in making decisions that affect U.S. military, economic and environmental protection interests; and how the United States would benefit from convention provisions which help member nations balance the need to navigate freely for security and commerce with its need to protect its vast coastal natural resources.

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“Iron Fertilization in the Ocean for Climate Mitigation: Legal, Economic and Environmental Challenges” - October 2007

Iron fertilization of the oceans is one of many new ideas being considered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Earth’s atmosphere and curb global climate change. This paper provides lawmakers, NGOs, the public, investors and business interests with a brief overview of the process and its potential benefits and risks.

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Event: Friday, October 5th - Complete Seafood Symposium
Sponsored by the Nicholas Institute, The Green Wave and Duke Fish

Solving the Crisis in Ocean Governance - May 2007

Larry Crowder and co-authors examine ocean planning issues in Solving the Crisis in Ocean Governance an article published in Environment magazine

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Resolving Mismatches in U.S. Ocean Governance - August. 4, 2006

In a Policy Forum paper in Science, Larry Crowder, director of the Center for Marine Conservation at the Nicholas School, and his co-authors argue that problems in ocean resource management derive from governance, not science. Ocean zoning would replace mismatched and fragmented approaches with integrated regulatory domains.

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Testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, National Ocean Policy Study - August 3, 2006

Congressional testimony on ecosystem-based management of the ocean, presented by Michael K. Orbach, professor of the practice of marine affairs and policy, Nicholas School of the Environment and Duke University Marine Laboratory.

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EVENT: April 25, 2006-- Understanding Acoustic Impacts on Marine Mammals - panel discussions 2:30 p.m. Love Auditorium
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EVENT: April 24, 2006 -- Congressional briefing on Ecosystem Based Management of our ocean resources