Supporting science-based conservation and management of marine resources in Blue Prosperity Coalition sites

About

The Blue Prosperity Coalition (BPC) is a network of global experts in marine conservation and blue economies led by the Waitt Foundation and Waitt Institute. The BPC engages with governments around the world to implement marine spatial planning with a focus on the conservation and development of sustainable blue economies. Since 2011, emLab has worked closely with the BPC to inform on-the-ground implementation of sustainable ocean planning and fisheries monitoring, management, assessment and policies in BPC sites - Curaςao, the Azores, Tonga, Bermuda, the Maldives, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Samoa. 

Approach

Our team leverages existing knowledge and theory as well as cutting-edge tools to support well-informed and scientifically-backed fisheries management and marine spatial planning at BPC sites. 

At each site, we work closely with local government agencies and other on-the-ground partners (NGOs, industry stakeholders, and academic institutions) to identify fisheries-related projects that are based on needs and aimed at filling existing gaps. While our work varies from site to site, we have worked with governments to identify fisheries management objectives, develop monitoring plans and management recommendations for select fisheries, conduct data-limited stock assessments for economically important species, and model and evaluate the impacts of different fisheries management strategies. 

We also support the marine spatial planning process at BPC sites by conducting analyses to determine optimal placement of marine protected areas and balancing it with other ocean use sectors, such as aquaculture and offshore wind energy. We leverage tools like Global Fishing Watch and bioeconomic modeling to evaluate the biological and economic impacts of different planning scenarios to inform the decisions of local managers.

Partners

This effort is an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Sarah Lester, our research partner at Florida State University, and is supported by the Waitt Institute and the Waitt Foundation.