To provide insights for governance and marine resource management in order to prevent, contain, mitigate, and/or adapt to changes in Arctic marine resource productivity we must answer: (1) What are the bioeconomic features of Arctic marine resources at risk of change over space and time? (2) How do human behavior and policy incentives directly and indirectly impact these marine resources? (3) What are the best governance options for Arctic marine resources? We develop, through innovative bioeconomic analyses and application of game theoretic tools, integrated marine resource management tools for decisionmaking designed for the unique Arctic environment, its complex geopolitical configuration, and the changing risks and uncertainties over space and time. We have established an international interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research team of principal investigators. We focus on the dynamics of existing and new commercial fisheries generated from introduced invasive species, the threat of marine invasive species, vessel strikes and noise from vectors accompanying increasing trade and marine infrastructure in the Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route. Our research offers predictive analysis of policy and governance options to sustain marine resources through an integrated framework that formally includes adaptive management through use of Arctic Observing Systems data. We address three themes: (1) The Natural and Living Environment, (2) Natural Resource Management and Development and (3) Governance. This research results in an integrated ecological and game theoretic behavioral framework that contributes to Arctic stewardship by enabling policymakers to specify appropriate policies for sustainable harvest practices, abating invasive species and marine pollution, and optimal resource conservation. Through the policies, society and the economy linked to the Arctic are positively impacted. The research plan calls for engagement with two Arctic Council working groups: the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna and the Sustainable Development Working Group.
Project period: 1/1/2015 - 1/7/2019
SDU participants:
Brooks A. Kaiser, co-Project leader
Niels Vestergaard, co-Project leader
Melina Kourantidou, PhD Student
Other partners:
Linda Fernandez, VCU, Project leader
Jan Sundet, IMR, co-Project leader
Outcome of the project:
Kourantidou, M., & Kaiser, B. A. (2021). Allocation of research resources for commercially valuable invasions: Norway's red king crab fishery. Fisheries Research, 237, 105871.
Kaiser, B. A., Kourantidou, M., & Fernandez, L. (2018). A case for the commons: the snow crab in the Barents. Journal of environmental management, 210, 338-348.
Kourantidou, M., Kaiser, B. A., & Fernandez, L. M. (2015). Towards Arctic resource governance of marine invasive species. Arctic Yearbook 2015, 175.
Kourantidou, M., & Kaiser, B. A. (2019). Research agendas for profitable invasive species. Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, 8(2), 209-230.
Kourantidou, M., & Kaiser, B. A. (2019). Sustainable seafood certifications are inadequate to challenges of ecosystem change. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 76(4), 794-802.