The Marine Policy Center (MPC) conducts social scientific research that integrates
economics, policy analysis, and law with the Institution’s
basic research in ocean sciences. Recent research has included
projects that focus on the socio-economic aspects of large marine
ecosystems and the economic consequences of shoreline change.
Large marine ecosystems (LMEs) are distinct ecological regions
that extend from the coast to the edge of the continental shelf.
LMEs are economically important, producing goods and services—including
95 percent of the world’s fish yields—worth billions
of dollars a year. Because LME coastlines are heavily populated,
these ecosystems are often among the most polluted and degraded
on Earth.
The economic value of LMEs demands that their resources and
habitats are protected and managed sustainably for both present
and future generations. Often this requires international cooperation,
since most LMEs span the maritime jurisdictions of more than
one country.
In 2005, Research Specialist Porter Hoagland and Associate Scientist
Di Jin contributed to an international program to help developing
nations implement a pragmatic approach to sustainable management
of LMEs. Funded and organized by the United Nations Environment
Programme and the World Bank–affiliated Global Environment
Facility, the program uses a range of environmental indicators
to assess the physical, biological, and human influences on
ecological conditions, productivity, economic development, and
governance of LMEs.
The socioeconomic aspects have historically received the least
study, and Hoagland and Jin took an important first step toward
developing such a global assessment. They compiled a database
on the marine activities of all coastal nations—including
fish landings and aquaculture production, merchant fleets and
cargo traffic, offshore oil production, shipbuilding, and tourism—and
constructed indices that can be used to characterize the nature
and level of marine activity in the world’s 64 identified
LMEs.
Combining these maritime indices with data on national rates
of life expectancy, education, and per capita income, they developed
a ranking of LMEs that can be used to prioritize those regions
that are most likely to warrant international attention and
support for organized programs of sustainable development.
Hoagland and Jin also underlined the need for more detailed
information that can be used to tailor management approaches
to particular countries and LMEs. They illustrated the point
with in-depth case studies of two LMEs with similar socioeconomic
profiles but very different levels of marine industry activity:
the Benguela Current LME off southwest Africa and the semi-enclosed
Yellow Sea LME in the Northwest Pacific.
MPC researchers are also addressing the economic effects of
shoreline change in the United States. Continued growth in coastal
populations is likely to intensify the consequences of erosion,
severe weather, and sea-level rise, yet there are few reliable
estimates of how all of the relevant natural hazards contribute
to economic gains and losses.
In order to make informed decisions about the scale of the societal
response to the moving shoreline, coastal managers and policymakers
need specific estimates at local and regional levels that can
also be aggregated to the national level. Working with WHOI
coastal geologists, the MPC research team is developing estimates
of costs associated with shoreline changes for Cape Cod. They
are using data on the location and value of coastal properties,
as well as geological data showing the growing influence of
sea-level changes due in part to global warming.
—Andy Solow, Director
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