Eight CMS members from Hobart attended the Marine Socio-Ecological Systems Symposium (MSEAS) in Yokohama, Japan, from June 5-7. The MSEAS meeting, which has been endorsed by the UN as a UN Ocean Decade event, was eagerly awaited, having been delayed from 2020 by COVID19. It more than lived up to the anticipation!
The tagline for MSEAS was ‘navigating global change in the marine environment’. It bought together contributions from 250+ of our research colleagues from 30+ countries, on topics such as the integrated assessment of multiple ocean uses across sectors, including fisheries, renewable energy, coastal development, oil and gas, transport, and the need for conservation and stewardship. Emphasis was on the methodological and empirical challenges involved in including the human dimensions in integrated approaches to modeling and assessments to support stewardship of social-ecological systems. Over half the attendees at the Symposium identified as Early Career, and they bought exciting energy to the meeting. It also made the meeting a great venue for connecting with the next generation of research leaders and building their awareness of the exciting work being led through CMS.
CMS’s leadership in marine social-ecological systems and integrated ocean stewardship shone brightly throughout the symposium, with opening remarks from Alistair Hobday, plenary presentations by Jess Melbourne Thomas and Emily Ogier, and contributed talks from CMS members throughout the week. Research from CMS also featured prominently in several of the plenaries from international colleagues and was recognised as being at the leading edge of best practice in modelling and assessment to operationalise ecosystem-based management of marine socio-ecological systems.
Sessions were lively and interactive, with thought-provoking discussion about equity and expectations for the development of the Blue Economy in increasingly crowded oceans. There are many different views across the blue planet, and our approaches in Australia will need to avoid mistakes made elsewhere as we develop solutions to ocean crowding.
Photo caption: CMS members from Hobart at MSEAS 2024 in Yokohama. Back (L-R) Stewart Frusher, Rowan Trebilco, Kelly Hoareau, Alistair Hobday, Front (L-R) Rosa Maria Canedo Apolaya, Jess Melbourne-Thomas, Brigette Wright, Emily Ogier
