Elena Marie Finkbeiner

• MEM, PhD
• Manager at Conservation International

Navigating Our Way reflects the broader insights and diverse voices revolutionizing marine conservation. This volume brings together an array of scholars, practitioners, and experts from multiple fields, creating a network of trans-disciplinary and multi-cultural perspectives to address the complex problems in marine conservation. Larry B. Crowder,...

Coastal ecosystems and human communities are threatened worldwide by climate change, and shocks from social, market and political change. There is an urgent global need to promote resilient food production and livelihoods in the face of these shocks. Small-scale fisheries (SSF) in rural settings can be particularly vulnerable as they frequently lac...

Blue food systems are crucial for meeting global social and environmental goals. Both small-scale marine fisheries (SSFs) and aquaculture contribute to these goals, with SSFs supporting hundreds of millions of people and aquaculture currently expanding in the marine environment. Here we examine the interactions between SSFs and aquaculture, and the...

In recent years, the challenges associated with achieving decent working conditions in the world’s fisheries have become increasingly evident. Though not a new phenomenon, numerous investigations shed light on unacceptable working conditions in fishing, including cases of forced labor, modern slavery, and human trafficking. Environmental organizati...

With growing evidence of labor violations and exploitative working conditions in fisheries, ensuring decent work is imperative to protect fishers and fishworkers in the global seafood sector. This study provides the first evaluation of decent work in a shared, transboundary fishery – the shrimp and groundfish fishery of the Guianas-Brazil Shelf. De...

Meeting the objectives of sustainable fisheries management requires attention to the complex interactions between humans, institutions and ecosystems that give rise to fishery outcomes. Traditional approaches to studying fisheries often do not fully capture, nor focus on these complex interactions between people and ecosystems. Despite advances in...

Labor issues and human rights violations have become the subject of rising concern in fisheries and seafood production. This paper reviews recent research on labor issues in the fishing industry, especially by environmental researchers and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) which are emerging as key players in research and policy arenas. Recent r...

Marine conservation design and fisheries management are increasingly integrating biophysical, socio-economic and governance considerations. Integrative approaches are adopted to achieve more effective, equitable, inclusive, and robust marine policies and practices. This paper describes a participatory process to co-produce biophysical, socio-econom...

Marine conservation design and fisheries management are increasingly integrating biophysical, socio-economic and governance considerations. Integrative approaches are adopted to achieve more effective, equitable, inclusive, and robust marine policies and practices. This paper describes a participatory process to co-produce biophysical, socio-econom...

Abstract Ensuring the security of ocean ecosystems that provide food and livelihood benefits from seafood systems requires significant investment in improving the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture production at scale. Seafood certification and ratings systems have established strong benchmarks for sustainability, but markets need to incen...

Recent media revelations and scientific research have brought increased attention to human rights violations and the myriad social issues facing fisheries, but with a disproportionate focus on labor rights violations at sea and in industrial fishing operations. Resulting social standards and schemes to address and mitigate these human rights violat...

Marine fisheries around the globe are increasingly exposed to external drivers of social and ecological change. Though diversification and flexibility have historically helped marine resource users negotiate risk and adversity, much of modern fisheries management treats fishermen as specialists using specific gear types to target specific species....

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly spread around the world with extensive social and economic effects. This editorial focuses specifically on the implications of the pandemic for small-scale fishers, including marketing and processing aspects of the sector, and coastal fishing communities, drawing from news and reports from around the world. Negativ...

The global rush to develop the ‘blue economy’ risks harming both the marine environment and human wellbeing. Bold policies and actions are urgently needed. We identify five priorities to chart a course towards an environmentally sustainable and socially equitable blue economy.

External drivers increasingly impact small-scale fisheries worldwide. As globalization accelerates the flow of information, commodities, and capital across geographic space, neoliberal reforms have fueled the development of the international seafood trade. Small-scale fisheries traditionally driven by local forces and market demands are increasingl...

Sustainability standards for seafood mainly address environmental performance criteria and are less concerned with the welfare of fisheries workers who produce the seafood. Yet human rights violations such as slavery and human trafficking are widespread in fisheries around the world, and underscore the need for certification bodies and other seafoo...

Literature search strings. (DOCX)

Seafood is the world's most internationally traded food commodity. Approximately three out of every seven people globally rely on seafood as a primary source of animal protein (1). Revelations about slavery and labor rights abuses in fisheries have sparked outrage and shifted the conversation (2, 3), placing social issues at the forefront of a sect...

Inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis of the root causes of overfishing can lead to misguided and ineffective fisheries policies and programmes. The “Malthusian overfishing narrative” suggests that overfishing is driven by too many fishers chasing too few fish and that fishing effort grows proportionately to human population growth, requiring policy i...

There has been increasing attention to and investment in local environmental stewardship in conservation and environmental management policies and programs globally. Yet environmental stewardship has not received adequate conceptual attention. Establishing a clear definition and comprehensive analytical framework could strengthen our ability to und...

Marine conservation actions are promoted to conserve natural values and support human wellbeing. Yet the quality of governance processes and the social consequences of some marine conservation initiatives have been the subject of critique and even human rights complaints. These types of governance and social issues may jeopardize the legitimacy of,...

Because of the complexity and speed of environmental, climatic, and socio-political change in coastal marine social-ecological systems, there is significant academic and applied interest in assessing and fostering the adaptive capacity of coastal communities. Adaptive capacity refers to the latent ability of a system to respond proactively and posi...

There has been increasing attention to and investment in local environmental stewardship in conservation and environmental management policies and programs globally. Yet environmental stewardship has not received adequate conceptual attention. Establishing a clear definition and comprehensive analytical framework could strengthen our ability to und...

Our oceans are peopled seascapes that nourish communities, support household economies, protect coastal populations from storms, and give us lifesaving medicines. Yet the intersecting threats of overharvesting, climate change, pollution, and habitat destruction continue to threaten the ocean's ability to support the well-being of global humanity, a...

Global change has systematically increased uncertainty for people balancing short-term needs with long-term resource sustainability. Here, we aim to understand how uncertainty drives changes in human behavior and the underlying mechanisms mediating use of behavioral strategies. We utilize a novel behavioral approach-dynamic common-pool resource eco...

Climate change poses significant and increasing risks for Pacific Island communities. Sea-level rise, coastal flooding, extreme and variable storm events, fish stock redistribution, coral bleaching, and declines in ecosystem health and productivity threaten the wellbeing, health, safety, and national sovereignty of Pacific Islanders, and small-scal...

Small-scale fisheries are undeniably important for livelihoods, food security and income around the globe. However, they face major challenges, including global market and demographic shifts, policy changes and climate variations that may threaten the wellbeing, health and safety of fishing communities. Over the years, various forms of spatial mana...

Inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis of the root causes of overfishing can lead to misguided and ineffective fisheries policies and programmes. The “Malthusian overfishing narrative” suggests that overfishing is driven by too many fishers chasing too few fish and that fishing effort grows proportionately to human population growth, requiring policy i...

Marine conservation actions are promoted to conserve natural values and support human wellbeing. Yet the quality of governance processes and the social consequences of some marine conservation initiatives have been the subject of critique and even human rights complaints. These types of governance and social issues may jeopardize the legitimacy of,...

Seafood is the world's most internationally traded food commodity. Approximately three out of every seven people globally rely on seafood as a primary source of animal protein (1). Revelations about slavery and labor rights abuses in fisheries have sparked outrage and shifted the conversation (2, 3), placing social issues at the forefront of a sect...

Because of the complexity and speed of environmental, climatic, and socio-political change in coastal marine social-ecological systems, there is significant academic and applied interest in assessing and fostering the adaptive capacity of coastal communities. Adaptive capacity refers to the latent ability of a system to respond proactively and posi...

Significance Meeting human needs while sustaining ecosystems and the benefits they provide is a global challenge. Coastal marine systems present a particularly important case, given that >50% of the world’s population lives within 100 km of the coast and fisheries are the primary source of protein for >1 billion people worldwide. Our integrative an...

Globally, small-scale fisheries are influenced by dynamic climate, governance, and market drivers, which present social and ecological challenges and opportunities. It is difficult to manage fisheries adaptively for fluctuating drivers, except to allow participants to shift effort among multiple fisheries. Adapting to changing conditions allows sma...

Most research on small-scale fi sheries governance derives from developing countries, limiting our understanding of small-scale fi sheries dynamics within developed nations. This knowledge gap creates disparities between these systems, limiting comparisons of similarities and differences across ranges of socioeconomic development and deriving solut...

Marine and coastal ecosystems provide important benefits and services to coastal communities across the globe, but assessing the diversity of social relationships with oceans can prove difficult for conservation scientists and practitioners. This presents barriers to incorporating social dimensions of marine ecosystems into ecosystem-based planning...

Coastal and ocean planning comprises a broad field of practice. The goals, political processes, and approaches applied to planning initiatives may vary widely. However, all planning processes ultimately require adequate information on both the biophysical and social attributes of a planning region. In coastal and ocean planning practice, there are...

Small-scale fisheries (SSF) account for most of the livelihoods associated with fisheries worldwide and support food security for millions globally, yet face critical challenges from local threats and global pressures. Here, we describe how emerging concepts from social-ecological systems thinking can illuminate potential solutions to challenges fa...

Coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems on the planet but are declining because of human activities. Despite general recognition of the human role in the plight of coral reefs, the vast majority of research focuses on the ecological rather than the human dimensions of reef ecosystems, limiting our understanding of social relationships wit...

Categories in which RMUs for each species occurred (including critical data needs RMUs). Categories: HR-HT = High risk-High threats; HR-LT = High risk-Low threats; LR-LT = Low risk-Low threats; LR-HT = Low risk-High threats. (DOCX)

Paired risk and threats scores for RMUs of each marine turtle species. (A) loggerheads (Caretta caretta), (B) green turtles (Chelonia mydas), (C) leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea, (D) hawskbills (Eretmochelys imbricata), (E) olive ridleys (Lepidochelys olivacea), (F) Kemp's ridleys (Lepidochelys kempii) and flatbacks (Natator depressus). Vertical...

Scoring system for population size criterion in risk matrix. Numbers are average annual nesting females for the most recent survey data available. (DOCX)

List of Regional Management Unit (RMU) codes used in Fig. 1. Species: Caretta caretta, loggerhead; Chelonia mydas, green turtle; Dermochelys coriacea, leatherback; Eretmochelys imbricata, hawksbill; Lepidochelys kempii, Kemp's ridley; Lepidochelys olivacea, olive ridley; Natator depressus, flatback. (DOCX)

Bibliography of literature used to score risk and threats criteria. (PDF)

Areas of Competence for Regional Fishery Bodies (RFB) with a management mandate. RFB acronyms: CCAMLR: Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources; CCBSP: Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea; CCSBT: Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna; GFCM: Genera...

Complete dataset used to score all criteria in Risk and Threats matrices, as well as data uncertainty scores. (XLS)

Complete list of SWOT – The State of the World's Sea Turtles data providers. (XLS)

Where conservation resources are limited and conservation targets are diverse, robust yet flexible priority-setting frameworks are vital. Priority-setting is especially important for geographically widespread species with distinct populations subject to multiple threats that operate on different spatial and temporal scales. Marine turtles are widel...

a b s t r a c t Sea turtles interact with a variety of fishing gears across their broad geographic distributions and onto-genetic habitat shifts. Cumulative assessments of multi-gear bycatch impacts on sea turtle populations are critical for coherent fisheries bycatch management, but such estimates are difficult to achieve, due to low fisheries obs...

Summary of Regional Management Units (RMUs) for marine turtles worldwide, including number of nesting sites and genetic stocks contained within each RMU. (DOC)

Metadata associated with each layer synthesized to generate Regional Management Units. (XLS)

Complete list of SWOT – The State of the World's Sea Turtles data providers. (XLS)

Background: Resolving threats to widely distributed marine megafauna requires definition of the geographic distributions of both the threats as well as the population unit(s) of interest. In turn, because individual threats can operate on varying spatial scales, their impacts can affect different segments of a population of the same species. There...

Fisheries bycatch is a primary driver of population declines in several species of marine megafauna (e.g., elasmobranchs, mammals, seabirds, turtles). Characterizing the global bycatch seascape using data on bycatch rates across fisheries is essential for highlighting conservation priorities. We compiled a comprehensive database of reported data on...

Baja California Sur provides vitally important habitat to five of seven species of sea turtles. All five species have long been subject to direct and indirect exploitation in the region, and federal intervention has largely failed to address conservation goals. A powerful opportunity exists to incentivize sea turtle conservation by means of ecotour...