Formulating appropriate monitoring programs for offshore geological CO2 storage projects, from either a regulatory or operator viewpoint, is difficult to achieve without a properly quantified cost-benefit analysis of what that monitoring could and should achieve. In addition, communicating risks and uncertainties is a challenge for offshore storage projects, and tools assisting in dialogue with stakeholders, governments and public at large will be of value.    The monitoring programs will have a role in communicating risks and benefits for storage projects and assure against unjustified accusations for having adverse environmental effects but cannot be seen in isolation from the multi-leveled CCUS (Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage) management systems.  Evaluations of CO2 storage monitoring techniques usually aim to determine the suitability to user‐defined project scenario (e.g., IEAGHG monitoring selection tool, https://ieaghg.org/ccs-resources/monitoring-selection-tool) or to assess the availability of sensors that can measure variables that are likely to fluctuate under a seepage scenario, or processes that are sensitive to CO2-related stress. Less focus has been on how they perform relative to regulatory requirements, cost efficiency, and user friendliness.   We can use observations and models to characterise the natural variability of the marine system, or the noise from which an anomalous signal must be detected. We can use models to simulate hypothetical leak events thereby defining the monitoring target(s). We have algorithms that assess the cost-benefit of a range of anomaly criteria – i.e., a signal that would provoke a more concerted monitoring campaign and finally algorithms that can derive the optimal deployment strategy – i.e., where to monitor and when. The challenge is to collate these abilities into a coherent whole, which then allows the presentation of an evaluated monitoring system that can be judged against regulatory and societal expectations.  We outline the approach chosen in the ACTOM project (https://actom.w.uib.no) to develop procedures for design and execution of appropriate, rigorous, and cost-effective monitoring of offshore carbon storage, aligning industrial, societal, and regulative expectations with technological capabilities and limitations.  The ACTOM toolbox is capable of simulating “what if” seep scenarios, as well as monitoring deployments, that can be used to deliver environmental impact assessments as required under the CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) and EIA directives. As a result, recommended monitoring strategies could be delivered autonomously and be dependent on established generic operational marine simulation models, both factors reducing costs.   We will demonstrate use of the toolbox on three sites in the Gulf of Mexico, in southern North Sea and off the coast of Norway, each with distinctive features and availability of data.  
The inherent conflicts between objectives in fisheries management (e.g. MSY vs. conservation interests) are a hurdle for managers and scientists. However, some objectives may be compatible (e.g. economic yield and ecosystem preservation, Hilborn 2007) and could promote stakeholder consensus. The purpose of this study is to explore the zone of new consensus as outline by Hilborn (2007) and to develop a formal and quantitative approach to defining fisheries management objectives through stakeholder-specific utility functions. First, multiple objectives are reflected in a clearly defined utility function for each stakeholder group. Second, simulations are run to find the resulting stakeholder groups' utility. The preliminary results illustrate a formal route towards deriving appropriate management regimes with focus on compatible management goals to promote a new paradigm of stakeholder consensus, incentives, and success in fishery management.
Researchers have iterated that the future of synthetic biology and biotechnology lies in novel consumer applications of crossing biology with engineering. However, if the new biology’s future is to be sustainable, early and serious efforts must be made towards social sustainability. Therefore, the crux of new applications of synthetic biology and biotechnology is public understanding and acceptance. The RASVaccine is a novel recombinant design not found in nature that re-engineers a common bacteria (Salmonella) to produce a strong immune response in humans. Synthesis of the RASVaccine has the potential to improve public health as an inexpensive, non-injectable product. But how can scientists move forward to create a dialogue of creating a ‘common sense’ of this new technology in order to promote social sustainability? This paper delves into public issues raised around these novel technologies and uses the RASVaccine as an example of meeting the public with a common sense of its possibilities and limitations.
The field of behavioural economics holds several opportunities for integrated fisheries management and conservation and can help researchers and managers alike understand fisher behaviour and decision-making. As the study of the cognitive biases that influence decision-making processes, behavioural economics differentiates itself from the classical field of economics in that it does not assume strictly rational behaviour of its agents, but rather looks for all mechanisms that influence behaviour. This field offers potential applications for fisheries management, for example in relation to behavioural change, but such applications require evidence of these mechanisms applied in a fisheries context. Thus, we have developed a systematic literature review protocol focusing on the primary question: "Which behavioural economics mechanisms influence fisher behaviour?" The aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of these different mechanisms and how they have been applied in the study of fisher behaviour.The review protocol was developed in close collaboration with the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Working Group on Maritime Systems (WGMARS). WGMARS members were therefore considered the key stakeholders for this study, and were consulted to develop a suitable systematic review question and methodology. Three academic databases will be searched using a customized Boolean keyword search string. Research articles deemed eligible for inclusion in the systematic review are those that studied the influence of behavioural-economics mechanisms on the behaviour of marine fishers in any location, and at any scale. Insights from this literature will be collated in order to provide an overview of the relevant behavioural-economics mechanisms and actions, how effective these mechanisms are and at what scale, geographic region and in which fisheries sector they have been applied. Any fisheries management implications identified by the studies under review will also be outlined. Finally, it will be recorded whether or not ethical considerations were made in the reviewed literature, so that in the discussion it will be possible to reflect on the ethics of conducting behavioural-economics research and policy actions in a fisheries context.
Abstract Fishers' knowledge research (FKR) aims to enhance the use of experiential knowledge of fish harvesters in fisheries research, assessment, and management. Fishery participants are able to provide unique knowledge, and that knowledge forms an important part of “best available information” for fisheries science and management. Fishers' knowledge includes, but is much greater than, basic biological fishery information. It includes ecological, economic, social, and institutional knowledge, as well as experience and critical analysis of experiential knowledge. We suggest that FKR, which may in the past have been defined quite narrowly, be defined more broadly to include both fishery observations and fishers “experiential knowledge” provided across a spectrum of arrangements of fisher participation. FKR is part of the new and different information required in evolving “ecosystem-based” and “integrated” management approaches. FKR is a necessary element in the integration of ecological, economic, social, and institutional considerations of future management. Fishers' knowledge may be added to traditional assessment with appropriate analysis and explicit recognition of the intended use of the information, but fishers' knowledge is best implemented in a participatory process designed to receive and use it. Co-generation of knowledge in appropriately designed processes facilitates development and use of fishers' knowledge and facilitates the participation of fishers in assessment and management, and is suggested as best practice in improved fisheries governance.
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