Sea Change

As climate change, resource overexploitation, and pollution leave ever more visible marks, ocean ecosystems, economies, and people are all affected. With coasts on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic, Canada faces a formidable challenge in building resilient, sustainable oceans and supporting the communities that rely on them.

Sea Change reports on the OceanCanada Partnership, a multidisciplinary project to take stock of what we know about Canada's oceans, construct possible scenarios for coastal regions, and create a national dialogue and vision. Three themes emerge from this impressive synthesis of social, cultural, economic, and environmental research: ocean change, access to ocean resources, and ocean governance.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and practitioners focus on finding solutions to rapid environmental and social transformation, outlining the implications for legislation and offering policy recommendations. Increasingly, civil society will have to advocate for oceans, and Sea Change will empower the voices of those who take up that task.

U. Rashid Sumaila is a University Killam Professor and Canada Research Chair in interdisciplinary ocean and fisheries economics at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia. He is also the 2023 co-winner of the Tyler Prize for environmental achievement, was named a 2022 AAAS Fellow, was the 2017 winner of the Volvo Environment Prize, and was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2019. Among his publications are Infinity Fish: Economics and the Future of Fish and Fisheries and Game Theory and Fisheries: Essays on the Tragedy of Free for All Fishing.

Derek Armitage is a professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo. He serves as member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Integrated Marine Biosphere Program (IMBeR) and the Independent Science Panel of New Zealand's Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge. He is a co-editor of Governing the Coastal Commons, Adaptive Capacity and Environmental Governance and Adaptive Co-Management: Collaboration, Learning, and Multi-Level Governance.

Megan Bailey is an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in integrated ocean and coastal governance for the Marine Affairs Program at Dalhousie University. She is a co-editor, with Jessica Duncan, of Sustainable Food Futures: Multidisciplinary Solutions.

William W.L. Cheung is a professor and director of the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, and a Canada Research Chair in ocean sustainability and global change. He has been awarded the E.W.R Steacie Memorial Fellowship and the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas Prix d'Excellence, and was named the Ehor Boyanowsky Academic of the Year. He is a co-editor of Predicting Future Oceans: Sustainability of Ocean and Human Systems Amidst Global Environmental Change.

Contributors: Jason Akearok, Marc Allain, Evan J. Andrews, Natalie Baird, Natalie C. Ban, Mark Basterfield, Hillary Beattie, Rachelle Beveridge, Chelsea Boaler, Irene Brueckner-Irwin, Andrea Bryndum-Buchholz, Anthony Charles, Simon Courtenay, Ashlee Cunsolo, Aaron Dale, Nancy Doubleday, Danielle Edwards, Sondra Eger, Cecilia Engler, Graham Epstein, Amber Giles, Amber M. Holdsworth, Carie Hoover, Russ Jones, Melina Kourantidou, Vincent L'Hérault, Heike K. Lotze, Ian Mauro, Jim McIsaac, Inka Milewski, Ella-Kari Muhl, Nidhi Nagabhatla, Sarah L. Newell, Thomas A. Okey, Juliano Palacios-Abrantes, Tommy Palliser, Ken Paul, Evelyn Pinkerton, Peter Pulsifer, Lydia Ross, Phillip Saunders, Jennifer L. Silver, Ruth E. Smith, Jamie Snook, Eric Solomon, Nadja S. Steiner, Robert L. Stephenson, Travis C. Tai, Fraser Taylor, Derek Tittensor, David L. VanderZwaag, Charlotte Whitney, Kristen L. Wilson, and the Community of Chesterfield Inlet