Oceanography The Official Magazine of
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Volume 22 Issue 01

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Volume 22, No. 1

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Advances in Conservation Oceanography: New Tagging and Tracking Technologies and Their Potential for Transforming the Science Underlying Fisheries Management

Charles H. Greene | Ocean Resources and Ecosystems Program, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Barbara A. Block | Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
David Welch | Kintama Research Corporation, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
George Jackson | Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, and Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking Project, Vancouver Aquarium, Vancouver, British Columbia
Gareth L. Lawson | previously Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA, and currently Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA
Erin L. Rechisky | Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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Article Abstract

Overexploitation of living resources and climate change are among the most obvious global-scale impacts of human society on marine ecosystems. In an age of such large-scale anthropogenic impacts, marine scientists, resource managers, and policymakers must rethink their approaches to protecting and managing marine populations and ecosystems. Conservation oceanography is an emerging field of science that incorporates the latest advances in ocean science and technology to provide resource managers and policymakers with the information they need to ensure the sustainability of the marine environment and its living resources. Here, we discuss the historical context of conservation oceanography as it applies to marine fisheries management. We then describe two projects, one focused on Atlantic bluefin tuna and the other on Pacific salmon, that illustrate the potential of new tagging and tracking technologies for transforming the science underlying fisheries management.

Citation

Greene, C.H., B.A. Block, D. Welch, G. Jackson, G.L. Lawson, and E.L. Rechisky. 2009. Advances in conservation oceanography: New tagging and tracking technologies and their potential for transforming the science underlying fisheries management. Oceanography 22(1):210–223, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2009.21.

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