Understanding how disruptions such as COVID-19 will impact marine ecosystems and the services they provide requires a recognition of the coupled human-natural marine system. ICES Strategic Initiative on the Human Dimension brings together economists, anthropologists, and other scientists to gather scientific knowledge, diverse data sources, expertise, and analyses in order to examine the oceans as socio-ecological systems. This introduction sets the scene for the following presentations, exploring the valuable work that has been done across ICES countries to inform leaders about how to manage the impacts of COVID-19 on fisheries and society. These presentations will synthesize the knowledge of ICES community to date and the short and long-term implications for maritime stakeholders, including resource users and policy makers.
Bio:
Alan is the Chair of ICES Strategic Initiative on the Human Dimension (SIHD), and an economist at NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, USA, where he has worked since 2004. Alan’s research includes the spatial analysis of fisheries under changing climate, biological, and market conditions and with the implementation of catch shares and other management changes. His work also explores the design and implementation of bycatch reduction incentives, the evaluation of bycatch hotspot closures, and the identification of unintended consequences of marine reserves. Alan has been involved in the analysis of various salmon bycatch actions by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, has been a PI in the Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program, and is a member of the Council’s Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Groundfish Plan Team.
Alan oversees the spatial economics toolbox for fisheries (FishSET), a NOAA Fisheries initiative to improve the spatial modeling and management of fisheries.
