Embracing Complexity and Complexity-Awareness in Marine Megafauna Conservation and Research

Abstract

Conservation of marine megafauna is nested within an intricate tapestry of multiple ocean resource uses which are, in turn, embedded in a dynamic and complex ecological ocean system that varies and shifts across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Marine megafauna conservation is often further complicated by contemporaneous, and sometimes competing, social, economic, and ecological factors and related management objectives. Advances in emerging technologies and applications, such as remotely-sensed oceanographic data, animal-based telemetry, novel computational analyses, innovations in structured decision making, and stakeholder engagement and policy are supporting complex systems and complexity-aware approaches to megafauna conservation and research. Here we discuss several applications that focus on megafauna fisheries bycatch and exemplify how complex systems and complexity-aware approaches that inherently acknowledge and account for the complexity of ocean systems can advance megafauna conservation and research. Emerging technologies, applications and approaches that embrace, rather than ignore, complexity can drive innovation and success in megafauna conservation and research.

Future Ocean Observations to Connect Climate, Fisheries and Marine Ecosystems

“…Ecological nowcasts and forecasts up to seasonal timescales are being used as decisionsupport tools to help marine sectors adapt to climate change and variability (Payne et al, 2017;Tommasi et al, 2017;Hobday et al, 2018). For example, ecological forecasts can be disseminated in near real-time for immediate action (e.g., for conservation purposes; Howell et al, 2008;Hazen et al, 2018;Lewison et al, 2018), or on longer timescales (monthly to annually) for diverse applications, including identifying environmental variability (Hobday et al, 2016), hazardous events (e.g., HABs; Stumpf et al, 2009) and fisheries resources (e.g., Burke et al, 2013;Eveson et al, 2015;Mills et al, 2017).…”

Key Challenges in Advancing an Ecosystem-Based Approach to Marine Spatial Planning Under Economic Growth Imperatives

“…Marine environments and marine governance structures are both complex systems, and management strategies often fail to encompass this complexity (Hazen et al, 2018;Lewison et al, 2018;Lombard et al, in press). Integrated management approaches should therefore supplement sectorspecific approaches and should adopt methods of analysis and decision-support tools that recognize multiple forms of complexity (Douvere, 2008;Lombard et al, 2019).…”

A Mitigation Hierarchy Approach for Managing Sea Turtle Captures in Small-Scale Fisheries

“…Fisheries often seek to achieve "triple-bottom-line" outcomes that entail trade-offs between economic returns, social welfare, and biodiversity conservation (Halpern et al, 2013;Costello et al, 2016). Managing the recovery of depleted populations of marine megafauna species, which are defined as large-bodied, ocean dwellers like sea turtles, seabirds, marine mammals, and sharks, often sits in the middle of this nexus and persists as one of the major challenges in achieving ecologically and socioeconomically sustainable fisheries (Hall et al, 2000;Gray and Kennelly, 2018;Lewison et al, 2018). The complex and dynamic nature of attempting to target catch while minimizing the impact on non-target species means that fisheries management requires integrative processes to identify and mitigate the negative ecological impacts of fisheries while examining economic and social considerations on a fishery-by-fishery basis.…”