Changing climates in a blue economy: Assessing the climate-responsiveness of Canadian fisheries and oceans policy

Abstract

Climate change poses challenges to achieving sustainable ocean development, with particularly acute risk posed to coastal states and marginalized coastal users. International efforts to address these challenges include the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda. Further, some countries are refocusing their ocean programs to align with blue economy strategies globally. We look to Canada, an ocean nation developing a blue economy strategy, to examine the climate-responsiveness of their oceans policies. First, we identify climate change impacts on ecosystem services affecting each of Canada’s coasts through a document scan. Then, through a structured policy analysis, we examine whether Canadian fisheries and oceans policy are responsive to these impacts. Finally, we discuss how current policies do or do not address climate impacts on oceans and coasts in Canada, and how this focus, or lack thereof, will have an outsized impact on certain ocean sectors (e.g., inshore fisheries). Our findings show a policy landscape largely dependent on climate change action promoted in a few broad federal initiatives, with oceans-related climate action operating through area-based conservation measures and research and monitoring initiatives. We conclude with recommendations for Canada and similar ocean states to integrate climate and ocean policies across federal departments and ocean sectors by centering vulnerable coastal users in policy formulation. Given Canada’s rapid development of a blue economy strategy as a new governing framework for oceans policy, we recommend the strategy be guided by long-term sustainability goals that prioritize environmental and social sustainability over short-term economic growth.