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Scaling the history and future of
Pacific Northwest
human marine ecosystems: From Promethean infinity to nothingness?
Endorsed by the ESA
SEEDS Program and the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting
Friday, August 12,
8 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Rooms 210a-e, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Organizers:
Mimi Lam (m.lam@fisheries.ubc.ca),
Roberto Gonzalez-Plaza
Description:
Pacific Northwest human and marine ecosystems have been historically
coupled for more than 12,000 years, but their resilience was disturbed 150 years
ago by industrial fisheries and, in the last 20 years, with the emergence of a
global aquaculture industry. Today, human marine ecosystems are but one set of
regional ecosystems endangered by relentless local and global anthropogenic
impact. Coupled human and natural systems have evolved from: (a) sustainable,
resilient, and robust socio-economic systems with low ecological impact, to (b)
out-of-balance human-dominated ecosystems. The aquaculture industry
significantly contributes to this off-balance on a biospheric scale. Or does it?
Aquaculture threatens to transform irreversibly present and future human/ocean
macrosystem patterns and processes. The farming of Atlantic salmon in the
southern Pacific and its impact in
Pacific Northwest
marine ecosystems is a Faustian example of market forces and science generating
far-reaching socio-ecological ripple effects. We address multiple temporal,
spatial, and organizational ecosystem scales to synthesize present impacts and
model future changes. A modus operandi, beyond science, incorporating
historical information in ecological, social, cultural, and economic contexts,
is needed to recreate future environments that foster evolutionary resilient
coexistence.
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