Mobilising the science community in progressing towards a sustainable and inclusive ocean economy

Across the Blue Economy, science must play a fundamental role in moving us away from business as usual to a more sustainable pathway. It provides evidence to inform policy by understanding baselines, trends and tipping points, as well as the multiple and interacting effects of human activities and policy interventions. Measuring progress depends on strong evidence and requires the design of a monitoring framework based on well-defined objectives and indicators, informed by the diverse disciplines required to inform progress on cross-cutting policy objectives such as the Just Transition.

The differences between the scientific and policy processes are stark and affect interaction between them, including, among other factors, the time pressures of governmental decision-making, and the lack of support and reward in academia for policy engagement. To enable improved integration, the diverse nature of the science / policy interface is important to recognise – improved communication between scientists and policy professionals within government is important, as well as interaction with the wider academic community through secondments and other mechanisms. Skills in working across boundaries are valuable, requiring training and professional recognition.

We also discussed the science needs across the themes of the Just Transition, Sustainable Seafood, Nature-based Solutions and the Circular Economy, where we considered:
• What research and knowledge can help us manage synergies and trade-offs?
• Where is innovation needed to promote synergies?
• What type of indicators, data and evidence are needed to measure progress?
The insights developed through dialogue among participants on these themes are outlined in Section 4 of this report.