Multidisciplinary perspectives on living marine resources in the Arctic

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Authors: Sturla F. Kvamsdal, Dorothy Dankel, Nils-Arne Ekerhovd, Alf Håkon Hoel, Angelika H.H. Renner, Anne Britt Sandø, Stein Ivar Steinshamn
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2022
• Subjects: atlantic cod; climate change; fisheries management; international cooperation; research challenges; scientific collaboration; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Oceanography; GC1-1581; Arctic; Barents Sea; Arctic cod; Climate change; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v41.7766; https://doaj.org/article/49034cb2432849e79f987db5368467fa

Many areas in the Arctic are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We observe large-scale effects on physical, biological, economic and social parameters, including ice cover, species distributions, economic activity and regional governance frameworks. Arctic living marine resources are affected in various ways. A holistic understanding of these effects requires a multidisciplinary enterprise. We synthesize relevant research, from oceanography and ecology, via economics, to political science and international law. We find that multidisciplinary research can enhance our understanding and promote new questions and issues relating to impacts and outcomes of climate change in the Arctic. Such issues include recent insights on changing spawning migrations of the North-east Arctic cod stock that necessitates revisions of socioeconomic estimates of ecosystem wealth in the Barents Sea, better integrated prediction systems that require increased cooperation between experts on climate prediction and ecosystem modelling, and institutional complexities of Arctic governance that require enhanced coordination.