AUTHOR=Oostdijk Maartje , Elsler Laura G. , Ramírez-Monsalve Paulina , Orach Kirill , Wisz Mary S. 

TITLE=Governing Open Ocean and Fish Carbon: Perspectives and Opportunities

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.764609

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2022.764609

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=Marine life plays a vital role in the ocean's biological pump by sequestering and mediating fluxes of carbon to the deep sea and sea floor. The roles that fish and other marine vertebrates play in the biological pump are recently attracting more scientific and policy attention. In this paper, we investigated the interest in and possibilities for the international governance of open ocean and fish carbon, the latter referring to the roles of fish and other marine vertebrates as carbon sequesters. We used semi-structured interviews with environmental non-governance organization (ENGO) representatives, policy makers, and policy experts, along with an exploratory review of grey and peer-reviewed literature to: 1) trace the pathway of important milestones, key actors, and their strategies to influence governance of ocean carbon, and, 2) investigate which frameworks might be used to govern open ocean and fish carbon. Strategies of key actors to direct attention to open ocean and fish carbon included collaborating with scientists, organizing side events and seminars to engage policy makers. ENGOs educate public and policy makers about the co-benefits of open ocean and fish carbon. While we found a strong focus of ENGO activities related to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change but also strong opposition of key actors in this forum. Opposition stems from a lack of science how long open ocean and fish carbon is stored, difficulties in attributing carbon flows with individual countries mitigation actions, and few perceived co-benefits for coastal communities. More viable routes for future governance of open ocean and fish carbon may lie in international fisheries management and in current negotiations of a treaty for biodiversity conservation in the high seas.