Digital Ocean Diplomacy to Fisheries Governance Reform
by Brianna Elliott
As the end of 2024 looms, ocean diplomacy is making headlines — largely because the UN’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution failed to reach agreement this December on what many hoped to be the final negotiation of the first global treaty on plastic pollution. Earlier this year, the International Whaling Commission made headlines for not passing pass a measure on a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary, short of one or two votes. As bleak as the news may seem, other developments ranging from new knowledge exchange to small advances in treaty-making are reasons for optimism.
At the global stage, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) issued an advisory opinion that atmospheric greenhouse gases are “pollution of the marine environment” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) — indicating a significant ruling that UNCLOS member states are legally obligated to address emissions. In a unilateral move, Greece banned bottom trawling in its waters — one of the most destructive types of fishing. Meanwhile, the U.S. released its first-ever National Ocean Biodiversity Strategy to work towards increased marine conservation across various federal agencies. Around the same time, the International Seabed Authority elected its first-ever female secretary-general of Brazil.
Duke’s Ocean Diplomacy Working Group (ODWG) engaged in several of these international fora this year. Our members presented at international ocean conferences and hosted workshops to re-envision some of the world’s fisheries governance. At the same time, ODWG members are underway with strengthening research ties and partnerships with several international universities related to key ocean policy challenges.
In 2010, the Royal Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) defined the field of science diplomacy as science for diplomacy, diplomacy for science, and science in diplomacy. This definition, when applied to the ocean and coastal context, still holds as the best-available definition for the field of science diplomacy — and the Ocean Diplomacy Working Group is working across sectors to connect ocean science and ocean diplomacy at all levels. The following post highlights some of ocean diplomacy-related work conducted by ODWG members in 2024.
Biodiversity-related negotiations:
69th Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC)
From September 22-27, Dr. Rafaella Lobo (Duke MSC Ph.D., 2024) attended the 69th Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC-69) in Lima, Peru. Her dissertation research focused on IWC politics from a Latin American perspective. At IWC-69, she met collaborators from Latin American governments and civil society in person for the first time and helped articulate a regional strategy for whale conservation. The meeting also discussed issues related to ongoing work by the ODWG, including on cetacean bycatch, the issue of quorum, and the relevance of the IWC as an international organization. ODWG members are currently working on a review paper for publication highlighting the key and unique role that the IWC plays for marine mammal conservation – offering an example for management and policy approaches for other marine taxa.
Convention of Biological Diversity’s 16th Conference of the Parties
From October 31st to November 1st, Dr. Lobo attended the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 16th Conference of the Parties (CBD COP16) as a writer for the Earth Negotiations Bulletin. She covered: High-Level Ministerial Dialogues on the Synergies between Climate Change and Biodiversity, Peace with Nature; full-day CBD-sponsored parallel events, including Food Day, Forest and Water Day, Cooperation Day, NBSAP Day; as well as several side events on topics such as Nature Financing, Access and Benefit-Sharing, Gender, Ocean Resilience, and others.
Implementation of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement
This year, Gabrielle Carmine participated in the June UN Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Preparatory Commission meeting at UN Headquarters, outlining future Prep meeting agenda items and goals. She also attended the High-Level UN Event on Ocean Action: Immersed in Change in San Jose, Costa Rica, in June, which discussed goals for the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice in 2025, including various themed expert panels. She attended with Greenpeace UK after the release of a report on high seas management co-authored by Guillermo Ortuño Crespo (Duke MSC Ph.D., 2020), calling for high seas fisheries reform and joining the call for states to ratify the new UN BBNJ treaty so it can be implemented.
International conference presentations:
Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers
In August, Emily Melvin (PhD Candidate, Marine Science and Conservation) attended the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers annual meeting, where she presented “Visualizing Digital Data and Ocean Worldmaking” at a session on ocean geographies. The conference brought together geographers from around the world to discuss the theme of Mapping through conversations on topics ranging from historical cartographies to the newest technologies in mapping. In keeping with that theme, Melvin’s work, which was awarded the best student paper by Coastal and Marine Research Group, analyzes how a growing body of new and emerging organizations are mapping digital ocean data. Melvin and her co-authors, Ana Zurita Posas, ODWG member Gabrielle Carmine, Dr. Elizabeth Havice, and Dr. Lisa Campbell, demonstrate that rather than converge on a singular ocean representation, these diverse visualizations reveal myriad possibilities for ocean territory, ranging from void spaces that resist enclosure to spaces of scientific knowledge, human activity, and potential new territories for governance. This diversity in representations suggests that data are being mobilized to move away from dominant state-sanctioned cartographic practices, potentially creating new possibilities for ocean worldmaking. This paper is part of a broader effort by the Digital Oceans Governance Lab to examine the intersection between the proliferation of oceans data and interest in expanded oceans governance during the UN Decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
Society for Marine Mammalogy Meeting (SMM): Fishing for change
Ocean Diplomacy Working Group founder Brianna Elliott presented at the biennial SMM meeting in Perth, Australia – a biennial meeting that draws researchers, policy makers, outreach specialists, and other stakeholders to discuss to latest marine mammal science and conservation. In her talk titled, “Drift gillnets from space: A low-cost methodology to provide insight in data-poor fisheries,” Brianna reported on a new low-cost and transferable suite of methods she’s been trialing to better understand data-poor and opaque fisheries and bycatch. In particular, she is using these methods to shine light on drift gillnet fisheries in the Indian Ocean, which are outspokenly used in the Indian Ocean compared to any other ocean basin but are poorly documented. Their use continues to expand in this region, despite a 1992 UN ban on drift gillnets in the high seas and other regional bans. Results have been and will continued to be presented with the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission and Government of Pakistan.
Elliott also attended the OceanPredict24’ Symposium held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France. The theme of this year’s conference mirrored the approach of much of this years’ ODWG conference presentations: harnessing developing digital tools for ocean governance and diplomacy. The conference also included brief discussion of the intersection of science diplomacy, remote sensing, and ocean diplomacy, indicating increased recognition of the field. Interestingly, it included discussion of the importance of science diplomacy, as defined by AAAS in 2010, as ocean prediction and remote sensing capabilities improve.
International Marine Conservation Congress
PhD candidate Gabrielle Carmine presented her dissertation work with Global Fishing Watch at the 7th International Marine Conservation Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. Her talk titled “Who are the high seas and distant water fishing industry?” covered her published work on the corporate actors and beneficial ownership behind the global high seas fishing fleet compared to upcoming work on the corporations benefitting from global distant water fishing activity in foreign countries jurisdictions’.
Rethinking Conventions and Treaties: workshops and lectures
Marine biodiversity workshop
In late October, Dr. Guillermo Ortuño Crespo (Duke MSC Ph.D., 2020) convened a workshop in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, gathering 14 international experts to address “Re-envisioning the Governance of Marine Migratory Biodiversity: Transformations for a Sustainable and Equitable Future.” Among the participants were Duke University’s own Ph.D. candidate Gabby Carmine and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Melissa Cronin. Over two and a half days, the group explored transformative approaches spanning key themes of current fisheries governance: equity, climate adaptation, institutional reform, and scalable independent science. Each is poised to enhance the conservation and sustainable management of nearly 1,000 marine migratory species and numerous straddling populations. These discussions will form the basis of a foundational discussion paper – and possible working meeting at Duke University in spring 2025 – aiming to involve a broader network of regional and cross-disciplinary experts.
Biddle lecture: The Importance of Treaties for Biodiversity
In September, the Rethinking Diplomacy Program and Biddle Lecture Series hosted Arnhold Distinguished Fellow with Conservation International, Monica Medina, at Duke University. Medina holds an impressive background, having served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (2012-2013); as the Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2009-2012) and as the Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and the first U.S. Special Envoy for Biodiversity and Water Resources at the U.S. State Department (2021-2023). During her talk, Medina advocated for the power of regionally and locally adaptable frameworks and agreements — rather than treaties — the latter of which apply one-size-fits-all solutions and long and arduous to negotiate.
Research papers
In addition to negotiations and conference presentations, key academic papers published by ODWG members this year include:
- Basurto, X; Virdin, J; Franz, N; DeLand, S; Smith, B; Cleary, J; Vegh, T; Halpin, P (2024). A global assessment of preferential access areas for small-scale fisheries. NPJ Ocean Sustainability 3, no. 1.
- Campling, L., Havice, E., Virdin, J., Carmine, G., Andriamahefazafy, M., Barbesgaard, M., … & Standing, A. (2024). A geopolitical-economy of distant water fisheries access arrangements. npj Ocean Sustainability, 3(1), 26.
- Palacios, M. D., Weiand, L., Laglbauer, B. J., Cronin, M. R., Fowler, S., Jabado, R. W., … & Stevens, G. M. (2024). Global assessment of manta and devil ray gill plate and meat trade: conservation implications and opportunities. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 1-28.
- Lobo, R. (2024). A Whale of a Blindspot: The “Effectiveness” of Bribes, Threats, and Socialization in the International Whaling Commission. Alternatives, 0(0)[OnlineFirst]. https://doi.org/10.1177/03043754241227277
The Ocean Diplomacy Working Group was conceived by Rethinking Diplomacy Graduate fellow Brianna Elliott and launched in 2023 through a grant from Duke’s Office of Global Affairs that includes members from several schools and programs across Duke, including the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke Law, the Duke Marine Lab. The group includes an interdisciplinary mix of students, faculty, and practitioners at Duke who are interested in the complex political and social issues, institutional arrangements, agreements, and negotiations involved in ocean diplomacy. Their goal is to improve connections between science, scholarly research, and the diplomatic process so that policy makers and diplomats have the most up to date scientific information as they craft policy and international agreements with enormous impact across ecosystems, cultures, national borders, and international fora. The Duke Rethinking Diplomacy Program is grateful for the longstanding support of the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation.
