Co-Convenors: Masahide Kaeriyama (Japan) and Thomas Therriault (Canada)

Invited Speaker:
Erlend Moksness (Institute of Marine Research, Norway)

Currently, approximately 60% of the world’s population lives within 60 km of the coast, and this number is expected to reach 75% within the next two decades due to increased population growth. The coastal zone is an extremely complex environment that includes both coastal, nearshore marine and estuarine ecosystems, and the adjacent terrestrial area. Human populations around the North Pacific rely heavily on this zone for their livelihood, but growing pressures from increasingly diverse human activities coupled with climate change and natural catastrophes (e.g., earthquake and tsunami) threaten the sustainability and productivity of coastal ecosystems. Risk management based on adaptive management and precautionary principles, is one way to prioritize, identify, and potentially mitigate impacts resulting from diverse human activities in coastal zones. This session will focus on: (1) preparation and countermeasures to respond to natural catastrophes; (2) protection of coastal zone ecosystems from human-mediated impacts (e.g., habitat loss, pollution, harmful algal events, invasive species), and (3) the institution and protection of marine protected areas (MPAs).