Ocean Sustainability as an Inward Journey

Abstract

Society is currently facing interrelated threats to the environment, human health and wellbeing. At the present time, human activity is degrading the health of the ocean, and currently utilized marine resource management approaches are seen to be failures. It is well known that what a society utilizes as a food source is indicative of that society's ecologic role in the bio-system. A literature survey, from both an environmental and health based perspective, of human interactions with marine based foods was undertaken with emphasis being given to past, current, and future uses for marine based foods, in particular macroalgae. It is speculated that a successful marine resource management approach will require interdisciplinary awareness and knowledge defragmentation by social and scientific researchers, as well as broad based societal behavior changes and acceptance of those changes by a majority of individuals. This behavioral shift will likely require a majority of societal members to turn inwardly through the lens of nature, in particular to the ocean as a food source in order to see a sustainable way forward. In conclusion, several hallmarks of what a successful marine resource management approach would look like from a practical societal standpoint are considered.

Keywords: seaweed, aquaculture, nutrition, ocean acidification, marine resource management, carbon dioxide, human health and wellbeing, consilience, biophilia

JEL Classification: I10, I18, L66, Q10, Q18, Q20, Q22, Q25, Z10