Research Lines
There is growing evidence that current management of marine resource systems may no longer be effective in the future under climate change. This will translate not only into important ecological impacts at local and global scales, but also into increasing livelihood vulnerability and inequalities. We believe these threats pose one of the major challenges humanity faces nowadays.
Our research looks for adaptation solutions in marine systems that allow for sustainable management in the long run, as well as helping achieve equitable resource sharing and livelihood support. We apply a large set of social and natural sciences methodologies to understand climate change impacts and adaptation in marine systems and work on smart solutions for future oceans sustainability.
Our work focuses along 3 main lines of research:
Social-ecological systems
We use the social ecological systems approach to understand how systems react to climate change. We develop adaptation solutions based on the interconnections of ecological, social and institutional components of the system.
Keywords: SES, SSF, artisanal fisheries, commercial fisheries, adaptive capacity, vulnerability, resilience.
Spatial management
Developing solutions for natural resource management under climate change.
Keywords: property rights, equity, MPA networks, TURF networks, bio-economic modelling, quotas, co-management.
Institutional arrangements
Analyzing the consequences of shifts in
species distribution in institutional fisheries arrangements.
Keywords: EEZs, transboundary stocks, cooperation, spatial management, stakeholder analysis.
Our Publications
Journal articles
Check soon for upcoming research outputs
- A better understanding of social-ecological systems is needed for adapting fisheries to climate change. Diego Salgueiro-Otero and Elena Ojea. 2020. Marine Policy, 104123.
- Social-ecological vulnerability to climate change in small-scale fisheries managed under spatial property rights systems. Raquel Ruiz-Díaz, Xiaozi Liu, Alba Aguión, Gonzalo Macho, Maite deCastro, Moncho Gómez-Gesteira, Elena Ojea. 2020. Marine Policy, in press.
- The future of food from the sea. Christopher Costello, Ling Cao, Stefan Gelcich, Miguel Á. Cisneros-Mata, Christopher M. Free, Halley E. Froehlich, Christopher D. Golden, Gakushi Ishimura, Jason Maier, Ilan Macadam-Somer, Tracey Mangin, Michael C. Melnychuk, Masanori Miyahara, Carryn L. de Moor, Rosamond Naylor, Linda Nøstbakken, Elena Ojea, Erin O’Reilly, Ana M. Parma, Andrew J. Plantinga, Shakuntala H. Thilsted & Jane Lubchenco. 2020. Nature, 19 August 2020.
- Adaptation of Fishing Communities to Climate-Driven Shifts in Target Species. Elena Ojea, Sarah Lester, Diego Salgueiro-Otero, 2020. OneEarth
- Realistic fisheries management reforms could mitigate the impacts of climate change in most countries. Christopher M. Free, Tracey Mangin, Jorge García Molinos, Elena Ojea, Merrick Burden, Christopher Costello, Steven D. Gaines, 2020. PLOS ONE, in press.
- Strategically designed marine reserve networks are robust to climate change driven shifts in population connectivity. A. Rassweiler, E. Ojea, C. Costello. 2020. Environmental Research Letters, in press.
- Southward re‐distribution of tropical tuna fisheries activity can be explained by technological and management change. Iratxe Rubio, Unai Ganzedo, Alistair J. Hobday and Elena Ojea. 2020. Fish and Fisheries, in press.
- Sovereign states in the Caribbean have lower social-ecological vulnerability to coral bleaching than overseas territories. K.J. Siegel, R.B. Cabral, J. McHenry, E. Ojea, B. Owashi and S.E. Lester. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 20 February 2019. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2365.
- Impacts and responses to environmental change in coastal livelihoods of south-west Bangladesh. Hossain, M.A.R., M. Ahmed, E. Ojea, J.A. Fernandes. 2018. Science of the Total Environment, 637-638, 954–970.
- Benefits From Water Related Ecosystem Services in Africa and Climate Change. Pettinotti, L., A. de Ayala, E. Ojea. 2018. Ecological Economics 149, 294-305.
- The role of non-natural capital in the co-production of marine ecosystem services. L. Outeiro, E. Ojea, J. G. Rodrigues, A. Himes-Cornell, A. Belgrano, Y. Liu, E. Cabecinha, C. Pita, G. Macho, S. Villasante. 2017. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 13(3): 35-50.
- Fisheries regulatory regimes and resilience to climate change. E. Ojea, I. Pearlman, S.D. Gaines, S.E. Lester, 2017. Ambio, 1-14.
- Socioeconomic impacts of marine protected areas in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. M. Pascual, M. Rossetto, E. Ojea, N. Milchakova, S. Giakoumi, S. Kark, 2016. Ocean & Coastal Management 133, 1-10.
Scientific Posters
- Socioeconomic implications of the observed climate change distributional impacts in commercial marine species. Aguión, A., Salgueiro-Otero, D., Rubio, I., Ojea, E. 2017. Conference poster, ICES ASC Florida 2017
- Management solutions for shifting transboundary fish stocks under fixed catch shares. Xiaozi Liu, Elena Ojea and Mikko Heino, ECCWO 2018, Wshington DC.
- The socio-ecological vulnerability of artisanal fisheries to climate impact. Ruíz-Díaz, R., Liu, X., Ojea,E. IMBRSea 2018, Ostend
- Ecological, Socioeconomic and Institutional Resilience to shifting fish stocks. Ojea, E. and Fontán E. ICES ASC Hamburg 2018
Reports & book chapters
- The expected impacts of climate change on the ocean economy. S. Gaines, R. Cabral, C.M. Free, Y. Golbuu, R. Arnason, W. Battista, D. Bradley, W. Cheung, K. Fabricius, O. Hoegh-Guldberg, M.A. Juinio-Meñez, J. García Molinos, E. Ojea, E. O’Reilly and C. Turley. Blue Paper for the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
- The future of food from the sea. C. Costello, L. Cao and S. Gelcich, M.A. Cisneros, C.M. Free, H.E. Froehlich, E. Galarza, C.D. Golden, G. Ishimura, J. Maier, I. Macadam-Somer, T. Mangin, M.C. Melnychuk, M. Miyahara, C. de Moor, R. Naylor, L. Nøstbakken, E. Ojea, E. O’Reilly, G.C. Osio, A.M. Parma, F. Pina Amargos, A.J. Plantinga, A. Tacon, and S.H. Thilsted. Blue Paper for the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
- Socioeconomic Impacts of Networks of Marine Protected Areas. E. Ojea, M Pascual, D March, I Bitetto, P Melià, M Breil, J Claudet, 2017. Management of Marine Protected Areas: A Network Perspective, 103.
- Operationalizing the ecosystem approach to resolve mismatches in ocean governance. Garmendia, M., A. Markandya, E. Ojea, M. Pascual, 2016. In: Handbook on the economics and management of sustainable oceans. Edited by P.A.L.D. Nunes, L.E. Svenssonand and A. Markandya. Edward Elgar Publishing.
FOL welcomes Lara Brodie for her research stay
Lara will conduct her Master thesis within IMBRSea program led by Smit and Elena
22/01/2021Lara Brodie joins the Future Oceans Lab for a Masters Dissertation. Lara will work with Smit and Elena and will be focused on assessing the impacts of climate change on food security vulnerability within a local scale coastal African context. Lara is from Cape Town, South Africa, and is currently completing her Master’s degree through […]
Jané Salazar rejoins FOL to conduct her Master Thesis
Jane will work on adaptation of fisheries to shifting stocks
21/01/2021Jané Salazar, student of the International Master’s in Marine Biological Resources (IMBRSea) who conducted her professional practice with FOL last summer, is rejoining the team to conduct her Master Thesis with Drs Elena Ojea and Alex Tidd. She will be expanding on her professional practice – impacts and adaptations of fisheries to shifting stocks – to understand how […]
A year of lonely remote working with a warm team
More than ever, this year we faced big ups and downs at home and with our work
24/12/2020This is a difficult year to balance and we are happy we made it through. We are really looking forward to experience nature, friends and in person relationships in 2021, experiences we missed so much this year. As for everybody, 2020 has been a challenging year to keep up with research, but we were still […]