Peter JS Jones

Ocean Equity Index aims to measure justice at sea Ocean projects and governance systems abound globally— everything from offshore energy to coastal aquaculture and fishing treaties — yet there is no standardized way to measure how equitable they are....

.... so can these diverse views really be represented by averaging the scores, including those assigned by incoming researchers, to produce a single index? See article in Mongabay about #OceanEquityIndex, which raises these questions.... news.mongabay.com/2026/02/ocea...

@nature.com

Ocean Equity Index aims to measure justice at sea Ocean projects and governance systems abound globally— everything from offshore energy to coastal aquaculture and fishing treaties — yet there is no standardized way to measure how equitable they are....

Eg. views amongst marine tourism operators, small-scale commercial fishers and local marine conservationists on whether an initiative is equitable and represents justice may be very different...
news.mongabay.com/2026/02/ocea...

@mongabay.com

Ocean Equity Index aims to measure justice at sea Ocean projects and governance systems abound globally— everything from offshore energy to coastal aquaculture and fishing treaties — yet there is no standardized way to measure how equitable they are....

Can complex qualitative #OceanEquity & justice issues be represented by scores that are averaged & reduced to a single number, given that the equity of an initiative, such as a fishery management measure or a marine protected area, may be a matter of perspective? news.mongabay.com/2026/02/ocea...

Growing recognition of how Pinker's analyses are simplistic & flawed, providing a pseudoscience intellectual basis for rich & powerful & helping to justify inequality. The #DawnOfEverything @davidwengrow.bsky.social also provides a major critique of the simplistic linear thinking that Pinker pedals

Dr Jian Chen passes PhD viva with thesis hailed as ‘tour de force’ in environmental governance UCL Geography congratulates Dr Jian Chen on his successful PhD viva. His research on China’s marine protected areas offers fresh insights into social-ecological resilience and governance.

It's been a pleasure to help guide Jian Chen on his excellent PhD research journey towards a deep understanding of the #CoevolutionaryGovernance of MPAs in China, many congratulations, Jian!

tinyurl.com/ucl-jian

The diffusion of cooperative and solo bubble net feeding in Canadian Pacific humpback whales Abstract. Animal culture, information and behaviours acquired and shared by social learning are a form of biodiversity with intrinsic and practical value.

New paper on the social learning of bubble net feeding by humpbacks in British Columbia, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B 🐋
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

#marmam @bcwhales.bsky.social @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @lrendell.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social [1/5]

Chairing a sub-group of commercial fishermen and related representatives to discuss and develop priorities from the previous Poole and Whitby workshops, focusing on what could most successfully be implemented in the shortest time to help support the small-scale inshore fishing sectors.

Pleasure to participate in the Inshore and Small Scale Fisheries Consortium workshop in Newcastle to co-design a priority action plan to maintain thriving and sustainable inshore fishing businesses and livelihoods @sussexifca.bsky.social

It would be counter-productive to fell forests and replace them with wind and solar farms. That argument is a false choice distraction....

we just need to get the market conditions and supporting state structures right and resist the objections, lobbying and misinformation from those who still profit from fossil fuels and related industries...

Economics - Angela Francis | National Emergency Briefing YouTube video by The National Emergency Briefing

Clear analysis and briefing on why a transition to net zero makes economic, societal and environmental sense and can provide benefits for all, as well as averting disasterous (and extremely costly) climate collapse,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdVi...

Applying this insight in a HE context:

"a process of ‘socially organized denial’ currently exists within unis, leading academics to experience a state of ‘double reality’ that inhibits feelings of accountability & agency, & this is self-reenforcing through the production of ‘pluralistic ignorance'

... but they are warning bells and the warnings are becoming clearer and louder. When will we start listening to avert this new reality?... recognising that this represents an urgent warning for us all, not just #ForCorals

Frontiers | Incentive diversity is key to the more effective and equitable governance of marine protected areas A target to conserve 30% of oceans by designating marine protected areas (MPAs) has been agreed, yet the effectiveness of existing MPAs is often low, with fe...

It's now evident that #MarineProtectedAreas can help build #ResilienceThroughDiversity but they are neither #NatureBasedSolutions nor #ClimateRefuges www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar... arguably representing #FalseHopeSpots rather than #HopeSpots, due to #LimitsToResilience

We must listen to these warnings of imminent loss of coral reefs, as preludes to loss of other vital ecosystems, such as rain forests, & urgently transition to #NetZero through transformative decarbonisation of our economies & lifestyles including the necessary structural changes to our institutions

Coral reefs are sometimes considered as #CanariesInTheMine, in that they are among the first ecosystems that we risk losing at a global scale as a result of the distal impacts of #GlobalWarming through #ClimateChange

Viewpoint – Ocean plastic pollution: A convenient but distracting truth? Ocean plastic is a contemporary focal point of concern for the marine environment. However, we argue there are bigger issues to address, including cli…

The #OceanOptimism that such well meant initiatives generate is a distraction that actually generates reassuring but dangerous false complacency & #FalseHope www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

‘It was our hope spot’: scientists heartbroken as pristine coral gardens hit by Western Australia’s worst bleaching event Usually alive with colour and fish, Ningaloo reef and the Rowley Showls now look as though they are ‘painted white’ as temperatures rise

.. rather than being #ClimateRefuges or #HopeSpots www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/07/wa-coral-unprecedented-bleaching-event-ningaloo-reef. Nor will #CoralRestoration #CoralGardening genetic engineering, etc be effective to scale & save coral reefs www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02667-x

A governance analysis of Ningaloo and Shark Bay Marine Parks, Western Australia: Putting the ‘eco’ in tourism to build resilience but threatened in long-term by climate change? The governance frameworks for Ningaloo Marine Park (NMP) and Shark Bay Marine Park (SBMP) are explored, employing the MPA governance analysis framewor…

... as we are already seeing that #LimitsToResilience are being breached, as even effectively protected coral reefs, such as the #GreatBarrierReef & #Ningaloo Marine Parks, are now regularly bleaching and potentially in acute decline www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Frontiers | Incentive diversity is key to the more effective and equitable governance of marine protected areas A target to conserve 30% of oceans by designating marine protected areas (MPAs) has been agreed, yet the effectiveness of existing MPAs is often low, with fe...

Effective MPAs can build #ResilienceThroughDiversity, both of species in ecosystems & incentives in governance systems that protect them from proximal impacts doi.org/10.3389/fmar.... However, no amount of local protection from proximal impacts in #MarineProtectedAreas will prevent this global loss,

... but this will become a global loss of #CoralReefs, along with the vital #EcosystemServices, such as food production, coastal defence & tourism, that a billion people depend on.

We have seen this beginning to happen in recent years through well-publicised bleaching episodes eg #GreatBarrierReef, but this will become a global loss of #CoralReefs along with the vital #EcosystemServices such as food production, coastal defence & tourism that a billion people depend on

We have quietly reached the #GlobalTippingPoint where #OceanWarming through #ClimateChange is leading to such regular & widescale #CoralBleaching that #CoralReef ecosystems around the world finally collapse.
icriforum.org/gtp-2025/

‘Self-termination is most likely’: the history and future of societal collapse An epic analysis of 5,000 years of civilisation argues that a global collapse is coming unless inequality is vanquished

BUT, this needn't be a pessimistic analysis as there is a more egalitarian and truly democratic alternative...

'Self-termination is most likely' through the multiple collapse of societal and ecological systems, along with the last desperate efforts of the goliath global elites to retain power and control.....
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Kelp on the seabed

🌏 'Nature-led and science-based.' We believe that our seabed's recovery should be a natural one; allowing it a chance to REWILD in balance with the environmental conditions of that area and without human intervention/active restoration, will result in a more robust and resilient ecosystem recovery.

Pleased to be attending and presenting on #MPAGovernance at the #MPAinMSP conference in beautiful #Bodo. I'm listening intently but the view from the conference room is beautiful....

Scientists Call for Urgent Protection of Deep-Sea Ecosystems Join scientists in calling for immediate action for full implementation of existing commitments to protect deep-sea biodiversity.

Bottom trawling continues to destroy vulnerable marine ecosystems.

95+ scientists have signed a letter calling on States & @UN to fully implement existing commitments to protect seamounts from destructive fishing practices.

Are you a scientist? Add your name ⬇️
@oceanipso.bsky.social

UK Government confirms that sandeel ban in English waters will remain - Ocean and Coastal Futures Ocean and Coastal Futures - We’re all about connecting people – organising events, creating communications and promoting job opportunities.

UK Government confirms that sandeel ban in English waters will remain.

Good news confirming sandeel fishing ban will remain in place now that UK has determined that this is consistent with principle of proportionality, following a recent Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling
www.cmscoms.com?p=44521

The reality rather than the optimistic but unrealistic spin..