Goal 14: Life Below Water

Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources & Security (ANCORS) is the only multidisciplinary university-based centre of its type in the Southern Hemisphere dedicated to delivering specialised research, advisory services, education and training in ocean law and policy, maritime security, and marine resources management.

Professor Quentin Hanich, Fisheries Governance Program Leader from ANCORS co-authored ‘Illuminating Dark Fishing Fleets in North Korea’, a study revealing the largest known case of illegal fishing perpetrated by vessels originating from one country operating in another nation’s waters. The report released in 2020, was an international collaboration with scientists from South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States. It found that more than 900 vessels of Chinese origin in 2017, and 700 in 2018, likely violated UN sanctions by fishing in North Korean waters. The vessels likely caught more than 160,000 metric tons worth over US $440 million in 2017-2018.

The project ‘Strengthening and scaling community-based approaches to Pacific coastal fisheries management in support of the New Song’ has undertaken outreach on sustainable community-based management of coastal fisheries with over 100 local communities in Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Outreach involves community awareness presentations, facilitation of development of community-based fisheries management plans, and training for community monitors to track fisheries catch in select sites with the goal to support adaptive management by communities.

This project aims to ‘take stock’ of the existing state of play in relation to Blue Economy opportunities focusing on five key areas: ocean accounts, spatial mapping, social and cultural values, the governing system and innovation. By exploring the concept of blue economies and creating an optimised example here on the South Coast of NSW the research aims to change the way the world uses its oceans to improve the lives of those dependent on it.

This project explores narratives and visual representations of a Blue Economy. The research aims to use transmedia mapping to draw connections between human engagements with the south coast and the stories, systems, and practices that shape human‐ocean relations locally. The research team is investigating the ways cultural expression such as art and writing represent the ocean and create community, define public and private space, and helps shape the rhetoric and decision-making involving the ocean’s stewardship.