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Introduction
Like other PICES member countries, Canada has a strong interest in ensuring sustainable seafood economies that both preserve important ecological functions and support the livelihoods and communities of Canadians on all three of our coasts. Unfortunately, Canada has not been immune from declines in some seafood species or the socio-cultural and economic drivers and impacts of these problems on Canadians.
In response, integrated management is mandated under Canada's Oceans Act (1996) and is described in detail in Canada's Oceans Strategy (2002). While a promising direction in terms of addressing these linked social-ecological system issues, realizing an ecosystem-based approach to management requires that there be: a) good information, data and analysis and b) willingness and capacity for stakeholders to work collaboratively toward mutually beneficial ecological, social, economic and cultural outcomes.
Compared to natural science information and data, however, there has been less socio-economic information collected and analyzed to inform management processes.1 Moreover, much of the information that does exist for use in resource management planning is about economic activity and economic values. While useful, these data are limited in that they do not represent the full range of values (e.g., those that are 'socio-cultural' in nature) that influence the setting of management objectives or the behaviors that drive social-ecological system change. A focus on economic activity and values paints an incomplete picture of the impact of ocean activities (and management interventions) on human well-being. To address these gaps, we have developed a research program to centre on the holistic concepts of well-being and values.
For us, the term value has a number of meanings, from the theoretical to the practical. In a resource management context, for example, this term is used in a variety of different ways, ranging from describing desired end states or qualities, to the assigned economic value (or price) placed on harvested natural resources, non-market values like the functional value the oceans play in mitigating climate change, or requests to respect and incorporate the 'traditional values' of First Nations into decision-making.2,3 While appealing in conceptual terms, there has been a relative dearth of applied, empirically-based research about individual and community values in the seafood sector.1,4
Well-being is also a broad term, but for us it refers to a holistic, multidimensional aspect...