Building bridges in ocean management

This issue of the Marine Affairs Technical Series is a compilation of four papers that were presented during the Sustainable Oceans Conference 2013: Building Bridges in Ocean Management. The conference was held April 12th and 13th at Dalhousie University, hosted by the Master of Marine Management class of 2013 and acted as a key activity for the Sobey Fund for Oceans. The overarching theme for the conference was "connecting the science, policy and public spheres" and aimed to create a platform of cross-sectoral dialogue between government and industry representatives, local citizens, scientists, non-profit organizations, and students. The four papers included herein represent a snapshot of the work that was presented during the oral and poster presentation series, which provided an opportunity for students at both the graduate and undergraduate level to present their work as it related to building bridges in ocean management. The presentations were focused on three thematic areas: responsible industry practices, stakeholder engagement and public participation, and communicating information for effective ocean governance. Each paper skilfully addresses a unique ocean management issue and together they highlight the diverse array of topics that were addressed during the sessions. Two of the four papers - An Integrated Analysis of The Expansion of Salmon Farming on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia by Avdic et al. and Understanding the Science-Policy Interface: Measuring Use and Influence of Information in Policy Making by Suzuette Soomai - received awards for their quality and distinctiveness at the conference.