Takeaways From “A Sustainable Blue Economy for a Healthy & Resilient Ocean”

On March 10, 2022, the SOI Foundation hosted a workshop titled A Sustainable Blue Economy for a Healthy & Resilient Ocean with guest speakers Ken Paul and Ronnie Noonan Birch as part of the UN Ocean Decade Laboratory.

We were joined by people across the world, from New Zealand to Iqaluit. 

Ken Paul is a member of the Wolastoqey First Nation in the community of Neqotkuk whose traditional territory is located on the North Atlantic coast spanning the Canada/US border between Maine, New Brunswick and Quebec. Over the past 9 years, Ken held the positions as National Fisheries Director with the Assembly of First Nations and the Regional Fisheries Director for Atlantic First Nations. He has worked regionally, nationally and internationally on all aspects relating to fisheries, aquaculture, oceans governance and aquatic resources as they relate to inherent and treaty rights, negotiations, legislation, and policy. This includes Indigenous Knowledge Systems, economic prosperity, community engagement and resource management. Ken has an MBA with St Mary’s University and a BSc from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and is a proud and dedicated father of two.

Ronnie Noonan-Birch is currently pursuing her Master’s in Environmental Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, N.S., to find out how the Blue Economy can be better utilized in Canada. Specifically, to develop a framework that will help decision makers distinguish the blue economy as a sustainable alternative to the regular ocean economy. She looks to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Blue Economy as a framework that will lead to meaningful solutions.

Watch the video below to get the key takeaways from the event.