Borderless Ocean Sustainability Science

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) is co-designing a new concept: Borderless Ocean Sustainability Science – an interdisciplinary systems thinking and open innovation approach for accelerating decision-making on action required to tackle ocean problems in Australia and beyond.

Climate change is warming Australia’s oceans faster than ever before.  In 2024, scientists from the AIMS’ Long Term Monitoring Program (LTMP) recorded the largest annual decline (in AIMS’ 39-years of monitoring) for hard coral cover - percentage of live coral on the reef surface - in sections of the Great Barrier Reef.

AIMS is working with indigenous communities and industry to find new ways to measure the efficacy of marine science policy.  The approach is based on rewarding good ocean governance, to understand why strategies that cut across a range of habitats, species and sectors, succeed or fail.

Australia’s oceans, like so many worldwide, face unprecedented pressure from biodiversity loss, climate change, geo-political instability, pollution, population growth and wealth inequality. Yet, tropical oceans remain under sampled and under measured relative to other parts of the earth such as the atmosphere. This lack of data makes it harder to answer important scientific questions and develop effective strategies for managing marine resources sustainably.

This presentation will share case studies to illustrate how AIMS is working with strategic partners and end-users of its marine science and marine technology innovations, to inform sustainable management, science diplomacy and science-informed policy of ocean use.

Data collection is often divided into narrow categories (e.g., coastal vs. offshore, shallow vs. deep) and at different levels (e.g., species or habitat type), without considering the broader, long-term impacts needed for effective management and policy.  AIMS is investing in applying systems thinking and open innovation through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research methods so that its scientific knowledge addresses complex marine ecosystem issues such as coral bleaching and the effects of cyclones and excess rainfall on sedimentation and reduced water quality over large areas. 

This paper highlights how AIMS' investment in its Indigenous Partnership team helps combine scientific evidence with Indigenous knowledge. We recognise that local perceptions influence attitudes and in turn behaviours, such as choosing to comply or break regulatory or unwritten rules of sea country. The examples shared demonstrate the impact of inclusive collaboration in ocean science on partnerships between industry, policy and society when using good governance in a warming world.