'Global warming will make us reimagine distances'

Larry Crowder teaches marine ecology and conservation at Stanford University. He tells Times Evoke about geography during the Anthropocene

As a marine ecologist, the central core of my research is developing new understandings of how highly mobile animals use the ocean and applying that knowledge to enhancing marine conservation. Some of my work has been on mobile marine protected areas (MPAs). The idea of protected areas has been around for decades, with many nations creating MPAs along their exclusive economic zones. But while researching pelagic organisms like sharks, tuna, sea birds and turtles, we found static MPAs don’t work so well for these animals. A coral reef sits still, so drawing a protected area around it makes sense. But these animals are very mobile, both within and beyond countries’ economic zones, journeying vast distances — to save them from industrial liners, fishing trawlers, etc., we need protected areas that can also move. We’ve termed the science underlying this ‘dynamic ocean management’. This entails being keenly aware of these animals’ routes, studying where species congregate and migrate to.