Faculty of Law announcement
Associate Professor Joanna Mossop and Dr Ruby Moynihan-Magsig have been awarded a Marsden Grant in this year’s Te Pūtea Rangahau a Marsden.
Valued at $660,000 over three years, their project is “Reimagining ocean law to achieve equitable and sustainable use of marine ecosystems ”.
Their project explores the unprecedented crisis that marine ecosystems and biodiversity are facing. The international legal architecture for ocean governance is failing because its jurisdictional structures and substantive rules are not aligned with the natural reality of ocean systems and do not distribute the benefits of ocean resources in an equitable way. This research investigates how to transform ocean law by challenging accepted paradigms, goals, and values of ocean law with the aim of constructing a new vision and approach to its development.
Their research will address both national and international ocean law, drawing on progressive legal concepts found in other areas of law as well as legal traditions and critical perspectives that have largely been excluded from mainstream ocean law discourse. These concepts will be applied to three thematic areas: fishing, marine protected areas, and the negotiations for a new treaty for marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
Associate Professor Mossop has been researching in the law of the sea for over 18 years and is well known for her scholarship on a range of ocean issues as well as her award-winning book, The Continental Shelf beyond 200 Nautical Miles. Dr Magsig will join the Faculty of Law as a senior researcher after a decade abroad working on international and national environmental law and human rights issues for universities and various United Nations organisations, most recently University College Cork in Ireland. Ruby will also lead the Oceans/Fisheries Portfolio at the New Zealand Government Department of Conservation as a senior international adviser providing collaborative opportunities between academia and government throughout the project.
Dr Magsig and Associate Professor Mossop will work together with a team of world-renowned international experts and institutions. These include prominent ocean experts such as Professor Richard Barnes at the University of Lincoln (Associate Investigator), the One Ocean Hub in Glasgow, and the Arctic University in Norway. They will also work closely with experts in Aotearoa and the Pacific, particular concerning Indigenous peoples’ rights and approaches to governing marine ecosystems.
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