Science, Information, and Policy Interface for Effective Coastal and Ocean Management (PDF)

Bertrum H. MacDonald is professor of information management in the School of Information Management and dean of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He holds a PhD and MLS in information science. His research investigates the dissemination and use of scientific information in historical and contemporary contexts. He is particularly interested in interdisciplinary research which led to the launch of the Environmental Information: Use and Influence research program at Dalhousie University. Since the mid-2000s, he and his research colleagues, along with a multidisciplinary team of students, have pursued research about information activities at the science-policy interface in marine management in collaboration with provincial, national, and international governmental and intergovernmental organizations. He has held a Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, won the international Grey Net Award with his Dalhousie colleagues, and was awarded the Marie Tremaine Medal, the highest honour of the Bibliographical Society of Canada. In addition to administrative leadership at Dalhousie University, he is currently serving in executive positions with local, national, and international associations.

Suzuette S. Soomai is a postdoctoral fellow with the Environmental Information: Use and Influence (EIUI) research program. Her research focuses on the role of scientific information in policy- and decision-making for marine fisheries management. She holds an interdisciplinary PhD and a master's degree in marine management from Dalhousie University. Prior to joining EIUI, she was a government fisheries scientist in Trinidad and Tobago, where she worked closely with the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism and the Food and Agriculture Organization. She has published extensively in the technical report series of these organizations. She has also worked with the fishing industry in a range