Challenges to Transitioning to Transdisciplinary Education in Marine Science

Among the marine sciences, fisheries has been one of the most interdisciplinary—recognizing the essential nature of linking biophysical sciences, to socio-economic considerations, to governing institutions.  By contrast other marine sciences, like oceanography and ecology tended, until recently, to be firmly in the biophysical arena.  But marine sciences as a whole are beginning to experience a shift, long overdue, from disciplinary to interdisciplinary to transdisciplinary approaches.  This shift is driven by increased interests in solving problems in the real world of resource management, marine conservation, policy, and governance. But it is also being driven by graduate students who see the solutions to the problems of the 21^st Century clearly in the broad interdisciplinary or fully transdisciplinary domains.  Here I share my own journey from population and community ecologist to unabashed transdisciplinarian.  But this transition can be stymied by the disciplinary nature of universities, agencies, NGOs and other still caught in the disciplinary world.  If our goal is to achieve sustainability, we must work toward solutions that sustain the biophysical ecosystems and the communities that depend upon them.