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Transnational Corporations as ‘Keystone Actors’ in Marine Ecosystems
Open accessAbstract
Keystone species have a disproportionate influence on the structure and function of ecosystems. Here we analyze whether a keystone-like pattern can be observed in the relationship between transnational corporations and marine ecosystems globally. We show how thirteen corporations control 11-16% of the global marine catch (9-13 million tons) and 19-40% of the largest and most valuable stocks, including species that play important roles in their respective ecosystem. They dominate all segments of seafood production, operate through an extensive global network of subsidiaries and are profoundly involved in fisheries and aquaculture decision-making. Based on our findings, we define these companies as keystone actors of the Anthropocene. The phenomenon of keystone actors represents an increasingly important feature of the human-dominated world. Sustainable leadership by keystone actors could result in cascading effects throughout the entire seafood industry and enable a critical transition towards improved management of marine living resources and ecosystems.
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“A handful of transnational corporations control large (>50%) shares of supply chains in agriculture, fishing, logging, and mining ( 71 , 72 )”
From Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change (2019) · cites this paper as [71]
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“whereas funds channeled through tax havens support most illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing ( 71 , 73 ), creating governance challenges.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Österblom, H., Jouffray, J.-B., Folke, C., Crona, B., Troell, M., Merrie, A., & Rockström, J.
- Affiliations
- Stockholm Resilience Centre (SE)
- Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Österblom, Henrik
- Jouffray, Jean-Baptiste
- Folke, Carl
- Crona, Beatrice
- Troell, Max
- Merrie, Andrew
- Rockström, Johan
- ORCID
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2015-05-27
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e0127533
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4446349
- OpenAlex
- W1560630840
- Cited by
- 276
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 15.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Marine and fisheries research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Coastal and Marine Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Coastal Fisheries and Human Impacts
- Keywords
- multinational corporations, marine ecosystems, seafood production, fisheries, aquaculture, subsidiaries, fish stocks, Anthropocene, sustainable leadership, marine resource management
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Fisheries, Industry, Oceans and Seas, Professional Corporations, Ecosystem, Aquaculture, Internationality, Ecological and Environmental Phenomena, Policy
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