Communicating about Infectious Marine Disease
Working in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of researchers under the auspices of the NSF-funded Research Coordination Network on Evaluating the Impacts of a Changing Ocean on Management and Ecology of Infectious Marine Disease, this research examines ways to integrate risk perception and risk communication research into marine ecosystem management. The underlying premise is that intervention efforts must consider how individuals, communities, and societies value a healthy marine environment and weigh the risks and benefits of action versus inaction in the context of climate change.
Collecting data in the San Juan Islands
Using I-Pads to collect data from ferry passengers
Presentation at 2019 SRA Annual Meeting
Selected Publications and Presentations
- Balog-Way, DHP, McComas, K, & Harvell, D. (2019, December). Out of sight, out of mind: towards a strategic approach to ocean health communication. Presented at the Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, Crystal City, VA.
- Balog-Way, D.H.P. & McComas, K.A. (2019) Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Towards a Strategic Approach to Ocean Health Communication. Workshop on State-of-the-Art Risk Communication, Deià, Mallorca, Spain, June 17-18.
- Schuldt JP, McComas KA, Byrne SE. (2016) Communicating about ocean health: theoretical and practical considerations. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371, 20150214 doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0214.
- McComas, K. A., Schuldt, J., Burge, C., & Roh, S. (2015). Communicating about marine disease: The effects of message frames on policy support. Marine Policy, 57, 45 – 52. doi: 10.1016/j.marpol.2015.02.012
Reviving Oysters in New York Harbor
Center to coastal restoration, restoring oyster beds in the closed waters of the Hudson-Raritan estuaries has been slow due in part to regulatory barriers regarding public health risks. As part of a larger team that examines the feasibility of restoring oysters in these areas, we examine risk perceptions and communication about this topic. Funding was provided by the Cornell Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.
Selected Publications and Presentations:
- Holley, J.R. (2019, December). Cycles of media attention, narrative themes, and institutional change: the evolution of oysters from risk objects to catalysts of environmental initiatives. Presented at the Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, Crystal City, VA.
- Holley, J., McComas, K. A., & Hare, M. P. (2018). Troubled Waters: Risk Perception and the Case of Oyster Restoration in the Closed Waters of the Hudson-Raritan Estuary. Marine Policy. 91:104-112.
