Robert

Blasiak

PhD

Associate professor, principal researcher

robert.blasiak@su.se

+46 8-16 4217

@BlasiakRobert

RSS-link

Profile summary

  • Ocean governance
  • Peacebuilding
  • Science diplomacy
  • Marine genetic resources
  • Biomimicry
  • Ocean risk and resilience

Robert Blasiak's research focuses on sustainable ocean management, issues surrounding marine genetic resources and biotechnology, and the peacebuilding potential of ocean science collaboration.

Blasiak is associate professor at Stockholm Resilience Centre, where he focuses on the ocean, humanity’s relationship with it, and trends of ocean industrialization. His recent work has dealt with issues surrounding the conservation and equitable use of marine genetic resources and governance of areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Before joining Stockholm Resilience Centre, Robert worked as a researcher in the Laboratory of Global Fisheries Science at the University of Tokyo and a communications officer at the United Nations University. He has previously been a senior research fellow with the Nippon Foundation NEREUS Program, as well as a visiting researcher with the University of Tokyo and the United Nations University.

Blasiak completed his PhD at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, supervised by Professor Nobuyuki Yagi. His PhD thesis was titled “Conservation and sustainable use of the oceans: Strategic behavior and unintended consequences (海洋の保全と持続可能な利用：戦略的行動と意図せざる結果)”.

Blasiak is a member of the Ocean and Climate Platform Scientific Committee, a member of the editorial board of the ICES Journal of Marine Science, and a board member of the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA), the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the Ocean Collective, and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. 

Current funding
  • Swedish Research Council Formas (2020-01048)
  • Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) through the Government of Canada
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
  • David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Supervision
 

Erik Zhivkoplias

PhD

Main supervisor

Per Åding

MSc

Main supervisor

 

Key publications

Blasiak, R., Wynberg, R., Grorud-Colvert, K., Thambisetty, S., Bandarra, N.M., Canario, A.V., da Silva, J., Duarte, C.M., Jaspars, M., Rogers, A., Sink, K. and Wabnitz, C.C.C. 2020. The ocean genome and future prospects for conservation and equity. Nature Sustainability, 3(8), pp.588-596.

Blasiak, R., Kenchington, E., Arrieta, J.M., Bermúdez-Monsalve, J.R., Calumpong, H., Changwei, S., Chiba, S., Dionisi, H., Garcia-Soto, C., Vieira, H. and Wawrik, B., 2021. Developments in the exploration for and use of marine genetic resources. World Ocean Assessment II. United Nations.

Blasiak, R., Dauriach, A., Jouffray, J. B., Folke, C., Österblom, H., Bebbington, J., ... & Crona, B. (2021). Evolving Perspectives of Stewardship in the Seafood Industry. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, 676.

Claudet, J., Amon, D.J. and Blasiak, R., 2021. Transformational opportunities for an equitable ocean commons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(42).

Blasiak, R., Jouffray, J.B., Wabnitz, C.C., Sundström, E. and Österblom, H., 2018. Corporate control and global governance of marine genetic resources. Science advances, 4(6), p.eaar5237.

Publications by Blasiak, Robert

Leveraging port state measures to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

Journal / article | 2025

Jim Leape, Bronwen Golder, Richard Barnes, Jean-Baptiste Jouffray, Dawn Borg-Costanzi, Jessica L Decker Sparks, Jaeyoon Park, Robert Blasiak, Elizabeth R Selig, Shinnosuke Nakayama, Colette C.C. Wabnitz. 2025. Leveraging port state measures to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Science Advances. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads1592

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing threatens the sustainability of fisheries and communities dependent on them. The Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) is a key tool for combatting IUU fishing by foreign fleets, requiring standardized inspections, information sharing, and port denial. Using satellite data, we characterized how PSMA has affected high seas vessel behavior and identify opportunities to strengthen...

Identifying and closing gaps in corporate reporting of ocean impacts

Journal / article | 2025

J.-B. Jouffray, J. Virdin, J. Bebbington, R. Blasiak, A. Dunchus, M. Lo Presti, J. Pare, D. Prosi, J. P. Quintero, R. Rosenthal, P. Tortora, D. Vermeer. 2025. Identifying and closing gaps in corporate reporting of ocean impacts. Nature Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01631-8

As ocean industrialization accelerates, corporate transparency is increasingly seen as critical to improve governance, yet little is known about how firms disclose their impacts on marine ecosystems. This study addresses that gap through a content analysis of sustainability and annual reports from 75 of the largest companies across 8 sectors of the ocean economy. We examine which impacts are reported, how they are measured and...

Leveraging port state measures to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing

Journal / article | 2025

Elizabeth R. Selig, Colette C. C. Wabnitz, Shinnosuke Nakayama, Jaeyoon Park, Richard Barnes, Robert Blasiak, Dawn Borg-Costanzi, Bronwen Golder, Jean-Baptiste Jouffray, Jim Leape, Jessica L. Decker Sparks. 2025. Leveraging port state measures to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Science Advances. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads1592

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing threatens the sustainability of fisheries and communities dependent on them. The Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) is a key tool for combatting IUU fishing by foreign fleets, requiring standardized inspections, information sharing, and port denial. Using satellite data, we characterized how PSMA has affected high seas vessel behavior and identify opportunities to strengthen...

Exploring evidence of cascading change towards stewardship in the Japanese seafood industry

Journal / article | 2025

Shun Kageyama, Madlen Sobkowiak, Henrik Österblom, Robert Blasiak. 2025. Exploring evidence of cascading change towards stewardship in the Japanese seafood industry. Marine Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2025.106626

There is a growing global demand for a more sustainable seafood industry, and pre-competitive initiatives have emerged on multiple continents to meet this demand. Such initiatives could have “cascading effects,” suggesting that their impacts may extend beyond their direct participants to effect broader, industry-wide change. To date, little research has been conducted to determine whether pre-competitive initiatives are trigge...