Paul Foley

Professor (on sabbatical, September 2026 to August 2027)

Office: FC 2026

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 709-639-2771

Dr. Paul Foley is a Professor at the Environmental Policy Institute in the School of Science and the Environment at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Grenfell Campus. He received a PhD in Political Science in 2012 from York University after receiving an MA in International Development from Dalhousie University and a BA (Honours) in History from Memorial University. His training is situated primarily in social science fields of political economy and political ecology, while his research is built on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration. His applied research supports interdisciplinary and integrated approaches to fisheries, coastal and ocean research and sustainability across ecological, economic, social and governance dimensions. He co-edited (with Jennifer J. Silver) the Routledge Handbook of Critical Ocean Studies (Taylor & Francis, 2025) and has published widely on the political economy and political ecology of fisheries governance, interdisciplinary approaches to fisheries assessment, coastal infrastructure, and rural development. He is currently co-principal investigator on the Ocean Frontier Institute’s Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures (FOCI) research project.

Education

  • PhD, Political Science, York University (2012)
  • MA, International Development Studies, Dalhousie University (2006)
  • BA (Hons) (First Class), History, Memorial University (2005)

Research Interests

  • Examining marine policy and governance in a context of climate change
  • Understanding impacts of international treaties on domestic marine policy
  • Assessing the role of commercial fisheries in coastal community development
  • Supporting coastal community adaptation to climate change
  • Assessing the relationship between offshore wind development and rural ports
  • Understanding the future of rural harbours in a changing world
  • Integrated sustainability assessments
  • Participatory foresighting

Projects

  • Co-principal investigator, Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures (FOCI), Ocean Frontier Institute
  • Co-investigator, Informing Governance Responses in a Changing World, Ocean Frontier Institute

Teaching

Examples of Recent Courses Taught:

  • Environmental Policy 6003: Environmental Political Thought
  • Environmental Policy 6000: Foundations of Environmental Policy and Administration

Selected Publications

  • Burbano, D. V., Foley, P., Adjei, M., & Wiber, M. G. (2026). Exploring social dimensions of sustainability: A review of lobster fisheries research in Atlantic Canada. Marine Policy, 194, 107270.
  • Jarre, A., Murray, G., Neis, B., Perry, R.I., Duggan, G.L., Foley, P., Gammage, L.C., Haggan, N., Hall, P., Hill, C. and Paterson, B. (2026). Rosemary E. Ommer’s multi-generational contributions to marine social-ecological systems thinking. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 83(7), p.fsag126.
  • Foley, P. and Silver, J. (Eds.). 2025. The Routledge Handbook of Critical Ocean Studies. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Silver, J. and Foley. P. 2025. Introduction: What is critical ocean studies? In P. Foley and J. Silver (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Critical Ocean Studies. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Foley. P. 2025. Critical ocean studies outside the academy: Challenges and opportunities for policy engagement. In P. Foley and J. Silver (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Critical Ocean Studies. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Foley, P., Lorenzo Moro, Barbara Neis, Robert Stephenson, Robert Mellin, Gerald Singh, Pamela Hall, Rachel Kelly, and Umme Kulsum. 2024. Expanding infrastructure ontologies: Integrative and critical insights for coastal studies and governance. Coastal Studies & Society, Vol. 3(4), pp. 203-226. DOI: 10.1177/26349817241282440.
  • Nyiawung, R. A., & Foley, P. 2024. Southern responses to Northern-led sustainability certification: Promoting and hindering new fisheries governance in The Gambia, West Africa. Ocean & Coastal Management, 248, 106962.
  • Andrews, E., Chuenpagdee, R., Stanley, N.D., Neis, B., Foley, P., Command, R.JJ., Saul, L. 2022. Thirty Years from the brink: Governing through principles for small-scale fisheries since the groundfish moratoria and prospects for the future. Ocean Yearbook Online (Brill Nijhoff) 36(1): 237-267.
  • Foley, P. 2022. Proximity politics in a changing ocean. Maritime Studies, 21(1): 53-64.
  • Parlee, C., & Foley, P. 2022. Neo-liberal or not? Creeping enclosures and openings in the making of fisheries governance. Maritime Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-021-00255-w.
  • Kelly, R., Foley, P., Stephenson, R.L., Hobday, A.J., Pecl, G.T., Boschetti, F., Cvitanovic, C., Fleming, A., Fulton, E.A., Nash, K.L. and Neis, B., 2022. Foresighting future oceans: Considerations and opportunities. Marine Policy, 140, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105021
  • Parlee, C., Foley, P., Gómez, M.A.L., Miah, M.R., Mather, C., Stephenson, R. 2021. Full spectrum sustainability and a theory of access: integrating social benefits into fisheries governance. Marine Policy, 134 (December): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104764
  • Nyiawung, R., Raj, A., & Foley, P. 2021. The Marine Stewardship Council in developing countries: Certifiability and beyond in Kerala, India and The Gambia, West Africa. Marine Policy, 129 (July): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104526
  • Foley, P., Pinkerton, E., Wiber, M., Stephenson, R.L. (2020). Full spectrum sustainability: an alternative to fisheries management panaceas. Ecology & Society, 25(2):1.
  • Foley, P. (2019). A Coxian perspective on transnational business governance proliferation: counter-hegemonic movements in fisheries. In S. Wood, K.W. Abbott, E. Meidinger, B. Eberlein, & R. Schmidt (Eds.). Transnational Business Governance Interactions: Empowering Marginalized Actors and Enhancing Regulatory Quality. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Foley, P. (2019). Social-ecological reproduction and the substance of life in commodity frontiers: Newfoundland fisheries in world market shifts, Capital & Class, 43(4): 543-560.
  • Foley, P., & Mather, C. (2019). Ocean grabbing, terraqueous territoriality and social development. Territory, Politics, Governance, 7(3): 297-315.
  • Carruthers, E., Parlee, C.E., Keenan, R., & Foley, P. (2019). Onshore benefits from fishing: tracking value from the northern shrimp fishery to communities in Newfoundland and Labrador. Marine Policy, 103, 130-137.
  • Stephenson, R., Wiber, M., Allain, M., Paul, S., Angel, E., Benson, A., Charles, T., Chouinard, O., Clemens, M., Edwards, D., Foley, P., Lane, D., McIsaac, J., Neis, B., Parlee, C., Pinkerton, E., Saunders, M., Squires, K., & Sumaila, R. (2019). Integrating diverse objectives for sustainable fisheries in Canada. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 76(3): 480-496.
  • Foley, P., Mather, C., Dawe, N., & Snook, J. (2018). Creative and constrained hybridizations in subarctic Inuit communities: communal fishery development in Nunatsiavut, Canada. In C.P Heidkamp & J. Morissey (Eds.). Towards Coastal Resilience and Sustainability. Routledge.
  • Foley, P., & Mather, C. (2018). Bringing seafood into food regime analysis: the global political economy of Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries. In C. Keske (Ed.). Food Futures: Growing a Sustainable Food System for Newfoundland and Labrador. John’s: ISER Books.
  • Foley, P., Okyere, D., & Mather, C. (2018). “Alternative environmentalities: recasting the assessment of Canada’s first MSC-certified fishery in social terms. Ecology & Society, 23(3): 37.
  • Epstein, G., Andrews, E., Brushett, R., Armitage, D., Foley, P., & Pittman, J. (2018). Human dimensions of eco-system-based management: Lessons in managing trade-offs from the northern shrimp fishery in Northern Peninsula, Newfoundland. Marine Policy, 97, 10-17.
  • Stephenson, R., Paul, S., Wiber, M., Allain, M., Angel, E., Benson, A., Charles, T., Clemens, M., Edwards, D., Foley, P., Jennings, L., Jones, O., Lane, D., McIsaac, J., Mussells, C., Neis, B., Nordstrom, B., Parlee, C., Pinkerton, E., Saunders, M., & Squires, K. (2018). Evaluating and implementing social-ecological systems: a comprehensive approach to sustainable fisheries. Fish and Fisheries, 19(5), 853-873.
  • Bennett, N., Kaplan-Hallam, M., Augustine, G., Ban, N., Belhabib, D., Brueckner-Irwin, I., Charles, T., Couture, J., Eger, S., Fanning, L., Foley, P., Goodfellow, A. M., Harper, S., Greba, L., Gregr, E., Hall, D., Maloney, B., McIsaac, J., Ou, W., Pinkerton, E., Porter, D., Satterfield, T., Sparrow, R., Stephenson, R., Stocks, A., Sumaila, R., Sutcliffe, T., & Bailey, M. (2018). Coastal and Indigenous community access to fisheries and the ocean: a policy challenge and imperative for Canada. Marine Policy, 87, 186-193.
  • Foley, P. (2017). The territorialization of transnational sustainability governance: production, power, and globalization in Iceland’s fisheries. Environmental Politics, 26(5), 915-937.
  • Foley, P., & Havice, E. (2016). The rise of territorial eco-certification: new politics of transnational sustainability governance in the fisheries sector. Geoforum, 69, 24-33. (Open access)
  • Foley, P., & Mather, C. (2016). Making space for community use rights: insights from “community economies” in Newfoundland and Labrador. Society and Natural Resources, 29(8), 965-980. (Open Access)
  • Foley, P., Mather, C., & Neis, B. (2015). Governing enclosure for coastal communities: social embeddedness in a Canadian shrimp fishery. Marine Policy, 61, 390-400.
  • Foley, P., & McCay, B. (2014). Certifying the commons: eco-certification, privatization and collective action. Ecology and Society, 19(2), 28.
  • Foley, P., & Hébert, K. (2013). Alternative regimes of transnational environmental certification: governance, marketization, and place in Alaska’s salmon fisheries. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 45(11), 2734-2751.
  • Foley, P. (2013). National government responses to Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) fisheries certification: insights from Atlantic Canada. New Political Economy, 18(2), 284-307.
  • Foley, P. (2012). The political economy of Marine Stewardship Council Certification: processors and access in Newfoundland and Labrador’s inshore shrimp industry. Journal of Agrarian Change, 12(2&3), 436-57.