Post

Almost every ocean science paper has one. A sentence, or sometimes a whole paragraph, near the end stating that the findings have important implications for policy or management. Image credit: Thomas Lohmann (Unsplash)

The research probably does have implications, but more often than not, what those implications are for policy isn’t made explicit.

Researchers aren’t always sure how far they can go in drawing policy conclusions without overstepping. Vagueness becomes a form of caution. Better to imply relevance than to assert it and risk being wrong. The problem is that vague implications aren’t really implications at all.