Title: Senior Scientist
Institution: Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Address: 350 Commercial Street, Portland, Maine 04101
Email: ktokunaga@gmri.org
Phone: (207) 228-1696
Research Interests: marine resource economics, ecological economics, coastal ecosystem services, foresighting, transformative change, fisheries, aquaculture
Biographical Sketch:
Dr. Kanae Tokunaga is a Senior Scientist in Coastal and Marine Economics at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI). She applies economic modeling, data science, and interview and survey approaches to study how humans interact with coastal and marine natural resources. Her recent work focuses on understanding climate change impacts and climate-induced adaptation and transformation in fisheries and aquaculture systems and the socioeconomic impacts of offshore wind energy development on coastal communities. Current portfolio includes investigations of distributional consequences of climate changes and application of foresighting in eliciting preferences and evaluating tradeoffs for individuals and communities to invest in climate adaptation and transformation. Her training is in economics, but most of her current work is inter- or transdisciplinary, collaborating with natural and social scientists, fishery and aquaculture stakeholders, and coastal communities. Prior to joining GMRI in 2019, she received a Ph.D. in Economics and Ocean Policy Certificate from the University of Hawaii and worked as a researcher at the University of Tokyo in Japan.