The University of Western Brittany (UBO) is a multidisciplinary university in Brest, France. Within UBO, the research group UMR AMURE - Centre for the law and economics of sea (www.umr-amure.fr) was established in january 2008 by association of the Maritime Economics Department of Ifremer (www.ifremer.fr) and the Centre for the Law and Economics of the Sea of the University of Western Brittany, Brest, France (www.univ-brest.fr), two research units that have more than 30 years of existence.

Focus of the research group is the study of economic and legal dimensions of public policies related to maritime activities, the use of resources and ecosystem preservation in marine and coastal areas. The research group is a member of the European Institute of Marine Studies (www.univ-brest.fr/IUEM/), the main component of the center of excellence Labex MER.

Bringing together a group of more than 70 researchers, engineers, post-doctoral researchers and doctoral students in economics and law, AMURE is one of the main French and European research training centers on marine policy issues relating to the sustainable development of maritime and coastal activities and areas. The group’s activity is conducted in an inter-disciplinary perspective in marine sciences, as part of the excellence in research of the Labex-Mer. AMURE has a long experience in a multidisciplinary cooperation with natural and others social sciences under international and national projects. AMURE host an International Chair of Excellence funded by the Labex MER.

Principal Investigator:

Linwood Pendleton is the International Chair of Excellence and the Director of the Marine Ecosystem Services Partnership. He is also Senior Scholar at Duke University and was formerly the Chief Economist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Dr. Pendleton currently is on the steering committee for the international Mapping Ocean Wealth project and the VALMER project (INTER-REG project to value English Channel marine ecosystem services).
In Ecopotential, he is involved in all matters of the social and economic sciences of marine and coastal ecosystem services (WP2, WP6, WP7, WP8).