Marine Social Science for the Peopled Seas

Coastal communities, indigenous peoples, and small-scale fishers rely on the ocean for livelihoods, for subsistence, for wellbeing and for cultural continuity. Thus, understanding the human dimensions of the world’s peopled seas and coasts is fundamental to evidence-based decision-making across marine policy realms, including marine conservation, marine spatial planning, fisheries management, the blue economy and climate adaptation. This perspective article contends that the marine social sciences must inform the pursuit of sustainable oceans. To this end, the article introduces this burgeoning field and briefly reviews the insights that social science can offer to guide ocean and coastal policy and management. The upcoming United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) provides a tremendous opportunity to build on the current interest, need for and momentum in the marine social sciences. We will be missing the boat if the marine social sciences do not form an integral and substantial part of the mandate and investments of this global ocean science for sustainability initiative.     

A Practice-Based Coupling of the Precautionary Principle to the Large Marine Ecosystem Fisheries Management Concept with a Policy Orientation: The Northeast United States Continental Shelf as a Case Example

This article addresses interdisciplinary sustainable aspects of fisheries as part of ocean management. Human-caused impacts and their role as modifiers of living marine resources is discussed. The research note also theorizes about contemporary global change and its prospective biological consequences, especially when coupled with human-induced factors in coastal marine waters. Also addressed is the management and ecological aspects of fish stock populations as part of a large marine ecosystem (LME) in the Northeast United States continental shelf of the Atlantic Ocean with suggestions for an interdisciplinary policy orientation paradigm to foster the sustainability of marine life in the sea.     

对接国家战略 推进上海海洋工程产业创新发展

21世纪是海洋的世纪,加快海洋资源开发和利用成为世界各主要海洋国家发展的战略取向,开发和利用海洋油气资源特别是深海油气资源已作为国家的重要战略举措之一。为对接"发展海洋经济,建设海洋强国"的国家战略,上海市船舶与海洋工程学会在分析和研判海洋工程产业国内外发展现状与趋势的基础上,深刻剖析了上海海洋工程产业现状与基础、优势与问题,探讨其产业转型升级可能产生的影响及带来的机遇。提出了推进上海海洋工程产业升级发展总体思路、目标与原则,优先部署海洋工程重点发展的方向与项目,推动海洋工程产业领域发展的对策和建议。     

In Political Seas: Engaging with Political Ecology in the Ocean and Coastal Environment

The world’s oceans and coasts are awash in a sea of politics. The marine environment is increasingly busy, changing, and a site of degradation, marginalization, injustice, contestation and conflict over declining resources and occupied spaces at local to global scales. Themes of political ecology, such as power and politics, narratives and knowledge, scale and history, environmental justice and equity, are thus salient issues to understand in ocean and coastal governance and management. This subject review examines research on these themes of political ecology in the ocean and coastal environment and reflects on how the insights gained might be applied to governance and management. Political ecology provides important insights into: the influence of power in ocean management and governance processes; the manner in which narratives, knowledge, and scale are used to legitimize and shape policies and management efforts; the effects of historical trajectories on present circumstances, options, and practices; and the nature of inequities and environmental injustices that can occur in the marine environment. Moreover, ocean and coastal researchers, practitioners, and decision makers ought to engage with the political processes and injustices occurring in the ocean. Moving from critical insights to constructive engagements will ensure that political ecology helps to plant seeds of hope in the Anthropocene ocean.     

Public Perception of Ocean Governance and Marine Resources Management in Taiwan

Understanding public perception of the oceans, and relationship between society and the sea is an important key to the sustainable management of marine resources. This research reports the first population-based survey on Taiwanese public knowledge, attitudes, and actions on marine-related issues. The stratified random sampling by county was completed with 1,120 telephone respondents from October to December 2010. More than 60% of the respondents have heard about global warming, sea-level rising, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the coral reef bleaching crisis, and Japan whaling fisheries. However, less than 20% of the respondents are aware of Taiwanese domestic marine policies, such as the Ocean White Paper. On resources conservation, 74.7% of the respondents support the bluefin tuna catches regulations and 76.6% agree that the shark fin fisheries will impact shark resources. Education and age are the major affecting variables for resource conservation and knowledge. Higher education and age 40–49 are most supportive of conservation measures. For marine recreational activities, 42.2% of the respondents can swim, and 44.2% of the respondents had not visited the beach in the previous year. The results suggest that the government could establish a specialized agency to strengthen its marine policy and take more actions to protect ocean environment and conserve marine resources. To encourage more Taiwanese to participate in ocean recreational activities, the government could build a safe facility for marine recreation, cooperate with the private sectors in education, and provide outreach to raise public awareness of the oceans.     

Arctic shipping scenarios and coastal state challenges

The Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum of the eight Arctic states, is currently embarked on a comprehensive assessment of Arctic marine activity in the 21^st century — the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA). One of the challenges for theAMSA study team has been to identify the major uncertainties that will be central to shaping the future of Arctic marine use in 2020 and 2050. Using scenario planning, AMSA has identified two primary drivers and uncertainties: (A) Resources and trade; and, (B) Governance. Four scenario narratives have been developed with these two, key uncertainties as the framework elements. The main arguments focus on the fact the Arctic has experienced globalization early in the century and that the global maritime industry has already ventured into the Arctic Ocean. Marine access in the Arctic Ocean is also changing in unprecedented ways and the extraordinary transformation Arctic sea ice is undergoing — thinning, extent reduction, and a reduction in the area of multiyear ice in the central ocean — has significant implications for longer seasons of navigation. However, the high prices of global commodities such as oil, gas, and hard minerals (for example, copper, nickel and zinc) have generated high levels of demand for Arctic natural resources. The Arctic states are challenged by an overall lack of maritime infrastructure to adequately support current and future levels of Arctic marine operations; ports, communications, environmental monitoring, search & rescue, incident response, aids to navigation, and coastal charting, to name a few, require substantial and timely investment by the coastal states and marine operators. A second challenge is the ongoing development of an integrated system of rules and regulations governing Arctic navigation that will enhance marine safety and ensure marine environmental protection throughout the basin. These challenges will require historic levels of cooperation among the Arctic states and broad engagement with the many, non-Arctic stakeholders and actors within the global maritime industry.     

A Bayesian Methodology for Estimating the Impacts of Improved Coastal Ocean Information on the Marine Recreational Fishing Industry

The study develops a model of recreational fish catch probabilities, based on angler fishing strategies, that is conditional on uncertain information about the coastal ocean environment. We calculate expected catch based on a hypothetical Baseline Data Set and hypothetical data from an Integrated Ocean Observation System (IOOS) to demonstrate potential benefits from IOOS. The role of Bayesian probabilities in Random Utility Models of recreational fishing is identified. The study discusses the types of information that will be required by recreational anglers in the Gulf of Mexico. Results have implications for the construction of ocean observation systems for recreational fishermen.     

Estimating the Economic Benefits of Regional Ocean Observing Systems

This article introduces a theme issue of the Coastal Management Journal comprising a set of articles on the potential economic benefits from new investments in coastal ocean observing systems. We describe a methodology to estimate these benefits, and apply this methodology to generate preliminary estimates of such benefits. The approach focuses on coastal ocean observing information within ten geographic regions encompassing all coastal waters of the United States, and within a wide range of industrial and recreational activities including recreational fishing and boating, beach recreation, maritime transportation, search and rescue operations, spill response, marine hazards prediction, offshore energy, power generation, and commercial fishing. Our findings suggest that annual benefits to users are likely to run in the multiple $100s of millions of dollars. The project results should be considered first-order estimates that are subject to considerable refinement as the parameters of regional observing systems are better defined, and as our understanding of user sectors improves.     

Cost and User Profile of a Coastal Ocean Observing System

Fundamental to sustaining the financial support of a coastal ocean observing system is an intimate knowledge of users and their decision-making processes in order to maximize the worth of ocean observations to them. This article explores the evolving mission of GoMOOS (the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System), its costs of providing near real-time observations and observing products, possible methods to assess the benefits of an ocean observing system, and a method for indexing the importance—and thus, potentially, the economic value—that users attach to these observations and products.     

Spatial Information Infrastructure for Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management in Canada

Access to current, comprehensive, and reliable spatial information is necessary for informed decision making in integrated coastal and ocean management. This need is being met through development of a marine spatial information infrastructure that encompasses both technological and institutional responses. This article traces Canada's experience in developing a marine spatial information infrastructure over the last 30 years starting with the compilation of coastal atlases, through the development of geographic information systems, to remote data acquisition instruments and Web mapping portals. Because of the plethora of initiatives, it has been essential to be selected and limit the number and choice of examples. The institutional response has lagged behind that of technological innovation and hinges on understanding users’ needs and decision support drivers, sustainability of institutional and individual champions, and, above all, cooperation and collaboration among the broad community of practice.     

Factors Influencing Environmentally Responsible Behavior among Coastal Recreationists

Abstract

An increasing threat to the marine environment is the presence of debris in the ocean, which is predominantly a result of land-based sources and increasing use of single-use packaging items. To begin reducing the amount of debris entering the ocean, human behavior must be addressed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how coastal recreationists behave towards the environment and whether their participation in recreation correlates to their reported behavior specific to marine debris control. Path analysis was used to determine how one’s attitudes, knowledge, recreational activity, and background characteristics influence behavior. Results showed that type of recreational activity had very little impact on behavior and other predictors. From the model, marine environmental concern, connection to the marine environment, and gender most directly influenced reported behavior. Therefore, to encourage change in recreationists’ relevant behavior, the results indicate social groups where behavior change efforts could initially be made. Additionally, the marine environmental concerns of different demographic groups should be considered and used in developing programs directed at increasing environmentally responsible behavior with emphasis on marine debris.     

State ocean policy initiatives in Florida

Abstract

A territorial sea comprising 6.7 million acres of offshore lands extending three geographic miles into the Atlantic Ocean three marine leagues (nine geographic miles) into the Gulf of Mexico makes Florida the second largest “oceanowning”; state in the contiguous United States. Florida's history, climate, economic development, and worldwide reputation have evolved from the state's relationship with the sea. The state is now becoming aware that aggressive management of its ocean resources is necessary to preserve the future of that relationship. The purpose of this article is to present some of Florida's recent legal and policy initiatives that have been directed toward better understanding and management of ocean resources and uses.     

Integrating Climate and Ocean Change Vulnerability into Conservation Planning

Tropical coastal and marine ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to ocean warming, ocean acidification, and sea-level rise. Yet these projected climate and ocean change impacts are rarely considered in conservation planning due to the lack of guidance on how existing climate and ocean change models, tools, and data can be applied. Here, we address this gap by describing how conservation planning can use available tools and data for assessing the vulnerability of tropical marine ecosystems to key climate threats. Additionally, we identify limitations of existing tools and provide recommendations for future research to improve integration of climate and ocean change information and conservation planning. Such information is critical for developing a conservation response that adequately protects these ecosystems and dependent coastal communities in the face of climate and ocean change.     

Evolution of coastal hazards policies in the United States

The ocean and Great Lakes coasts of the United States are experiencing widespread economic and environmental damage from coastal flooding and erosion. During this century, public response to such coastal hazards has evolved haphazardly in response to particular disasters. Over time, however, the range of response has broadened as research has helped to refine public understanding of physical coastal processes, and specific disasters have been studied before longer term forms of institutional response have been formulated. Earlier reliance on engineered shoreline protection has been supplemented by beach nourishment, flood insurance, building and land use regulations, coastal zone planning, and other approaches. This article interprets the evolution of such public policy innovations in terms of a model that depicts the interaction of spatially differentiated systems of physical, legal, and cultural phenomena in the coastal context.     

沿海地区海洋经济可持续发展能力实证研究

实现海洋经济可持续发展是解决当前人类所面临的资源匮乏、空间紧张、环境恶化等问题的一条有效途径。本文通过构建可持续发展的评价指标体系,运用主成分分析法对我国沿海地区11个省市的可持续发展能力进行定量评价和分析,量度了沿海地区海洋经济可持续发展的总体能力和水平。该研究可以对沿海地区实施海洋开发战略,获取最优的经济和社会效益提供依据。     

The Evaluation of the 2nd Ocean Plan in Korea: Focused on the Implementing Power of the Plan

There seem to be two types of ocean planning system in the world. First, the federal or united government suggests a basic framework of the plan which is followed by states, countries or areas as shown in the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, and so on. Second, a powerful central government prepares a basic ocean plan that guides the following sector plans of the relevant ministries. These cases are shown in Japan, Korea, and China. In Korea, the 2nd Ocean and Fishery Development Plan (OK21, 2011–2020) was made as a comprehensive ocean plan reflecting recent natural and social changes including global warming. The OK21 is declarative in its nature, and so evaluated by its sector plans, which have some specific implementing means such as budgets and manpower, organization, and so on, by the relevant laws. The 2nd OK21 is supported by 21 legally binding sector plans, 14 more than in the 1st plan, thus guaranteeing more effective implementation than in the 1st plan. In addition, most of sector plans are planned to be carried out through the well-coordinated system among the related ministries, thus showing a high degree of implementing efficiency of the plan. Every marine area in the plan, including marine environment, is being supported by more sector plans than before, indicating the equitable development of marine areas in the future. In sum, the 2nd OK21 is expected to show more implementing power due to the well-organized sector plans than in the 1st plan.     

Collaborative Integrated Management in Canada's North: The Role of Local and Traditional Knowledge and Community-Based Monitoring

The objective of this article is to take stock of integrated management in the Canadian North, assessing its contribution to the advancement of knowledge and practice regarding the role of indigenous knowledge and community-based monitoring. This is done in three steps. (1) The Beaufort Sea, designated a Large Ocean Management Area under Canada's Oceans Action Plan, is used as an example of a consultative planning process, with special attention to indigenous peoples. (2) How specifically can indigenous knowledge contribute to integrated management? The problem of Arctic marine food web contamination is used to illustrate the strengths and limitations of traditional ecological knowledge and its relationship to science. (3) The discussion of community-based monitoring relies on Voices From The Bay study involving the Inuit and Cree of Hudson and James Bay, and Inuit observations of climate change study in the Canadian western Arctic. The examples together address integrated coastal management and the health of ocean ecosystems, showing how stakeholder participation and knowledge helps widen the range of knowledge to understand and help monitor environmental change.     

Book reviews

Innovation, organizational capabilities, and environmental values combine to determine institutional change for a major marine port. This conceptual framework is applied to the case of dredged material management for the Port of New York and New Jersey. During the century under review, the institutional setting has changed significantly with: (1) environmental considerations moving from nearly irrelevant to central: (2) the number of interests and organizations increasing; and (3) the decision processes becoming far more complex. Ultimately, the new institutional setting influences organizations and individual decisions. As a result of the changes, the practice of dredged material disposal in ocean waters has been limited based on the level of bioaccumulation of selected contaminants. In response to institutional changes, ports requiring deepened channels must rapidly innovate to meet new environmental obligations for material disposal in order to enhance organizational capabilities necessary to maintain competitive advantages in maritime commerce. Successful marine ports will anticipate and meet new societal expectations related to the environment as a condition for continued legitimacy. Collectively these changes imply that ports have moved beyond a carefully circumscribed mission of transportation and economic development to that of a prominent user of coastal space with broad obligations to the public.