Research Review of Collaborative Ecosystem-Based Management in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem

The welfare of the marine environment is threatened worldwide. In order to maintain ecosystem services management must shift from single sector to ecosystem approaches. To support this transition in marine management, this article reviews collaborative ecosystem-based management in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), through an overview and comparison of three collaborations on the United States West Coast of California, Oregon, and Washington. The achievements of these collaborations are demonstrated. Networking and extending collaboration throughout the entire region is shown to be essential for environmental conservation and sustainable development in the CCLME.     

Coastal Ecosystems and Agricultural Land Use: New Challenges on California's Central Coast

This article uses the Central Coast region of California as a case study to examine the challenges of protecting coastal ecosystems near areas of intensive agricultural production. Coastal water quality and biodiversity are greatly impacted by regional land use. Agricultural land use can have significant impacts on water quality through erosion and the runoff of agricultural chemicals. While the Central Coast region of California is a center for intensive agricultural production, it is also home to the largest marine sanctuary in the United States. This combination has resulted in intensive efforts from government agencies and conservation organizations to reduce pollution associated with agriculture. Efforts have focused on education and incentives, but are recently facing increasing challenges stemming from new standards created by the produce industry in response to food safety concerns. Personal interviews with crop growers were used to explore these challenges and to better understand the range of possible environmental impacts resulting from new food safety standards. Results indicate that substantial management changes are taking place that are likely to impact regional water quality and wildlife. This case study also explores the role of policy networks in shaping management decisions and illustrates how certain approaches to addressing agricultural pollution may be vulnerable to external policy changes.     

海洋生态系统及海岸工程生态影响预测模型研究进展

对海洋生态系统的研究已形成了以实验观测为基础、建立生态模型的方法。文章对已有的海洋生态模型研究成果进行了归纳总结,认为初级生产力模型是纯生态模型的主要发展方向,综合考虑物理生化作用的生态系统动力学模型将是未来海洋生态研究的必然趋势。同时,由于我国大规模海岸工程建设对近岸海域生态系统造成了较大影响,而相关的生态影响预测模型研究较少,为有效预测评价海岸工程建设对近岸海域生态系统的影响,进一步深入研究海岸工程建设对近岸海洋生态影响预测模型将显得尤为重要。     

U.S. Fishery Management Councils as Ecosystem-Based Management Policy Takers and Policymakers

The United States has a new national ocean policy that adopts ecosystem-based management (EBM) as its first principle for managing U.S. ocean spaces and marine resources. However, U.S. laws that govern the uses of ocean spaces present a challenging tangle of authorities and mandates that do not easily facilitate ecosystem-based policies. For over 30 years, U.S. marine fisheries management has been guided by eight Regional Fishery Management Councils. Working under the many laws that guide setting stewardship priorities for ocean ecosystems, councils provide the Federal Government with advice on fisheries harvest levels, fish habitat protections, and fishing community needs. Implementing EBM for any ocean ecosystem requires a careful examination of the laws and policy processes that affect human interaction with that ecosystem. This article explores the U.S. perspective on federal ecosystem-based fisheries management, its part in U.S. national ocean policy, and how fishery management councils might position themselves as both EBM policymakers and policy takers for ocean resource management.     

Identifying Suitable Sites for Macroalgae Cultivation on the Swedish West Coast

Special attention has been paid to sustainable macroalgae cultivation in Europe. The question on where suitable cultivation areas lie, without conflicting with current marine socio-economic activities and respecting the environment, remains a great challenge. Considering 13 criteria critical to seaweed farming such as depth, shipping traffic, and distance to ports, this paper aimed to identify suitable and sustainable offshore areas on the West Coast of Sweden for the cultivation of the Sugar Kelp, Saccharina latissima. An integrated approach with the tools geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA) was used to aggregate the criteria by means of Boolean and weighted linear combination (WLC) techniques. The Boolean method singled out 544?km² as suitable, whereas the WLC method indicated 475?km² as highly suitable. Both techniques complement each other in finding optimal sites. Furthermore, the integrated models excelled in providing an overview for effective spatial decision-making that fosters sustainable development of macroalgae cultivations within marine and coastal systems.

• Highlights

• To the authors’ knowledge no study on seaweed aquaculture site selection has been conducted using such a range of criteria with the purpose of including sustainability aspects within a comparative GIS-MCDA.

• The large areas identified on the West Coast of Sweden as suitable highlight the potential of this new industry and the complexity of associated marine spatial planning.

• Boolean and weighted linear combination methods were applied and compared, providing valuable insights in the selection of methods for spatial decision-making support. These insights should support a more sustainable development of macroalgae cultivation in the region, as well as a more resilient marine spatial planning process for blue growth strategies.

     

U.S. ports: evolution and structure

U.S. ports are facing competitive pressures similar to those being felt by ports elsewhere around the world. Despite the public enterprise nature of U.S. port authorities, they tend to function as 'business-like' organizations. This enterprise-like approach stems from their evolution from being primarily private railroad ports in the 19th century to public competitive port authorities in the 20th century. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of U.S. ports and the ongoing effect of earlier legislation, the varied resulting institutional structures, and current national and regional level issues. Although there is no national ports plan or strategy in the U.S.A. (the Constitution limits federal actions in the ports field) the federal government is involved in providing dredging services through the Army Corps of Engineers, navigation aids via the Coast Guard and other minor port-related services. U.S. ports typically come under the jurisdiction of state or local governments. Increasing competition coupled with other port issues (growing financial constraints, difficulties in obtaining dredging permits, environmental concerns and restricted landside access) is forcing some U.S. ports to enter into strategic alliances with others at a regional level.     

Culture,Ethnography, and Marine Affairs

Abstract

Marine and coastal zone policy represents a collaboration of people managing and people managed. This paper takes a holistic stance in suggesting that marine communities are viewed properly as networks of focused interest groups, policymakers, professionals, and publics. The interplay between culture and marine and coastal policy is appropriately one topic of applied social research. Seven ethnographic studies in this domain are introduced in this theme issue and help us to understand sociocultural processes and institutions bearing on marine affairs.     

The Role of Indigenous Resurgence in Marine Conservation

Abstract

Indigenous peoples’ efforts toward environmental conservation are indivisible from their cultural identity and their social and political organizations. Indigenous resurgence, including the reinvigoration and reestablishment of Indigenous ways of living, are linked to the management, restoration, and conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems around the world. However, there remains a significant gap in the recognition and support of Indigenous governance systems in international policy discussions regarding conservation work. As a way to address this gap, we offer an analysis of marine Indigenous community-led conservation initiatives from around the world that were recipients of the UNDP Equator Prize, framed by initial research on Indigenous-led conservation in British Columbia, Canada. We highlight specific Indigenous governance strategies undertaken by such communities that foster both marine resource conservation and stewardship. The strategies we identified included practicing Indigenous traditional resource management, protection of traditional territories, Indigenous-led actions of environmental conservation, and data collection and monitoring. We also identified networking and collaboration with non-Indigenous supporters, as was reinvestment into education and capacity-building within the community. We conclude with concrete policy suggestions drawn from these cases that can help strengthen the leadership and self-determination of Indigenous peoples on local resource and environmental issues, and aid in much broader conservation efforts globally.     

美国加州压载水管理的新规定

美国加州国土委员会对来自北美西海岸并挂靠加州港口的船舶实施压载水管理的新规定于2006年3月22日生效。通过对新规定的深入探讨,结合加州国土委员会检查官对船舶压载水管理现场检查的重点,强调船长/船舶压载水管理负责人对此新规定的学习、理解、执行和满足的必要性;同时,提醒预抵达美国加州的船舶,在压载水管理方面必须建立严格的记录,熟悉新规定的相关要求。     

Widening the Panama Canal and U.S. ports: historical and economic impact analyses

ABSTRACT

The economic history of the U.S. illustrates how the role of many cities has been changed by being seaports or located on navigable rivers or lakes. Based on the widening of the Panama Canal in 2016, the West Coast ports that include the west coast seaports of California, Oregon, and Washington were expected to become less important, while the freight shares of the East Coast and Gulf ports would increase. By how much it has been not easy to measure or predict so far, but this study attempted to define some of the key parameters in the measurement. As well as several relevant background topics, both the demand- and supply-side versions of the National Interstate Economic Model, have been applied for the measurement of economic impacts. U.S. port authorities and policy makers at the local and national levels who respond and develop plans for coping with the new realities of the Panama Canal are able to understand the extent to which changes in shippers’ and land-mode transporters’ behaviors would undermine the logistics and the costs of their activities. Therefore, this study is important for a diverse spectrum of port development strategies in the U.S. to respond to the Canal expansion.     

美国西海岸港口作业集装箱分析

分析美国西海岸集装箱港口作业集装箱的情况.这些港口承担大部分我国与美国贸易货物的集装箱运输,对我国外贸和集装箱运输发展有很大的影响.     

Improved Management Effectiveness of a Marine Protected Area through Prioritizing Performance Indicators

The management success of a marine protected area (MPA) is essentially a social construct because people have differing views on what defines success. Conflicting opinions between stakeholders need to be identified and resolved to ensure these factors do not interfere with successful functioning of MPAs. This study looked at developing and prioritizing performance indicators for Maria Island Marine Nature Reserve (MIMNR), Australia. Performance indicators were developed for MIMNR based on an expert-led, structured framework and then prioritized using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), with respect to input from key informants of stakeholder groups. Results showed that all stakeholder groups agreed that management of MIMNR should first focus on “abundance and size of native species,” and that managers, fishers, and environmental nongovernmental organizations place a significantly higher priority on ecological over socioeconomic and governance performance indicators. Researchers placed even emphasis across all priorities. Results suggest that MIMNR should first focus on monitoring “abundance and size of native species” and demonstrates the capacity of the AHP to increase management effectiveness and improve the decision-making process. Furthermore, by identifying where discrepancies in preferences exist, the outcomes of this research can be used to enhance collaboration among stakeholders.     

Underwater noise from maritime sources and impact on marine life

Underwater Sound is essential for marine animal functioning. Sound levels from human sources in the marine environment interfere with sound-mediated behaviour in marine animals when shipping coincides with areas or pathways that are vital for animal populations. The impact of human-generated underwater sound to ecosystem functioning and biodiversity receives increasing attention, although as yet it has not been included in the work of international organisations, such as the IMO. At MEPC 55 a document on ships striking whales was discussed; it was noted that disturbed whale hearing might hamper the recognition of a ship approaching.     

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.     

Stakeholder Collaboration and Organizational Innovation in the Planning of the Deschutes Estuary Feasibility Study

Coastal managers have sought to enhance the collaborative inputs of stakeholder groups into management activities. Nonetheless, established organizational approaches have led to primarily consultative forms of engagement and constrained citizen involvement in formative activities. In Olympia, Washington, managers overseeing the Deschutes Estuary Feasibility Study (DEFS) implemented an innovative cooperative research planning initiative that diverged from conventional consultative processes. Stakeholders, rather than government officials, identified the research priorities for the socioeconomic component of this restoration feasibility study. This design method altered the traditional roles and responsibilities of different organizational actors, and the involvement of citizen groups in these formative activities changed the relationship between governmental and nongovernmental actors. Using conceptual frameworks from organizational sociology, this study develops insights into the behavior of the organizations involved with the DEFS cooperative planning effort, demonstrating how engaging stakeholders in formative research planning activities may foster new types of collaboration among coastal management organizations.     

渤海海域建立特别敏感海域PSSA的思考

渤海拥有丰富的海洋资源,但随着经济建设的快速发展,渤海正承受前所未有的环境压力,严峻的环境污染不仅制约着环渤海经济的快速发展,也严重威胁人们的身体健康。如在渤海海域建立PSSA,对渤海海域环境综合整治以及生态恢复与保护具有极其重要的现实意义。     

Canadian container ports: how have they fared? How will they do?

Between 1980 and 1989 container TEUs handled at all world ports increased by a factor of 2.11. On the East Coast of North America, the growth factor was only 1.69; on the West Coast, 2.23. These growth factors, when multiplied by the 1980 TEU volume at individual North American ports, give 1989 expected performance levels for the ports. Comparing the expected performance to the actual, it is found in the Canadian context that the big winner is Vancouver; the big loser is Saint John. Halifax and Montreal have outperformed their nearest US East Coast rivals but have not performed as well as southern ports on the Altantic Seaboard. These and other comparisons are made in order to describe how Canadian container ports have performed in the decade of the 1980s. The paper then speculates on how the ports will do in the future, based on a discussion of five factors: port facilities; inland transportation connections; shipping lines serving the ports; demand for container shipping; and legal arrangements between the United States and Canada.     

国内海洋无人系统智能装备重点企事业单位技术创新模式分析

文章结合问卷调研的方式,简要对国内海洋无人系统智能装备重点企业事业单位技术创新特点及瓶颈进行了分析,并在此基础上以云洲智能科技有限公司为例分析其技术创新模式,为国内相关单位的技术研发及政策制定提供参考。     

Marina inventory and berthing supply projections: Mississippi's Gulf Coast

Abstract

The location as well as pace of marina development is a major issue in current coastal zone management. The supply and demand for marinas providing certain services in specific locations are growing and must be met. At the same time the environmental integrity of the coastal zone must be maintained against the many possible impacts of marina development. Compounding these problems from the view of both the developer and coastal zone manager is the absence of necessary data and accepted methodologies for estimating future supply needs for marine berthing. This paper describes a multi‐focii approach to the establishment of an information base and marina supply projections for the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Data on existing marina types, services, and facilities are obtained via fieldwork; future marina slip supply needs are estimated using a combination of several techniques and data sources. The study serves two purposes. First, it initiates the basis for improved management of marina development on Mississippi's Gulf Coast. Second, on a more theoretical level, it stimulates research toward developing and validating supply and demand projection techniques for marinas.     

A Football Field Lost Every 45 Minutes: Evaluating Local Capacity to Implement Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan

As Louisiana continues to experience substantial coastal wetland loss—at the rate of a football field every 45 min—and multiple disasters, state and federal officials struggle with implementing restoration plans in this highly productive ecosystem. The 2007 Louisiana Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast is the first large-scale restoration plan in the United States to incorporate hazard mitigation. However, there is no mandate for local governments to adhere to this plan. Building upon the planning quality and evaluation literature, this study analyzes comprehensive land use plans in Louisiana's coastal zone to systematically assess the quality of the plans within the context of a non-mandated, $50 billion large-scale state restoration plan. Results indicate a great disparity in plan quality; a majority of the local governments lack the capacity to implement the nonstructural programmatic elements of the state's plan. The study concludes with a discussion and recommendations for practice and future research.