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Un-gendering the ocean: Why women matter in ocean governance for sustainability

Submitted by raye on September 13, 2018 - 3:40pm

For the week of 10 September 2018

Greetings OpenChannels Community Members,

Marine Policy has published, Un-gendering the ocean: Why women matter in ocean governance for sustainability. "This viewpoint emphasizes gendered perspectives and reflects on gender roles for sustainability-focused governance. It argues that when considering gender in this context, not only equity, or power-plays between genders are at stake; in addition, for effective ocean governance, an irreducible contribution of female voices is necessary. Some key contributions of women in the field of ocean governance-related research are described as examples. If women, for instance, are not included in fisheries management, we miss the complete picture of social-ecological linkages of marine ecosystems. Overall, women are often regarded as major actors driving sustainable development because of their inclusiveness and collaborative roles. Similarly, women have advocated for the common good in marine conservation, raising important (and often neglected) concerns. In maritime industries, women enlarge the talent pool for innovation and smart growth. Besides the manifold possibilities for promoting the involvement of women in ocean governance and policy-making, this viewpoint highlights how gendered biases still influence our interactions with the ocean. It is necessary to reduce the structural, and systemically-embedded hurdles that continue to lead to gendered decision-taking with regard to the ocean."

As always, if we've missed anything, please feel free to let us know. You may simply reply to this message, or you may email Allie directly at abrown [at] openchannels.org.

You can read everything (not just the free stuff) we have found this week at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-update/2018-09-12. Additionally, you can browse literature by the week we've added it at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-by-week.

Thank you for being part of the OpenChannels Community,
– Allie Brown, Raye Evrard, and the rest of the OpenChannels Team

Improved fisheries management could offset many negative effects of climate change

Submitted by raye on September 5, 2018 - 7:19am

For the week of 03 September 2018

Greetings OpenChannels Community Members,

Science Advances has published, Improved fisheries management could offset many negative effects of climate change. "The world’s oceans supply food and livelihood to billions of people, yet species’ shifting geographic ranges and changes in productivity arising from climate change are expected to profoundly affect these benefits. We ask how improvements in fishery management can offset the negative consequences of climate change; we find that the answer hinges on the current status of stocks. The poor current status of many stocks combined with potentially maladaptive responses to range shifts could reduce future global fisheries yields and profits even more severely than previous estimates have suggested. However, reforming fisheries in ways that jointly fix current inefficiencies, adapt to fisheries productivity changes, and proactively create effective transboundary institutions could lead to a future with higher profits and yields compared to what is produced today."

As always, if we've missed anything, please feel free to let us know. You may simply reply to this message, or you may email Allie directly at abrown [at] openchannels.org.

You can read everything (not just the free stuff) we have found this week at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-update/2018-09-05. Additionally, you can browse literature by the week we've added it at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-by-week.

Thank you for being part of the OpenChannels Community,
– Allie Brown, Raye Evrard, and the rest of the OpenChannels Team

Committing to socially responsible seafood

Submitted by raye on August 29, 2018 - 2:53pm

For the week of 27 August 2018

Greetings OpenChannels Community Members,

Science has published, Committing to socially responsible seafood. "Seafood is the world's most internationally traded food commodity. Approximately three out of every seven people globally rely on seafood as a primary source of animal protein (1). Revelations about slavery and labor rights abuses in fisheries have sparked outrage and shifted the conversation (2, 3), placing social issues at the forefront of a sector that has spent decades working to improve environmental sustainability. In response, businesses are seeking to reduce unethical practices and reputational risks in their supply chains. Governments are formulating policy responses, and nonprofit and philanthropic organizations are deploying resources and expertise to address critical social issues. Yet the scientific community has not kept pace with concerns for social issues in the sector. As the United Nations Ocean Conference convenes in New York (5 to 9 June), we propose a framework for social responsibility and identify key steps the scientific community must take to inform policy and practice for this global challenge."

As always, if we've missed anything, please feel free to let us know. You may simply reply to this message, or you may email Allie directly at abrown [at] openchannels.org.

You can read everything (not just the free stuff) we have found this week at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-update/2018-08-29. Additionally, you can browse literature by the week we've added it at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-by-week.

Thank you for being part of the OpenChannels Community,
– Allie Brown, Raye Evrard, and the rest of the OpenChannels Team

High seas fisheries play a negligible role in addressing global food security

Submitted by raye on August 29, 2018 - 2:50pm

For the week of 20 August 2018

Greetings OpenChannels Community Members,

Science Advances has published, High seas fisheries play a negligible role in addressing global food security. "Recent international negotiations have highlighted the need to protect marine diversity on the high seas—the ocean area beyond national jurisdiction. However, restricting fishing access on the high seas raises many concerns, including how such restrictions would affect food security. We analyze high seas catches and trade data to determine the contribution of the high seas catch to global seafood production, the main species caught on the high seas, and the primary markets where these species are sold. By volume, the total catch from the high seas accounts for 4.2% of annual marine capture fisheries production and 2.4% of total seafood production, including freshwater fisheries and aquaculture. Thirty-nine fish and invertebrate species account for 99.5% of the high seas targeted catch, but only one species, Antarctic toothfish, is caught exclusively on the high seas. The remaining catch, which is caught both on the high seas and in national jurisdictions, is made up primarily of tunas, billfishes, small pelagic fishes, pelagic squids, toothfish, and krill. Most high seas species are destined for upscale food and supplement markets in developed, food-secure countries, such as Japan, the European Union, and the United States, suggesting that, in aggregate, high seas fisheries play a negligible role in ensuring global food security."

As always, if we've missed anything, please feel free to let us know. You may simply reply to this message, or you may email Allie directly at abrown [at] openchannels.org.

You can read everything (not just the free stuff) we have found this week at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-update/2018-08-22. Additionally, you can browse literature by the week we've added it at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-by-week.

Thank you for being part of the OpenChannels Community,
– Allie Brown, Raye Evrard, and the rest of the OpenChannels Team

Global hot spots of transshipment of fish catch at sea

Submitted by raye on August 15, 2018 - 11:30am

For the week of 13 August 2018

Greetings OpenChannels Community Members,

Science Advances has published, Global hot spots of transshipment of fish catch at sea "A major challenge in global fisheries is posed by transshipment of catch at sea from fishing vessels to refrigerated cargo vessels, which can obscure the origin of the catch and mask illicit practices. Transshipment remains poorly quantified at a global scale, as much of it is thought to occur outside of national waters. We used Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel tracking data to quantify spatial patterns of transshipment for major fisheries and gear types. From 2012 to 2017, we observed 10,510 likely transshipment events, with trawlers (53%) and longliners (21%) involved in a majority of cases. Trawlers tended to transship in national waters, whereas longliners did so predominantly on the high seas. Spatial hot spots were seen off the coasts of Russia and West Africa, in the South Indian Ocean, and in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Our study highlights novel ways to trace seafood supply chains and identifies priority areas for improved trade regulation and fisheries management at the global scale."

As always, if we've missed anything, please feel free to let us know. You may simply reply to this message, or you may email Allie directly at abrown [at] openchannels.org.

You can read everything (not just the free stuff) we have found this week at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-update/2018-08-15. Additionally, you can browse literature by the week we've added it at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-by-week.

Thank you for being part of the OpenChannels Community,
– Allie Brown, Raye Evrard, and the rest of the OpenChannels Team

Beach nourishment is not a sustainable strategy to mitigate climate change

Submitted by raye on August 8, 2018 - 10:05am

For the week of 06 August 2018

Greetings OpenChannels Community Members,

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science has published, Beach nourishment is not a sustainable strategy to mitigate climate change "Some studies published over the past several decades have concluded nourishment of oceanic beaches is a viable strategy to mitigate climate change. However, these were generally too limited in scope to accurately evaluate beach nourishment because each omit one or more of the following: (1) a realistic assessment of potential borrow area sand volume, (2) native beach compatibility, (3) construction costs, (4) all vulnerable geomorphic elements of the coastal zone, and (5) environmental impacts. When all of these parameters are considered, the results are markedly different. To demonstrate our point, we evaluated the recommendations of Houston (2017) using all five parameters. Contrary to Houston, we provide multiple lines of evidence that beach fill projects are not a sustainable strategy to protect or defend oceanic beaches of the Florida panhandle (USA), nor likely most of the world's developed coastlines at risk to the effects of climate change. The nourishment of oceanic beaches as historically constructed will surely continue over the next several decades. But, it must be done as an interim strategy during the formulation and implementation of a robust, long-term adaptive management strategy that incorporates managed withdrawal from the coastline."

As always, if we've missed anything, please feel free to let us know. You may simply reply to this message, or you may email Allie directly at abrown [at] openchannels.org.

You can read everything (not just the free stuff) we have found this week at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-update/2018-08-08. Additionally, you can browse literature by the week we've added it at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-by-week.

Thank you for being part of the OpenChannels Community,
– Allie Brown, Raye Evrard, and the rest of the OpenChannels Team

The Location and Protection Status of Earth’s Diminishing Marine Wilderness.

Submitted by raye on August 1, 2018 - 10:13am

For the week of 30 July 2018

Greetings OpenChannels Community Members,

Current Biology has published, The Location and Protection Status of Earth’s Diminishing Marine Wilderness "As human activities increasingly threaten biodiversity [1, 2], areas devoid of intense human impacts are vital refugia [3]. These wilderness areas contain high genetic diversity, unique functional traits, and endemic species [4, 5, 6, 7]; maintain high levels of ecological and evolutionary connectivity [8, 9, 10]; and may be well placed to resist and recover from the impacts of climate change [11, 12, 13]. On land, rapid declines in wilderness [3] have led to urgent calls for its protection [3, 14]. In contrast, little is known about the extent and protection of marine wilderness [4, 5]. Here we systematically map marine wilderness globally by identifying areas that have both very little impact (lowest 10%) from 15 anthropogenic stressors and also a very low combined cumulative impact from these stressors. We discover that ∼13% of the ocean meets this definition of global wilderness, with most being located in the high seas. Recognizing that human influence differs across ocean regions, we repeat the analysis within each of the 16 ocean realms [15]. Realm-specific wilderness extent varies considerably, with >16 million km2 (8.6%) in the Warm Indo-Pacific, down to <2,000 km2 (0.5%) in Temperate Southern Africa. We also show that the marine protected area estate holds only 4.9% of global wilderness and 4.1% of realm-specific wilderness, very little of which is in biodiverse ecosystems such as coral reefs. Proactive retention of marine wilderness should now be incorporated into global strategies aimed at conserving biodiversity and ensuring that large-scale ecological and evolutionary processes continue."

As always, if we've missed anything, please feel free to let us know. You may simply reply to this message, or you may email Allie directly at abrown [at] openchannels.org.

You can read everything (not just the free stuff) we have found this week at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-update/2018-08-01. Additionally, you can browse literature by the week we've added it at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-by-week.

Thank you for being part of the OpenChannels Community,
– Allie Brown, Raye Evrard, and the rest of the OpenChannels Team

Spatially explicit action research for coastal fisheries management

Submitted by raye on July 25, 2018 - 10:42am

For the week of 23 July 2018

Greetings OpenChannels Community Members,

PLOS ONE has published, Spatially explicit action research for coastal fisheries management "We worked with artisanal fisherfolk along the Coromandel coast in two districts of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry in South India to map and quantify catch, gear and crew details for all fishing craft along 120 km. Spatially explicit fisheries data were collected to understand the distribution of fishing effort and to identify high pressure fishing zones. Approximately 7,945 square kilometres of fishing grounds were surveyed and 3,427 fishing trips were observed using nine GPS enabled echo-sounders operated by fishermen. Data were visualised and non parametric statistical analysis revealed distinct patterns in fishing effort, high density fishing zones and large overlaps in zones between traditional, motorised and mechanised craft. Existing marine fishing regulations for the respective regions were also evaluated and violations were mapped. Results were presented in each of the villages and then in district wide meetings with community leaders to spur discussions on resource based conflicts and fisheries management. Our findings suggest that the present trajectory of resource over-exploitation, the use of destructive fishing methods combined with the lack of compliance to current regulations will lead to a collapse of the small scale fishing industry and further intensify conflicts within the community. Recommendations made by fishing community leaders are presented and their role in local fisheries management is discussed. This study is the first of its kind for this region and can easily be replicated at regional scales to develop a better understanding of the spatial extent and nature of small scale fisheries, including conflict, for the purpose of fisheries management."

As always, if we've missed anything, please feel free to let us know. You may simply reply to this message, or you may email Allie directly at abrown [at] openchannels.org.

You can read everything (not just the free stuff) we have found this week at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-update/2018-07-25. Additionally, you can browse literature by the week we've added it at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-by-week.

Thank you for being part of the OpenChannels Community,
– Allie Brown, Raye Evrard, and the rest of the OpenChannels Team

Do microplastics affect marine ecosystem productivity?

Submitted by raye on July 18, 2018 - 9:30am

For the week of 16 July 2018

Greetings OpenChannels Community Members,

Marine Pollution Bulletin has published, Do microplastics affect marine ecosystem productivity? "Marine and coastal ecosystems are among the largest contributors to the Earth's productivity. Experimental studies have shown negative impacts of microplastics on individual algae or zooplankton organisms. Consequently, primary and secondary productivity may be negatively affected as well. In this study we attempted to estimate the impacts on productivity at ecosystem level based on reported laboratory findings with a modelling approach, using our biogeochemical model for the North Sea (Delft3D-GEM). Although the model predicted that microplastics do not affect the total primary or secondary production of the North Sea as a whole, the spatial patterns of secondary production were altered, showing local changes of ±10%. However, relevant field data on microplastics are scarce, and strong assumptions were required to include the plastic concentrations and their impacts under field conditions into the model. These assumptions reveal the main knowledge gaps that have to be resolved to improve the first estimate above."

As always, if we've missed anything, please feel free to let us know. You may simply reply to this message, or you may email Allie directly at abrown [at] openchannels.org.

You can read everything (not just the free stuff) we have found this week at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-update/2018-07-18. Additionally, you can browse literature by the week we've added it at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-by-week.

Thank you for being part of the OpenChannels Community,
– Allie Brown, Raye Evrard, and the rest of the OpenChannels Team

Scientists on Twitter: Preaching to the choir or singing from the rooftops?

Submitted by raye on July 11, 2018 - 9:51am

For the week of 09 July 2018

Greetings OpenChannels Community Members,

FACETS has published, Scientists on Twitter: Preaching to the choir or singing from the rooftops? "There have been strong calls for scientists to share their discoveries with society. Some scientists have heeded these calls through social media platforms such as Twitter. Here, we ask whether Twitter allows scientists to promote their findings primarily to other scientists (“inreach”), or whether it can help them reach broader, non-scientific audiences (“outreach”). We analyzed the Twitter followers of more than 100 faculty members in ecology and evolutionary biology and found that their followers are, on average, predominantly (∼55%) other scientists. However, beyond a threshold of ∼1000 followers, the range of follower types became more diverse and included research and educational organizations, media, members of the public with no stated association with science, and a small number of decision-makers. This varied audience was, in turn, followed by more people, resulting in an exponential increase in the social media reach of tweeting academic scientists. Tweeting, therefore, has the potential to disseminate scientific information widely after initial efforts to gain followers. These results should encourage scientists to invest in building a social media presence for scientific outreach."

As always, if we've missed anything, please feel free to let us know. You may simply reply to this message, or you may email Allie directly at abrown [at] openchannels.org.

You can read everything (not just the free stuff) we have found this week at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-update/2018-07-11. Additionally, you can browse literature by the week we've added it at https://www.openchannels.org/literature-by-week.

Thank you for being part of the OpenChannels Community,
– Allie Brown, Raye Evrard, and the rest of the OpenChannels Team

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