2016-08-10

Battista N, Uchenna RClark, Belknap S, Lapointe G. Lobster and Ocean Planning: A Spatial Characterization of the Lobster Fishery for the New England Regional Planning Body. Rockland, Maine: Island Institute; 2016. Available from: http://www.islandinstitute.org/resource/lobster-and-ocean-planning

The lobster fishery is synonymous with New England’s coast, providing food, economic and cultural value since the colonial era. Nowhere is this more evident than in Maine. For many coastal communities, the lobster fishery has provided stability and a sense of place that is more important today than in the past. Increased landings in the fishery, combined with reduced fishing opportunities in other fisheries, create a significant economic dependence on the lobster fishery. The area covered by the fishery has changed over the past 20-30 years with fishery landings shifting farther offshore and farther to the eastern portion of the range of U.S. lobster fishing. Information on the spatial characteristics of the lobster fishery are generally understood by the industry and managers, but are poorly quantified.

Mapping of lobster fishing patterns has been an objective of regional ocean planning efforts1,2. This effort has been hampered by lack of regional spatial characterization products with sufficient resolution or consistency to determine how other ocean uses, particularly place-based uses, would impact lobster fishing locally, sub-regionally, and regionally.

The Island Institute used interviews with Maine lobstermen to better understand spatial use patterns in the lobster fishery, and how lobstermen view new and shifting uses of the ocean in the context of their lobster fishing businesses. Lobstermen were selected in all lobster management zones, with an emphasis on lobstermen who fish federal waters because the developing New England Regional Ocean Plan focuses on federal waters. 

Bromley DW. Rights-based fisheries and contested claims of ownership: Some necessary clarifications. Marine Policy [Internet]. 2016 ;72:231 - 236. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X16302457

The fisheries literature is undermined by incorrect use of essential legal concepts: (1) property; (2) rights; and (3) property rights. These three ideas are often conflated when the term “rights-based” is applied to fisheries in which individual transferable quotas (ITQs) have been gifted to fishing firms. The confusion then leads to misleading suppositions concerning fishing behavior. For instance, it is often presumed that a “right to fish” (alleged to be represented by an ITQ) is behaviorally analogous to an ownership interest in fish still in the water. This erroneous extension from alleged “ownership” of a quota share to alleged “ownership” of fish stocks gives rise to confusion about how to assure sustainable fisheries governance. Talk of “perfect property rights” associated with an ITQ ads to the conceptual confusion. It is imperative that policy makers understand the difference between an alleged right to hunt for fish (such as a fishing permit or an ITQ) and a property right with respect to fish remaining in the water. The necessary implication for public policy is that private ownership of a natural resource offers no assurance that the resource will be managed sustainably. In fact, the existence of public parks and wilderness areas is evidence that private interests cannot be counted on to align with public interests.

Moura T, Fernandes A, Alpoim R, Azevedo M. Unravelling the dynamics of a multi-gear fleet – Inputs for fisheries assessment and management under the Common Fisheries Policy. Marine Policy [Internet]. 2016 ;72:219 - 230. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X1630121X

Effective species management requires good knowledge on vessel dynamics, either at a stock basis or through the establishment of multiannual management plans as advisable under the new European Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Achieving such knowledge on Portuguese multi-gear fisheries is challenging given the large number of species caught and the different management measures applied to potential target species. The latter ranges from no input or output controls to output controls based on individual vessel quotas (IVQ). To provide accurate regional knowledge to the CFP, the dynamics of vessels involved in the trammel net fishery targeting anglerfish (Lophius spp.) was characterised based on onboard sampling data and logbook reports. The selected vessels were very dynamic, and were found to target other species such as hake (Merluccius merluccius), John Dory (Zeus faber) and octopus (Octopus vulgaris). Anglerfish landing trends can be explained by changes in abundance, quota availability and shifts/changes in fishing effort. Overall, the dynamics of these vessels varied with area of exploitation, IVQ value and anglerfish total allowable catch (TAC). These results show the influence of different management systems in the dynamics of vessels and the advantage of an IVQ management system, where fishers can spatially and temporally allocate effort. Results also highlight a fishing effort shift towards unregulated species in face of IVQ or TAC restrictions.

Tilley A, López-Angarita J. Predicting vulnerability to management changes in data-limited, small-scale fisheries. Marine Policy [Internet]. 2016 ;72:211 - 218. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X16300938

It is estimated that more than 200 million people worldwide depend on small-scale fisheries for their livelihood, driving the need for fisheries reform to develop effective, local-level governance systems to protect food security and lessen reliance on common resources. However, our ability to impose new management relies on the assessment of vulnerability and adaptive capacity, and the lack of social-ecological data often stifles decision making. Here we test the use of simple fisheries attributes from 33 fishing communities in an understudied, and chronically poor region of the Colombian Pacific, to generate indicators of relative fisheries adaptive capacity, as a proxy for vulnerability to planned management changes. We demonstrate the strengths of this approach using four variables (species assemblage, spatial dependence, gear dependence and compliance), and illustrate how potential threats to livelihoods can be identified early, and with limited data, allowing for management to adapt decision-making accordingly. We show that in the absence of detailed socio-economic information, relatively basic fisheries data recorded by community observers can be applied to decrease uncertainty by providing a rapid characterisation of community vulnerability to management decision-making, in a range of management intervention options.

Guillou N, Thiébot J. The impact of seabed rock roughness on tidal stream power extraction. Energy [Internet]. 2016 ;112:762 - 773. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544216308271

Numerical assessments of environmental disturbances induced by a tidal farm project rely usually on local modifications of the friction coefficient over the area covered by a proposed array. Nevertheless, no study has investigated the sensitivity of predictions to surrounding seabed friction. The present investigation focuses on impacts of roughness parameterisation of rock outcrops, a typical seabed of tidal stream sites. A high-resolution depth-averaged circulation model is implemented in the Fromveur Strait off western Brittany, a region with strong potential for array development, integrating the heterogeneity of sediment bottom types. Rock roughness strongly influences initial predictions of tidal current and kinetic energy in the Strait with variations of available power up to 30 %. Tidal energy extraction induces noticeable reductions of tidal currents and bottom shear stresses up to 15 km from the array considered till surrounding sandbanks. Rock roughness impacts farm-induced modifications of tidal currents, bottom shear stresses and stream powers till north-eastern and southward edges of the Strait with major absolute differences identified in its central part. Surrounding sandbanks are finally suggested to variations of shear stresses from 9 to 17 % over the Bank of the Four with possible implications on local sediment deposition.

van Putten I, Cvitanovic C, Fulton EA. A changing marine sector in Australian coastal communities: An analysis of inter and intra sectoral industry connections and employment. Ocean & Coastal Management [Internet]. 2016 ;131:1 - 12. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569116301405

The human population is concentrated in coastal regions around the world, and while much of this is in large urban centres, recent years have seen significant growth among smaller regional coastal centres. The economic sectors of these smaller coastal communities have historically been driven by marine based economic activities like fishing. However, there has been a decline in the fishing sector and in some communities other marine related activities – such as aquaculture, tourism, off shore oil and gas, ports, and transport (collectively called the marine sector) – are growing instead. The industry makeup of the marine sector is changing, which presents challenges to some coastal communities forced to reshape their economic activities and diversify across the portfolio of marine industries. Doing so requires intricately linked networks of businesses and services, potentially across industries, that each rely on a flow of inputs from their suppliers and downstream industries to take their product. Using Australia as a case-study, this study uses national level Input-Output (IO) data to quantify industry connections to different marine industries and assess those that may be crucial for the continued existence or future growth of the marine sector. Results show that while fishing and aquaculture are reliant on several overlapping up- and downstream industries, and some synergies exist with marine tourism, there is little overlap with other marine industries. Although marine tourism is the largest employer in small regional coastal communities across all states, employment in fishing and aquaculture is more important in small regional coastal communities than in any other type of community. These communities are most at risk of not being able to build or maintain intricate industry connections necessary for diversifying into new marine industries. The differences in the structure of the marine sector among coastal communities according to their location and size suggests that a decline in traditional marine industries will have a disproportional effect on the economic security and thus social well-being of certain communities, and highlights the need for targeted and location specific governance and policy responses to build resilience among the marine sector in coastal communities.

Morton J, Ariza E, Halliday M, Pita C. Valuing the wild salmon fisheries of Scotland: The social and political dimensions of management. Marine Policy [Internet]. 2016 ;73:35 - 45. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X16304559

The wild Atlantic salmon which spawns in Scottish waters is valued by a multitude of stakeholders. Present wild Atlantic salmon stocks are decreasing, resulting in conflicting perspectives on rights to exploitation and access by angling and net fisheries, forcing government, management and conservation agencies to react and mitigate. Interviews were conducted with key representatives actively involved in the management, conservation and utilisation of the wild salmon of Scotland to investigate the social and political dimensions of the fisheries. All stakeholders noted that a key concern impacting on the wild Atlantic salmon survival was at sea mortality and the risk from the propagation of the aquaculture industry on the west and north coasts. The encouragement given by the Scottish Government for the continual development of fish farms has led to stakeholders feeling dissatisfied with the value given to the Scottish wild salmon fishery. Stakeholders felt distrusting of the Government's commitment for creating legislative measures which will adequately protect wild salmon populations. Furthermore, different resource users have differing values attached to salmon and therefore competing perspectives on fair access and entitlement for the activity. Government must be respectful of actors differing perspectives to gain the trust of stakeholders in order to guide management and conservation practices efficaciously for the sustainability of the wild salmon fisheries in Scotland.

Strickland-Munro J, Kobryn H, Brown G, Moore SA. Marine spatial planning for the future: Using Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) to inform the human dimension for large marine parks. Marine Policy [Internet]. 2016 ;73:15 - 26. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X16303931

Marine protected area (MPA) research continues to be dominated by biophysical interests. However, understanding social data, including people's values and preferences, is critical to both effective planning and management and long-term MPA success. Having these social data in a spatial form is essential, given that MPA planning and management increasingly uses marine spatial planning (MSP) approaches to carefully locate and mediate among potentially competing uses in both space and time. An online Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) survey was used to collect spatially explicit information on stakeholder values and management preferences for Australia's remote Kimberley region. The Kimberley coast and marine environment is characterised by a multiplicity of values and preferences. Key values included biological conservation, aesthetics, recreational fishing, Aboriginal culture and heritage, and nature based tourism. Management preferences were dominated by the desire to increase conservation/protection, exclude oil/gas development and commercial fishing, and to increase Aboriginal management. The diversity of values and preferences present suggests potential for conflict over management and permitted uses. Significant associations between value and preference distribution and the Kimberley's five marine protected areas were analysed. Accessibility and respondent familiarity appear linked to value attribution. More accessible MPAs were significantly associated with recreation values while more remote MPAs were characterised by a conservation ethos and general aversion to development. Our research demonstrates that PPGIS enables documentation of spatially explicit social data across large scales, highlighting potential synergies and conflicts in values and permitted uses, in a manner that can readily integrate with ecologically based marine spatial planning processes.

Rodríguez-Rodríguez D, D. Malak A, Soukissian T, Sánchez-Espinosa A. Achieving Blue Growth through maritime spatial planning: Offshore wind energy optimization and biodiversity conservation in Spain. Marine Policy [Internet]. 2016 ;73:8 - 14. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X16303517

Spain has a high potential for renewable energy production, being the world's third country by installed on-shore wind power. However, it has not yet fully developed its renewable energy production capacity, with no commercial offshore wind production to date, and remains highly dependent on fossil fuel imports. The country is also one of Europe's most biodiverse, on land and at sea. This study spatially assesses the country's offshore wind energy potential by incorporating the newly designated marine protected areas (MPAs) to the official Spanish strategic environmental assessment for the installation of offshore windfarms (SEA). It also identifies optimal areas for offshore windfarm development according to key physical variables such as wind speed, depth and substrate type. It finally assesses real commercial windfarm projects against current environmental constraints. The results show that nearly 50% of the whole area within 24 nm from the Spanish coast could be suitable for offshore windfarm development at the planning phase. However, only 0.7% of that area is optimal for wind energy production with current fixed turbine technology. Nevertheless, either area would allow Spain to meet its national targets of 750 MW of ocean power capacity installed by 2020 under adequate local wind conditions. Over 88% of all commercial windfarm project area is within the SEA's Exclusion zone, thus unfeasible under current circumstances. Technological breakthroughs like floating turbines may soon make the optimal windfarm area (OWA) less restrictive and reduce current environmental impacts of marine windfarms within a truly sustainable Blue Growth.

Davis AR, Broad A, Gullett W, Reveley J, Steele C, Schofield C. Anchors away? The impacts of anchor scour by ocean-going vessels and potential response options. Marine Policy [Internet]. 2016 ;73:1 - 7. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X16302615

Shipping is critical to global trade and anchoring is a long-held practice for safe and effective ship operations. While it is well established that anchoring or mooring of small recreational vessels has physical impacts on the seafloor and associated biota, the impacts of larger ships on seafloor environments has received little attention. This is, however, an increasingly pressing issue as world trade increases and shipping impacts on valuable yet vulnerable marine environments escalate. Using a case study in south eastern Australia this article highlights the multifaceted issues surrounding the anchoring of large ocean-going vessels. How these activities interact with marine environments is explored, with emphasis on the significant uncertainty surrounding impacts on seafloor biota. Finally, a range of potential response options to mitigate the effects of anchoring are provided.