Long‐term changes in hydroid (Cnidaria,Hydrozoa) assemblages: effect of Mediterranean warming?

Marine hydroids are markedly seasonal in temperate seas, being extremely sensitive to climatic changes disrupting seasonal patterns. Modifications in the composition, seasonality, bathymetric distribution and reproductive period of hydroid assemblages are useful to evaluate the influence of global warming on the marine ecosystem. The hydroids on the rocky cliff of the Portofino Promontory (Ligurian Sea, Italy) were carefully studied between 1976 and 1983; in particular, in 1980 the study was carried out along a vertical transect. The hydroids were sampled again throughout 2004, with the same techniques and along the same transect. Species diversity decreased slightly in the 2004 survey. Some species present in 1980 had disappeared in 2004, but other species with southern affinity, never recorded from the area, became abundant in 2004. Species that were present in summer in the first period were also present in winter in the second one. Furthermore, shallow summer species widened their bathymetric distribution, reaching deeper levels. These data strongly suggest that the Portofino hydroid assemblage reacted to the water temperature increase found in the Mediterranean Sea.     

Lipstick and catch shares in the Western Pacific: Beyond evangelism in fisheries policy?

The push for catch shares is on in the United States, nationwide generally, and in the western Pacific specifically. The prevailing understanding of catch shares emphasizes individual private property rights and changes in fisher behavior are understood to result from changes in rights in accordance with a long-established canon in fisheries economics. It is argued that this orthodoxy misses the causal factor in catch shares and thus constricts the range of policy options for catch shares. Moreover, this standard understanding of catch shares fosters opposition. Opposition to catch shares in the western Pacific can be understood as a specific variant of a generic pattern of opposition that is often centered on concerns for distributional impacts. Blind to the fact that their own misunderstanding fuels opposition, proponents of privatization resort to explaining opposition in terms of a simple, but inaccurate, for-or-against-catch-shares dichotomy. Perpetuation of this dichotomy has become a tool in the promotion of one particular ideological conception of catch shares and is a disservice to the public policy process. A possible path forward in the context of the western Pacific is presented that is based on diminishing the role of outside policy experts while encouraging local design of programs to meet local goals. Such an approach is consistent with the nature of development as local people adopt and adapt outside influences on their own terms.     

Megabenthic diversity patterns and community structure of the Blanes submarine canyon and adjacent slope in the Northwestern Mediterranean: a human overprint?

The composition and structure of megabenthic communities in the Blanes canyon and adjacent open margin (Northwestern Mediterranean) were studied. The aim was to assess the effect of the canyon and commercial fishing intensity on the community composition and structure of benthic megafauna by (i) describing the megabenthic community composition, (ii) quantifying faunal abundance and biomass and (iii) describing community structure with MDS analyses and biodiversity indices. The results are compared between three sites (canyon head, canyon wall and open margin) located between 435 m and 700 m. Samples were collected using a commercial bottom trawl between April 2003 and March 2004. These sites are exploited by the local fishing fleet that targets the rose shrimp Aristeus antennatus . A total of 131 megabenthic species were identified from the three sites, with fishes and decapod crustaceans being the most speciose, most abundant and of higher biomass. The species richness, abundance and biomass of non-crustacean invertebrates were low. There were no significant differences in total abundance and biomass between the three sites. However, community structure analysis suggests that the open margin community is significantly different from the canyon head and canyon wall, with a lower species richness, lower diversity and lower evenness. The open margin community also reflects a higher degree of disturbance compared to the two canyon habitats. The results indicate that there is a canyon effect on the community structure of benthic megafauna, but this may be modulated by differing fishing pressure, which adds an additional factor to margin heterogeneity.     

Long-term changes in the composition and diversity of deep-slope megabenthos and trophic webs off Catalonia (western Mediterranean): Are trends related to climatic oscillations?

For depths ranging between 650 and 1700 m we have compared recent (2007-2008) to older (from 1988 to 1992) data, searching for long-term changes in the distribution, abundance and composition of deep megafauna (fish and decapods) off the central Catalonian coasts (western Mediterranean). Overall, in the depth interval between 600 and 1100 m, we found higher abundance of fish in 1988-1992 than in 2007, a decrease simultaneous with an increase of decapod crustaceans. Older and more recent haul replicates (after 20 years) had similar assemblage composition in the depth range 1300-1700 m, whereas we found significant changes at 1000 m. Diversity of fish was greater in 1988-1992 than in 2007, while diversity of decapod crustaceans increased between the two periods. Thus, there was a reorganization in benthopelagic communities, rather than a loss of biodiversity. This was in agreement with long-term changes described for diversity of (neritic) zooplankton in the western Mediterranean. We found a dominance of plankton-suprabenthos feeders (e.g. fish such as Lepidion lepidion, Hymenocephalus italicus and Alepocephalus rostratus; the decapods Plesionika spp. and Sergestes arcticus) in 1988-1992. In 2007 by contrast, dominance of plankton-suprabenthos feeders decreased, and assemblages were increasingly composed of benthos-feeding decapods (e.g. Aristeus antennatus, Pontophilus norvegicus and some hermit crabs) preying for instance on polychaetes. These results coincided with low/negative North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAO) in 2007 and in the period immediately before (2004-2006) 2007 (increase of benthos feeders), and with high average NAO in 1988-1992 (decrease of benthos feeders, which in turn may enhance abundance of plankton feeders). The benthic decapod Calocaris macandreae and suprabenthos (small crustaceans, mostly peracarids, living on and just beneath the sediment surface) are key prey in food webs off Catalonian margins, acting as links between surface oceanographic processes and abundance of benthopelagic predators. A conceptual model is presented relating changes in climatic conditions with changes in deep-sea, benthic-suprabenthic food webs. Calocari macandreae was more abundant in 2007, after 3 years of negative NAO. Under negative/low NAO, rainfall and river discharges increase in the NW Mediterranean, which may enhance advective food inputs for macrobenthos. This fits well with the higher abundance of benthos feeders in 2007, as well as with the significant deepening of decapod crustacean assemblages in that same period. Suprabenthos, being short-lived and annual species, were more abundant under positive NAO conditions (1988-1992), probably enhancing the abundance or aggregation of suprabenthic/pelagic feeders.     

River discharges of water and nutrients to the Mediterranean and Black Sea: Major drivers for ecosystem changes during past and future decades?

Rivers are important sources of freshwater and nutrients for the Mediterranean and Black Sea. We present a reconstruction of the spatial and temporal variability of these inputs since the early 1960s, based on a review of available data on water discharge, nutrient concentrations and climatic parameters. Our compilation indicates that Mediterranean rivers suffer from a significant reduction in freshwater discharge, contrary to rivers of the Black Sea, which do not have clear discharge trends. We estimate this reduction to be at least about 20% between 1960 and 2000. It mainly reflects recent climate change, and dam construction may have reduced discharge even further. A similar decrease can also be expected for the fluxes of dissolved silica (Si), strongly controlled by water discharge and potentially reduced by river damming as well. This contrasts with the fluxes of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in Mediterranean and Black Sea rivers, which were strongly enhanced by anthropogenic sources. Their total inputs to the Mediterranean Sea could have increased by a factor of >5. While N still remained at elevated levels in 2000, P only increased up to the 1980–1990s, and then rapidly dropped down to about the initial values of the 1960s. With respect to the marine primary production that can be supported by the riverine nutrient inputs, Mediterranean and the Black Sea rivers were mostly phosphorus limited during the study period. Their anthropogenic nutrient enrichment could only have had a fertilizing effect before the general decline of the P loads. When also considering Si as a limiting element, which is the case for siliceous primary producers such as diatoms, silica limitation may have become a widespread phenomenon in the Mediterranean rivers since the early 1980s. For the Black Sea rivers, this already started the late 1960s. Gross primary production sustained by rivers (PPR) represents only less than 2% of the gross production (PP) in the Mediterranean, and less than 5% in the Black Sea. Possible ecological impacts of the changing river inputs should therefore be visible only in productive coastal areas, such as the Gulf of Lions, where PPR can reach more than two thirds of PP. Reported ecosystem changes both in the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea are concomitant with major changes in the reconstructed river inputs. Further work combining modelling and data collection is needed to test whether this may also have been the case for coastal ecosystems at other places in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.     

Emptying the sea with a spoon? Non-governmental providers of migrants search and rescue in the Mediterranean

In 2015 and 2016, 1,200,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean into Europe. At least 6000 went missing at sea. In response to states’ failure to provide adequate search and rescue (SAR), several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have launched their own rescue operations in both the Central Mediterranean and Aegean. This article provides the first empirical analysis of SAR NGOs, outlining their structure and operating models, investigating the reasons underlying their proliferation and assessing their contribution to mitigating the loss of life at sea     

Zooplankton distribution across Fram Strait in autumn: Are small copepods and protozooplankton important?

We investigated zooplankton distribution in September 2006/2007 at eight stations across Fram Strait in contrasting water masses ranging from cold Polar water to warm Atlantic water. Our main objectives were: (1) to describe the plankton community in the upper 200 m during autumn, and (2) to investigate the importance of small-sized copepods and protozooplankton in an arctic ecosystem when the majority of the large Calanus species had entered diapause. We sampled both with a WP-2 net and Go-Flo bottle and show that small copepods <1 mm are significantly undersampled using a WP-2 net with 90 μm mesh.Small copepods and protozooplankton made a significant contribution both in terms of abundance and total zooplankton biomass at all stations in September, when the large calanoid copepods had left the upper 200 m. The dominating group in the upper 60 m at all stations was Oithona spp. nauplii and their daily estimated grazing potential on the <10 μm phytoplankton ranged from 0.1% to 82% of the standing stock. Both Oithona copepodites and nauplii biomass showed a significantly positive relation with temperature, but not with potential food. Heterotrophic protozooplankton, on the other hand, were most likely bottom-up regulated by the availability of phytoplankton <10 μm. We hypothesise that Oithona nauplii and protozooplankton compete for food and conclude that there was a strong link between the zooplankton community and the microbial food web in Fram Strait.     

Economic characteristics and management challenges of the Hawaii pelagic longline fisheries: Will a catch share program help?

To date, none of the fisheries in the U.S. Pacific Islands Region is managed under a catch share program. In light of the NOAA policy to encourage the use of catch shares as a fishery management tool, the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (WPFMC) listed six commercial fisheries, including the Hawaii pelagic longline fishery, the largest in the region, as potential candidates for catch share programs. This study examines the baseline economic characteristics and the main challenges facing the Hawaii pelagic longline fishery and evaluates the impact of these on the desirability and feasibility of a catch share program for this particular fishery.     

User participation and institutional change in fisheries management: a viable alternative to the failures of ‘top-down’ driven control?

This article investigates the role and value of user participation in fisheries management. New empirical data on changes in the institutional structure of fisheries management systems is presented by examining the management structure of two Danish fisheries. The analysis focuses on how user participation functions are institutionalized as co-management between administrators and user groups. General lessons for successful user participation in management are deduced. The paper concludes that co-management is able to overcome some of the fundamental problems related to modern fisheries management and that co-management can work as an active and effective management tool rather than as an impediment to efficient management.     

Recent environmental changes and filamentous algal mats in shallow bays on the Swedish west coast — A result of climate change?

Over the last thirty years, many shallow estuarine bays, located in Scandinavian sheltered coastal environments, have been subject to the increased dominance of opportunistic species of filamentous green algae, oxygen deficiency in bottom waters and the alteration of flora and fauna. Human-induced eutrophication has been held responsible for these recent changes, but from this study the importance of climatic factors emerges. This research is based on the analysis of sediment cores from 8 shallow areas (d < 50 cm) along the Bohuslän archipelago, Swedish west coast, and focuses on their recent (< 100 years) sedimentary evolution. Evidence of hydrodynamic change was observed in the sediments, where modern fining-upward sequences contrast with the expected coarsening upward model due to ongoing land uplift. Heavy metal concentrations from modern pollution and ¹⁴C dating of mollusk shells and eelgrass roots provided the age control, and allowed to place these changes within the last three decades. Data were compared with historical meteorological records (seasonal warming, modification of dominant winds and upwelling and reduction of sea-ice), and a clear connection emerged between the environmental changes and variations in the North Atlantic Ocean weather pattern. The increase of winter temperature and reduction of reworking winter sea-ice in these sheltered bays increased the storing of nutrients in the sediments and the turnover of organic matter, favoring the early growth stage of opportunistic algae in the most sheltered areas of the archipelago. This, together with human-induced modifications (overfishing and eutrophication), increased the possibility of opportunistic explosions, which in turn determined a reduced water exchange, the increased deposition of fine sediments and organic matter and evolving hypoxic conditions.     

Who should set the total allowable catch? Social preferences and legitimacy in fisheries management institutions

This article presents a decision-making model based on situations that are typically encountered in fisheries management when setting the total allowable quota. The model allows assessing the differences in outcomes when different management institutions make the decision under uncertain conditions. Social preferences are considered to measure the social expected costs raised by different institutions. Moreover, stakeholder participation and the notion of “legitimacy cost” are taken into account, the latter being defined as the cost of actions that stakeholders may take when they do not agree with decisions made by the management authority. Within this context, economic policy choices are discussed in terms of what type of institutions will generate a higher expected welfare depending on social preferences and legitimacy costs in specific contexts. Finally, this article also discusses what aspects should be considered when designing stakeholder and scientific boards in the TAC setting process.     

Hauraki Gulf snapper fishery, 1972 and 1973: Some evidence for a declining catch‐rate

The commercial fishery for snapper Chrysophrys auratus (Bloch and Schneider) in the Hauraki Gulf is one of New Zealand's principal marine fisheries. The snapper catch from this area declined by 22% in 1972, and by a further 4% in 1973, following 4 y of high catches by Danish seiners.

Some of the decline can be attributed to economic factors within the industry, and adverse winter weather. However, the 1972 decline in Danish seine catches is an acceleration of an existing trend. It probably results from heavy exploitation of an accumulated stock, and from movement of a few strong year classes past the age at which they have contributed most to the catch. The slight recovery in the 1973 Danish seine catch resulted only from increased effort; catch per day at sea continued to fall. An improvement in catch and catch per day is unlikely for some years at least.

Snapper catches by other methods (trawl, long line, and set net) also declined during 1972, but the available data on fishing effort do not allow a detailed analysis. The trawl catch in the gulf fell further in 1973 as fishing effort was diverted to other grounds, but the catch by lines and nets improved slightly.     

Do abyssal scavengers use phytodetritus as a food resource? Video and biochemical evidence from the Atlantic and Mediterranean

Deep-sea benthic communities derive their energetic requirements from overlying surface water production, which is deposited at the seafloor as phytodetritus. Benthic invertebrates are the primary consumers of this food source, with deep-sea fish at the top of the trophic hierarchy. Recently, we demonstrated with the use of baited cameras that macrourid fish rapidly respond to and feed vigorously on large plant food falls mimicked by spinach (Jeffreys et al., 2010). Since higher plant remains are scarce in the deep-sea, with the exception of canyons, where terrestrial material has been observed, these results led us to ask if a more commonly documented plant material i.e. phytodetritus might form a food source for deep-sea fish and mobile scavenging megafauna. We simulated a phytodetritus dump at the seafloor in two contrasting environments (1) the NE Atlantic where carpets of phytodetritus have been previously observed and (2) the oligotrophic western Mediterranean, where the deposition of phytodetritus at the seafloor is a rare occurrence. We recorded the response of the scavenging fauna using an in situ benthic lander equipped with baited time-lapse cameras. In the NE Atlantic at 3000 m, abyssal macrourids and cusk-eels were observed ingesting the phytodetritus. The phytodetrital patch was significantly diminished within 2 h. Abundance estimates calculated from first arrival times of macrourids at the phytodetrital patch in the Atlantic corresponded with abundance estimates from video-transect indicating that fish were attracted to the scent of phytodetrital bait. In contrast to this, in the western Mediterranean at 2800 m a single macrourid was observed investigating the phytodetrital patch but did not feed from it. The phytodetrital patch was significantly diminished within 6.5 h as a result of mainly invertebrate activity. At 1900 m, Lepidion lepidion was observed near the lander and the bait, but did not feed. The phytodetrital patch remained intact until the end of the experiment. In the deployments in the Mediterranean abundance estimates from first arrival times at the bait, corrected for their body size, were lower than estimates obtained from video-transects and trawl catches. This suggests that the Mediterranean fish were not readily attracted to this food source. In contrast, invertebrates in the Balearic Sea were observed ingesting the phytodetritus bait despite the rare occurrence of phytodetritus dumps in the Mediterranean. Stable isotope values of the fish at both study sites, set within the context of the benthic food web, did not demonstrate a strong trophic link to phytodetritus. Fatty acid profiles of these fish indicated a strong link between their lipid pool and primary producers i.e. phytoplankton, which may be attributed to trophic transfer. The usefulness of fatty acid biomarkers in ascertaining deep-sea fish diets is discussed. Our study suggests that the abyssal grenadier C. armatus on the Atlantic Iberian margin is attracted to phytodetritus. However the exact contribution of this food source to the diet of macrourids in this area remains unresolved.     

Origin and transformation of organic matter in Pliocene–Pleistocene Mediterranean sapropels: organic geochemical evidence reviewed

Drilling of deep-water post-Messinian sedimentary sequences by ODP Legs 160 and 161 in the Mediterranean Sea has shown that occurrence of organic-carbon-rich sapropels and sapropel-like sediments extends from the Levantine Basin westward into the Alboran Basin. In the eastern Mediterranean, sapropel deposition started in the Early Pliocene, whereas in the Western Basin the onset of sapropel formation occurred later, in the Early Pleistocene. Precessional cycles are apparently the primary external forcing for sapropel formation. Nevertheless, the pattern of sapropel occurrence suggests that the precessional influence is modulated by the glaciation cycles. Large differences were observed in the organic carbon contents of sapropels recovered in the eastern and western Mediterranean. Correspondence between organic carbon contents, Rock-Eval hydrogen index values and elemental C/N ratios indicate that both variations in the production and preservation of marine organic matter have led to the accumulation of high amounts of organic matter in sapropels. Molecular organic geochemical compositions of sapropels from the eastern Mediterranean further confirm that the major fraction of organic matter in sapropels is derived from marine algal sources and has undergone variable oxidation. Enhanced marine productivity and improved preservation of organic matter is central to sapropel formation. Accumulation of increased amounts of land-derived material at times of sapropel formation is also evidenced, supporting the hypothesis of significant periodic freshwater discharges.     

Maritime security in Indonesia: Towards a comprehensive agenda?

Against the backdrop of Indonesian President Widodo's expressed intention to turn his country in to a maritime nation again, this article examines the way in which the Indonesian state understands and utilises the concept of maritime security. The article achieves this aim by discussing the results of a Training Needs Analysis of key Indonesian state maritime security actors, conducted as part of the first phase of a multi-stakeholder project examining how Indonesia's maritime security capacity can be improved.The article illustrates how key maritime actors within the Indonesian state demonstrate a diverse understanding of what maritime security is, and argues that there is a demonstrable willingness on their part to look beyond a narrow conceptualisation of security in the maritime domain, which is solely focused on military threats and the defence of the state, towards something more comprehensive. Here the Indonesian approach to maritime security mirrors in practice conceptual trends encapsulated in the emergence of maritime security studies. The article concludes that there is the potential for a more comprehensive maritime security agenda to take hold in Indonesia but that this will require continued strategic and policy focus on the maritime domain within the country, alongside an emphasis on partnership building both within the state and between the state and non-state actors.Consistent dialogue around how maritime security is conceptualised would be helpful in supporting these two conditions the article posits, elaborating the value of the human security lens for those interested in a more comprehensive approach to maritime security.     

Tissue and cellular alterations in Asian clam (Potamocorbula amurensis) from San Francisco Bay: toxicological indicators of exposure and effect?

The US Geological Survey has reported the presence of a metal contamination gradient in clam tissues, decreased condition indices, and irregular reproductive patterns have been reported in the Asian clam, Potamocorbula amurensis, from San Francisco Bay. If metals are driving the observed patterns in the field, then biomarkers of exposure, and possibly deleterious effect, should show a corresponding gradient. In this study, biomarkers from sub-cellular to tissue levels of biological organization were assessed in P. amurensis collected from the Bay or exposed to cadmium in the laboratory. Cellular and tissue alterations were assessed using histopathology and enzyme histochemistry (EH). Alterations in the ovary, testis, kidney, and gill tissues were most common at the most contaminated station when data were averaged over a 12-month sampling period. EH analysis indicated decreased active transport, energy status, and glucose oxidation in kidney and digestive gland at the most contaminated site which may indicate a decreased potential for growth. Ovarian lesions observed in feral Asian clams were experimentally induced in healthy clams by cadmium exposure in laboratory exposures. Our results suggest a contaminant etiology for tissue alterations.     

Monitoring of seabirds in the Benguela upwelling system: can seabirds be used as indicators and predictors of change in the marine environment?

Historical and contemporary data on Benguela seabirds assumed to be responsive to changes in food availability are reviewed as potential indicators and predictors of change in the ecosystem. Cyclic variations in the annual yields of seabird products evident at decadal long time-scales may reflect fluctuations in prey populations at similar periods. However, no such relationship has been demonstrated and consequently the value of such annual yields as indicators is not proved. More recently, interannual variation in diets, foraging effort, breeding success and chick growth of two of the three most abundant species of seabird in the ecosystem have been examined in relation to changes in prey abundance. Although the relative abundance of important forage species in the diets of both species of seabird have reflected regional changes in the absolute abundance of these prey, changes in the values of other parameters thought to reflect food availability were not consistently correlated between and within species. This indicates poor potential for their use as indicators of change at least over the range of abundances experienced in this study. Under present management protocol, data from seabirds do not nor are likely to provide abundance indices that may be used directly in stock assessment of commercially important species. To date, insights into distribution and migration of pelagic fish provided by seabird-derived data probably represent the most valuable contribution of birds to fisheries scientists studying the Benguela system.     

The enigma of double BSRs: indicators for changes in the hydrate stability field?

 A classical bottom simulating reflector (BSR) and a presently unknown double BSR pattern are detectable in reflection seismic profiles from the Storegga Slide area west of Norway. Pressure and temperature modeling schemes lead to the assumption that the strong BSR marks the base of a hydrate stability zone with a typical methane gas composition of 99%. The upper double BSR may mark the top of gas hydrates and the lower double BSR may represent a relict of former changes of the hydrate stability field from glacial to interglacial times or the base of gas hydrates with a gas composition including heavier hydrocarbons.     

Nuclear changes in blood, early liver anomalies and hepatocellular cancers in flounder (Platichthys flesus L.) as prognostic indicator for a higher cancer risk?

Nuclear changes (micronuclei) in blood are a well-established biomarker of toxic injury and related genotoxicity in mussel, fish and humans, as well. Yet, the relationship between the frequencies of micronuclei in blood and nuclear changes in liver cells itself and the higher potential risk to develop liver cancer is not yet fully implemented. We analysed and diagnosed macroscopic liver changes and H&E and Feulgen stained histological liver sections (2 microm of thickness) together with blood smears (stained with Sytox Green) from same individuals in flounder caught along a well-known contaminant gradient in the North Sea. Results showed an increase in micronuclei frequencies in blood at the more contaminated sites and higher frequencies of macroscopically visible neoplastic liver changes. In livers of the same individuals, nuclear changes were diagnosed in early to degenerative liver lesion, extra-focal tissue surrounding neoplastic lesion and various stages during cancer progression from early neoplastic foci, benign adenomas and malignant carcinomas. The aim of this approach is to expand diagnostic criteria, well-established in the frame of BEQUALM to nuclear changes which might help diagnosis of malignancies in doubtful cases.