Selecting and assessing social objectives for Australian fisheries management

This paper details Australian research that developed tools to assist fisheries managers and government agencies in engaging with the social dimension of industry and community welfare in fisheries management. These tools are in the form of objectives and indicators. These highlight the social dimensions and the effects of management plans and policy implementation on fishing industries and associated communities, while also taking into account the primacy of ecological imperatives. The deployment of these objectives and indicators initially provides a benchmark and, over the life of a management plan, can subsequently be used to identify trends in effects on a variety of social and economic elements that may be objectives in the management of a fishery. It is acknowledged that the degree to which factors can be monitored will be dependent upon resources of management agencies, however these frameworks provide a method for effectively monitoring and measuring change in the social dimension of fisheries management.Essentially, the work discussed in this paper provides fisheries management with the means to both track and begin to understand the effects of government policy and management plans on the social dimension of the fishing industry and its associated communities. Such tools allow the consideration of these elements, within an evidence base, into policy arrangements, and consequently provide an invaluable contribution to the ability to address resilience and sustainability of fishing industries and associated communities.     

A model of compliance in fisheries: theoretical foundations and practical application

The article provides a theoretical approach to the issue of how fishers make decisions concerning compliant vs. non-compliant behaviour. Furthermore, the question of the extent to which such judgements can be influenced by the efforts of management authorities, is addressed. While the concept of compliance per se is rather seldom treated in the social science debate on resource management, it nevertheless lies at the heart of much of this literature. On the basis of major traditions in the debate, a model of fisher compliance is elaborated, emphasising coercive and discursive measures as two main mechanisms to be used by public authorities to induce compliance in individuals.     

A hybrid Lagrangian-Eulerian numerical model for sea-ice dynamics

A hybrid Lagrangian-Eulerian(HLE) method is developed for sea ice dynamics,which combines the high computational efficiency of finite difference method(FDM) with the high numerical accuracy of smoothed particle hydrodynamics(SPH).In this HLE model,the sea ice cover is represented by a group of Lagrangian ice particles with their own thicknesses and concentrations.These ice variables are interpolated to the Eularian gird nodes using the Gaussian interpolation function.The FDM is used to determine the ice velocities at Eulerian grid nodes,and the velocities of Lagrangian ice particles are interpolated from these grid velocities with the Gaussian function also.The thicknesses and concentrations of ice particles are determined based on their new locations.With the HLE numerical model,the ice ridging process in a rectangular basin is simulated,and the simulated results are validated with the analytical solution.This method is also applied to the simulation of sea ice dynamics in a vortex wind field.At last,this HLE model is applied to the Bohai Sea,and the simulated concentration,thickness and velocity match the satellite images and the field observed data well.     

A hybrid coordinate ocean model for shelf sea simulation

The general circulation in the North Sea and Skagerrak is simulated using the hybrid coordinate ocean model (HYCOM). Although HYCOM was originally developed for simulations of the open ocean, it has a design which should make it applicable also for coastal and shallow shelf seas. Thus, the objective of this study has been to examine the skills of the present version of HYCOM in a coastal shelf application, and to identify the areas where HYCOM needs to be further developed. To demonstrate the capability of the vertical coordinate in HYCOM, three experiments with different configurations of the vertical coordinate were carried out. In general, the results from these experiments compares quite well with in situ and satellite data, and the water masses and the general circulation in the North Sea and Skagerrak is reproduced in the simulations. Differences between the three experiments are small compared to other errors, which are related to a combined effect of model setup and properties of the vertical mixing scheme. Hence, it is difficult to quantify which vertical coordinate configuration works best for the coastal region. It is concluded that HYCOM can be used for simulations of coastal and shelf seas, and further suggestions for improving the model results are given. Since HYCOM also works well in open ocean and basin scale simulations, it may allow for a realistic modelling of the transition region between the open ocean and coastal shelf seas.     

海冰动力学的混合拉格朗日-欧拉数值方法

综合考虑欧拉坐标下有限差分法(FDM)在海冰动力学计算中的效率,以及拉格朗日坐标下光滑质点流体动力学方法(SPH)对海冰流变行为的精确模拟,本文发展了一种海冰动力学的混合拉格朗日-欧拉(HLE)数值方法。该方法首先在拉格朗日坐标下将海冰离散为若干个具有厚度、密集度的海冰质点,并由这些海冰质点通过Gauss函数对欧拉网格上的海冰参量进行积分插值;然后,在欧拉坐标下对海冰动量方程进行差分计算以确定各网格节点的海冰速度,并由此采用Gauss函数积分插值出拉格朗日坐标下各海冰质点的速度分布;最后,通过对海冰质点运动和分布的计算,确定出各海冰质点的位置、厚度和密集度等参量。采用该HLE方法对规则区域内的海冰堆积过程和涡动风场作用下的海冰动力演化趋势进行了数值试验;最后,采用该HLE方法对渤海海冰的动力过程进行了72h数值模拟,其计算结果与卫星遥感图像和现场观测资料吻合较好。以上计算结果均表明该HLE方法在海冰动力学数值模拟中具有较高的计算效率和模拟精度,可用于海冰动力过程的数值模拟。     

A cautious fisheries management policy in South Africa: the fisheries for rock lobster

In South Africa, political emancipation has resulted in a new fisheries policy which is embodied in the Marine Living Resources Act of 1998. The pillars of the new policy are sustainability, equity and stability within the industry. We look particularly at a suite of mainly accessible species, the rock lobsters (truly spiny lobsters), at their management, at control measures, at realities of resource status and harvesting, at naturally occurring ecosystem stimuli, and investigate whether the policy can achieve what it aims to do, to provide more for more South Africans at levels at least equal to what they do today. Put simply, are the political aims and the sustainability aims of the new policy mutually achievable?     

Improving the usage of fisheries statistics in Vietnam for production planning,fisheries management and nature conservation

The organisation of a fisheries statistical system dictates the potential usage of its information output. Information is used for planning of food production (fish as a commodity), for fisheries management (fish as a renewable natural resource), and for nature conservation (fish as an indicator for ecosystem quality). In this sequence, the required temporal, spatial and categorical resolution of data increases, while aggregation into meaningful ecological spaces requires a subtle way of organising the data flow. The effective usage of the present fisheries information of Vietnam is constrained by (1) its low categorical resolution and (2) the non-transparent aggregation of data into mere administrative spaces. Information requirements can be better articulated with the instalment of mandatory evaluation procedures at all levels in the fisheries administration. Our examples range from the national administration of the 4 million ton marine fisheries in Hanoi, to the local administration of a fishing commune in the Red River Delta.     

Small versus large-scale,multi-fleet fisheries: The case for economic,social and environmental access criteria in European fisheries

Overfishing is a major problem in global fisheries, plaguing 32% of stocks around the world and a massive 72% in the EU. Despite this, access to public fish resources in the EU and its member states are granted without any social or environmental conditions. Without these, the process of allocating quotas – essentially determining the future health of marine resources and the fishing industry – is blind to virtually all of the impacts of fisheries. Here, the United Kingdom's North Sea cod fishery is studied, comparing the social, environmental and economic impacts of trawlers and gillnets, the two major fishing gears targeting cod in this area. Comparisons are also made on a vessel-length basis to address recent debate concerning the benefits of small-scale fisheries. The results show that, for each tonne of cod landed in these fisheries, all trawlers have impacts that are more costly than the value of their landings. There are also vessel length-specific differences, with the largest trawlers the most destructive (−£1992/tonne and −£2.50/fish). Gillnets, on the other hand, generate positive value to society (+£865/tonne and +£2.16/fish). Despite these impacts, gillnets land only 1% as much cod as trawlers do. The results support the policy implementation of access criteria into the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, to ensure fishermen generate positive outcomes for society and to provide incentives that align fishermen's interests with conservation objectives.     

A workable policy for Falkland island fisheries

During the hostilities in the South Atlantic last year, the UK government hastily commissioned Lord Shackleton's team to update its 1976 report on the economic development of the Falkland Islands. The 1982 report¹ again highlights the considerable development opportunities provided by the sea fish resources around the Falkland Islands and Dependencies and specifically identifies three areas for development based upon the resources of the nearshore, offshore and Southern Ocean.     

Interactions between whale sharks,Rhincodon typus Smith, 1928 (Orectolobiformes,Rhincodontidae), and Brazilian fisheries: The need for effective conservation measures

This study reports three interaction events between the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) and fisheries in Brazilian waters. Two events were described as incidental captures in a gillnet fishery on the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro State, in southeastern Brazil. The last event took place at the Royal Charlotte Oceanic Bank (RCOB), in the southern region of Bahia State, where five fishermen filmed their interaction with a juvenile specimen. For one of the incidental captures, the fish was landed and consumed by locals, and for the other, the shark was released. In the RCOB, the fishermen touched the whale shark with their hands, wooden sticks and even rode on it. In addition, 74 interviews were conducted with fishermen from Bahia about sightings and possible interactions with R. typus. According to statements made by the fishermen, although not frequent, the conduct reported for the RCOB occasionally takes place in the region. Evaluating information of this nature is important to support government plans that regulate fishing activities in order to reduce incidental captures and the harassment of whale sharks. Encouraging the participation of fishermen in a collaborative monitoring program for R. typus may be a good way to better understand the threats to the species at a reduced cost, particularly for developing countries, such as Brazil.     

A hybrid forecasting model for depth-averaged current velocities of underwater gliders

In this paper, we propose a hybrid forecasting model to improve the forecasting accuracy for depth-averaged current velocities (DACVs) of underwater gliders. The hybrid model is based on a discrete wavelet transform (DWT), a deep belief network (DBN), and a least squares support vector machine (LSSVM). The original DACV series are first decomposed into several high- and one low-frequency subseries by DWT. Then, DBN is used for high-frequency component forecasting, and the LSSVM model is adopted for low-frequency subseries. The effectiveness of the proposed model is verified by two groups of DACV data from sea trials in the South China Sea. Based on four general error criteria, the forecast performance of the proposed model is demonstrated. The comparison models include some well-recognized single models and some related hybrid models. The performance of the proposed model outperformed those of the other methods indicated above.     

Constructing a raster-based spatio-temporal hierarchical data model for marine fisheries application

1 Introduction The GIS has shown great success for terrestrial ap- plicationsin the last decades, but its use in marine fields has been far more restricted. One of the main reasons is that most of the GIS systems or their data models are designed for land…     

A versatile sonar system for ocean research and fisheries applications

An echo sounder has been developed with features ideally suited to oceanographic and fisheries research. Instruments commonly used for such research are inaccurate, limited in dynamic range, unstable, and generally inflexible. An effort has been made to overcome these deficiencies with the sonar system discussed here. The echo sounder to be described has a time-varied-gain receiver (20 log_{10} Ror40 log_{10} R + 2alphaR) accurate to withinpm0.5dB over a 100-dB range. The equivalent dynamic range is 140 dB (the ratio of the maximum signal at minimum gain to the equivalent input noise at maximum gain in a 4-kHz bandwidth). The temperature stability ispm0.5dB from10degto35degC at any range. Operating parameters, including frequency, can be easily altered to accommodate a variety of needs.