Plastic particles in coastal pelagic ecosystems of the Northeast Pacific ocean

The purpose of this study was to examine the distribution, abundance and characteristics of plastic particles in plankton samples collected routinely in Northeast Pacific ecosystems, and to contribute to the development of ideas for future research into the occurrence and impact of small plastic debris in marine pelagic ecosystems. Plastic debris particles were assessed from zooplankton samples collected as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) ongoing ecosystem surveys during two research cruises in the Southeast Bering Sea in the spring and fall of 2006 and four research cruises off the U.S. west coast (primarily off southern California) in spring, summer and fall of 2006, and in January of 2007. Nets with 0.505 mm mesh were used to collect surface samples during all cruises, and sub-surface samples during the four cruises off the west coast. The 595 plankton samples processed indicate that plastic particles are widely distributed in surface waters. The proportion of surface samples from each cruise that contained particles of plastic ranged from 8.75 to 84.0%, whereas particles were recorded in sub-surface samples from only one cruise (in 28.2% of the January 2007 samples). Spatial and temporal variability was apparent in the abundance and distribution of the plastic particles and mean standardized quantities varied among cruises with ranges of 0.004-0.19 particles/m3, and 0.014-0.209 mg dry mass/m3. Off southern California, quantities for the winter cruise were significantly higher, and for the spring cruise significantly lower than for the summer and fall surveys (surface data). Differences between surface particle concentrations and mass for the Bering Sea and California coast surveys were significant for pair-wise comparisons of the spring but not the fall cruises. The particles were assigned to three plastic product types: product fragments, fishing net and line fibers, and industrial pellets; and five size categories: <1 mm, 1-2.5 mm, >2.5-5 mm, >5-10 mm, and >10 mm. Product fragments accounted for the majority of the particles, and most were less than 2.5 mm in size. The ubiquity of such particles in the survey areas and predominance of sizes <2.5 mm implies persistence in these pelagic ecosystems as a result of continuous breakdown from larger plastic debris fragments, and widespread distribution by ocean currents. Detailed investigations of the trophic ecology of individual zooplankton species, and their encounter rates with various size ranges of plastic particles in the marine pelagic environment, are required in order to understand the potential for ingestion of such debris particles by these organisms. Ongoing plankton sampling programs by marine research institutes in large marine ecosystems are good potential sources of data for continued assessment of the abundance, distribution and potential impact of small plastic debris in productive coastal pelagic zones.     

The Darwin Mounds special area of conservation: Implications for offshore marine governance

As the first offshore marine protected area (MPA) designated in the United Kingdom (UK), the Darwin Mounds area of cold-water coral provides a unique opportunity for examining MPA governance in offshore waters, i.e. beyond the territorial sea (12 nautical miles (nm)) but within Exclusive Economic or Fishing Zones (EEZs or EFZs, out to 200 nm). Whilst the Darwin Mounds Special Area of Conservation (SAC) represents a unique case study for offshore marine conservation, both in terms of circumstances and legal precedence, it also provides lessons for future MPA designations in offshore waters. As Member States of the European Union embark on Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) throughout their EEZs/EFZs, understanding the governance framework and potential opportunities and challenges in the offshore zone will become increasingly important for achieving marine conservation objectives in the face of competing economic interests and overlapping jurisdictions.     

中国东部陆架表层沉积物粒度特征及其沉积环境浅析

对取自中国东部陆架海的209个表层沉积物样品进行了粒度分析及沉积物类型划分,探讨细颗粒沉积区分布格局与物源和环流体系的关系。结果表明,研究区底质类型主要有砂、粉砂质砂、泥质砂、砂质粉砂、砂质泥、粉砂和泥,个别站位含砾石。表层沉积物以粗颗粒砂质沉积为主,其主要分布在东海中北部、苏北浅滩、北黄海北部,其粒度特征主要为:平均粒径2～4Φ,分选差(分选系数>2),偏态极正偏(2～2.80),峰态很宽至宽(1.60～3.50);细颗粒泥质沉积主要分布在浙江沿岸至长江口外、苏北老黄河口外、南黄海中部、北黄海西南部及黄河口外的渤海海域,其粒度特征主要为:平均粒径6～7Φ,分选差至较差(分选系数1～2.5),偏态负偏(-1.50～-0.33)至近于对称(-0.33～+0.33),峰态很宽(>2.75)。从环流的流向与路径及邻近的河流物源角度,初步探讨了河流输入物质及环流体系对细颗粒沉积物沉积分布格局的影响,并初步推断了细颗粒沉积物的物源及基本输移路径。     

Valuing multi-attribute marine water quality

The marine environment provides many goods and services that depend on the quality of coastal waters. In this paper, we represent water quality by three different attributes, coastal cod stock level, bathing water quality, and biodiversity level, and carry out a choice experiment among residents on the Swedish west coast to estimate the economic benefits of improved coastal water quality. We find that respondents have high levels of environmental concern and that substantial values are at stake. The highest values were placed on preventing further depletion of marine biodiversity and to improve Swedish cod stocks.     

Contrast in life histories of exploited fishes and ecosystem structures in coastal waters off west Canada and east Korea

By reviewing the history of fishery exploitation in the coastal waters of west Canada and east Korea, related with contrasting life history strategies of the dominant species, the fishery management challenges that each country would face in the upcoming decades were outlined. In the ecosystem of the Canadian western coastal waters, the dominant oceanographic feature is the coastal upwelling domain off the west coast of Vancouver Island, the northernmost extent of the California Current System in the eastern North Pacific. In the marine ecosystem of the eastern coasts of Korea (the Japan/East Sea), a major oceanographic feature is the Tsushima Warm Current, a branch of the Kuroshio Current in the western North Pacific. Fishes in the Canadian ecosystem are dominated by demersal, long-lived species such as flatfish, rockfish, sablefish, and halibut. During summer, migratory pelagic species such as Pacific hake, Pacific salmon, and recently Pacific sardine, move into this area to feed. In the late 1970s, Canada declared jurisdiction for 200 miles from their coastline, and major fisheries species in Canadian waters have been managed with a quota system. The overall fishing intensity off the west coast of Vancouver Island has been relatively moderate compared to Korean waters. Fishes in the ecosystem of the eastern Korean waters are dominated by short-lived pelagic and demersal fish. Historically, Korea has shared marine resources in this area with neighbouring countries, but stock assessments and quotas have only recently (since the late-1990s) been implemented for some major species. In the Korean ecosystem, fisheries can be described as intensive, and many stocks have been rated as overfished. The two ecosystems responded differently to climate impacts such as regime shifts under different exploitation histories. In the future, both countries will face the challenge of global warming and subsequent impacts on ecosystems, necessitating developing adaptive fisheries management plans. The challenges will be contrasting for the two countries: Canada will need to conserve fish populations, while Korea will need to focus on rebuilding depleted fish populations.     

Deep waters: Lessons from community meetings about offshore wind resource development in the U.S.

Meeting the United States׳ offshore renewable-energy goals for 2030 necessitates deploying approximately 9000 wind turbines along U.S. coastlines. Because siting bottom-mounted turbines in most nearshore coastal zones is either impractical or politically difficult, turbine developers are testing floating-platform turbine technologies for deeper waters. Deepwater, floating-platform turbines have the advantages of being sited in the highest quality winds farther offshore, movable if desired, and located beyond the horizon, out of sight from shore. This paper reports on conversations with 103 coastal stakeholders at community meetings regarding development and testing of floating turbines off the coast of Maine, U.S.A. Using naturalistic field methods, this essay reports common questions and concerns of commercial lobstermen, fishermen, and coastal civic leaders. Early-stage conversations suggest that once coastal community members understand the benefits and impacts of wind farm development on their quality of life, many share specific preferences for where offshore developments could be located. Citizens׳ remarks are sophisticated, nuanced, and innovative and include robust ideas for pairing turbine siting with fishery conservation. Findings imply that when looking to site offshore turbines in public, multiple-use ocean spaces, developers, planners, and coastal communities should engage early and often in two-way conversation rather than one-way outreach.     

Place-based ocean management: Emerging U.S. law and practice

Marine protected areas and marine reserves are being established in United States ocean waters under several federal and state laws. Relevant laws include the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, the Magnuson–Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management, the National Monument Act, the federal Submerged Lands Act, and the California Marine Life Protection Act. This article evaluates U.S. place-based ocean management from the perspectives of relevant international law principles and programs and foreign nation experiences relevant to the U.S. It then focuses on the challenges presented in managing multiple uses of U.S. ocean waters in the face of federal and state jurisdictional complexity. Integrating place-based management with fisheries management is given special attention.     

Summer incidence of humpback whales on the west coast of South Africa

A total of 14 sightings of 25 humpback whales was recorded from temperate waters of the west coast of South Africa in summer (December–February). In addition, a 6,45 m individual (estimated age 6½ months) stranded at St Helena Bay in February 1982, and a 6,15 m individual (estimated age 4½ months) was found ensnared in the buoy line of a lobster trap off Saldanha Bay in December 1990. These records suggest that certain individuals, particularly juveniles, may not undertake the summer feeding migration. Although the 6,45 m individual was emaciated when stranded, the 6,15 m individual had been feeding on stomatopods, indicating that some individuals feed opportunistically during the summer off the west coast of South Africa.     

海洋大数据序列时-空变化主成分分析方法

介绍海洋要素时－空变化大数据量主成分分析方法,讨论并澄清主成分分析在海洋大数据序列应用中的一些问题和易混淆的概念。根据美国国家海洋与大气局（NOAA）卫星观测的海表面温度红外资料,对加拿大温哥华岛西部大陆架区8个夏季海表面温度的空间变化进行主成分分析,以促进主成分方法在海洋大数据序列分析中的应用。     

The distribution of spiny lobsters in New Zealand waters (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palinuridae)

Two species of spiny lobsters (marine crayfish) inhabit New Zealand waters: Jasus edwardsii (Hutton, 1875), and J verreauxi (H. Milne Edwards, 1851). J edwardsii, the more common species, is present along most rocky coastlines in New Zealand, but is more abundant in the south‐west of the South Island and at the Chatham Islands. The species apparently reaches its northern limit of distribution at the Three Kings Islands (34°S) and its southern limit at the Auckland Islands (51°S).

J. verreauxi, the less common species, is almost solely restricted in New Zealand waters to the north‐east coast of the North Island. It is uncommon in the west and the south of the North Island, and is rare in the South Island. J. verreauxi apparently reaches its northern limit of distribution at the Kermadec Islands (31°S), and its southern limit near Bluff (47°S) in the South Island.     

Eddy-induced cross-shelf phytoplankton transport along the downwelling coast off Western Australia

Along the downwelling coast off Western Australia, late-autumn/early-winter chlorophyll a blooms are observed on the continental shelf south of Shark Bay (26°S), in contrast with summer blooms in the north. The late-autumn/early-winter blooms are in phase with seasonal strengthening of the Leeuwin Current and its eddy field. Anticyclonic eddies entrain the high phytoplankton biomass waters from the shelf and transport offshore into the oligotrophic, subtropical marine environment, as revealed by coalescing the finite-size Lyapunov exponent (FSLE) of the surface geostrophic flow field and the satellite chlorophyll a images.     

Towards High-Resolution Habitat Suitability Modeling of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems in the Deep-Sea: Resolving Terrain Attribute Dependencies

Recent habitat suitability models used to predict the occurrence of vulnerable marine species, particularly framework building cold-water corals, have identified terrain attributes such as slope and bathymetric position index as important predictive parameters. Due to their scale-dependent nature, a realistic representation of terrain attributes is crucial for the development of reliable habitat suitability models. In this paper, three known coral areas and a noncoral control area off the west coast of Ireland were chosen to assess quantitative and distributional differences between terrain attributes derived from bathymetry grids of varying resolution and information content. Correlation analysis identified consistent changes of terrain attributes as grain size was altered. Response characteristics and dimensions depended on terrain attribute types and the dominant morphological length-scales within the study areas. The subsequent effect on habitat suitability maps was demonstrated by preliminary models generated at different grain sizes. This study demonstrates that high resolution habitat suitability models based on terrain parameters derived from multibeam generated bathymetry are required to detect many of the topographical features found in Irish waters that are associated with coral. This has implications for marine spatial planning in the deep sea. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Marine Geodesy to view the free supplemental file.     

黄河口百米地质钻孔粒度特征

KD4百米地质钻孔位于现行黄河口地区,运用层序地层学、年代地层学将KD4岩心划分为14个地层,地层底界相当于渤海湾西岸的沧州海侵层,地层呈现浅海相、潮间带、陆相等海陆交互相的典型地层特征。通过对KD4岩心的1 808个样品的粒度参数分析并结合频率曲线、概率累积曲线特征,初步分析了KD4岩心的物源、沉积环境特征,认为KD4岩心的物源比较单一,主要接受黄河沉积,沉积形式主要为浊流和河漫滩沉积。     

Spatial variation in meristic and morphometric characteristics of sardine Sardinops sagax around the coast of southern Africa

Spatial variability in phenotypic characteristics within a fish population may be used to infer the existence of multiple stocks, and knowledge of the population structure of exploited species is important for their sustainable management. In this study we investigated geographic variability in meristic (vertebral count) and morphometric (body shape) characteristics of sardine Sardinops sagax from three southern African regions: Namibia, the South African west coast, and the South African south coast. There were significant regional differences in vertebral counts, with Namibian fish tending to have more vertebrae than South African fish, but with no difference between sardine off the South African west and south coasts. Body shape was characterised using morphometric landmarks, and shape changes were investigated using geometric morphometrics, with influences on fish shape assessed using multivariate regressions. To remove the effects of allometry, the 22 shape variables (represented by Procrustes coordinates) were regressed against fish size (represented by centroid size). There was a significant allometric effect, which was removed by using the residuals of these regressions in further analyses. A multivariate multiple regression was applied to the 22 size-corrected shape variables and to three covariates: condition factor, stomach fullness and fat stage. The significant influence of these covariates was removed by using the residuals from this regression in a canonical variate analysis, where corrected shape variables were classified in relation to region, year and sex. The Mahalanobis distances from the canonical variate analysis differed significantly for most combinations of classifier variables, with clear separations among the three regions. Sardinops sagax off Namibia had thicker bodies and more contracted tail regions than South African fish, whereas S. sagax off the South African south coast had thinner bodies and smaller heads than those off the west coast. These results support the hypothesis of multiple sardine stocks around southern Africa.     

Hydrographical characteristics and oxygen isotopic signatures of water in a coastal environment (Mangalore) along the southeastern Arabian Sea

Coastal marine environments are important links between the continents and the open ocean. The coast off Mangalore forms part of the upwelling zone along the southeastern Arabian Sea. The temperature, salinity, density, dissolved oxygen and stable oxygen isotope ratio (δ¹⁸O) of surface waters as well as those of bottom waters off coastal Mangalore were studied every month from October 2010 to May 2011. The coastal waters were stratified in October and November due to precipitation and runoff. The region was characterised by upwelled bottom waters in October, whereas the region exhibited a temperature inversion in November. The surface and bottom waters presented almost uniform properties from December until April. The coastal waters were observed to be most dense in January and May. Comparatively cold and poorly oxygenated bottom waters during the May sampling indicated the onset of upwelling along the region. δ¹⁸O of the coastal waters successfully documented the observed variations in the hydrographical characteristics of the Mangalore coast during the monthly sampling period. We also noted that the monthly variability in the properties of the coastal waters of Mangalore was related to the hydrographical characteristics of the adjacent open ocean inferred from satellite-derived surface winds, sea surface height anomaly data and sea surface temperatures.     

青岛近海物理-生物地球化学过程及其生态响应

近些年来,夏季黄海浒苔大规模暴发,并在青岛近岸海域大面积聚集,引起了广泛的关注。本文基于在夏季和冬季所获得的多学科调查资料,重点研究了青岛近海的水文-生物地球化学过程及其生态影响,阐明了该海域物理-化学-生物等多参数之间的耦合响应。研究显示,夏季黄海冷水团的边界可扩展至青岛近岸海域,并在局部涌升至上层水体,形成沿岸上升流;该上升流可对上层营养盐产生一定的补充,进而促进浮游植物的繁殖,并于底层海域对应形成溶解氧（DO）和pH的低值。夏季青岛近海的上升流可能还有利于随南风漂移至此的浒苔的生长,并在一定程度上引起浒苔的局地旺发;同时,夏季该海域特定的锋面系统对浒苔聚集的影响也不容忽视。冬季黄海暖流在苏北浅滩外侧向山东半岛南部海域延伸,扩展至青岛近海的暖水舌与近岸低温水之间的锋面特征明显,而且在向岸暖水与近岸冷水间还对应形成了明显的营养盐和叶绿素（Chl-a）锋面。该项研究从多学科交叉的视角,增进了对青岛近海物理、化学和生物过程之间耦合关系的认识。     

Differences in habitat selection of male and female megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis, Walbaum) to the west of Ireland. A result of differences in life-history strategies between the sexes?

The sex ratio in the catches of megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis, Walbaum) varied systematically with depth on three independent trawl survey series off the west coast of Ireland. Female megrim dominated the shallow catches, while males were more common in catches from deeper waters. The size difference between the sexes alone cannot explain this pattern because it remained evident when fish length was taken into account. Therefore size-specific habitat preferences or size-selective fishing mortality cannot fully explain the observed trend in the sex ratio of megrim. Female megrim grow to a larger size, at a faster rate than males and it is likely that their differences in habitat preferences are related to this. Shallower waters are warmer during the growing season and are likely to provide better conditions for fast growth. An understanding of the mechanisms behind these patterns is an important consideration in the management and conservation of this fish stock, which might be particularly vulnerable because the commercial landings are to a large extent dominated by female megrim.     

Differences in habitat selection of male and female megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis,Walbaum) to the west of Ireland. A result of differences in life-history strategies between the sexes?

The sex ratio in the catches of megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis, Walbaum) varied systematically with depth on three independent trawl survey series off the west coast of Ireland. Female megrim dominated the shallow catches, while males were more common in catches from deeper waters. The size difference between the sexes alone cannot explain this pattern because it remained evident when fish length was taken into account. Therefore size-specific habitat preferences or size-selective fishing mortality cannot fully explain the observed trend in the sex ratio of megrim. Female megrim grow to a larger size, at a faster rate than males and it is likely that their differences in habitat preferences are related to this. Shallower waters are warmer during the growing season and are likely to provide better conditions for fast growth. An understanding of the mechanisms behind these patterns is an important consideration in the management and conservation of this fish stock, which might be particularly vulnerable because the commercial landings are to a large extent dominated by female megrim.     

TAGGING EXPERIMENTS OF THE PENAEID SHRIMP IN THE BOHAI SEA AND HUANGHAI SEA IN AUTUMN SEASON

There exists obvious difference in recapture rate of tagged shrimp in various sea areas and years in autumn season, but the majority of them (98%) are recaptured in the releasing year. Although the main portion of each shrimp group in the Bohai Sea has separate distribution area, they intermingle in autumn season to search for food, thus forming a principal fishing ground located in the central Bohai Sea.Those shrimps wintering in south-central portion of the Huanghai Sea are generally divided into two populations. One is called the Korean population, inhabiting along the western coast of Koera, which is less in abundance and smaller in shrimp size; and the other is called the Chinese population, inhibiting along the Bohai Sea coast and the Huanghai Sea coast of China, which is richer in abundance and larger in shrimp size. The spawning grounds of the latter extend throughout the Bohai Sea and off the Huanghai Sea coast of China, from the Yalujiang Estuary area in the north to the coastal waters of Haiz