UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme: approach,experience and future plans

The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, UN Conference, 1972) outlined a ‘masterplan’ linking environmental assessment, environmental management and supporting measures as basic and inseparable elements of environmental actions plans. It also indicated the advantages of a regional approach in contributing to the solution of global problems. The Regional Seas Programme of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) was subsequently initiated in 1974 (UN General Assembly, 1972). Development of UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme demonstrated that the basic concepts formulated at Stockholm can effectively foster regional cooperation among interested States, and may benefit from the support of the United Nations system as a whole.The present Regional Seas Programme includes fourteen regions, comprising over 140 coastal States. It was conceived as an action-oriented programme encompassing a comprehensive, trans-sectoral approach to marine and coastal areas and to environmental problems, considering not only the consequences, but also the causes of environmental degradation. Each Regional Seas Programme is based on the needs of the region concerned. The Regional Seas Programmes promote the parallel development of regional legal agreements, and of action-oriented programme activities, as embodied in the action plans. The overall strategy to be followed, as defined by UNEP’s Governing Council (UNEP, 1974) is:

• 1. Promotion of international and regional conventions, guidelines and actions for the control of marine pollution and the protection and management of aquatic resources.
• 2. Assessment of the state of marine pollution, pollution sources and trends, and of the impact of pollution on human health, marine ecosystems and amenities.
• 3. Coordination of efforts with regard to environmental aspects of the protection, development and management of marine and coastal resources.
• 4. Support for education and training efforts to facilitate the full participation of developing countries in the protection, development and management of marine and coastal resources.

Because the goal of each Regional Seas Programme is to benefit the States of that region, governments are involved from the very beginning in the formulation of the action plan. After acceptance, the implementation of the programme is carried out, under the overall authority of the governments concerned, by national institutions nominated by their governments. Although the Regional Seas Programme is implemented primarily by government-nominated institutions, specialized United Nations bodies, as well as the relevant international and regional organizations, contribute to its formulation, and also provide assistance to these national institutions. UNEP acts as an overall coordinator for the development and implementation of regional action plans. In some cases, this role is limited to the initial phase of the activities.     

King Canute muses in the South Seas: Why aren’t Pacific Islands transitioning to low carbon sea transport futures?

Transition to low carbon sea transport is a logical response to the extreme dependency of the Pacific Islands region on imported fossil fuel, its significant vulnerability to the effects of climate change and the critical shipping needs of Pacific Island countries (PICs). Building on previous work in low carbon sea transport in the Pacific, this paper further considers the barriers to achieving such transition by assessing, through a ‘post-Paris Agreement’ lens, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by PICs and contrasting these to the near total lack of investment and planning for low carbon transition in the transport sector with the parallel occurrence in the electricity sector where ~USD 2 billion of donor investment is deployed or queued despite electricity using only ~20% of fossil fuel across the region. Consistent with recent international studies, inadequate and inappropriate financing and policy have been identified as dominant transition barriers for low carbon sea transport development in PICs. This paper further examines the regional level barriers to policy development, and finds them inhibited by the silo nature of the major regional actors. The implications that the Paris Agreement has for climate financing to support the essential research and capacity development needed to underpin a successful low carbon sea transport transition strategy at any useful scale and speed are also considered in this paper.     

Coastal risk management: How to motivate individual economic decisions to lower flood risk?

Coastal flood risk is defined as a product of probability of event and its effect, measured in terms of damage. The paper is focused on coastal management strategies aimed to decrease risk by decreasing potential damage. We review socio-economic literature to show that total flood damage depends on individual location choices in the housing market and on individual flood risk awareness. Low flood risk awareness leads to inefficient spatial developments and increased flood risk. We show that personal experience, risk communication, financial instruments like insurance from flooding and technical instruments like building on high elevations, are factors that increase individual risk awareness. Evidence that these factors indeed affect housing prices and land use patterns is provided. We discuss proactive instruments that can be used in coastal zone management in the Netherlands to increase individual risk awareness. We argue that policy-makers may create incentives giving individuals a possibility to make location choices that lead to less total flood risk in the coastal zone area.     

MPA policy: What lies behind the science?

What the current policy debate on marine protected areas (MPAs) and marine reserves (MRs) has failed to address is the fact that protection of the marine environment has as much to do with scientists, and others values as it has to do with science. To date natural science has played a dominant role in the implementation of MPAs, yet normative considerations which are embedded in the way scientists and the wider community think about the condition the marine environment should be in, and which may influence decision-making, are rarely acknowledged or discussed. This paper seeks to correct that deficiency by investigating the values that lie behind the natural science of MPAs. With the aid of epistemic community, advocacy coalition and discourse coalition theories of policy networks, this article explores the role science and scientists have played in influencing policy on MPAs at the global and national level, and looks at the extent to which normative conceptualisations within and beyond natural science have influenced the debate.     

How to dance? The tango of stakeholder involvement in marine governance research

The added value of involving stakeholders in research, especially related to marine governance, seems to be understood today by many researchers and policy makers. This is clearly reflected by the many (EU) research calls explicitly asking for stakeholder involvement. The way in which to involve stakeholders in a meaningful way is however not all that clearly defined. In the EU funded project Options for Delivering Ecosystem-Based Marine Management (ODEMM) an explicit question was the development of options for alternative governance settings, including stakeholder involvement, to implement the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the EU. In order to arrive at these possible alternative governance set-ups the ODEMM project developed a layered methodology, including structured and unstructured interviews, a survey and roundtable discussions to develop diverse governance options for future ecosystem based models at the regional seas. This paper describes the methodologies used, compares them with best practice from literature, and finally classifies the approach as a joint knowledge production, a tango, in which scientists take the lead but need the stakeholders to come to a dance.     

STCW ’95: implementation issues: What is the pass mark?

By 1 August 1998 Regulation I/7 of the 1995 amendments to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (1978) requires a comprehensive submission of information to the International Maritime Organization supporting an Administration’s claim that it complies fully with, or is in the process of implementing, STCW ’95 via policy and legislative processes. Once the complete information is received by the International Maritime Organization, the Secretary-General must submit a report to this effect to the Maritime Safety Committee. Three questions emerging from this controversial provision in STCW ’95 are:

• •When, if ever, is the information from an Administration complete?
• •What is the time frame allocated for confirmation by the IMO Secretariat?
• •How does IMO assess whether the claim by an Administration is valid?

The absolute nature of the phraseology within Regulation I/7, in the author’s view, handcuffs the certification verification process by ‘competent persons’. Equally unfortunately for Administrations, STCW is mute on establishing time frames for the processing of their submissions within IMO. Conceivably, a submission by a proponent aspiring for ‘white listing’ may be delayed sufficiently long for the Secretary-General’s report to miss the MSC regular meetings. What would be the impact of such a delay?Perhaps of greater importance though are two key issues linked to the third question. These issues lie at the heart of the amendments to STCW. Firstly, there is not an appeal or challenge mechanism to IMO’s decision; whether it is favourable or not. It is difficult to gauge at this time either the international shipping community’s reaction to an unfavourable report by IMO or an Administration’s position/policy to recognize a chastised Party’s submission. Secondly, the notion of ‘black- listing’ an Administration for sub-standard marine certification and training may not be sustainable under international jurisprudence. Advocates for IMO’s new role as a ‘watchdog’ of global marine certification and standardization organ for the United Nations would, no doubt, take a contra-position.This article attempts to illuminate the complexity of issues nested within Regulation I/7 of STCW ’95. Emerging controversy could strain international relations to such an extent that the high aspirations of the Convention’s drafters for marine certification transparency may not be realized.     

To land or not to land: How do stakeholders perceive the zero discard policy in European small-scale fisheries?

The landing obligation recently adopted by the European Union's (EU) Common Fisheries Policy aims to eradicate discards in EU fisheries. The objective of this paper is to investigate the potential social and economic impacts of the discard ban in European small-scale fisheries (SSF) and the critical factors for its successful implementation. An exhaustive systematic literature review and a stakeholder consultation were carried out in order to (i) collect detailed information about current knowledge on discards in EU SSF and gauge stakeholder perceptions about potential impacts of the discard ban in European SSF, (ii) examine the capacity of the SSF industry to implement the discard ban, and (iii) explore the limits and feasibility of implementing such a measure.The results of this study show that little attention has been given by the scientific community to discards in EU SSF. Indeed, the systematic literature review shows that this problem is relatively unexplored in the EU. In addition, the effectiveness of a discard ban in industrial fisheries is still unclear, mainly because discard data are not systematically collected by fisheries authorities. Stakeholders mostly perceive that the new landing obligation was developed with industrial fisheries in mind and that compliance with the landing obligation in EU SSF will be difficult to achieve without high economic costs, such as those related to the handling and storage of unwanted fish on board.     

What meta-analysis can tell us about vulnerability of marine biodiversity to ocean acidification?

Ocean acidification has been proposed as a major threat for marine biodiversity. Hendriks et al. [Hendriks, I.E., Duarte, C.M., Alvarez, M., 2010. Vulnerability of marine biodiversity to ocean acidification: a meta-analysis. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2009.11.022.] proposed an alternative view and suggested, based on a meta-analysis, that marine biota may be far more resistant to ocean acidification than hitherto believed. However, such a meta-analytical approach can mask more subtle features, for example differing sensitivities during the life-cycle of an organism. Using a similar metric on an echinoderm database, we show that key bottlenecks present in the life-cycle (e.g. larvae being more vulnerable than adults) and responsible for driving the whole species response may be hidden in a global meta-analysis. Our data illustrate that any ecological meta-analysis should be hypothesis driven, taking into account the complexity of biological systems, including all life-cycle stages and key biological processes. Available data allow us to conclude that near-future ocean acidification can/will have dramatic negative impact on some marine species, including echinoderms, with likely consequences at the ecosystem level.     

Community-based management of near-shore fisheries in Vanuatu: What works?

In the Pacific, coastal communities have compensated for chronically low capacity of governments to manage fisheries by implementing local regulations in their marine tenure areas. In order to investigate the performance of community-based fisheries management (CBFM) in Vanuatu, trajectories and factors of change in CBFM systems since the 1990s were analysed. Focal group interviews were conducted in seven villages on Efaté island in 2011 and supplemented by a review of supporting literature. Results reveal the increasing and excessive reliance of CBFM systems on external agencies that promoted overly complex management plans. Examination of trends in CBFM systems shows that community and national fishing rules that were highly acceptable by local societies were more likely to be enforced in the long run. In particular, the establishment of marine reserves was the most widespread and best enforced community rule for the purposes of conservation, ecotourism, and/or fisheries. Overall, the results challenge the current effectiveness of CBFM in achieving sustainability of reef fisheries in Vanuatu, and highlight the over-reliance on small marine reserves as a management tool. Community initiatives must be strengthened by new specific national regulations governing subsistence and commercial reef fisheries as part of a multi-scale co-management approach.     

Regional constraints of the Sørkapp Basin: A Carboniferous relic or a Cretaceous depression?

The Sørkapp Basin (NW Barents Shelf) contains a comprehensive sedimentary succession that provides insight into regional tectonics and depositional development of the shelf from the Devonian to the Cretaceous. With its location east of the mid-Atlantic spreading ridge and south of Svalbard, the Basin serves as an important link between the offshore and onshore realms.This study subdivides this sparsely studied basin into six main seismic units (three Paleozoic and three Mesozoic). A metamorphic basement together with assumed Devonian sedimentary deposits form the foundation for a chiefly Carboniferous basin. The Basin forms a syncline with infill showing limited fault-influence. Overlying the early infill are Late Carboniferous deposits which show less lateral variation in thickness but also active growth on the few faults showing significant displacement. The overlying platform deposits of the latest Carboniferous and Permian show a change in depositional geometry, with onlapping deposits towards the east probably resulting from uplift of the Stappen High and regional flooding. Subsequent, particularly Late, Triassic sedimentation shows a more distinctly progradational pattern with a dominantly southeastern source for sediments. During this shallow shelf-filling stage, the Sørkapp Basin is sheltered by the Gardarbanken High, blocking the Early Triassic clinoform development. The High was transgressed in the Middle Triassic and the platform-edge progressively approached the present Svalbard coastline.The youngest Mesozoic unit forms a separate saucer-shaped depocenter west of the Sørkapp Basin, where deposits are truncated by the seafloor in a mid-basin position and across the Gardarbanken High. The depositional pattern for this succession correlates with the outcrop pattern of the Adventdalen Group implying a post Middle Jurassic to Cretaceous age. The Sørkapp Basin has been referred to as a Cretaceous feature based in this depocenter. However, the foundations are much older and the Cretaceous depression is located west of the deeper basin. Accordingly, we propose the informal term Sørkapp Depression for the Cretaceous basin.     

UK macroalgae aquaculture: What are the key environmental and licensing considerations?

Macroalgae has numerous commercial uses and the potential to create large carbon sinks. The study reviewed the legal context, including environmental and social aspects, for the setting up of a seaweed farm in the UK. A lease is required to use the seabed and a Marine Licence is required from the national regulator. There is no need for new legislation, however, the existing guidance should be updated. There is a major need to clarify what level of assessment is required as part of the marine licensing process. The environmental and social considerations to licensing were also reviewed. Changes to the hydrodynamics and sediment transport are expected in and around the farm. These may lead to changes in seabed siltation and light levels. The addition of hard substrate (from the anchors) and a macroalgae canopy lead to attraction of benthic animals, fish, marine mammals and birds. These, in addition to potential changes in organic matter and nutrients reaching the seabed from exudate and detritus, could create changes in existing benthic communities on the seafloor. No reason for major population-level impacts were seen. However, numerous knowledge gaps where identified. Scale appears to be an important consideration. A small farm on its own is unlikely to have a large effect on the marine environment. However, a very large farm, or multiple small farms next to each other could have a more notable effect. Knowledge gaps were identified and recommendations were provided that can assist the development of the UK macroalgae farming industry.     

Why do certain species dominate? What we can learn from a rare case of Microdictyon dominance on a Caribbean reef

Many Caribbean reefs have shifted from coral dominance to macroalgal dominance, often by brown algae such as Dictyota and Lobophora. However, the north side of Cayman Brac in the Cayman Islands is dominated seasonally by the green macroalga Microdictyon (percent cover of Microdictyon is 4% in the winter and ~40% of the reef in the summer), although it is absent from the south side of the island and the remainder of the country. Indeed, Microdictyon is rare in much of the Caribbean, so this situation on Cayman Brac provides an opportunity to investigate the conditions that facilitate its distribution and dominance. The impact of herbivory, competition, nutrient input and other abiotic conditions were examined as factors that could influence the distribution and dominance of Microdictyon. While herbivory or nutrient input are frequently found to be key drivers of benthic community composition on coral reefs, here consumption of Microdictyon by herbivores was low, and thus, the alga was not subject to strong top-down control by herbivory. So, in this case, neither herbivore abundance nor feeding preference appeared to influence the distribution of Microdictyon. Nutrient input was also similar to both sides of the island suggesting nutrients played little role in differential distribution. But, in a controlled transplant experiment where Microdictyon was protected from herbivory and competition, it experienced almost complete mortality (93.3%) when transplanted to the south side, compared to only 11.8% mortality on the north. The south side was exposed to the strongest wave action 92% of the days in our study and was on average a slight, but significant 0.2°C warmer. Thus, these data suggest physical forcing (i.e. wave exposure) is the most likely factor dictating Microdictyon distribution. Conversely, a combination of reduced herbivory and increased competitive strength may explain the seasonal dominance of Microdictyon on the north side of Cayman Brac. Microdictyon was a competitive inferior to the other common algae in winter but increased in competitive strength to equal other species in summer. These results add to the literature on Microdictyon and on the forces impacting benthic community structure of coral reefs.     

Atlantic inflow to the Nordic Seas: current structure and volume fluxes from moored current meters,VM-ADCP and SeaSoar-CTD observations, 1995–1999

This study deals with the inflow of warm and saline Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas, an important factor for climate, ecology and biological production in Northern Europe. The investigations are carried out along the Svinøy standard hydrographic section, which cuts through the Atlantic inflow to the Norwegian Sea just to the north of the Faroe–Shetland Channel. In the Svinøy section, we consider the Atlantic inflow as water with salinity above 35.0, corresponding to temperatures above 5°C. Current measurements for the period April 1995 to February 1999, positioned on the continental slope in water depths between 490 and 990 m, are combined with VM-ADCP, SeaSoar-CTD and CTD transects to estimate long-term transports and spatial features of the Atlantic inflow. A well-defined two-branched Norwegian Atlantic Current was revealed with an eastern and a western branch. The eastern branch appears as a narrow, topographically trapped, near barotropic, 30–50 km wide current, with a maximum speed of 117 cm/s. The western branch is also about 30–50 km wide, and appears as an unstable frontal jet about 400 m deep with a maximum speed of 87 cm/s. Between these two prominent branches, the observations show an average eddy field with a recirculation to the southwest. Transport estimates from the current records in the eastern branch show an annual mean inflow of 4.2 Sv (1 Sv=10⁶ m³/s) with variation on a 25 h time scale ranging from −2.2 to 11.8 Sv, and between 2.0 and 8.0 Sv on a monthly time scale. The current record in the core of the eastern branch mirrors the estimated transport on a monthly time scale with a correlation coefficient of 0.86. Except for the year 1995–1996, this nearly four-year current record shows evidence of a systematic annual cycle with summer to winter variations in the proportion of 1 to 2. Comparison between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and the current record on a three-month time scale shows a strong connection for most of the period. This reflects the strong coupling between the westerly winds and the inflow. The baroclinic transport west of the eastern branch, including the frontal jet, is inferred from hydrography in combination with VM-ADCP transects, and has a total mean of 3.4 Sv. Thus, investigations to date indicate a yearly mean Atlantic inflow of 7.6 Sv in the Svinøy section.     

Why fish? Using entry-strategies to inform governance of the small-scale sector: A case-study in the Bijagós Archipelago (West Africa)

Should rural commercial small-scale fishing opportunities be closed to minimise effort and safeguard marine resources or open to offer livelihood support? In the Bijagós Archipelago (Guinea-Bissau) investigating employment pathways indicates that the sector is encouraging a diversity of institutions to flourish, reaffirming our understanding of the critical ‘safety-net’ function small-scale fishing affords. Results support the need to examine developing country smaller-scale fisheries in terms of wider social opportunities and not purely in terms of their own limitations.     

Resilience: What is it and what does it mean for marine policymakers?

Marine policymakers are facing increasing calls to consider the resilience of communities that rely on coastal and marine ecosystem goods and services, and the resilience of natural systems themselves. These calls are in response to increasing threats to coastal communities from external factors such as coastal hazards, possibly associated with climate change, reductions in natural capital often caused by over-fishing and invasive species, and drivers that act to change local and regional economic conditions leading to changes in employment and inequality. However, most communities have had little experience in explicitly managing for resilience. Similarly, our understanding of the factors that make a natural or social system resilient is also somewhat limited. Furthermore, there is a lack of consensus-based definitions and performance measures for assessing resilience. These factors, along with other barriers, will need to be overcome before effective resilience-based management can be implemented.     

How soon will climate records of the 20th century be broken according to climate model simulations?

What will happen to local record values of temperature and precipitation in a world with ongoing global warming? Here we first examine how many of the observed local temperature maxima of 1901–2006 occurred in the years 2001–2006 and compare the observations with model simulations. Then we study whether, and how soon, the models simulate the climate records of the 20th century to be broken in the ongoing 21st century.
In 27% of our analysis area, the highest annual mean temperatures of the whole period 1901–2006 were observed in 2001–2006. For the 22 climate models in our study, this fraction varies from 17% to 70%, with a multimodel mean of 40%. In simulations based on the SRES A1B emissions scenario, the highest annual mean temperature of the 20th century is exceeded on average in 99% of the global area by the year 2080. The same number for the highest (lowest) annual precipitation total is 60% (43%). Monthly and seasonal temperature and precipitation records are also analysed, and the geographical distributions of record value occurrence are related to the distributions of time mean climate change and magnitude of interannual variability.     

The International Plan of Action for Sharks: How does national implementation measure up?

Various species of sharks, skates, and rays continue to decline globally, demonstrating a greater need for effective conservation measures. In 1999 the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) developed comprehensive guidelines in its International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (IPOA-sharks), which was followed by corresponding national plans in some nations. A case study of national implementation is presented here. Specifically, progress under Canada's National Plan of Action for Sharks (NPOA-sharks) is reviewed, against its stated goals, against Australia's NPOA, and against the original FAO guidelines. For comprehensiveness, additional management and conservation measures for sharks, as well as stakeholder input from the first Atlantic Shark Forum is provided. Although Canada is recognized as a leader in shark management, as it was one of the first countries to develop an NPOA, it has not effectively adopted the FAO's principles and guidelines. The plan lacks set timelines, priorities, and action plans to mitigate threats to sharks, and contains no performance indicators. Additionally, the plan neglects to identify priority species and engage stakeholders, and cannot be directly linked to management measures. To advance the revision of this plan (as well as other NPOAs), a stepwise process is recommended that includes (i) stakeholder engagement and development of a shark assessment report (SAR) (ii) addressing all IPOA objectives, while prioritizing issues arising from the SAR, and (iii) implementations of actions, targets, and timelines that are reviewed every four years. Key policy items to advance Canada's role in shark conservation and management are also presented. These include actions to improve data collection and research, management, and education, as well as coordination with stakeholders. In conclusion,major changes are needed to the existing NPOA to be fully effective and accountable. Likewise, the abovementioned measures may help guide more proactive plans in nations that have not yet established an NPOA.     

The requirement to rebuild US fish stocks: Is it working?

The Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) was amended in 1996 to require that overfished stocks be rebuilt in as short a time period as possible, not to exceed 10 years, with limited exceptions. This comment examines the basic but important question of whether the implementation of rebuilding plans under the 1996 amendments has in fact been associated with biomass recovery. Specifically, for each of the 44 stocks examined, this analysis compares the biomass trend before rebuilding plan implementation to the trend after rebuilding plan implementation using a linear trend-break model. The analysis demonstrates a statistically significant positive association between the implementation of rebuilding plans and standardized biomass in 19 of 44 stocks. None of the 44 stocks examined showed a statistically significant negative association. The analysis showed a strong temporal relationship between the implementation of the policy and rebounds in fish stocks.     

How to detect polymorphisms undergoing selection in marine fishes? A review of methods and case studies,including flatfishes

Populations of marine organisms are potentially affected by numerous selective pressures such as temperature and salinity, or anthropogenic pressures such as xenobiotics that may preclude adaptation to particular habitats. Such selective pressures may also affect their demography. Examples include modifications of the population dynamics through shifts in growth rate, and in life history traits affecting fitness such as size or age of first reproduction. However, the documentation of variation in phenotypically plastic traits specific to distinct environments cannot be taken as the ultimate proof that natural selection has occurred. Measurement of the impact of selection and subsequent local adaptation of fish populations based exclusively on morphological or physiological characters is one of the most difficult things to achieve because it depends on the use of phenotypic characters that closely match the genotype. Molecular markers can help to overcome this problem and, under some circumstances, can record the footprints of selection. A combination of polymorphisms that are under selection and those that are not can provide complementary information. In this paper, we review how and why selection can be detected at the molecular level, using genetic markers analysed in a population genetic framework. We then report and discuss case studies in fish.