Marine governance in an industrialised ocean: A case study of the emerging marine renewable energy industry

The world׳s oceans are currently undergoing an unprecedented period of industrialisation, made possible by advances in technology and driven by our growing need for food, energy and resources. This is placing the oceans are under intense pressure, and the ability of existing marine governance frameworks to sustainably manage the marine environment is increasingly being called into question. Emerging industries are challenging all aspects of these frameworks, raising questions regarding ownership and rights of the sea and its resources, management of environmental impacts, and management of ocean space. This paper uses the emerging marine renewable energy (MRE) industry, particularly in the United Kingdom (UK), as a case study to introduce and explore some of the key challenges. The paper concludes that the challenges are likely to be extensive and argues for development of a comprehensive legal research agenda to advance both MRE technologies and marine governance frameworks.     

Species distribution modelling to support marine conservation planning: The next steps

Species distribution models (SDMs) offer great potential for inclusion into the toolbox of today's marine environmental manager, especially with regard to marine conservation and planning. The application of SDMs in the marine environment over recent years has been varied but there are still relatively few examples in comparison with terrestrial application, and this is especially true in deep-sea marine ecosystems. This short article builds upon two recent review articles concerning the application of species distribution modelling studies in the marine realm, offering additional practical considerations for discussion. Recommendations for progressing the improved application of SDMs to support marine conservation planning are given, including combining model outputs with other data layers, metadata standards and model error. SDMs have both an urgent and long term contribution to make to marine conservation planning globally, and it is hoped that this article, in combination with developing research on marine SDMs, will contribute to some much needed discussion and inform best practice and new research to enable these models to be of greater use to marine managers.     

Power and perspective: Fisheries and the ocean commons beset by demands of development

Marine renewable energy (MRE), though a relative newcomer to the ocean and coastal commons, has become a significant driver of marine spatial planning in the US, posing particular challenges to commercial fisheries and fishing communities. State and federal agencies with primary oversight for MRE development have focused on the identification of places where MRE might proceed unhindered by other uses, most notably coastal fisheries. These agencies and MRE developers have focused on potential space-use conflict and standard mitigation measures for loss of access to that space. However, discussions with fishery participants and other community members, as well as observations of processes on the US West and East Coasts, reveal a complex, multi-faceted social–ecological system not easily parsed out among users, nor amenable to classic mitigation formulas. Recent ethnographic research on potential space-use conflicts and mitigation for MRE demonstrates that marine space use is dynamic and multi-dimensional, with important linkages among fisheries, communities and other interests. Although experiences vary within and across regions and fishing communities, this research illustrates the weak position of fishing communities in marine spatial planning in the context of MRE development. This paper considers the implications of MRE for US East and West Coast fisheries and fishing communities situated within the larger context of neoliberalism and commodification of the ocean commons.     

Rights and ownership in sea country: implications of marine renewable energy for indigenous and local communities

The adoption of UN Convention of the Law of the Sea in 1982 created optimism for indigenous peoples and marginalised coastal communities that they may (re)gain control of, or improve access to, marine resources. However concerns were also raised that opening the seas to industrial development might create threats for traditional users of the sea. Twenty-five years later the potential enclosure of large areas of coastal seas to marine renewable energy development is reigniting debates about marine governance, access and control over marine resources. Case studies in Scotland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia reveal a dynamic tension between: an economic development ‘blue growth’ agenda requiring the creation of private rights in the sea; and socio-political drivers which seek to address historic injustices and increase access to natural resources by indigenous and marginalised coastal communities. As yet there is little evidence of this tension being adequately addressed by emerging institutional frameworks for managing marine resources.     

海洋能开发利用发展对策研究

海洋能具有储量巨大、绿色清洁等特点,是全球应对气候变暖、调整能源结构的重要选择之一,欧、美等发达海洋国家非常重视发展海洋能,将其作为战略性资源进行技术储备。我国海洋能资源既有着总量丰富、种类齐全、区域性强等优势,也存在密度较低的劣势。在财政部、科技部、国家海洋局等的大力支持下,我国海洋能利用技术取得了明显进步,潮流能和波浪能等代表性技术和装置经历了长期海试,为稳定示范应用奠定了坚实的基础。在建设海洋强国、实施国家能源战略、发展战略性新兴产业、推进生态文明建设、21世纪海上丝绸之路的背景下,随着我国海洋能核心关键技术的不断突破,海洋能装备制造及运行维护必将成长为对经济社会长远发展具有重大引领带动作用的战略性新兴产业。     

英国海洋能开发利用分析

以英国为代表的发达海洋国家非常重视海洋能在应对全球气候变化、调整能源结构、培育新兴产业中的战略地位。在积极的海洋能政策和先进的海洋能基础设施支持下,英国海洋能技术和产业发展均处于国际领先地位,文章全方位分析了英国海洋能开发利用进展,并分析了其对我国海洋能技术产业化发展的借鉴意义,建议明确海洋能中长期发展目标,制定阶段性海洋激励政策,并提升海洋能基础设施能力。     

Valuing the health benefits of physical activities in the marine environment and their importance for marine spatial planning

The marine environment provides a number of services which contribute to human well-being including the provision of food, regulation of climate and the provision of settings for cultural gains. To ensure these services continue to be provided, effective management is required and is being strategically implemented through the development of marine spatial plans. These plans require an understanding of the costs and benefits associated with alternative marine uses and how they contribute to human well-being. One benefit which is often difficult to quantify is the health benefit of engaging with the marine environment. To address this, the research develops an approach which can estimate the contribution aquatic physical activities makes to quality adjusted life years (QALYs) in monetary and non-monetary terms. Using data from the Health Survey for England, the research estimates that physical activities undertaken in aquatic environments at a national level provides a total gain of 24,853 QALYs. A conservative estimate of the monetary value of a QALY gain of this magnitude is £176 million. This approach provides estimates of health benefits which can be used in more comprehensive impact assessments, such as cost-benefit analysis, to compare alternative marine spatial plans. The paper concludes by discussing future steps.     

要素市场扭曲对中国沿海地区海洋经济效率的影响

生产要素在各产业间的自由流动和资源的优化配置是实现经济效率提升的关键,因此,科学合理地配置海洋要素资源,提高海洋经济效率,促进海洋经济高质量发展,是中国从海洋大国走向海洋强国的必经之路。本文运用C-D生产函数法和Super-SBM模型分别测度中国沿海11个省区市2006—2016年海洋要素市场扭曲程度及海洋经济效率,并构建计量模型来探究海洋要素市场扭曲与海洋经济效率之间的关系,同时考察不同海洋经济圈内,海洋要素市场扭曲对海洋经济效率的影响并分析其产生原因。最后,利用反事实检验进一步估算要素市场扭曲造成的海洋经济效率的缺口。得出以下结论:(1)研究期间,中国海洋资本、劳动及总体要素市场指数均大于1,呈现负向扭曲状态。从省际层面来看,沿海11个省区市的资本要素市场均为负向扭曲;劳动要素市场除浙江、福建、广东、广西、海南为正向扭曲外,其余为负向扭曲;总体要素市场扭曲省际差距并不明显,其中上海、广东海洋要素市场扭曲程度较轻。(2)从全国层面看,要素市场扭曲明显抑制了中国海洋经济效率的提升,产业结构、海洋区位优势对海洋经济效率的提升有显著推动作用。从三大海洋经济圈来看,要素市场扭曲对海洋经济效率的影响存在显著的地区差异。北部海洋经济圈要素市场扭曲对海洋经济效率有显著提升作用;东部海洋经济圈要素市场扭曲对该地区海洋经济效率呈负向作用,但在考察期间并不显著;南部海洋经济圈要素市场扭曲抑制其海洋经济效率的提升。(3)海洋要素市场扭曲造成的海洋经济效率损失缺口呈波动下降趋势,若消除海洋要素市场扭曲,海洋经济效率损失将平均减少66%。     

Political parties and marine pollution policy: Exploring the case of Germany

Effective marine pollution policy strongly depends on actions coordinated at the international level. As a result, scholars tend to more closely examine the formulation and implementation of international agreements, while paying scant attention to policy making at the domestic level. How important is the protection of seas to domestic key actors? This study gives an overview of German parties' policy agendas with respect to marine pollution. In doing this, it analyzes manifestos for nine federal elections taking place between 1980 and 2009. The findings of the qualitative content analysis show that the combat of marine pollution has persistently formed an integrative part of German parties' policy agendas, although there is notable cross-party variation regarding the scope of attention paid to this issue. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that German parties do not limit themselves to only recognizing sea pollution as a general problem and making some vague statements about the need to enhance protection levels. On the contrary, they present concrete proposals for improving the status of German and international marine ecosystems.     

Marine renewable energy: The ecological implications of altering the hydrodynamics of the marine environment

Many countries now recognise the need for mitigation of climate change induced by human activities and have incorporated renewable energy resources within their energy policy. There are extensive resources of renewable energy within the marine environment and increasing interest in extracting energy from locations with either large tidal range, rapid flow with and without wave interaction, or large wave resources. However, the ecological implications of altering the hydrodynamics of the marine environment are poorly understood. Ecological data for areas targeted for marine renewable developments are often limited, not least because of the considerable challenges to sampling in high energy environments. In order to predict the scale and nature of ecological implications there is a need for greater understanding of the distribution and extent of the renewable energy resource and in turn, of how marine renewable energy installations (MREIs) may alter energy in the environment. Regional ecological implications of a MREI need to be considered against the greater and global ecological threat of climate change. Finally, it is recommended that the identification of species and biotopes susceptible to the removal of hydrokinetic energy could be a suitable strategy for understanding how a MREI may alter flow conditions.     

Developing a new grey dynamic modeling system for evaluation of biology and pollution indicators of the marine environment in coastal areas

Pollution of the marine environment leads to corresponding changes within the ecosystem. Thus, evaluation of the marine environment for management purposes, which is a procedure complicated by multi-hierarchy, multi-factors, and multi-uncertainty, should be considered from both ecological and environmental standpoints. Currently, the lack of consideration of the relationship between bio-indicators and water pollution in marine environmental evaluation hinders the efforts of conventional modeling approaches in this field. This paper presents an innovative dynamic modeling system that we call the grey dynamic modeling system (GDMS). This system synthesizes the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), grey target theory (GTT), and grey forecasting modeling approaches (GM(1,1)), and it takes both ecological and environmental factors into account during evaluation and forecasting of the marine environment in coastal areas. To effectively eliminate the subjective errors of the traditional AHP process, the GTT analysis is used to replace expert scoring, which defines the grey relational grades of the bio-indicator indices(BI) and the water pollution indices(WPI).The structure of the AHP then is applied to link the bio-indicators and pollution, which enables the system to generate the primary factors necessary for the evaluation of the marine environment from both ecological and pollution perspectives. The new modeling system was used to evaluate and forecast the marine eco-environment in the Tianjin section of Bohai Bay, China. This case study highlights the key features of the approach. The bio-indicator indices(BI) and water pollution indices(WPI) monitoring data from 2002 to 2007 of 8 monitoring sites are input to this dynamic modeling system and the results illustrate the following: Pollution of the study area is currently serious and tends to be worse in the future, and the worst areas are sites 2, 3, and 4 based on their key pollution indices biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP), and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN)) which have the main effects on marine eco-system. These results can be used as the basis for marine environmental manager to define the key pollution factors, key pollution sites and the pollution trends of the marine environment of the whole study area.     

A note on the relationships between organic matter and some geotechnical properties of a marine sediment

Abstract

An analysis of the relationship between organic matter and liquid and plastic limits, and grain‐specific gravity of a marine sediment was accomplished by making a stepwise adjustment in the organic content of that sediment. The sample used was from Santa Barbara Basin (off southern California) and is typical of fine‐grained marine sediments: it is a clayey silt with a common suite of minerals and other constituents. During the experiment, texture and composition (except organic content) were constant; only the quantity of natural, indigenous organic matter was changed.

A strong linear relationship exists between the independent variable, the amount of organic carbon present in the sample, and the dependent variables. Liquid limit, plastic limit, and plasticity index all increased with increasing organic content over the range studied (0.57–3.20% organic carbon). Grain‐specific gravity decreased. All had linear correlation coefficients (r) greater than |0.90| and r ² values greater than 90%, except the plasticity index (83%).

Comparing the results of regression analyses from this and several similar studies shows that although there is good qualitative agreement, there are quantitative inconsistencies. In particular there is considerable overall variability in the regression coefficients. Among studies on marine sediments the inconsistencies are less pronounced, yet still evident. The increase in liquid limit as organic carbon increased by 1 % sediment dry weight ranged from 9 to 28% water content; in the plastic limit the range was from 4 to 18%. However, in these marine studies regression coefficients are relatively close in value in some cases, levels of significance of the regressions are high in most cases, and in all cases the relationships appear to be linear over the range of organic carbon percentage studied. Finally, we believe that a relatively clear relationship between plasticity and organic carbon begins to emerge when the latter exceeds a value of 2%.     

The emerging policy landscape for marine spatial planning in Europe

This paper provides an overview of the emerging policy landscape for marine spatial planning in the European Union, which consists of four main categories of policy drivers: environmental legislation, legislation on marine renewable energy, fisheries regulations and the Integrated Maritime Policy. The weak links between these categories of policy drivers, underpinned by a lack of clarity regarding the vision for sustainability, pose major challenges for the emergence of ecosystem-based and integrated marine spatial planning in Europe. In addition, there is still uncertainty arising from on-going reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, and discussions on the need for a new marine spatial planning directive. This paper concludes with the view that better integration of environmental concerns into the Common Fisheries Policy is needed to strengthen the link between environmental legislation and fisheries regulations, and that the existing policy landscape, particularly the Marine Strategic Framework Directive, already provides a legal framework for ecosystem-based marine spatial planning. Such a framework is consistent with the recognition that ecosystem conservation underpins other pillars of sustainable development and provides the foundation for cross-sectoral marine planning and management.     

The latitudinal and bathymetric ranges of marine fishes: a global analysis to test the application of Rapoport′s Rule

We evaluated the applicability of Rapoport’s Rule (RR) to the marine bony fishes of the world. The biogeographical pattern predicted by RR has been the subject of a large number of studies, some supporting it and some not. In this exercise, we attempted to generate results free of biases from taxonomy or geographic scale. The study area encompassed all world oceans. Our analysis was based on secondary data. We tested the relationship of the geographic range and the bathymetric range to the latitude gradient, using the method of Stevens (American Naturalist 1989, 133 , 240–256) . We compared all known species of marine bony fishes together, and performed a second analysis limited to the non‐pelagic species. Our results were generated from a databank including 13,957 species. The results indicated that RR (latitudinal range) is valid for 11 regions. However, there were exceptions for the northern part of the Eastern Atlantic and Pacific, the northern part of the Western Indian, and the Arctic Oceans. The analyses of RR (bathymetric range) were supported for 13 regions. We found only one exception, for the northern part of the Western Indian Ocean. The applicability of RR and its relationship to energy supply, represented here by the temperature variability of the marine water masses, was clear. The exceptions appeared when some feature associated with the distribution of water masses was superposed on the latitudinal gradient, or when some life trait characteristic of a taxon, for instance body size, was confounded with the effect of climate variability.     

Governance characteristics of large marine ecosystems

The Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) concept is widely established as a large-scale approach to coastal and marine management. LME-oriented activities have focused mainly on natural sciences. Socioeconomic and governance aspects have only recently been receiving increased attention. The 64 LMEs that have been defined appeared to exhibit considerable diversity in characteristics that would be expected to affect governability. This paper explores two questions: (1) Do the LMEs vary widely enough in geopolitical complexity that different approaches to governance may be required for different LMEs? (2) Are there groups of LMEs within which one might take similar approaches to governance? The analysis demonstrates that there is considerable heterogeneity among LMEs with regard to characteristics that would be expected to affect governability. It concludes that a diversity of governance approaches will be required to cope with this heterogeneity. It also appears that LMEs can be grouped according to these characteristics. This suggests that different approaches could be considered for clusters rather than for individual LMEs and that there can be sharing of experience and learning within clusters. The types of relationships between features of LMEs and the ‘best’ approaches to marine governance are discussed in the context of emerging governance ideas.     

The new mode of marine planning in the UK: Aspirations and challenges

Since 2009, there has been a shift in UK marine governance with the Marine and Coastal Access Act in which a core mechanism is marine planning, designed to replace a fragmented, ad hoc, and bureaucratic process of marine management with a strategic, integrated, and centralised system. This shift has been justified by the UK government as a more efficient procedure for delivering sustainable development (SD), which is the overarching objective of UK environmental policy. This article, which is based on data from key informant interviews and secondary sources, analyses the shift to understand its aspirations and the challenges facing it. The issues focused on include its holistic approach; its centralising tendencies; its streamlining processes; and its implicit commitment to renewable energy. In these four issues there are tensions between aspirations and challenges, and the conclusion is that the success of the new mode of marine governance depends on satisfactorily resolving these tensions.     

Towards best environmental practice for cetacean conservation in developing Scotland's marine renewable energy

Marine renewable energy is seen as an important component of the UK's future energy strategy and contribution to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. The UK aims to generate a total of 33 GW (gigawatts) of offshore wind energy. Its implementation strategy includes the development of ten offshore wind farms within Scottish territorial waters. In addition, between 1000 MW (megawatts) and 2600 MW of marine renewable energy generating capacity could be achieved in Scotland using wave and tidal power devices. However, there are negative environmental impacts associated with marine renewable energy. Intense noise is produced during pile driving, drilling and dredging operations with potential consequences for cetaceans. There are also increases in vessel activities during exploration, maintenance and construction with association risks of disturbance and collisions. Some underwater devices will be large and may be positioned in arrays across the habitats that cetaceans frequent. The consequences of encounters between cetaceans and such devices are as yet unknown. It is recommended that the Scottish Government complete full and transparent Marine Spatial Planning, including consideration of cumulative impacts, before moving to license appropriate sites.     

A global snapshot of marine biodiversity offsetting policy

Biodiversity offsetting is used in diverse policy contexts to reduce, halt or reverse losses of biodiversity arising from development or other uses of the natural environment. Despite increasing interest in the concept of biodiversity offsetting, relatively little attention has been devoted to investigating its use in marine environments. This paper presents a systematic review of documents evidencing the application or inclusion of biodiversity offset principles in policy frameworks concerning the marine environment, and in marine development projects. Biodiversity offsetting policies applicable to marine environments were found to exist in six countries (US, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Colombia) and have been actively considered in at least 27 others. Outside of these, a wide range of other approaches promoting uptake of biodiversity offsetting principles in a marine context were identified. These range from preliminary studies to identify habitat, to nascent biodiversity markets, and project-level application of corporate standards of no net loss. Evidence suggests that where offsetting policy is developed for specific marine application, the preferred approach is to pool financial contributions from developers into funds for strategic action for biodiversity benefit.     

Biotransformation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in marine polychaetes

Deposit-feeding polychaetes constitute the dominant macrofauna in marine environments that tend to be depositional centers for organic matter and contaminants. Polychaetes are known to accumulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from both particulate and dissolved phases but less is known about the mechanisms underlying elimination of accumulated PAHs. An important pathway of elimination is through biotransformation which results in increased aqueous solubility of the otherwise hydrophobic PAHs. Biotransformation in marine polychaetes proceeds in a two phased process similar to those well studied in vertebrates, phase I enzymes belonging to the Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme family, along with a few phase II enzymes have been identified in marine polychaetes. In this review we aim at highlighting advances in the mechanistic understanding of PAH biotransformation in marine polychaetes by including data obtained using analytical chemistry and molecular techniques. In marine polychaetes induction of CYP enzyme activity after exposure to PAHs and the mechanism behind this is currently not well established. Conflicting results regarding the inducibility of CYP enzymes from polychaetes have led to the suggestion that induction in polychaetes is mediated through a different mechanistic pathway, which is corroborated by the apparent lack of an AhR homologous in marine polychaetes. Also, none of the currently identified CYP genes from marine polychaetes are isoforms of those regulated by the AhR in vertebrates. Relatively few studies of phase II enzymes in marine polychaetes are currently available and most of these studies have not measured the activity of specific phase II enzymes and identified phase II metabolites but used an extraction technique only allowing determination of the overall amount of phase II metabolites. Studies in insects and various marine invertebrates suggest that in invertebrates, enzymes in the important phase II enzyme family, UDP-glucuronosyl transferases primarily use glucoside as co-substrate as opposed to the vertebrate cosubstrate glucuronic acid. Recent studies in marine polychaetes have however identified glucuronidation of PAHs indicating no mechanistic difference in co-substrate preference among UDP-glucuronosyl transferases between vertebrates and marine polychaetes but it might suggest a mechanistic difference between marine polychaetes and insects.     

Neutral aldoses as source indicators for marine snow

The chemical characteristics of aggregating material in the marine environment are largely unknown. We investigated neutral aldose (NA) abundance and composition in aggregation of marine snow and other organic matter (OM) size fractions in the field. Four sample sets were fractionated using membrane filtration and ultrafiltration into the following size fractions: particulate material, high-molecular-weight (HMW) material, and low-molecular-weight (LMW) material. We also collected three sample sets of marine-snow aggregates. Each sample set contained small, medium, and large aggregate size fractions and each size fraction consisted of 25–50 aggregates. For 7 marine-snow samples and for each water-sample size fraction, we determined monomeric and polymeric NA concentration, NA yield (amount of NA-C normalized to organic carbon), and composition; total organic carbon (TOC) concentration; transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) concentration, and TEP propensity (TEP concentration after inducing TEP formation in filtered samples). This is the first study to include compound-specific NA determinations on these four marine OM size fractions.The mass balances of organic carbon and NA indicated that there were no serious contamination or loss problems. Concentrations, yields, and NA mol fractions in water samples were similar to results from other studies. Glucose and galactose had the highest relative abundance in all size fractions. The NA yield increased with increasing molecular weight or particle size for all fractions except marine snow. The NA yield increased in the order: LMW< marine snow< HMW< particles. Marine snow had a higher average NA yield than the LMW fraction, but lower than particle and HMW-fractions. This indicates that OM in marine snow could have been diagenetically derived from particulate and HMW-fractions, that is, marine snow may include material from the particulate and the colloidal phase.TEP concentration or TEP propensity was positively correlated with concentrations of all individual NAs as well as the sum NA concentrations, indicating that TEP contains neutral sugars in addition to the acidic polysaccharides stained in the determination of TEP concentrations.Despite the relatively low NA yield in marine snow, marine snow was enriched in NA when compared with seawater, with enrichment factors of 34–225 (average 125). By combining data from this study with data from other studies, we estimate that < 10% of carbohydrates in marine snow comprise NAs.There was no clear correlation between marine-snow aggregate size and NA yield, that is, there appears to be no general age difference between small and large marine-snow aggregates. NA composition was similar among different marine-snow size fracions collected during the same day, indicating that aggregation/disaggregation reactions resulted in homogenizing NA composition in marine-snow aggregates of all sizes. The NA composition of marine snow was different from that of other OM size fractions, indicating either that bacterial degradation has modified the composition of marine snow to a larger extent than other OM size fractions or that marine snow is formed through the aggregation of selected subcomponents of OM.