Assessment of eco-labelling schemes for Pacific tuna fisheries

Developments in fisheries governance in recent decades—notably the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and its implementing agreements—have established a framework of principles, standards, institutions and regulations that is broader and more complex than traditional fisheries management, which has generally focused on individual target species. As this framework has evolved, a number of seafood eco-labelling schemes have also developed. These schemes aim to identify well-managed fisheries and give competitive advantage to their products, thus translating the environmental awareness of consumers into direct support for sustainable fishing practices. This paper evaluates a number of these schemes in the context of international fisheries governance principles and considers the conservation benefits that may result from sustainability certification of Pacific tuna fisheries. The paper briefly summarises developments in eco-labeling of Pacific tuna fisheries in relation to the evolution of fisheries management, where focus has shifted from the maximum sustainable yield of individual tuna species to ecosystem-based approaches that directly consider the broader environmental impacts of fishing. The paper discusses two different ‘Dolphin Safe’ eco-labels, the third-party scheme of the Earth Island Institute and the intergovernmental scheme of the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program, and two broader eco-labels offering sustainability certification of fisheries, ‘Friend of the Sea’ and the ‘Marine Stewardship Council’. The role played by seafood-industry associations with sustainability claims, such as the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, is also considered.     

多宝鱼养殖大有可为

据悉,受到国际水产养殖界高度重视的欧洲著名海水养殖优质良种——多宝鱼,近年来在我国北方沿海引进养殖和繁殖成功后,现正陆续推广养殖,但由于产量极少,故目前在南方的广州、深圳、珠海、佛山及香港等城市和其他地方市场经常难觅踪影,有时从东北大连来少量货源     

Species-diverse coral communities on an artificial substrate at a tuna farm in Amami,Japan

Tuna-farming is expanding worldwide, necessitating the monitoring/managing of its effects on the natural environment. In Japan, tuna-farming is conducted on coral reefs that have been damaged by mass-bleaching events and crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) outbreaks. This study focused on the coral community on an artificial substrate of tuna-farm to reveal the possible effects of tuna-farming on the natural environment. Corals flourished on ropes suspended in the farm in the Amami Islands, southern Japan. These were moored 3 m below the sea-surface in 50-m-deep water. The coral community on the rope was analyzed and compared with those on natural substrata on two adjacent COTS-damaged reefs and with that in a protected reef. Corals were monitored throughout a year. Sixty coral species grew on the ropes, that corresponds to 27.3% of the 220 species known from Amami. The coral community was unique, dominated by massive faviid corals. On the ropes, the water temperature rarely exceeded 30.0 °C and no corals on the rope were severely bleached or covered by sedimentation during the observations. The tuna-farm infrastructure provided corals with a suitable habitat, and species-rich coral communities were established. These coral communities are an important node connecting tuna-farms and the natural environment.     

Habitat overlap between southern bluefin tuna and yellowfin tuna in the east coast longline fishery - implications for present and future spatial management

Southern bluefin tuna (SBT) are presently a quota-managed species in the multi-species eastern Australian tuna and billfish longline fishery (ETBF). Capture of SBT is regulated by quota, as is access to regions likely to contain SBT. A habitat prediction model combining data from an ocean model and pop-up satellite archival tags is used to define habitat zones based on the probability of SBT occurrence. These habitat zones are used by fishery managers to restrict access by ETBF fishers to SBT habitat during a May-November management season. The zones display a distinct seasonal cycle driven by the seasonal southward expansion and northward contraction of the East Australia Current (EAC) and as a result access by fishers to particular ocean regions changes seasonally. This species also overlaps with the commercially valuable yellowfin tuna (YFT), thus, we modified the SBT model to generate YFT habitat predictions in order to investigate habitat overlap between SBT and YFT. There is seasonal variation in the overlap of the core habitat between these two species, with overlap early (May-Jul) in the management season and habitat separation occurring towards the end (Aug-Nov). The EAC is one of the fastest warming ocean regions in the southern hemisphere. To consider the future change in distribution of these two species compared to the present and to explore the potential impact on fishers and managers of the future, we use future ocean predictions from the CSIRO Bluelink ocean model for the year 2064 to generate habitat predictions. As the ocean warms on the east coast of Australia and the EAC extends southward, our model predicts the suitable habitat for SBT and YFT will move further south. There was an increase in the overlap of SBT and YFT habitat throughout the management season, due to regional variation of each species’ habitat. These results illustrate that a management tradeoff exists between restricting fisher access to SBT habitat and allowing access to YFT habitat. We suggest that some options to address this tradeoff are possible by identifying the seasonal variability of the overlap.     

Reforming resource rent policy: an information economics perspective

Efficient management of natural resources requires that the least cost fishers operate in a fishery. Information economics tells us that firms have information about their costs that governments cannot readily acquire, and that we need to ensure this information is revealed in order to allocate access efficiently. Auctions can achieve this, and simultaneously collect resource rent to give industry ongoing efficiency motivation. This paper highlights the relevance of information economics in fishery management, and identifies some specific auction design issues relevant to allocating new aquaculture sites.     

The case for an international commission for the conservation and management of sharks (ICCMS)

The current rate of shark global exploitation and mortality is arguably so high under current management regimes that unless a renewed initiative is undertaken some species of shark will become effectively extinct. Current efforts to sustainably manage shark mortality are driven primarily by domestic laws in a few countries, big international non-governmental organizations (BINGOs) promoting environmental laws in the countries or regions where they exist, a handful of regional fisheries management organizations (e.g., IATTC and ICCAT), and inter-governmental organizations such as CITES. The absence of enforcement capability is often argued as the critical component in the failure to protect sharks from overexploitation. The remedy advanced here goes far beyond the need for stepped up enforcement, and calls for the creation of an entirely new international management regime, the International Commission for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (ICCMS). Such an agency could learn from the experiences of management bodies tasked with conservation of species biologically similar to sharks, such as the International Whaling Commission (IWC), to improve its efficacy. Critics have identified many organizational flaws that reduced the IWC’s effectiveness during its earliest years. Some of those flaws are examined here and remedies are suggested that an ICCMS could use to create a more effective management regime. The life histories of elasmobranches and large whales are compared to illustrate their similarities as a biological foundation for the selection of the IWC as a model.     

海洋统计工作的发展与展望

海洋统计工作从1989年开始以来,从无到有,在发展中不断完善。在国家海洋局的正确领导下,在国家统计局的大力支持下,广大海洋统计工作者共同努力,使海洋统计工作取得很大进展。     

基于贝叶斯状态空间产量模型的大西洋黄鳍金枪鱼资源评估

黄鳍金枪鱼(Thunnus albacares)是全球远洋渔业的重要目标鱼种,要实现有效的管理,对其进行科学的资源评估是必不可少的。本文以大西洋黄鳍金枪鱼为研究对象,根据国际大西洋金枪鱼养护委员会的渔获量和单位捕捞努力量渔获量数据,使用贝叶斯状态空间模型进行资源评估,并探讨不同剩余产量函数和单位捕捞努力量渔获量数据对评估的影响。结果表明,使用美国、委内瑞拉、日本和中国台北4个船队的单位捕捞努力量渔获量数据及Fox剩余产量函数时模型拟合效果最佳。关键参数环境容纳量和内禀增长率的估计中值和95%置信区间分别为178 (140,229)×10⁴ t和0.210(0.159,0.274);当前资源量为72.5×10⁴ t,最大可持续产量为13.7×10⁴ t时,种群既没有遭受资源型过度捕捞,也没有捕捞型过度捕捞发生。敏感性分析表明,当渔获量数据存在误报率(70%、80%、90%、110%、120%和130%)时,生物量的评估结果偏高,而捕捞死亡率的结果偏低,但种群均处于健康状态;预测分析显示,当总允许可捕量设为11×10⁴ t时,资源在2024年前仍基本保持健康状态。本研究与国际大西洋金枪鱼养护委员会现有的评估结果基本一致,且模型较稳健,可以为管理决策提供建议。根据模型结果,建议总允许可捕量为11×10⁴ t或更低,以使资源达到可持续开发水平。     

Metal flux as an alternative parameter in evaluating the resource potential for co-rich ferromanganese crusts

We propose a geochemical parameter, “metal flux” in evaluating hydrogenetic Co-rich ferromanganese crust deposits in the Pacific seamount area, that is based on physical, chemical, and geological characterization of the integrated growth piles of crusts. We calculated the metal flux for fifteen sites from different depths ranging between 900-6000m from different seamounts. The secular and areal variations of metal flux indicate a strong geological controls, and also can be a reliable tool for estimating an economic potential of the crusts. The Co flux decreases with increasing water depth, followed by almost constant flux of Ni and Mn. The Al and Fe fluxes vary with regions, indicating higher values in the western regions near the island arc probably related to a supply from the Asian continents. The results imply that Co, a redox sensitive metal element, is controlled by redox conditions of seawater, while Fe and Al are by terrigenous input. The metal flux reflects global and regional conditions and controls the compositional diversity of metals, thus consequently, the parameter can be a reliable powerful tool to estimate or single out more potential areas.     

Cost-reliability consequence resource allocation: Application to an offshore structure

A model is given for the planning of the inspection and maintenance operations of a system: an application to an offshore structure is described. The objectiveis to minimize the total cost of inspections and consequences of failures, subject to an upper boundon the total failure probability of the system. An incremental algorithm is defined for the approximate solution of the problem, and a method is described for the evaluation of the quality of any feasible solution in terms of bounds of the optimal objective value. The incremental algorithm solves the problem parametrically for certain values of the system reliability. The model has been applied to obtain an optimal inspection plan against the consequences of gross errors, accidental events, fatigue and corrosion in terms of input describing element importance values, element reliability values, error detection probabilities, error detection costs and error repair costs for parametrical variations of the structural reliability.     

Organic waste impact of capture-based Atlantic bluefin tuna aquaculture at an exposed site in the Mediterranean Sea

A variety of pelagic and benthic parameters were measured at an aquaculture farm used for the fattening of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) which is located at an exposed site (700 m from the coast, average bottom depth of 45 m and average current speed of 6 cm s⁻¹) in the Mediterranean Sea. The objective was to test whether modern off-shore tuna fattening industries can exert a sustainable organic waste impact on the receiving environment as has been reported for the offshore culture of more traditional Mediterranean species such as sparids. In the water column, the concentration of phytopigments, organic matter, heterotrophic bacteria and the taxonomic abundance of mesozooplankton (at the species level) were assessed. In the sediment, we assessed the concentration of reduced sulphur pools, phytopigments, organic matter, heterotrophic bacteria and the taxonomic abundance of meiofauna (at the taxa level) and nematodes (at the genus level). For most parameters, we found no substantial differences between farm and control sites. Deviations of farm values from control values, when they occurred, were small and did not indicate any significant impact on either the pelagic and benthic environment. Deviations were more apparent in the benthic compartment where lower redox potential values, higher bacterial production rates and a change in nematode genus composition pointed out to early changes in the sediment's metabolism. In addition, indigenous potential pathogenic bacteria showed higher concentration at the fish farm stations and were a warning of an undesirable event that may become established following aquaculture practice in oligotrophic environments. The overall data from this study provide extensive experimental evidence to support the sustainability of modern offshore farming technology in minimizing the hypertrophic-dystrophic risks associated with the rapidly-expanding tuna-fattening industry in the Mediterranean Sea.     

Climate variability and tropical tuna: Management challenges for highly migratory fish stocks

The 1995 United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement facilitates the creation of regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) to govern harvests of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks. The stability and success of these organizations will depend, in part, on how effectively they can maintain member nations’ incentives to cooperate despite the uncertainties and shifting opportunities that may result from climate-driven changes in the productivity, migratory behavior, or catchability of the fish stocks governed by the RFMO. Such climatic impacts may intensify incentives for opportunism, and create other management challenges for the RFMOs now governing tropical tuna fisheries in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.     

Performance assessment of an underwater setting chute to mitigate seabird bycatch in the Hawaii pelagic longline tuna fishery

Mortality in longline fisheries is one of the most critical global threats to some seabird species. Underwater setting technology may offer an effective and commercially viable solution. The underwater setting chute for pelagic longline fisheries releases baited hooks underwater, out of sight and reach of diving seabirds. Results from a study in the Hawaii pelagic longline tuna fishery indicate that the underwater setting chute is the most effective technology tested to date to minimize seabird capture in this fishery. The chute eliminated seabird capture during this short-term trial. During control replicates, the capture rate was 4.24 captures per 1000 hooks and when normalized for albatross abundance, the rate was 0.114 captures per 1000 hooks per albatross. Expressed as contacts per 1000 hooks per albatross, the chute was 95% effective at reducing albatross contacts with fishing gear compared to a control.The chute was practical for use and design and installation improvements are likely possible to make the chute more palatable for uptake by industry. The chute has the added benefit of increasing fishing efficiency. The cost for purchasing and installing the chute would be recouped after only a maximum of two fishing trips. Based on an assessment of bait retention and hook setting interval when using the chute versus setting conventionally, vessels would experience a gain in efficiency of between 14.7% and 29.6% when albatrosses are abundant. Economic incentives are essential to abate global seabird mortality in longline fisheries.     

海洋信息共享工程标准化展望

日本在日前发表的《信息通信白皮书》中提出,要建立网络无所不在的社会;美国1999年提出了“21世纪信息技术计划”,由此看出,信息社会正向人类走来,人们唯有通过网络才能快捷、有效地获得有用信息,海洋产业唯有借助网络才能推动科学研究,有效地利用海洋资源,促进海洋经济发展,海洋信息共享工程建设势在必行。标准化原理能确保海洋信息共享工程建设有序、高效、质量优良。