The development of marine biotechnology in Oman: Potential for capacity building through open innovation

This study examines the current state of the art in the emerging and strategically important marine biotechnology sector in Oman, which has a long coastline, rich marine heritage and strong fishing industry. In a knowledge-based economy, the ability to innovate is a key factor for increasing organisational competitiveness and this may be achieved using open innovation. This is the use by firms of external knowledge, ideas and technology to innovate. In this study, the extent of open innovation in Omani marine bioindustry companies has been studied by examining data from the top sixteen companies ranked by number of employees. The results indicate that the extent of openness in these companies is higher towards market side activities. In addition, the use of open innovation to increase collaboration between companies, Universities and government research institutes needs to be significantly strengthened.     

APEC海洋保护区管理能力建设探讨——基于2011年APEC海洋保护区培训班成果分析

为推动APEC经济体的海洋保护区管理能力建设、分享APEC经济体在海洋保护区建设与管理方面的成功经验,APEC海洋可持续发展中心于2011年在中国厦门举办了"APEC海洋保护区管理能力建设培训班".本文简要介绍了培训班概况,并基于培训研讨内容,总结归纳了目前业界对亚太区域海洋保护区管理能力建设共同关心的问题,包括海洋保护区网络建设、管理制度建设、社区共管机制建设、先进技术的应用、可持续财政机制建立等.文中指出开展APEC海洋保护区网络建设的重要性,并提出了今后需要加强海洋保护区管理计划的实施与管理成效评估、管理人员与技术人员的培训和经验分享、加强国际交流合作等方面的建议,以不断提高海洋保护区管理成效.     

Approaches to knowledge sharing and capacity building: The role of local information systems in marine and coastal management

This paper explores how coastal data and information can be mobilised in information systems and applied in coastal management. The concept of an Information System is defined and described, and the potential role of Local Information System (LIS) in integrated coastal management (ICM) is considered. Three examples, from the Severn Estuary, UK the coast of the North West of England and North Wales, and the Fal and Helford estuaries, are used to demonstrate the requirements of a LIS for coastal areas. The role of GIS as part of the solution is considered in detail. The paper demonstrates how ideas from the disciplines of information systems and information science can be practically applied in coastal areas. The findings promote a holistic approach for those involved in the development of technologies and dealing with data and information about coasts and oceans.     

Practitioner training for building capacity in ICZM

Capacity building has been a much promoted principle of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) since its advent beginning in the 1970’s. Although the concept of capacity building includes human resource development, organizational development and institutional and legal framework development, in practice it has often become focussed on the transfer of technical knowledge and procedures to managers and decision makers. The effect of this is often to emphasise and promote sectoral approaches rather than a holistic one as advocated by ICZM. Experiences gained during the EU Intereg IIIB COREPOINT project led to the development of a training programme that progressively reduced its formal lecture-style content and increased opportunity for discussion and delegate participation. It also produced a more uniform and systematic style and structure to presentations, in particular the case studies illustrating the eight EU ICZM principles of best practice, and embedded the ICZM principles and European perspectives of coastal management within the context of the work environment.This paper reviews methods for practitioner-oriented capacity building, and details the evolution of a training course to sensitise and familiarise coastal practitioners with the principles and practices of ICZM, working from local to national to trans-national scales. The lessons learnt from the ICZM capacity development in COREPOINT are identified and it is suggested that these are relevant and applicable to many other ICZM initiatives.     

An overview of the role of the Global Environment Facility in international waters with reference to marine capacity building

This paper provides a brief overview of the development of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) since its creation in June 1991 and the nature of its activities in the field of International Waters. Whilst it is recognised that the GEF represents the single largest source of international financial assistance for achieving global environmental benefits its investment in International Waters remains comparatively small. Since the GEF is designed to achieve global environmental benefits through provision of grant and concessionary funding for the agreed incremental costs of projects its primary objective is not capacity building. Nevertheless, the need for capacity building at the individual and institutional levels within projects was recognised early during the initiation of GEF activities. More recently the need for programmatic approaches to capacity building within the GEF has been identified and is being addressed. It is suggested that potentially the role of the GEF in environmental and marine capacity building could be most important at a global, system-wide level, in terms of testing and promoting innovative and novel approaches to issues of environmentally sound and sustainable economic development.     

A comparison of management planning and implementation in three Indonesian marine protected areas

A comparison of three marine protected areas in Indonesia illustrates many of the problems in management planning and implementation. Major factors influencing management are proximity to urban areas, the protected area's economic potential, current uses and the resolution of jurisdictional disputes. Isolation does not prevent resource depletion. Improving the economic conditions of local residents and gaining their commitment to environmentally sustainable commercial and subsistence resource uses within and near protected areas are vital to implementing area management.     

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and regional capacity building

This paper concentrates on the past and present interaction between the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Com- mission, donor organisations and developing countries in the development of regional programmes for creating and supporting marine science capabilities. The Global Ocean Observing System and Integrated Coastal Zone Management in relation to fisheries, marine pollution and climate/sea level changes require regional input which depends on South-South and North South cooperation. The Indian Ocean with the Eastern African region, serve as an example for an ongoing process of capacity building and growing partnership in marine science. Through the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, a strong and very beneficial cooperation was established, with several donors, in particular with the Swedish Agency for Research Co- operation with Developing Countries. This tripartite partnership of (a) a regional body with a regionally driven programme, (b) a global coordination mechanism in the form of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, and (a) a multi-lateral donor in the form of the Swedish Agency for Research Co-operation with Developing Countries is in fact a model for regional development aid. The need for strong leadership of regional bodies is emphasised including a formal intersessional mechanism in the form of a bureau.     

The role of organic matter in the sorption capacity of marine sediments

Past studies have suggested that desiccation enhances hydrophobicity of salt marsh sediment, and that drying and rewetting sediment can be used to investigate sorption mechanisms of amino acids and other organic compounds [Liu, Z., Lee, C., 2006. Drying effects on sorption capacity of coastal sediment: The importance of architecture and polarity of organic matter. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 70, 3313–3324]. Here we further develop this technique to study sorption of hydrophobic and hydrophilic organic compounds in a wide range of marine sediments. Our results show that hydrophilic compounds sorb strongly to wet coastal sediments; in dried sediments, sorption of hydrophilic compounds decreases, while sorption of hydrophobic compounds is greatly enhanced. Small compounds with aromatic rings sorb more in dried than wet coastal sediments, suggesting that aromatic groups have a stronger effect on sorption than polar groups like amino and carboxyl moieties. Sorption of lysine, glutamic acid and putrescine decreases greatly when sediment is pretreated with KCl, indicating the importance of cation ion exchange. However, α-amino acids sorb much more than corresponding β- or γ-amino acids, and l-alanine sorbs more than d-alanine, suggesting that amino group location and chiral selectivity play an important role in sorption. Comparison of lysine and tyrosine sorption in different sediments indicates that source and diagenetic state of organic matter are important factors determining sorption capacity. Lysine sorbs much more to organic detritus from salt marsh sediment than to fresh Spartina root materials, marine particles, lignin or humic acids, indicating the importance of structural integrity in sorption. Desorption hysteresis of glutamic acid, putrescine and lysine (in dried sediment) suggests the presence of enzyme-type sorption sites of high sorption energy or multiple binding mechanisms. Taken together, these findings suggest that organic matter plays the major role in amino acid sorption in organic-rich sediments.     

Marine capacity building in North and West Africa

The North and West African coastal and marine areas discussed in this paper consist of the countries from Morocco to Libya for North Africa, and from Morocco to South Africa (up to the Cape of Good Hope) in West Africa. These marine areas consist of a wide to narrow continental shelf, estuaries, lagoons, coastal plains, isolated mountains, mangroves and wetlands. These areas are centres of productive socio-economic activities with a high population density, vast fisheries, and mineral resources. Presently, these resources are exploited with little attention for the environmental consequences. Sustainable management of the marine environment and its resources requires effective management plans and a human capacity to formulate, implement and monitor these plans. However, most of the countries still lack funds, human and infrastructural capacity for the management of their marine territories and its resources. Though there are many universities, research institutes and private organisations with a modest infrastructure for both data and information handling and the management of the marine environment, the region still lags behind in human and infrastructural capacity. Existing capacity development programmes by United Nations agencies, governments, universities, nongovernmental agencies, have so far not been very effective. A vigorous marine capacity building effort is needed to ensure the sustainable management of the marine environment in this African region. Externally funded programmes with a focus ensuring technology cooperation are needed. Such programmes must be based on mutual co-operation and participation of scientists and administrators from the region at all levels of programme formulation, implementation and assessment.     

台州市建设海洋经济强市的战略构想

充分利用海洋资源,加快发展海洋经济,已成为当今世界沿海国家和地区发展经济的战略重点。台州市地处浙江省中部,经济发达,人口密集,陆域狭小(面积9411km^2),但拥有与陆地同样管辖权的领海和内水面积约6910km^2。辽阔的海洋国土及其所拥有的丰富海洋资源,为台州市经济与社会发展提供了优越的物质基础。在陆域资源及环境面临严重压力的情况下,积极开发海洋资源,加快发展海洋经济对全面建设小康社会、率先实现现代化具有重大战略意义。     

昌黎县海洋环境承载力评估研究

选取昌黎县海岸线人工化指数、海域开发资源效应指数、海水水质等指标构建昌黎县海洋资源环境承载力评价指标体系,采用专项评价和综合评价相结合的方法,对河北省昌黎县资源环境承载力进行评估研究。结果表明,受入海悬沙量变化和入海污染物的影响文昌鱼栖息地遭到严重破坏,海洋生态承载状况为严重超载,因此需要采取控制污染源,加强监管等手段来改善文昌鱼生长环境压力。     

Coastal livelihood vulnerability to marine resource degradation: A review of the Indonesian national coastal and marine policy framework

In rapidly developing countries, where large sections of the population are highly dependent on marine resources, coastal livelihoods are vulnerable to sudden shocks and long-term change. National policy can attempt to mitigate this vulnerability within a multi-level framework by addressing the three aspects of vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity) through well-documented interventions. This article reviews the Indonesian policy framework for coastal and marine policy interventions that either directly or indirectly address different dimensions of coastal livelihood vulnerability. The findings show that the policy environment for addressing coastal livelihood vulnerability is heavily based on developing adaptive capacity and to a certain extent sensitivity without adequately addressing exposure, the initial cause of vulnerability. In addition, the complexities and inconsistencies within the Indonesian governmental structures, as well as more general issues of funding gaps and poor coordination, mean that policies created at national level rarely filter down to provide the intended benefits to coastal communities. It is recommended that practitioners and policymakers engage in a more cohesive and balanced approach to addressing livelihood vulnerability in coastal management by focusing more on the causes of the disease, exposure, rather than healing just the symptoms.     

Developing marine historic environment management policy: The English Heritage experience

This paper provides an opportunity to examine the involvement of English Heritage in the development of policy and practice with particular regard to how archaeology and features of historic interest are addressed under national legislation, international conventions and EU law. In this paper we provide an explanation of action taken to support conservation, understanding and enjoyment of the historic environment, such as those sites that are legally protected as historic shipwreck sites, and other features that comprise the historic environment, but which are recognised and protected through other legal mechanisms e.g., military vessels and aeroplanes. It is apparent to us that when considering the management agenda for the marine environment attention is also given to archaeological material that predates tidal inundation, as well as the subsequent legacy of maritime activities. To support this approach we examine how the historic environment is defined and included in objectives, policy and law, such as the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, as well as other European or international programmes to promote marine policy and spatial planning. In the years since the National Heritage Act 2002, and the empowerment of English Heritage to support marine projects, we assess the production of explanatory statements and guidance to inform protection in recognition of how change may affect historic environment features. In addition, it is apparent that extensive development is now taking place further offshore (e.g., renewable power projects) and we direct attention at how English Heritage's role is affected by legally defined maritime territorial limits that dictate interpretation of what the marine environment comprises and how such limits influence regulatory controls placed on the management of cultural heritage.     

The use of a virtual learning environment to enhance ICM capacity building

This paper describes and evaluates the use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) to enhance ICM capacity building within a higher education context. It was found that when combined with an appropriate teaching strategy, in this case, problem based learning, the VLE provides a valuable learning resource. Overall, the learning process experienced by students was perceived to be more beneficial than a conventional lecture-based teaching strategy. It was also found that even poorly motivated students engaged with material more fully than with alternative delivery methods. The paper concludes that capacity building techniques require more detailed debate in order to identify and develop appropriate techniques to maximise the potential of capacity building opportunities.     

Planning the sea: The French experience. Contribution to marine spatial planning perspectives

As marine spatial planning is developing, prompted by the European Union through common principles prescribed in a road map, it is important to disseminate and analyse what has been put forward as the French experience in this field. Hence, the experience of the schémas de mise en valeur de la mer immediately proves to be original in its framework and deeply rooted in French specificities. However, a further analysis of this procedure implemented over several decades highlights the perspectives that would be worth integrating into French and European considerations. This paper thus provides information referring to the SMVM experience, presents an analysis of its results, and attempts to draw lessons from it with regard to recent developments in French marine policy.     

The capacity of marine plankton, macrophytes and particulate matter to adsorb Cu in the presence of Mg

A complexometric titration technique was employed to measure the total capacity of a variety of marine organisms to adsorb Cu²⁺. Measured adsorption capacities were 0.22 meq g⁻¹ for phytoplankton, 0.3–1.0 meq g⁻¹ for macrophytes, 1.0–2.5 meq g⁻¹ for zooplankton and 0.3 meq g⁻¹ for suspended particulate matter. The capacity of these materials to adsorb Cu²⁺ was reduced significantly in the presence of Mg²⁺ at seawater concentrations. Competition between Mg^t2+ and Cu²⁺ for adsorption sites at pH 6 is described by an average conditional equilibrium constant of 10^3.7. This constant is such that very little Cu²⁺ may be adsorbed onto particulates and marine phytoplankton in the presence of Mg²⁺. Further, primary productivity data and estimates of the detrital carbon sedimentation in Long Island Sound suggest that the flux of particulate carbon is insufficient to remove significant amounts of Cu from the water column to sediments by adsorption mechanisms.     

主成分分析法在我国海洋资源承载力变化趋势研究中的应用

如何更加合理有效地评价我国海洋资源承载力是我国海洋经济发展和海域经济发展的重要问题。基于主成分分析法的海洋资源承载力研究方法克服了专家打分法的缺陷,它以实际数据为支撑,更为客观的评价出了我国海洋资源承载力近年来的变化趋势,为我国海洋资源承载力的可持续发展提供理论支持。     

Capacity building in marine research and ocean observations: a perspective on why and how

This paper relates the need for inter-national cooperative actions to support the development of the ocean science and observation capabilities to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which entered into force in November 1994, and the results of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 1992. Particularly, the framework for the presentation is the mechanism provided by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The goals of these activities should be the strengthening of national capacities to deal with the requirements of UNCLOS and UNCED implementation actions, within the context of national needs and priorities. A close linkage and harmonisation between national and international structures is desirable for mutual benefit. The related mechanisms of the IOC are discussed. The par-tnership modality is emphasised. The challenge for marine science to adapt to the changing conditions and requirements is analysed. In this context, the importance of indigenous capabilities is stressed, as well as the need to give a special attention to particular areas, e.g. small island developing coun-tries. Some current trends are briefly considered, in particular, the development of operational oceanography. This also implies that there is a need for a new professional community of operational oceanographers. The particularly relevant results of UNCED are brought out, and also in relation to EEZs, a major part of UNCLOS. The need for interdisciplinarity and cooperation between disciplines and society sectors is discussed and exemplified. Finally, an approach for the future is suggested, involving the IOC as a joint specialised intergovernmental mechanism.