Evidence of a common understanding of proximate and distal drivers of reef health

Marine management has typically prioritised natural science methodological traditions as an evidence base for decision-making; yet better integration of social science methods are increasingly shown to provide a more comprehensive picture to base management decisions. Specifically, perceptions-based assessments are gaining support, as they can provide efficient and holistic evaluation regarding management issues. This study focuses on coral reefs because they are particularly threatened ecosystems, due to their ecological complexity, socio-economic importance, and the range of environmental drivers that impact them. Research has largely concentrated on assessing proximate threats to coral reefs. Less attention has been given to distal drivers, such as socio-economic and governance factors. A common understanding of threats related to coral reef degradation is critical for integrated management that takes account of peoples’ concerns. This study compares perceptions of drivers of reef health among stakeholders (n = 110) across different sectors and governance levels, in four Caribbean countries. Interview data identified 37 proximate and 136 distal drivers, categorised into 27 themes. Five sub-groups of themes connecting proximate and distal drivers were identified. Perceptions of two of these narratives, relating to ‘fishing and socioeconomic issues’ and ‘reef management and coastal development’, differed among respondents from different countries and sectors respectively. However, the findings highlight a shared perception of many themes, with 18 of the 27 (67%) mentioned by > 25% of respondents. This paper highlights the application of perceptions data for marine management, demonstrating how knowledge of proximate and distal drivers can be applied to identify important issues at different context-specific scales.     

The way forward with ecosystem-based management in tropical contexts: Reconciling with existing management systems

This paper discusses some of the challenges and opportunities that can arise when implementing ecosystem-based management (EBM) in tropical nations. EBM creates a new series of challenges, problems, and opportunities that must be considered in light of existing governance and management frameworks in a local context. The paper presents five case studies from different parts of the tropical world, including Oceania, insular and continental Southeast Asia, East Africa, and the Caribbean, which illustrate that the implementation of EBM in watershed and marine ecosystems offers a new series of challenges and opportunities for its inclusion with existing forms of environmental governance and management. The paper suggests that EBM is best thought of as an expansion of customary management (CM) and integrated coastal management (ICM), rather than a paradigm shift, and that it has certain benefits that are worth integrating into existing systems when possible. The paper concludes that the cultural and institutional context of CM as well as the experience, technical skills, and legal basis that serve ICM programs are logical platforms from which to build EBM programs. Some guidelines for creating hybrid management regimes are suggested. In sum, declining marine species and ecosystems require urgent action, necessitating utilization of existing paradigms such as ICM and CM as a foundation for building EBM.     

Ecosystem-based fisheries management in small-scale tropical marine fisheries: Emerging models of governance arrangements in the Philippines

There has been a gradual evolution in fisheries management over the past decades from a focus on sustainability of a single species or stock and resources to a focus on marine ecosystems. Among the issues to be addressed for effective implementation of ecosystem based fisheries management (EBFM) are the appropriate governance arrangements and scale for management. The purpose of this paper is to examine these issues of governance and scale as related to EBFM in tropical developing countries through an analysis of approaches being taken in the Philippines to manage fisheries on a multi-jurisdictional level. The management of fisheries and coastal resources in a number of bays and gulfs, which represent marine ecosystems, is presented. The opportunities and constraints to ecosystem based fisheries management in the Philippines are discussed and lessons for broader application of these governance structures in tropical developing country marine ecosystems are presented.     

Coastal zone management focusing on coastal tourism in a transitional period of China

Coastal zone management in China has undergone a developmental leap since 1978, a turning point in the country's economic and institutional reform. In examining China's reform in coastal management, this paper assesses the evolution of marine activities including coastal tourism. It also looks into the present issues of coastal resource uses and how administrative agencies responded to those coastal resource issues especially as the country moves from a planned economy to a market economy, and from centralized governance to decentralized governance. This paper also proposes a management approach for coastal tourism management in the future of China.     

Towards integrated coastal management in Solomon Islands: Identifying strategic issues for governance reform

This paper evaluates governance arrangements in Solomon Islands in terms of their ability to achieve the integrated management of coastal environments. The paper uses a modified version of the framework proposed by Ehler CN [Indicators in measure governance performance in integrated coastal management. Ocean & Coastal Management 2003; 46: 335–345] for evaluating governance performance. The results point to a systemic failure of coastal governance in Solomon Islands. The paper identifies the strategic issues for governance reform if the management of coastal environments and resources in Solomon Islands is to be improved.     

A new direction in coastal management

This paper argues for a stronger integration of marine sciences and coastal management studies that generates better formulated marine policies and viable policy implementation strategies. Integration of natural and social sciences in environmental management has surfaced as a key issue recently in the fields of sustainability science, ecosystem-based management, and social–ecological resilience. This paper promotes such trend in marine studies, and examines the rationale, progress, and examples of the integration.     

One size does not fit all: Critical insights for effective community-based resource management in Melanesia

In recent years, Fiji's approach of combining traditional systems of community-based coastal management and modern management systems has become a successful blueprint for marine conservation, particularly the Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) network model. As a result of this success, conservation practitioners have imported the Fiji LMMA model to the Solomon Islands and in Vanuatu in hope of replicating the purported success attained in Fiji. This paper argues that because tenure systems and associated political systems in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu are substantially different, one cannot simply extrapolate the more centralized tenurial and political Fiji model to the decentralized tenurial and politically eclectic Solomons and Vanuatu. This paper provides an analysis of some of the various approaches used in these countries to make a case for why socio-political diversity and historical particulars matter to resource management and conservation-in-practice (and for any development interventions). By examining examples of various nested and polycentric governance approaches—family, community, tribal, confederations, local community-based organizations (CBOs), and Church—it elucidate not only some of the differences between Fiji and Solomon Islands/Vanuatu, but also between Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. This provides critical insights into some of the myriad of factors impinging on conservation aspirations in these countries and may offer some alternative ways forward not currently considered by conservation practitioners. Finally, the paper provides some guidelines to how to increase the long-term success of marine conservation programs for fisheries management and community-based management initiatives in the region.     

Towards climate adaptation and coastal governance in Ireland: Integrated architecture for effective management?

Coastal environments are susceptible to a range of impacts arising from medium and long-term climate change. However, as Ireland's population and industrial centres are concentrated in coastal locations, Ireland's coastal communities will be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Therefore, making the best use of existing knowledge to inform the establishment of governance structures capable of facilitating the measures and actions which may soon be required is a national imperative. Coastal communities worldwide have turned to integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) as a process to deliver sustainable development. This paper explores how experience gained from ICZM implementation can be harnessed to inform the development and implementation of climate adaptation policies, with a particular focus on the coastal zone. Using the principles and conceptual basis of Earth System Governance – an emerging approach to analyse complexity of governance under global environmental change – the paper maps the architecture of ICZM and climate governance in Ireland. The research identifies the main barriers to, and opportunities for, integrated application of the two policy domains. Barriers include the fragmentation of governance structures and responsibilities of key stakeholders, a lack of coordinated support for ICZM implementation at the national level, and a relatively weak awareness of the specifics of adaptation at the local level. Opportunities include the availability of expertise gathered from phases of ICZM implementation in Ireland, which encompasses mechanisms for science-policy integration, and invaluable experience of stakeholder participation and interaction. Current political and scientific support at national and EU levels give an additional impetus to climate research and actions which may bring additional opportunities and resources to coastal governance in Ireland.     

东亚海区的海岸带综合管理经验:从地方性示范到区域性合作

本文阐述了东亚海区海岸带综合管理实践如何从地方性的示范发展到区域性的合作管理框架，如何实现海洋和海岸带资源的可持续利用．文中着重突出了厦门市政府在维持环境保护和经济发展的平衡，启动和实施海岸带综合管理，以及与沿海国在国际合作方面的经验，总结了厦门实施海岸带综合管理的主要经验，包括多部门间综合协调机制、海岸带综合管理法律框架、科技支撑体系的建立，海洋功能区划、环境剖面和战略环境管理计划的制定，以及实现海上联合执法等等．同时阐述了东亚海域环境管理区域合作计划（PEMSEA）与澳大利亚合作伙伴之间的关系在推动沿海城市的国际合作中将起到的作用．     

黄海浒苔绿潮研究进展

绿潮是世界性的海洋生态环境问题。自2007年以来,浒苔绿潮已肆虐黄海近岸海域达10年之久,造成了巨大经济损失和严重社会影响,成为近年来我国海洋生态学研究的焦点之一。目前,国内外学者围绕黄海绿潮起源与发生原因已经开展了一系列的研究,取得了一定的科学认知。本文综述了关于黄海绿潮起源与发生过程、浒苔的关键生物学特征以及绿潮暴发的环境驱动机制等方面的主要研究进展,分析了目前绿潮发生机制研究中未解决的科学问题和绿潮减灾防灾技术上的不足,并提出了研究展望。同时,对近期启动的国家重点研发计划重点专项"浒苔绿潮形成机理与综合防控技术研究及应用"的研究内容与预期目标进行了简要介绍。     

厦门海岸带资源与管理战略

本文分析了厦门海岸带资源现状和管理中存在的问题。厦门海岸带管理素来以行为的基础,实施行业管理。这种管理机制已经难以解决海岸带过度开发、环境恶化、资源开发利用与保护之间的矛盾等日益严重的问题。新型的海岸带资源管理是一种较为全面的管理方法,致力于建立综合管理体制,其中考虑到各行业部门对海岸带及其资源可能造成影响的各种活动,同时综合考虑社会、经济、环境和生态等问题,从而平衡和优化经济发展、公共利用和环境     

Editorial: Reflections from Ireland

Responses of governance systems to change in coastal and marine ecosystems vary from country to country around the globe. Lessons can be learned from country specific case studies, as national governments strive to adapt and respond to issues of concern. This short paper highlights the benefits of a country-specific, special edition of Marine Policy, with a focus on Ireland. Despite the uniqueness of socio-ecological setting, many of the issues faced by policy makers in Ireland, such as the reconciliation of economic development and conservation needs, are shared elsewhere. This special edition was produced at the end of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ in Ireland. As a result, it reflects an era when economic development was very much a priority. The same period represented an unparalleled investment in marine science since the foundation of the State in 1922. Despite this, the papers in the Special Edition point to varying degrees of progress in policy integration and implementation. Papers covering a range of sectors (fisheries, ocean energy, conservation and fisheries) and disciplines (economics, science and management) will be of interest to academics, policy makers, students and practitioners of marine policy.     

Small-scale marine fisheries policy in Vietnam

Vietnam's marine fisheries are considered to be small scale and are concentrated in coastal near-shore waters. This has resulted in heavy pressure on near-shore fisheries resources. Near-shore fisheries are considered by fishers and the government to be over-exploited, causing hardship for many coastal communities. This paper reviews and analyzes changes in policy towards small-scale fisheries in Vietnam over the last two decades. The primary issues facing the small-scale fisheries in Vietnam are to restructure the near-shore fisheries and to address over-capacity. Recommended actions include improved fisheries statistics, resources for provincial fisheries staff, and a coordinated and integrated approach involving a mixed strategy of resource management; resource restoration; economic and community development; and new governance arrangements.     

Regional oceans governance mechanisms: A review

The development of regional governance for the protection of the environment, sustainable use of natural resources and conservation of its biodiversity is unquestionably a cornerstone of international environmental law and policy. With regard to marine and coastal issues, it has mainly been taking place through Regional Seas programmes, Regional Fishery Bodies and Large Marine Ecosystems mechanisms. Based on a similar geographical approach, however, these regional mechanisms raise concerns relating to their coordination and efficiency, and possibly overlap in what they aim to achieve. This paper provides a review of existing regional oceans governance mechanisms, assessing their individual and collective capacities to move towards ecosystem-based management, and highlighting options to make the regional landscape more coherent and effective.     

荷兰海岸带综合治理

叙述了荷兰海岸带治理的历史和现状；重点介绍了荷兰传统的海岸带治理和“三角洲工程”、海岸带动态保护和海岸带综合治理的基本经验。     

Outside the law? Analyzing policy gaps in addressing fishers’ migration in East Africa

Coastal areas, and their small-scale fisheries, are important targets for both internal and transboundary migration partly because high mobility is an inherent feature of many artisanal fisheries livelihoods. As climatic changes are forecast to occur, environmental changes may trigger increased flows of migrant fishers. Policies that seek to promote development in ways that do not extensively degrade natural resources will thus have to deal with likely increases in flows of people across administrative boundaries. However, to date little attention has been directed at this issue and little is known about how policies related to coastal resources and development address these issues. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by analyzing policies and legal documents related to coastal resource management and development to examine the extent to which they recognize and integrate fishers' migration in their provisions. Migrant well-being and vulnerabilities are also addressed by examining the extent to which existing policies dealing with socio-economic development and environmental management address migrants and their needs. The analysis shows that policies related to governance of marine resources and coastal development lack an acknowledgment of fishers' migration issues and suggests that this signals an important gap in policy. The implications of this are discussed. The paper also highlights the fact that the invisibility of the issue in policy means that institutions developed to deal with coastal management at the community level may not have sufficient support from legal and policy documents, and may not be developed or equipped to handle the possible conflicts and difficult trade-offs that need to be addressed as a result of current and potentially increasing fishers’ mobility.     

ICZM Protocols to Regional Seas Conventions: What? Why? How?

The regionalisation of international environmental law has emerged as one of the most important legal trends of the last decades. However, the regulation of coastal management stood apart from this trend for a long time; indeed, while integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) projects have developed at all scales, legal regulation of ICZM has long been confined to the national and sub-national levels. This is not the case any longer: recent developments in ICZM implementation demonstrate an increasing interest in regional regulation through the adoption of specific protocols within regional seas frameworks. The article aims at taking stock of these recent initiatives, specially focusing on the Mediterranean and Western Indian Ocean (WIO) regions. It demonstrates that an ICZM Protocol can be a strategic lever to address coastal issues only if certain conditions for its elaboration and implementation are effectively met.     

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.     

Coastal issues and conflicts in North West Europe: A comparative analysis

This paper identifies and examines current coastal issues and conflicts in the northwest Europe region through the use of questionnaire surveys. The overall management concerns and outstanding problems across the region are highlighted and the results are presented in relation to previously identified management issues in northeast England, east Grampian in Scotland, and France. The survey presents a list of identified issues, each of which has a direct relationship to one of the 3 pillars of sustainable development, (environment, economic and social), and therefore the Lisbon Agenda (economic and social) and the Gothenburg Agenda (environment and environmental risk). The survey reveals that the important coastal management issues across the region are the large-scale concerns traditionally associated with ICZM: land-use planning, estuary management, natural resource and landscape protection, and water quality. Generally, respondents considered that management response to these issues is poor. Dissatisfaction levels were particularly high in France and Ireland, and to a lesser extent, in England. Water quality management escapes general criticism. This can be regarded as a positive finding, because it indicates that pan-European initiatives (the water-related EU directives) can deal effectively with this pan-European problem. The paper considers the links between the main issues across North West Europe and aims to distinguish how current coastal management practices have affected the range of issues arising.     

The cooperative framework for ocean and coastal management in the Pacific Islands: Effectiveness,constraints and future direction

The framework for management of the ocean and coasts of the Pacific Islands region has been evolving since the early 1970s when Pacific Island countries played a significant role in the negotiations leading to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Commencing with a summary of the provisions of relevant international instruments, this paper presents a broad overview of regional arrangements for ocean and coastal management in the Pacific Islands region. It considers the work of the various regional intergovernmental organizations with active programmes in ocean research and governance and the consultative arrangements that support coordination and collaboration. Consultative arrangements involving other stakeholders, such as local, regional and international nongovernmental organizations are summarised. To improve environmental governance and address increasing environmental threats, particularly in relation to coastal area management, consultative arrangements need strengthening. This applies equally to national and regional level consultation. The institutional and policy framework for the management and conservation of oceanic fish stocks that Pacific Island countries have been refining over a period of 25 years is suggested as providing useful lessons for strengthening coastal management processes and strategies in the region.