The application of coastal regulation zones in coastal management — appraisal of Indian experience

Human agglomerations in the coastal zone bring about unprecedented changes, the impacts of which are on the rise. A clear picture has emerged recently on the deterioration of the highly fragile and sensitive zone of the coastal ecosystem due to overexploitation of living and non-living resources. The formulation of “coastal regulation zones” (CRZ) in this context necessitates the proper management and conservation of these regions by identifying areas that require adequate attention for preservation and development. This paper critically reviews the planning and implementation of CRZ with emphasis on socio-economic aspects as well as traditional practices under Indian conditions. The study also incorporates management strategies for developing countries factually threatened by physical constraints and accelerated ecological changes.     

Gender analysis for better coastal management – Increasing our understanding of social-ecological seascapes

Although highly recognized as needed, studies linking gender and coastal/marine management are scarce. This research illustrates the importance of gender analysis in natural resource management by linking gender and coastal management i.e. Marine Spatial Planning. The research was conducted in various Zanzibar seascapes (Unguja Island, Tanzania). Using a typology comprising gender structure, symbolism and identity; the results show a clear gendered division of labor, highly associated with a gender symbolism in which traditional roles of women as responsible for reproduction activities played a major role. Men used the whole seascape for their activities, while women remained in coastal forests and shallow areas collecting wood, invertebrates and farming seaweed. These activities allowed women to combine productive and reproductive work. Ecosystem importance for subsistence decreased with distance from land for both genders, while the importance for income increased with distance for men. Both genders acknowledged seagrasses as very important for income. Income closely followed the universal pattern of men earning more. Identities were defined by traditional ideas like “women are housewives”, while men identities were strongly associated with fisheries with reinforced masculinity. Livelihood diversity was higher for women also showing a tendency of slow change into other roles. Management was found to be strongly androcentric, revealing a deep gender inequality. The research exemplifies how a gender analysis can be conducted for management enhancement. It also invites replication around the world. If management is found to be androcentric in coastal locations elsewhere, a serious gender inequality can be at hand at global level.     

Introduction to systems approaches in coastal management—The legacy of the SPICOSA project

This Special Issue reflects work developed during and following the execution of the Science and Policy Integration for Coastal System Assessment project. Theoretical and practical outcomes of case studies have been of direct relevance to coastal management not only at local but also at a European scale. Papers included here consider the long term legacy of the project for academics and practitioners involved specifically in integrated coastal zone management. These align to two themes, the first focussing on the generic application of the Systems Approach Framework to coastal management and the second focussing on the specific application of the approach at case study sites.     

Construction and implementation of multisource spatial data management system of China’s coastal zone and offshore

1IntroductionThe21stcenturyisacenturyoftheocean,andallofusmustprepareforthecomingofthiscentury.Asoceanologicalresearchers,wehavemanythingstodotopromotethecon-structionandapplicationofdigitaloceaninna-tionalspatialdatainfrastructure,suchascoastalintegrateddatamanagement,intelli-gentinformationanalysisandsubjectinforma-tionextractionofoceanologicremotesensingdata,nationalandprovincialremotesensingin-formationservicesystemsofoceanology,e-cologicalandenvironmentalinformationser-vicesystemandsharin…     

The “easy restriction” syndrome drive local fish stocks to extinction: The case of the management of Swedish coastal populations

Spatially sensitive management built on detailed biological and socio-economic knowledge is required to establish sound fishing regulations and to avoid extinction of small coastal populations of fish and shellfish. Highly productive isolated populations of several commercial species have historically inhabited the Swedish west coast, but during the past century these populations have been depleted by fisheries and with no sign of recovery. Since 1999 several fisheries regulations and different stakeholder co-management initiatives have flourished along the Swedish coast of the Skagerrak. They aimed to facilitate the recovery of collapsed local stocks but the established regulations failed to identify and restrict the main sources of mortality acting on local stocks and they have thus been ineffective to promote the recovery. Furthermore, regulations have operated on the weakest among stakeholders (e.g.. recreational fishers), which have minor influence over management, and the restrictions have been imposed without providing any data which supported the choice (i.e. the “easy restriction” syndrome). In line with the general “spirit” of recent Swedish fishery management, we conclude that managers, without the disapproval of Swedish scientists, have circumvented limitations which should address the largest mortality factor, i.e. the commercial fishery. The regulations presently in place, have been politically uncontroversial and easy to implement, but have been highly unsuccessful. We therefore suggest that stakeholders, including politicians, should start focusing on more effective and science-based management and less on what is politically attractive if Swedish citizens shall have a chance to witness the recovery of their once flourishing coastal populations.     

Scientists’ prioritization of global coastal research questions

Complex coastal management challenges often span ecological and political boundaries, and involve competing demands from groups advocating alternative coastal management strategies. As a consequence, policy-makers require scientific evidence from across a range of disciplines. Implementing cross-disciplinary research and facilitating science-policy engagement are, however, a significant challenge in its own right. Seven recent ecologically oriented ‘big question’ exercises identified a variety of research questions potentially important for coastal and marine management. In this research, 592 coastal scientists from 91 different countries completed a survey that ranked those 20 coastally oriented research questions. There was a clear overall ordering of aggregated coastal research priorities but scientists did exhibit heterogeneity regarding priorities. Some prioritized ecological issues while others focused more on issues such as coastal resource use or global environmental change. The differences in opinion were largely disciplinary-based, highlighting the importance of, and challenges in, encouraging scientific collaboration across disciplines to support effective coastal zone management. In addition to the ranking of existing questions, scientists submitted an additional 340 potential priority research questions, thus broadening the participatory nature of the original exercises. New questions regarding coastal processes, contaminants and pollution, and monitoring were prominent. This first synthesis across ‘big question’ exercises should provide valuable insights into the diversity of scientists’ opinions and help policy makers understand potentially conflicting science advice.     

The equilibrium range of wind wave frequency spectrum

-Theoretical form of equilibrium range is given on the basis of the wind wave frequency spectra proposed by Wenel al. (1988a,b,c, 1989a,b). The effects of peakness factor and water depth are discussed. In the case of deep water the e-quilibrium range is reduced to the form first proposed by Toba (1973) and the coefficient of the formula is shown to be the function of nondimensional fetch or peak frequency. Results of the present paper have been verified through field data.     

The application of wave refraction-diffraction model with friction

In this paper a refraction-diffraction model with friction is used to compute wave characteristics in a region near a certain port. Comparing with the results from refraction model, and with the data observed during a typhoon in 1985, it is found that the characteristics from the refraction-diffraction model with friction are reasonable, and that the results are in rather good agreement with observations. Thus it can be concluded that the model is effective for computing coastal wave characteristics over complicated bottom topography.     

Combined classifier–quantifier model: A 2-phases neural model for prediction of wave overtopping at coastal structures

A 2-phases neural prediction method for wave overtopping is developed. The ‘classifier’ predicts whether overtopping occurs or not, i.e. q = 0 or q > 0. If the classifier predicts overtopping q > 0, then the ‘quantifier’ is used to determine the mean overtopping discharge. The overtopping database set up within the EC project CLASH (De Rouck, J., Geeraerts, J., 2005. CLASH Final Report, Full Scientific and Technical Report, Ghent University, Belgium) is used to train the networks of the prediction method.     

Fundación Chile and the integrated management of the coastal zone

Chile has a very diverse and variable coastal zone, with a series of phenomena that occur unexpectedly and which demand great flexibility from the management models that are implemented. The oceanographic characteristics have provided Chile’s coastal zone with important pelagic fisheries in the country’s north and center and benthonic fisheries in the south. They have also led to the explosive growth of aquaculture in the last ten years, mostly in the canals zone. In the northern and central regions, megaprojects have dominated coastal zone investments and are about to go into the far north. Also a sustained popùlation increase in central and southern coastal areas is expected as a consequence of the saturation of big cities and development in road, transport and communications.The incorporation of Chile into trade blocks such as APEC, NAFTA, and MERCOSUR together with some recently signed bilateral trade treaties will undoubtedly give a push to the port activity. The construction of different corridors throughout the country that will provide access to the Pacific for some regions in Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina will have a similar effect.Alterations in the quality of the environment (Pollution), threats to the coastal zone’s diversity (exhausted resources) and conflicts among users are mentioned among the principal problems affecting coastal zone urging for an integrated management approach for this critical and sensitive area.A coastal zone management plan for Chile, more than creating new regulations, many of which already exist, should be able to set up effective mechanisms among the different sectors involved in the use of the coastal zone, generate mechanisms to resolve differences, provide adequate scientific and technical information for decision making and establish simple and realistic mechanisms for education and citizen participation. The National Management Plan should be essentially FOCUSED, REGIONALIZED, INTEGRATED AND INFORMED. In fact, the basic idea promoted by Fundación Chile and the Navy’s Maritime Territory National Board would be to generate a system supported by one or two central coordinating institutions articulated with regional institutions, which would carry out the above-mentioned objectives. The greatest benefit of a Plan like this one is that Chile’s coastal zone and its resources can be used sustainably with the appropriate mechanisms, but in an informed and integrated way and respect regional and local peculiarities. Some of the major features of this approach are presented and discussed here.     

Marine disaster prevention and integrated coastal zone management

1 MAJN CHARAcrERISTICS OF MARINE DISA5TEROwing to marine natural environment anomaly and imense changr, alI those disastersthat cause Peoples life and propedy loss over the sea aod coast area are called marinedisasters. China is a country with big sea area, of coast line l8000 km length, precinctsea area 3,000,000 km', more than 6500 islands bigger than 500 m2 with coast line of allislands 14000 km length. The Pacific Ocean is ocean with the most frequent marine disasters,further…     

Sub-Saharan African multilateral programmes for coastal management: how well have they performed?

Regional multilateral arrangements potentially have a strong role to play in supporting coastal management, particularly in developing countries. This article examines how well such multilateral arrangements have performed in sub-Saharan Africa. It, firstly, develops a conceptual framework which identifies key elements of regional multilateral arrangements and the functions they could potentially fulfil. Secondly, the article describes and evaluates the performance of five multilateral arrangements currently operating in sub-Saharan Africa. It finds that these arrangements have resulted in the development of a constituency of skilled and committed people and the building up of considerable practical experience in coastal management. In addition, the region appears to have a somewhat out-dated but adequate legal framework for joint action on coastal management. A key issue to be addressed is the establishment of a financially viable and effective regional institutional base, as well as an effective programme, to support the implementation of the Nairobi and Abidjan Conventions and Protocols. In addition, substantial external resources need to be mobilised to support regional coastal management efforts in the short-to-medium term. Long-term sustainability will require building further capacity in coastal management as well as developing a much closer involvement of the private sector than has occurred to date.     

Construction and implementation of multisource spatial data management system of China''s coastal zone and offshore

To meet the increasing demand of national spatial database infrastructure construction and application, a concept model of China‘ s coastal zone scientific data platform is established based on the information feature analysis of a compound dataset, consisting of remote sensing data and conventional data. Based on this concept model, the detailed logical database structure and the storage strategy of remote sensing data and their metadata using ArcSDE are designed. The complicated technology of multisources data combination in this research is crucial to the future coastal zone and offshore database construction and practical running, which will provide intelligent information analysis and technological service for coastal zone and offshore investigation, research, development and management.     

Comparison of procedure for fecal coliform enumeration in coastal waters

INTRODUCTION Fecal coliform has been used as an indicator of water pollution for about a century. Recently, Standrige et al (1981), Reasoner et al (1979) and Pagel et al. (1982) improved, with good results, the bioassy methods for fecal coliform in drinking water and waste water. To provide a method appli-     

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.     

Is Europe ready for a results-based approach to fisheries management? The voice of stakeholders

The reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), adopted by the European Union in 2013, aims to achieve sustainable exploitation of marine resources. Beyond the mainstream of stakeholders׳ engagement, the literature increasingly calls for shared accountability in fisheries management. In such scenarios, identifying stakeholders׳ insights becomes critical for a successful design of innovative management approaches. This paper analyses how the stakeholders perceive a results-based management system for four fisheries in different European sea-basins as well as at a pan-European level. The results indicate a need for adaptive and participatory management approaches, building on regional adaptations within transparent and plural frameworks for fisheries. To succeed, the system should explicitly address its associated public and private costs; neither participation nor accountability comes for free.     

A hybrid model for numerical wave forecasting and its implementation——Ⅰ. The wind wave model

The authors make an endeavor to explain why a new hybrid wave model is here proposed when several such models have already been in operation and the so- called third generation wave modej is proving attractive. This part of the paper is devoted to the wind wave model. Both deep and shallow water models have been developed, the former being actually a special case of the latter when water depth is great. The deep water model is exceptionally simple in form. Significant wave height is the only prognostic variable. In comparison with the usual methods to compute the energy input and dissipations empirically or by "tuning", the proposed model has the merit that the effects of all source terms are combined into one term which is computed through empirical growth relations for significant waves, these relations being, relatively speaking, easier and more reliable to obtain than those for the source terms in the spectral energy balance equation. The discrete part of the model and the implementation of the mode     

The gentleman’s agreements: a fisheries management case study from the Southwest of England

This paper assesses the unique ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ that exist between the crab fishermen of South Devon and trawlermen from the UK and other EU member states. The reasons for the success of the arrangements are discussed, particularly as the agreements apply to fisheries that are currently characterised by over-capacity, rent dissipation and non-compliance with regulations. The agreements are analysed in relation to other common-property resource-management systems, and their compatability with the principles of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is established. Finally the agreements are compared and contrasted with the concepts of subsidiarity and co-management.     

A simple approximation for wave refraction – Application to the assessment of the nearshore wave directionality

This work presents a simple and relatively quick methodology to obtain the nearshore wave angle. The method is especially valuable for curvilinear coasts where Snell’s law may provide excessively inaccurate results. We defined a correction factor, K, that depends on the geometry of the coast and on the wave climate. The values of this coefficient were obtained minimizing the differences with a sophisticated numerical model. The limitations and performance of the methodology are further discussed. The procedure was applied to a beach in Southern Spain to analyze the influence of shoreline geometry on nearshore wave directionality. Offshore and nearshore distributions of wave period and directions were analyzed, and the results showed that the geometry of the coast played a crucial role in the directionality of the nearshore waves, which also plays an important role in hydrodynamics. The methodology presented here is able to analyze and quantify the importance of this directionality without a noticeable computational cost, even when a long time series of wave data are considered. Hence, this methodology constitutes a useful and efficient tool for practical applications in Coastal and Ocean Engineering, such as sedimentary, wave energy, and wave climate studies.