What determines the institutional performance of environmental regimes?: A case study of the Mediterranean Action Plan

Although there is fierce debate about how best to evaluate the effectiveness of international regimes, most writers regard institutional effectiveness as the best measure. This article examines the institutional effectiveness of one regime—the Barcelona Convention (or the Mediterranean Action Plan)—where there are sharply contrasting views of its institutional effectiveness. The study finds that the regime was indeed successful when created, but its contemporary institutional performance is inadequate. The article demonstrates that there is no simple answer as to whether a regime is effective; instead, in most cases it depends on the specific criteria each approach employs.     

Institutions as facilities for change?: A study of the coherence between political regulations and innovations within the pelagic fisheries sector in Norway

Political regulation has traditionally been regarded as antagonistic to innovation, whereas the removal of regulations has been perceived as a precondition for innovations. This paper proposes an alternative position and claim that regulations can have various connections with the innovation process. Regulations can obviously restrict innovations, but they can also facilitate such processes. Systematic empirical research on the relation between political-administrative regulation and innovation has been moderate, and the debate has been highly anecdotal. This article presents an empirical study on how political-administrative regulation within the pelagic fisheries sector in Norway affects innovation. The study confirms that regulations had varied influences on the innovation process, and documents that actor's appraisals of regulations were affected by whether a given regulation is beneficial for the firms and their competitive position or not. Finally, the paper corroborate that the implementation of regulations can promote innovation in firms by providing them with deeper insights into their production processes and to encourage a more intense focus on development and improvement. Implementation of regulations also implies learning, which can increase the firms’ abilities to innovate as well as their insight into the necessity of such practices. The analysis is based on survey data from processors and vessels in the pelagic sector.     

Numerical Simulation of Dynamic Response of A Net Cage for Flatfish in Waves简

A numerical model of flatfish cage is built based on the lumped mass method and the principle of rigid body kinematics. To validate the numerical model, a series of physical model tests are conducted in the wave flume. The numerical results correspond well with the data sets from physical model test. The effect of weight of bottom frame, height of fish net and net shape on motion responses of fish cage and tension force on mooring lines is then analyzed. The results indicate that the vertical displacements of float collar and bottom frame decrease with the increase in the weight of bottom frame; the maximum tension force on mooring lines increases with the increasing weight of bottom frame. The inclination angles of float collar and bottom frame decrease with the increasing net height; the maximum tension force increases obviously with the increase of net height.