Maritime clusters: What can be learnt from the South West of England

The South West of England is a very extensive region, with constraints in terms of its transport network. It is imperative if the region is to optimise its economic development for transport services to fully utilise all transport modes, not least, short sea shipping. To achieve this objective will require, inter alia, investment in the region’s port infrastructure. The result of this study suggests that each South West port provides a hub to develop a small maritime cluster which provides some sort of platform for marine and maritime related activities or businesses to co-ordinate and communicate. In addition, the region is well placed geographically in relation to a number of other European Union countries, with which to develop seaborne trade links. If this can be supported both by the development of coastal shipping links between regional ports and the incremental capability of rail and road transport within the region, then substantial increased economic activity for the region could result. Moreover, it would be beneficial if the region’s ports could act as a maritime cluster, optimising the contribution each port can make. This in no way would preclude healthy competition between the ports.     

Brazil's recent agenda on the sea and the South Atlantic contemporary scenario

The goal of this article is to present Brazil's interests and concerns in the South Atlantic, through the analysis of the ongoing governmental plans to its adjacent sea, and the security and defense issues in the ocean region. First, it will introduce four important programs, namely the Proarquipelago, Protrindade, Leplac, and Proarea, launched by the country after the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Then, it will discuss some of the domestic and international initiatives taken by Brazil to build a stable political and economic environment in the South Atlantic. Despite the peaceful purposes of the Brazilian agenda and policy to the sea, there are underlying reasons, such as keeping secure its oil and gas fields and consolidating its role as a major player in the ocean region, that must be considered as well. However, changes in the domestic scenario may provoke unprecedented modifications in this agenda.     

南海与周边海域表层塑料颗粒交换的拉格朗日示踪研究

塑料污染已成为国际海洋界关注的海洋环境问题之一。文章探讨海洋环流对南海及其周边海域表层塑料颗粒交换的影响。在南海周边多个海域, 分别在4个季节投放塑料颗粒。一年后, 用拉格朗日颗粒示踪方法考察投放颗粒的运动轨迹和最终停留位置。结果表明, 在秋、冬季, 大部分塑料颗粒会进入南海和爪哇海, 极少部分颗粒北输送到太平洋; 在春、夏季, 仅有部分颗粒进入南海和爪哇海, 而多数颗粒流到太平洋。南海洋流具有季节特征, 塑料颗粒轨迹特征与之较为符合。     

Codes of conduct in the South China Sea and Taiwan's stand

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China are in the process of negotiating a regional code of conduct in the South China Sea. It is believed that the code, if adopted, will help to build trust and confidence among the claimants to ownership of the disputed islands located in the Spratlys/South China Sea area as well as promote stability in the Asia–Pacific region. Taiwan is one of the six parties directly involved in the sovereignty and maritime jurisdictional disputes in the area. However, it has been excluded from participating in the regional efforts to formulate the code of conduct. This article examines the current situation of the formulation of the ASEAN–China regional code of conduct in the South China Sea and Taiwan's stand on the issue.     

Accumulation of plastic litter on beaches of Amchitka Island,Alaska

Between 1972 and 1974 plastic marine litter on ten 1-km beaches at Amchitka Island increased from 2,221 to 5,367 items—a 2·4 x increase in a two-year period. Most litter originated from Japanese and Soviet fishing vessels, but some items were from the Asian coast, at least 1,150 km distant. In 1974 there were 345 kg of common items of plastic litter per kilometre of beach. In 1972, an estimated 1,664 metric tons of plastic litter was lost or dumped from fishing vessels in the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean. Stranded plastic litter persists indefinitely but rapidly becomes buried in beach material or is blown inland and covered with vegetation. The most serious environmental impact is probably entanglement of marine mammals and birds in some types of litter. The accelerating accumulation of litter could be reduced through unilateral action by countries that regulate coastal fishing privileges if these countries make litter control a condition for permission to fish.     

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.     

Sunken WWII shipwrecks of the Pacific and East Asia: The need for regional collaboration to address the potential marine pollution threat

Oil, chemicals and unexploded ordinances onboard sunken World War II (WWII) warships and merchant vessels pose a real and significant marine pollution risk to the nations of the Pacific and East Asia. A recent project of the South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), through its Pacific Ocean Pollution Prevention Program, has highlighted the extent of the risk posed by vessels lost in WWII to Member Governments. Some of these vessels have already begun to leak fuel oil and cargo into the fragile environment of the Pacific atolls. The oil spills from the oil tanker USS Mississinewa sunk in Ulithi Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia, will be used as an example of the problems associated with WWII wrecks in the region.A Regional WWII Wreck Strategy was formulated and endorsed by the Members of SPREP, and a preliminary risk assessment of WWII shipwrecks was carried out by the program, as part of this exercise. This led to the development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) database, which details the types of ships, the tonnage and location of over 3800 vessels lost in the Pacific and East Asia. Although not complete, the Pacific WWII Shipwreck Database totals over 13 million tons of sunken vessels—ranging from aircraft carriers to battleships and including over 330 tankers and oilers.As a major proportion of vessels lost during WWII rest in the East Asian–Pacific sea area, close collaboration needs to be established between the regional environmental bodies and their affected Member Governments to address the scale of marine pollution risk. Complex maritime jurisdictional issues, along with overlapping claims on Economic Exclusion Zones and the interrelationships of the marine environments in the region, also underscore the need to address the issue on a multilateral basis.This paper aims to highlight the extent of the risks posed by sunken WWII vessels to fisheries, marine and coastal resources of the Pacific and East Asian regions, as well as the issues of ownership and responsibility for the WWII shipwrecks of the Pacific.     

King Canute muses in the South Seas: Why aren’t Pacific Islands transitioning to low carbon sea transport futures?

Transition to low carbon sea transport is a logical response to the extreme dependency of the Pacific Islands region on imported fossil fuel, its significant vulnerability to the effects of climate change and the critical shipping needs of Pacific Island countries (PICs). Building on previous work in low carbon sea transport in the Pacific, this paper further considers the barriers to achieving such transition by assessing, through a ‘post-Paris Agreement’ lens, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by PICs and contrasting these to the near total lack of investment and planning for low carbon transition in the transport sector with the parallel occurrence in the electricity sector where ~USD 2 billion of donor investment is deployed or queued despite electricity using only ~20% of fossil fuel across the region. Consistent with recent international studies, inadequate and inappropriate financing and policy have been identified as dominant transition barriers for low carbon sea transport development in PICs. This paper further examines the regional level barriers to policy development, and finds them inhibited by the silo nature of the major regional actors. The implications that the Paris Agreement has for climate financing to support the essential research and capacity development needed to underpin a successful low carbon sea transport transition strategy at any useful scale and speed are also considered in this paper.     

Origin and abundance of marine litter along sandy beaches of the Turkish Western Black Sea Coast

Beach debris abundance was estimated from surveys on 10 beaches of the Turkish Western Black Sea Coast. Debris was collected from 20 m long transects during four different seasons; sorted and categorized by type, usage and origin. Litter density varied from 0.085 to 5.058 items m⁻². Debris was mainly composed of unidentifiable small size (2–7 cm) plastic pieces and beverage-related litter such as bottles and bottle caps. About half of the labeled litter was of foreign origin, including 25 different countries, 23% of which are in the Black Sea region.The south-western Black Sea Coast seems to receive foreign litter from two main sources: land-based debris from the neighboring countries and seaborne debris due to international shipping. Standardized methodology and indicators need to be designated all over the Black Sea basin in order to quantify and qualify coastal litter pollution, monitor compliance with MARPOL and develop regionally effective mitigation measures.     

Phylogeography of the pelagic fish Seriola lalandi at different scales: confirmation of inter-ocean population structure and evaluation of southern African genetic diversity

The study investigated the global and regional phylogeography of the yellowtail kingfish Seriola lalandi by examining genetic diversity and population genetic structure of this species at inter-and intra-ocean level and on a regional scale. DNA fragments of two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome b (Cytb) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and one nuclear gene, recombination activating gene 1 (RAG1), were sequenced to investigate the global-scale phylogeography of this species. The population genetic structure within the South Pacific, as well as along the South African coastline, was examined further using six microsatellite markers. Three distinct clades were identified for S. lalandi, which correspond with previously described subspecies of the North-East Pacific, North-West Pacific and the Southern Hemisphere. Within the latter, additional divergence was observed between the South Pacific and the South-East Atlantic regions. Divergence estimates were indicative of a Pacific origin for S. lalandi populations, because of Pleistocene vicariant events. Microsatellite analyses revealed overall significant genetic differentiation between South African and South Pacific samples. This corroborates recent findings on the global phylogeography of the species. No population differentiation was observed within South Africa, indicating high levels of gene flow.     

Coastal erosion and village relocation: a Colombian case study

Because of its tectonic setting, the Pacific coast of Colombia is subject to a variety of geological hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis and associated phenomena such as regional and local coastal subsidence, flooding and soil liquefaction. Erosional trends are prevalent along much of the 700 km long, low barrier island's shorelines of the Pacific littoral and land losses are enhanced by factors such as 30 cm regional sea level rises associated to the occurrence of El Niño. Marine erosion is threatening more seashore littoral villages and worsening the already difficult socioeconomic conditions of most part of the inhabitants. Because of diverse and strong motivations to stay near the sea, the responses of barriers island's inhabitants to marine erosion has consisted in most cases of repetitive in-shore and along-shore directed relocations of villages, rather than definitive abandonment of the islands. In the long run, this procedure only has postponed the problem and led to repetitive relocations and economical losses. The recent inland relocation of El Choncho village, on the San Juan River delta, illustrates a different response to marine erosion. Although a new along-shore relocation was physically possible, inhabitants decided to abandon the barrier island and migrate to an interior, ancient beach ridge complex, applying a prudent solution which will be the most appropriate for other threatened villages of the Pacific littoral. A detailed geomorphologic mapping program must be conducted in order to identify appropriate sites for inland relocation of existing villages on the barriers islands of the Colombian Pacific coast.     

Management strategies to prevent the introduction of non-indigenous aquatic species in response to the Ballast Water Convention in Taiwan

The Convention for ballast water management is approaching the threshold of enforcement. Many countries around the world formulate national laws and regulations to mitigate the hazards of non-indigenous aquatic species (NIAS) brought about by the discharge of ballast water from ships. Taiwan’s critical location as an important transportation hub in the Western Pacific Ocean makes it a hot spot for the invasion of NIAS. Therefore, devising strategies for the management of ballast water is urgently needed. This study explores the global trend in ballast water management, and discusses the possible strategies which Taiwan may adopt in response to the Ballast Water Convention, from the perspective of Taiwan’s stakeholders in relation to the ballast water issue. Some of the proper actions that Taiwan should take in the future regarding the management of ballast water include: delineating the area for ballast water exchange, establishing the ballast water declaration system for incoming vessels, assisting shipping companies in installing ballast water treatment systems, determining risk priority for incoming vessels, and inspecting ballast water-related parameters by means of port state control (PSC). In this way, the invasion of NIAS may then be prevented in compliance with the global standards.     

Geographic variation in the assemblages of leptocephali in the western South Pacific

A sampling survey was carried out to study the distribution and ecology of leptocephali in several different areas of the western South Pacific between 160 and 175°E during August and September of 1995. The survey included transects of stations across the westward flowing South Equatorial Current (SEC) region to the northwest of Fiji and south to 30°S, a transect to the north of the Tasman Front, and a transect that passed through the Solomon Islands. A total of 2362 leptocephali of at least 94 species of 13 families of eels and other elopomorph fishes were collected. The most abundant leptocephali in the region were of the marine eel families Serrivomeridae, Congridae, Nemichthyidae, and Muraenidae of the order Anguilliformes. The leptocephali of shallow water eels of the Chlopsidae, Moringuidae, Muraenidae, and Ophichthidae were most abundant and present at a wide size range in the low salinity “Fresh Pool”, which is also located closest to the major islands in the SEC region. Anguillid leptocephali were also most abundant in the SEC region and several species appeared to be spawning at that latitude. Cluster analysis and ordination of the catch rates of leptocephali suggested there were four regional assemblages related to the offshore spawning of mesopelagic serrivomerid eels, the presence of anguillid leptocephali in the SEC region and the relationship between the regional ocean current patterns and the geography of islands where shallow water marine eels live and probably spawn nearby. More impoverished assemblages were found in the southern regions where there are fewer islands, colder, higher salinity surface waters, and predominantly eastward flow. These findings support the hypothesis that various taxa of anguillid and marine eels use different spawning and recruitment strategies in the western South Pacific region as has been suggested by studies on leptocephali in the Northern Hemisphere.     

Origins and pathways of the subsurface and intermediate water masses of the Indonesian Throughflow derived from historical and Argo data

On the basis of Argo data and historic temperature/salinity data from the World Ocean Database 2001 （ WOD01 ）, origins and spreading pathways of the subsurface and intermediate water masses in the Indonesian Throughflow （ITF） region were discussed by analyzing distributions of salinity on representative isopyenal layers. Results were shown that, subsurface water mostly comes from the North Pacific Ocean while the intermediate water originates from both the North and South Pacific Ocean, even possibly from the Indian Ocean. Spreading through the Sulawesi Sea, the Makassar Strait, and file Flores Sea, the North Pacific subsurface water and the North Pacific Intermediate water dominate the western part of the Indonesian Archipelago. Furthermore as the depth increases, the features of the North Pacific sourced water masses become more obvious. In the eastern part of the waters, high sa- linity South Pacific subsurface water is blocked by a strong salinity front between Halmahera and New Guinea. Intermediate water in the eastern interior region owns salinity higher than the North Pacific intermediate water and the antarctic intermediate water （ AAIW）, possibly coming from the vertical mixing between subsurface water and the AAIW from the Pacific Ocean, and possibly coming from the northward extending of the AAIW from the Indian Ocean as well.     

欧盟及其成员国海洋塑料垃圾政策及对我国的启示

海洋垃圾已经逐渐成为一个全球性的新兴话题,尤其是塑料垃圾对于海洋环境具有破坏性的影响。我国目前还缺少海洋塑料垃圾的统一管理机制,对海洋塑料垃圾的防治还未有专门的战略规划,使得目前的污染防治成效不甚乐观,因此,整合 各部门力量和资源,对海洋塑料垃圾防治进行统一规划、统一管理是关键。本文在对欧盟及其成员国的海洋塑料垃圾政策搜集和梳理分析的基础上,从塑料的生产和使用、入海塑料垃圾的处理、海洋中已有垃圾的处置三方面与我国进行了对比,并从海洋塑料垃圾的法律体系、行动计划、全过程管控、监测防治技术、宣传教育手段和全球治理等方面为我国加强海洋塑料垃圾污染防治提出了建议。     

ENSO十年际尺度变率的机制初探

利用太平洋次表层海温、热含量和洋表风应力等资料探讨了ENSO十年际尺度变率的可能机制。结果表明，热带西南太平洋不仅是年代际信号的显著区，同时也有可能是影响ENSO循环十年际变化的关键区。热带西南太平洋的海温暖异常经热带中太平洋东传到热带东太平洋，导致热带东太平洋产生暖的海温异常，这种海温异常进而激发了澳大利亚东部沿岸的大气，产生反气旋性风应力异常。在这种风场的作用下，其下方海水向四周辐散，使热带西南太平洋的温跃层变浅，产生负的温度异常，此后发生反位相的循环。整个循环过程所需的时间约为13a。     

基于历史资料和Argo资料的印尼贯通流次表层和中层水起源与路径探讨

利用Argo资料和《世界海洋数据集2001版》(WOD01)温盐历史资料,通过对代表性等位势面上盐度分布的分析,探讨了次表层和中层等不同层次上印尼贯通流(ITF)的起源与路径问题.分析结果表明,ITF的次表层水源主要来自北太平洋,中层水源地既包括北太平洋、南太平洋,同时也不能排除有印度洋的可能性.在印度尼西亚海域西部,ITF的次表层和中层水源分别为北太平洋热带水(NPTW)和中层水(NPIW),经苏拉威西海、望加锡海峡到达弗洛勒斯海,层次越深特征越明显.在印度尼西亚海域东部,发现哈马黑拉-新几内亚水道附近存在次表层强盐度锋面,阻隔了南太平洋热带水(SPTW)由此进入ITF海域;中层水具有高于NPIW和来自南太平洋的南极中层水(AAIW)的盐度值,既可能是AAIW和SPTW在当地发生剧烈垂直混合而形成,也可能是来自印度洋的AAIW向北延伸进入ITF的结果.     

Vessels,risks, and rules: Planning for safe shipping in Bering Strait

Commercial vessel traffic through the Bering Strait is increasing. This region has high biological and cultural significance, to which commercial shipping poses several risks. For this environment, these risks include ship strikes of whales, noise disturbance, chronic pollution, and oil spills. Indigenous Chukchi, Iñupiaq, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Siberian Yupik, and Yup’ik peoples may be affected by proximity between small hunting boats and large commercial vessels leading to swamping or collisions, through displacement of animals or impacts to food security from contaminants, and through loss of cultural heritage if archeological sites and other important places are disturbed by wakes or an increase in people spending time on shore. Several measures are available to govern shipping through the region, including shipping lanes, Areas to Be Avoided (ATBAs), speed restrictions, communications measures, reporting systems, emissions controls, oil spill prevention and preparedness and salvage, rescue tug capability, voyage and contingency planning, and improved charting. These measures can be implemented in various ways, unilaterally by the U.S. or Russia, bilaterally, or internationally through the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Regulatory measures can be established as voluntary measures or as mandatory measures. No single measure will address all risks, but the framework presented herein may serve as a means of identifying what needs to be done and evaluating whether the goal of safe shipping has been achieved.     

The South Pacific — a new region for confrontations?

By the early 21st century, the Pacific Ocean will be the world's major waterway. The strategic significance of the North Pacific is already established, but the South Pacific has been neglected by most strategic studies. In this article the author attempts to rectify this imbalance by highlighting a number of potential conflict areas that may soon force the South Pacific to the forefront of international politics.     

基于改进标记分水岭的高分辨率遥感影像海岸水边线提取方法

利用遥感技术快速提取海岸线是一种重要的技术手段,针对传统分水岭算法在高分辨率多光谱卫星数据处理中存在的过分割和抗干扰能力差的问题,本文提出了一种基于扩展极值变换标记分水岭的算法.首先通过形态学重建、扩展极值变换等方法建立前景和背景标记,初步抑制灰度极小值和极大值区域,然后依据这两类标记对梯度图像进行修正,进而进行分水岭...