Measuring the environmental effect of marine mining

Marine mining may disturb the natural marine environment-solids, fluids, or organisms-by removal of materials, addition of foreign material, in-place mixing of existing material, or removal and subsequent replacement of material. Measuring the scope of such disturbances, of course, requires knowing the environmental conditions both before and after mining. Scientists disagree on what constitutes an adequate knowledge of baseline (premining) conditions, and instrumentation and techniques for measuring are not yet satisfactory. A wide range of instrumentation is necessary to measure the many physical, chemical, and biological factors involved. Some measurements must span enough time to encompass natural cyclic changes, but such long-term measurements are hampered by the lack of reliable submersible instrumentation. Inadequacy of measurement capability, for technical or economic reasons or both, is particularly evident regarding dispersion of fine solids and dissolved chemicals in mid-water and benthic layers and, to a lesser extent, in the surface layer of seawater. Especially difficult to measure or predict is the biological effect of mining. The most significant changes may be induced subsequent to the mining operation and may be some distance from it. Secondary effects resulting from these changes may not be obvious, but it is important that they be identified so that predictions can be made for other operations. Planned experiments to improve capability for prediction of effects should reduce the variety of measurement required. Many investigators fail to recognize the value of existing data banks, which consequently receive insufficient institutional financial support.     

Fisheries co-management as empowerment

Empowerment is both a condition and a goal of fisheries co-management. In this paper I attempt to explain what empowerment means, what it requires, and what can be expected from it. The concept emphasizes psychological as well as sociological factors. It works at an individual and a collective level. For fisheries co-management to become sustainable, empowerment must occur at both levels. Thus, co-management entails more than institutional design and participatory democracy. It also requires capacity enhancement. The good news is that these processes are mutually dependent and reinforcing. They should therefore proceed hand in hand, and it does not matter very much which of them is undertaken first.     

Information reliability in marine waste disposal studies

Prediction of the performance of systems designed to discharge municipal and industrial wastes into the marine environment, and of the effects of these discharges on the environment, requires an understanding of the dynamic behavior of the system. Such an understanding can be achieved only by extensive measurement of a variety of parameters of both the marine system and of the waste materials to be discharged. Techniques for the measurement of waste characteristics are well developed. In this area, the primary problem is quantification of the variability of the waste characteristics. This problem is not so much one of instrumentation as of achieving statistical reliability, applicability, and interpretability. This is due, in part, to the variety of instruments and measurement techniques available in nearshore oceanographic work, and in part, due to the complexities of the dynamic processes in the marine environment. This paper examines and discusses a number of these and related problems. The subjects discussed will include: the types of data needed for marine outfall design, types and extent of data required for determination of environmental effects, suitability of various types of instrumentation, techniques for maximizing the reliability of data acquisition, needs for new types of instrumentation, and the interpretation of data. The paper also discusses the tradeoffs which must be made between the needs and desire for information and the costs of acquiring it.     

Climate variability and physical forcing of the food webs and the carbon budget on panarctic shelves

Brief overviews of the Arctic’s atmosphere, ice cover, circulation, primary production and sediment regime are given to provide a conceptual framework for considering panarctic shelves under scenarios of climate variability. We draw on past ‘regional’ studies to scale-up to the panarctic perspective. Within each discipline a synthesis of salient distributions and processes is given, and then functions are noted that are critically poised and/or near transition and thereby sensitive to climate variability and change. The various shelf regions are described and distinguished among three types: inflow shelves, interior shelves and outflow shelves. Emphasis is on projected climate changes that will likely have the greatest impact on shelf-basin exchange, productivity and sediment processes including (a) changes in wind fields (e.g. currents, ice drift, upwelling and downwelling); (b) changes in sea ice distribution (e.g. radiation and wind regimes, enhanced upwelling and mixing, ice transport and scour resuspension, primary production); and (c) changes in hydrology (e.g. sediment and organic carbon delivery, nutrient supplies). A discussion is given of the key rate-controlling processes, which differ for different properties and shelf types, as do the likely responses; that is, the distributions of nutrients, organic carbon, freshwater, sediments, and trace minerals will all respond differently to climate forcing.A fundamental conclusion is that the changes associated with light, nutrients, productivity and ice cover likely will be greatest at the shelf-break and margins, and that this forms a natural focus for a coordinated international effort. Recognizing that the real value of climate research is to prepare society for possible futures, and that such research must be based both on an understanding of the past (e.g. the palaeo-record) as well as an ability to reliably predict future scenarios (e.g. validated models), two recommendations emerge: firstly, a comprehensive survey of circumpolar shelf-break and slope sediments would provide long-term synchronous records of shelf-interior ocean exchange and primary production at the shelf edge; secondly, a synoptic panarctic ice and ocean survey using heavy icebreakers, aircraft, moorings and satellites would provide the validation data and knowledge required to properly model key forcing processes at the margins.     

Decadal-Scale Climate and Ecosystem Interactions in the North Pacific Ocean

Decadal-scale climate variations in the Pacific Ocean wield a strong influence on the oceanic ecosystem. Two dominant patterns of large-scale SST variability and one dominant pattern of large-scale thermocline variability can be explained as a forced oceanic response to large-scale changes in the Aleutian Low. The physical mechanisms that generate this decadal variability are still unclear, but stochastic atmospheric forcing of the ocean combined with atmospheric teleconnections from the tropics to the midlatitudes and some weak ocean-atmosphere feedbacks processes are the most plausible explanation. These observed physical variations organize the oceanic ecosystem response through large-scale basin-wide forcings that exert distinct local influences through many different processes. The regional ecosystem impacts of these local processes are discussed for the Tropical Pacific, the Central North Pacific, the Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension, the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, and the California Current System regions in the context of the observed decadal climate variability. The physical ocean-atmosphere system and the oceanic ecosystem interact through many different processes. These include physical forcing of the ecosystem by changes in solar fluxes, ocean temperature, horizontal current advection, vertical mixing and upwelling, freshwater fluxes, and sea ice. These also include oceanic ecosystem forcing of the climate by attenuation of solar energy by phytoplankton absorption and atmospheric aerosol production by phytoplankton DMS fluxes. A more complete understanding of the complicated feedback processes controlling decadal variability, ocean ecosystems, and biogeochemical cycling requires a concerted and organized long-term observational and modeling effort. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Climate and fisheries: cause and effect or managing the long and short of it all

Recent developments in understanding the sources of variation in aquatic population behaviours, whether the causes are understood or not, have further diminished the presumption that resource populations can be managed on the basis of catch and effort statistics alone. The requirements for obtaining clear, truly rational understanding of any patterns of change that are caused by climate-driven ocean variability or any subsequent ecological processes are: (1) recognition that at least some basic hypotheses must be examined over a fairly long term, i.e. more than only some short portion(s) of usually cyclic processes; (2) that ecological interactions must be accounted for in a similar, reasonably coherent manner; (3) time-series and information collection must include all the habitat, including all boundaries and their perturbations, as well as specific events and processes that have impacts on local fishery production. It will always be necessary to expect that there are several potentially perturbing processes going on at any one time, but the dominant process will vary in time and space, frustrating applications of simplistic, one-process models. These models tend to overintegrate the effects of many perturbing factors and to underemphasize relative effects of what in specific cases are of potential high impact compared with usual considerations.     

The voices of Danish fishermen in resource management — An examination of the system of negotiated economy

Political decision-making in Denmark can be characterised as negotiated economy. Negotiated economy works through an institutional setup, where advisory boards consisting of stakeholders advise the relevant Minister. Formally, the system is centralised, but in reality the stakeholders have a strong voice.Focusing on two Danish case studies (herring (Clupea harengus) fisheries and pound net fishermen versus cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) management), the article sheds light on different aspects of negotiated economy. The cases provide insight into the abilities of the system to work when facing external changes. The changes relate both to the institutional frameworks, the processes of decision-making and interaction between the stakeholders and decision-makers. The cases show that the system of negotiated economy does not always ensure a democratic decision-making process, as representation of the stakeholders requires skills they do not necessarily possess. Following the developments of the system, the tendency towards increasing demands on the stakeholders will continue.     

Understanding marine ecosystem based management: A literature review

Ecosystem based management takes into account the interconnectedness and interdependent nature of ecosystem components and emphasizes the importance of ecosystem structures and functions which provide a range of services. The concept has now been adopted by many international agreements and national governments and is in the process of being implemented. This paper seeks to review the literature and to analyze the understanding of the subject. The term is defined and its implementation in fisheries and for all marine uses is analyzed. It has been concluded that to understand marine ecosystem based management one must consider ecosystems as complex adaptive systems which can show changes at higher levels from actions and processes occurring at lower levels. Recognizing that humans are part of these complex adaptive systems is vital in that their actions along with other processes can lead to transformations in ecosystem functioning. This recognition is also important to show how society can sustainably exploit these resources and that the inclusion of all stakeholders in the management process is necessary to legitimize the process. The uses of the precautionary principle along with adaptive management are seen to be useful tools in implementing these insights into the management of natural resources. Finally, the need for reducing consumption of fish is considered.     

An Acoustic-Instrumented Mine for Studying Subsequent Burial

The U.S. Navy is supporting the research to develop and validate stochastic, time-dependent, mine burial prediction models to aid the tactical decision making process. This research requires continuous monitoring of both mine behavior during burial, and the near-field processes responsible for burial. A new instrumented mine has been developed that far exceeds the capabilities of the earlier optically instrumented mine in terms of the burial processes that can be measured. The acoustic-instrumented mine (AIM) utilizes acoustic transducers to measure burial and scour, localized flow rates, and sediment size and concentration in the water column. The AIM also includes sensors for measuring mine orientation and movement, as well as oceanographic information such as significant waveheights, wave period, and water temperature. Four AIMs were constructed and deployed during the Indian Rocks Beach (IRB, FL) and Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO, Edgartown, MA) mine burial experiments. The results from the field experiments have proven that the sensor suite is viable in providing a wealth of data that are critical in understanding and modeling the complex subsequent burial process.     

Can stock enhancement enhance stocks?

Successful stock enhancement or restocking requires a thorough understanding of the ecological processes that provide a potential for stocking within different ecosystems, i.e. determine which factors define the potential for stocking, such as population dynamics, economic cost-benefits, fisheries management and socio-economic impacts. Stocking is not simply a question of aquaculture logistics (i.e. the ability to produce a sufficient number of fry relative to the magnitude of the natural recruitment within the system), nor should it be a new outlet for aquaculture production. Quantitative targets should be set and the expected performance of the stocking tested. Potential loopholes, such as post-release mortality and habitat requirements related to the release, should be examined and resolved. If properly managed, stocking may lead to an increase in population, contribute to the local fishery and/or lead to an increase in the spawning stock biomass. The criteria for stocking are discussed in this paper using examples from flatfish and cod stocking programmes within specific ecosystems.     

Biology,natural selection and the prediction of maximal wave-induced forces

Appropriate interpretation of body form often requires knowledge regarding the maximal force that an organism is likely to encounter in its lifetime. In many situations, prediction of maximal forces is nearly impossible, but the statistical distribution of ocean waves allows prediction of the maximal lift and drag to which a benthic plant or animal is subjected. These predictions can, in turn, be used to provide quantitative estimates of the severity of natural selection on specific attributes of body form.     

Phytoplankton natural fluorescence variability in the Sargasso Sea

Phytoplankton fluorescence has been used historically as a means of assessing phytoplankton biomass, rates of primary production (PP) and physiological status in laboratory, in situ, and satellite based investigations. Assumptions about the quantum yield of phytoplankton fluorescence, φ_f, are often overlooked and can become problematic when fluorescence based methods are applied. A time series of φ_f observations from the northwestern Sargasso Sea is presented with the goal of understanding the controls on fluorescence and its applicability for assessing upper ocean biological processes. Accurate estimates of φ_f require accounting for Raman scattering and the conversion of planar to scalar irradiance. Variability in φ_f occurs on both seasonal and episodic time scales. Seasonal variations show maxima in the surface layer during summer months while lower, more uniform values are found throughout the winter when deep mixing occurs. Large episodic variations in φ_f are observed throughout the record which dwarf seasonal changes. Predictions of depth-dependent and depth-integrated PP rates using φ_f and natural fluorescence fluxes are only marginally successful (r²∼50%), although comparable with results from global bio-optical models for the Sargasso Sea. Improvements in PP predictions are hindered by weak statistical relationships with other parameters. φ_f is largely decoupled from the quantum yield of carbon assimilation, φ_c, indicating that an inverse relationship between fluorescence and photosynthesis does not exist. Consequently, variability in the quantum yield of thermal de-excitation, φ_h, is found to be of similar magnitude as φ_f on the timescales observed. These observations show that assumptions about photochemical energy flow through the phytoplankton community must be made carefully and that the fluorescence–photosynthesis relationship is not straightforward.     

Environmental health indicators

Ecologists have proposed hundreds of quantitative indicators of the status of ecosystems for evaluation of and reporting on the status of marine ecosystems. The talk applies a common approach to classifying indicators, summarises the main properties of each class of indicator, and provides some illustrations.Indicators of ecosystem status have roles in both communication and decision support. For both roles, strengths and weaknesses of indicators are usually only partially known. Few have been tested systematically for sensitivity and robustness across a range of contexts… However, to determine best practices for selecting indicators for specific uses, one must have a fairly complete understanding of the information content of the various indicators. The paper explores some alternative approaches to documenting the information content of various indicators of ecosystem status.As the Precautionary Approach becomes broadly used as the basis for management decision-making, the role of indicators of ecosystem status becomes central. The PA is made operational in decision-making through use of indicators and reference points. This means that it is necessary to identify values of an ecosystem indicator associated with harm to the environment that is serious or difficult to reverse. Methods for identifying and justifying reference points for ecosystem indicators are being developed and tested, but the task is turning out to be complex. Alternative strategies for identifying reference points are reviewed.When choices must be made from a suite of candidate indicators, it is desirable make the selection on objective grounds. This requires explicit a priori criteria, on which there is not yet scientific consensus. Recent developments in this area are reviewed, and again a way forward proposed.     

Past glacial and interglacial conditions in the Arctic Ocean and marginal seas – a review

Past changes in the Arctic Ocean and its marginal seas have been profound, even during the last 10,000 years. Understanding these changes, such as those occurring during the transition from glacial to interglacial climates, are important for research on modern processes, because this knowledge provides a framework and unique perspective in which to view the modern physical and biological processes. This paper discusses our current understanding of past environmental change and processes relative to those currently in progress. Special emphasis is placed on the most recent transition from a glacial state to the modern interglacial conditions.     

Fishing‐induced evolution of growth: concepts,mechanisms and the empirical evidence

The interest in fishing‐induced life‐history evolution has been growing in the last decade, in part because of the increasing number of studies suggesting evolutionary changes in life‐history traits, and the potential ecological and economic consequences these changes may have. Among the traits that could evolve in response to fishing, growth has lately received attention. However, critical reading of the literature on growth evolution in fish reveals conceptual confusion about the nature of ‘growth’ itself as an evolving trait, and about the different ways fishing can affect growth and size‐at‐age of fish, both on ecological and on evolutionary time‐scales. It is important to separate the advantages of being big and the costs of growing to a large size, particularly when studying life‐history evolution. In this review, we explore the selection pressures on growth and the resultant evolution of growth from a mechanistic viewpoint. We define important concepts and outline the processes that must be accounted for before observed phenotypic changes can be ascribed to growth evolution. When listing traits that could be traded‐off with growth rate, we group the mechanisms into those affecting resource acquisition and those governing resource allocation. We summarize potential effects of fishing on traits related to growth and discuss methods for detecting evolution of growth. We also challenge the prevailing expectation that fishing‐induced evolution should always lead to slower growth.     

Numerical modelling of suspended sediment fluxes in estuarine waters

A two-dimensional finite difference numerical model, capable of predicting depth-averaged tidal flow fields in coastal and estuarine waters, has been extended to include tide-induced non-cohesive sediment transport processes. The partial differential equations governing the conservation of mass, momentum and suspended sediment in an incompressible turbulent flow are included in a depth-integrated form in the model. For the representation of the processes of erosion and deposition of sediment from the bed an empirically based source-sink term was refined, based on the results of three mobile bed flume studies. The model has been tested by simulating tidal flows and suspended sediment fluxes in two estuaries, with particular application to the Humber estuary in the U.K. The model was calibrated and found to produce an encouraging degree of agreement between the numerical predictions and corresponding field measurements for this estuary. Furthermore, the predicted gross deposition and erosion features of the estuary were found to be in close agreement with interpretations from Eulerian tidal residual predictions.     

Spatial variations of tidal water level and their impact on the exposure patterns of tidal land on the central Jiangsu coast

The exposed area of intertidal zone varies with tidal water level changes. If intercomparisons of satellite images are adopted as a method to determine geomorphological changes of the intertidal zone in response to accretion or erosion processes, then the e?ect of water level variations must be evaluated. In this study, two Landsat TM images overpassing the central Jiangsu coastal waters on 2 January and 7 March 2002, respectively, were treated by the changing detection analysis using Image Di?erencing and Post-classiˉcation Comparison. The simultaneous tide level data from four tide gauge stations along the coast were used for displaying the spatial variations of water levels and determining the elevations of waterlines. The results show that the spatial variations of water levels are highly signiˉcant in the central Jiangsu coastal waters. The huge di?erences of tidal land exposure patterns between the two imaging times are related mainly to the spatial variations of tidal water levels, which are controlled by the di?erences in tidal phases for di?erent imaging times and the spatial variations of water level over the study area at each imaging time. Under complex tidal conditions, e.g., those of the central Jiangsu coastal waters, the tide-surge model should be used to eliminate e?ectively the e?ects of water level variations on remote sensing interpretation of geomorphological changes in the intertidal zone.     

Naval Mine Impact Burial Prediction using Seafloor Database,Experiment, and GIS Technologies

The possibility of naval mines buried in the seafloor poses difficulties for navies concerned with port and seaway operations. To devise countermeasures, predictions of degrees of impact burial over wide areas of seabed must be made. Under ideal conditions, this is done with a knowledge of local seabed shear strengths, but in practice, such data are rarely available.

We describe an alternative prediction method. Probabilistic predictions of mine impact burial are made across areas of variable seafloor by combining data on sedimentary character directly with experimental impact burial results. The most useful seafloor characteristics are mud content and consolidation. The predictions are relatively accurate (SD 1–22%), and are computable in detail over wide geographic areas. They are of a form immediately useful for naval operations (including calculations of risk) and are easily displayed in geographic information systems (GIS). An example is shown for the northern Gulf of Mexico.     

Naval Mine Impact Burial Prediction using Seafloor Database, Experiment, and GIS Technologies

The possibility of naval mines buried in the seafloor poses difficulties for navies concerned with port and seaway operations. To devise countermeasures, predictions of degrees of impact burial over wide areas of seabed must be made. Under ideal conditions, this is done with a knowledge of local seabed shear strengths, but in practice, such data are rarely available.

We describe an alternative prediction method. Probabilistic predictions of mine impact burial are made across areas of variable seafloor by combining data on sedimentary character directly with experimental impact burial results. The most useful seafloor characteristics are mud content and consolidation. The predictions are relatively accurate (SD 1-22%), and are computable in detail over wide geographic areas. They are of a form immediately useful for naval operations (including calculations of risk) and are easily displayed in geographic information systems (GIS). An example is shown for the northern Gulf of Mexico.     

Responses of humpback whales to a changing climate in the Southern Hemisphere: Priorities for research efforts

Globally, baleen whales were severely depleted by historic whaling. Recovering populations have been observed to alter their behaviour. These changes have been attributed to climate change in some cases and raise concerns over the successful recovery of baleen whale populations. Current data-driven statistical habitat and behavioural models have proven useful for addressing questions of whale distribution changes within their limitations. Given observed changes in oceanic conditions, a new approach to managing baleen whale population recovery is necessary. Model predictions of future whale movements and distributions under climate change scenarios are vital to enable adequate conservation management. This paper presents a new perspective on understanding the impacts of climate change on humpback whales, arguing the need for a system-based multidisciplinary research approach. Our approach includes coupled, mechanistic models based upon robust ecological principles, and integrates key physical, biogeochemical, biological and ecological modules to address long-term changes associated with climate change. To illustrate the need for this system-based multidisciplinary approach, we focus on Southern Hemisphere humpback whales, the recovery of which may be impacted by rapid changes in habitat conditions brought about by anthropogenic climate change.