The case for an international commission for the conservation and management of sharks (ICCMS)

The current rate of shark global exploitation and mortality is arguably so high under current management regimes that unless a renewed initiative is undertaken some species of shark will become effectively extinct. Current efforts to sustainably manage shark mortality are driven primarily by domestic laws in a few countries, big international non-governmental organizations (BINGOs) promoting environmental laws in the countries or regions where they exist, a handful of regional fisheries management organizations (e.g., IATTC and ICCAT), and inter-governmental organizations such as CITES. The absence of enforcement capability is often argued as the critical component in the failure to protect sharks from overexploitation. The remedy advanced here goes far beyond the need for stepped up enforcement, and calls for the creation of an entirely new international management regime, the International Commission for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (ICCMS). Such an agency could learn from the experiences of management bodies tasked with conservation of species biologically similar to sharks, such as the International Whaling Commission (IWC), to improve its efficacy. Critics have identified many organizational flaws that reduced the IWC’s effectiveness during its earliest years. Some of those flaws are examined here and remedies are suggested that an ICCMS could use to create a more effective management regime. The life histories of elasmobranches and large whales are compared to illustrate their similarities as a biological foundation for the selection of the IWC as a model.     

Development of an urban landslide cellular automata model: a case study of North Vancouver, Canada

Many GIS-based landslide models require detailed datasets that are ideally collected from field measurements, which can incur high costs for carrying out surveys. Even when the data is on hand, implementing physics-based slope stability techniques can be difficult. Common research practice uses differential equations to characterize the dynamic flow of a landslide, but it is often laborious without making substantial simplifications. A possible solution is to implement a cellular automata modeling approach, which represents both spatial and temporal components, to simulate the dynamics of the landslide propagation process. In this study, a simplified cellular automata model is developed for the effective prediction of landslide runouts, where the data requirement is a high resolution digital elevation model (DEM). Parameters, such as slope and slope curvature features, are derived from the DEM and coupled with logistic regression. The developed model is implemented on the Patrick and Dawson-Chu Slide in North Vancouver, Canada. The results from this study site were favorable, given almost 90% agreement between simulated landslides and data obtained for real landslides. In addition, sensitivity analysis was performed on the initiation sites to test the model logic and outputs of the landslide flow.     

Stratigraphy and evolution of basalts in Mare Humorum and southeastern Procellarum

Abstract— We have studied the mare basalts of Mare Humorum and southeastern Procellarum (30°W–50°W, 0°–40°S). One hundred and nine basaltic units have been identified from differences in their FeO wt% and TiO₂ wt% content, and variations in crater densities. Crater counting and reference to isotopically dated Apollo samples have provided an age for 33 major units. Some evidence for three distinct periods of volcanic activity has been found. We found that the large unit in the middle of Mare Humorum is the oldest in the basin. This supports the suggestion that the oldest central unit sank causing the lithosphere to bend and create dykes through which lava flowed to produce the outer units. No evidence of a trend in FeO wt% and TiO₂ wt% content against time is found within Mare Humorum. There appears to be no lateral trend of basalts in terms of FeO and TiO₂ wt% over the entire area with time. An increase in FeO content with time is found in the 33 major units and there is some evidence for an increase in TiO₂ in the same units. A correlation between FeO wt% and TiO₂ wt% content is evident when all 109 units are compared. A notable feature of this correlation is a sharp increase in gradient of TiO₂ wt% content when the FeO wt% content rises above about 17%.     

Perceptions of Environmental Change and Climate Concern Among Idaho’s Farmers

Climate change public opinion research has identified conservative political ideology as the primary predictor of skepticism about climate change’s anthropogenic causes. Most farmers in Idaho are politically conservative, but they are also a unique group for whom observing their environment is part of daily life and work. We use data from in-depth interviews with 30 Idaho farmers to examine the relationship between observations of specific environmental changes and climate concern. We find that while most farmers report noticing changes in precipitation patterns, growing season length, and winter temperatures, few farmers connect these with long-term global climate change. These findings have two important implications: 1) direct experience, even in the form of disruption to an individual’s economic security, is not enough to overcome the influence of political ideology on climate change beliefs, and 2) acknowledging climate variation is not sufficient to convince individuals that the changes are produced by human activities.     

Morphological and sedimentary responses to ice mass interaction during the last deglaciation

During decline of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) down‐wasting of ice meant that local sources played a larger role in regulating ice flow dynamics and driving the sediment and landform record. At the Last Glacial Maximum, glaciers in north‐western England interacted with an Irish Sea Ice Stream (ISIS) occupying the eastern Irish Sea basin (ISB) and advanced as a unified ice‐mass. During a retreat constrained to 21–17.3 ka, the sediment landform assemblages lain down reflect the progressive unzipping of the ice masses, oscillations of the ice margin during retreat, and then rapid wastage and disintegration. Evacuation of ice from the Ribble valley and Lancashire occurred first while the ISIS occupied the ISB to the west, creating ice‐dammed lakes. Deglaciation, complete after 18.6–17.3 ka, was rapid (50–25 m a^?1), but slower than rates identified for the western ISIS (550–100 m a^?1). The slower pace is interpreted as reflecting the lack of a calving margin and the decline of a terrestrial, grounded glacier. Ice marginal oscillations during retreat were probably forced by ice‐sheet dynamics rather than climatic variation. These data demonstrate that large grounded glaciers can display complex uncoupling and realignment during deglaciation, with asynchronous behaviour between adjacent ice lobes generating complex landform records.

     

Making “Unofficial” Sacred Space: Spirit Mediums and House Temples in Singapore

Although there has been significant work done on the creation of sacred space in residential housing, not enough attention has been paid to a particular segment of Chinese religion leadership in Singapore – spirit mediums – and the processes in which they practice within the political ideology of the modernist Singaporean state. In this paper, I will show how spirit mediums operate within “unofficially sacred” spaces, specifically house temples that subvert and resist functionalist policies of the Singapore state. Using two visually focussed, participant‐observation case studies, I will argue that this subversion is sustained in two inter‐related ways—one, through the visual comportment of the spirit medium's body through behavior and aesthetic markers and two, through the social prominence of the spirit medium when he or she is in a trance. These two factors come together to temporally displace the importance of the physical location, allowing a spirit medium to operate in any location, “official” or “unofficial.”     

Design and application of a semi-automated filtration system to study the distribution of particulate organic carbon in the water column of a coastal upwelling system

The processes controlling the production, transport and ultimate fate of particulate organic carbon (POC) in marine systems play a major role in the global carbon cycle. Direct measurements of POC concentrations in oceanic waters have been used extensively to investigate these processes, but because of the time-intensive effort associated with manual collection and filtration of water samples, this approach often results in limited temporal or spatial coverage. To increase the frequency of POC measurements, we designed and built a semi-automated filtration system (SAFS) that can be linked to a ship's underway surface water flow system and/or a towed profiling vehicle with pumping capabilities. Our results show that, compared to manual filtration, SAFS provides the ability to easily perform filtrations at high enough frequency to measure POC concentrations at spatial and temporal resolutions that are closer to those possible with in situ sensors. When combined with optical measurements, SAFS allows for the characterization of several distinct pools of particles within different geographical and depth regions of the water column off the Oregon Coast. These initial applications yielded data that provide considerable insight into the sources and character of particles in the water column and prove that this approach can be used to gain valuable information on the biogeochemistry of this and other similar ocean margins.     

Safeguarding coastal coral communities on the central Great Barrier Reef (Australia) against climate change: realizable local and global actions

The threats of wide-scale coral bleaching and reef demise associated with anthropogenic (global) climate change are widely known. Less well considered is the contributing role of conditions local to the reef, in particular reef water quality, in co-determining the physiological tolerance of corals to increasing sea temperatures and declining pH. Here, the modelled benefit of reduced exposure to dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in terrestrial runoff, which raises the thermal tolerance of coastal coral communities on the central Great Barrier Reef (Australia), is considered alongside alternative future warming scenarios. The simulations highlight that an 80% reduction in DIN ‘buys’ an additional ~50–60?years of reef-building capacity for No Mitigation (‘business-as-usual’) bleaching projections. Moreover, the integrated management benefits provided by: (i) local reductions of ~50% in DIN contained in river loads, and (ii) global stabilisation of atmospheric CO₂ below 450?ppm can help ensure the persistence of hard-coral-dominated reefscapes beyond 2100. The simulations reinforce the message that beyond the global imperative to mitigate future atmospheric CO₂ emissions there still remains the need for effective local management actions that enhance the resistance and resilience of coral reef communities to the impacts of climate change.     

Excess pore pressure in Mississippi delta front sediments: Initial report

Abstract

In September 1975, a differential piezometer probe was successfully implanted in the soft seafloor sediments of Block 28, South Pass, Mississippi Delta. The probe sensor is located approximately 6.4 m below the mudline in a water depth of 19 m, and has essentially continuously monitored excess pore pressure (the difference between sediment pore pressure and hydrostatic pressure at that depth) since installation. Excess pore pressure will be monitored until March 1976, when the probe will be recovered.

Immediately after deployment, an excess pore pressure of 54 kPa was recorded. An ambient excess pore pressure of approximately 32 kPa remained after dissipation of that developed during probe installation. Because of the possible presence of gas in the sediments in this area, it is not known with certainty whether the measured excess pressure is pore water pressure, pore gas pressure, or some combination of the two. An excess pore pressure of about 32 ±4 kPa was monitored during Hurricane Eloise and subsequent storms. The exact magnitude and time distribution of these pressure fluctuations is presently being evaluated.     

Book review

Ocean Floor Mining by John S. Pearson. Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, New Jersey, 1975. 201 pp., $24.00.

Offshore Drilling Technology by Frank R. Carmichael. Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, New Jersey, 1975. 392 pp., $36.00.