Malthusian overfishing in Pulau Banggi?

We assess, based on fisheries and interview data collected on-site, whether Malthusian overfishing is occurring in Pulau Banggi, Sabah. Fisheries resources in Pulau Banggi have been perceived to be declining over the past 20 years, and characteristics of Malthusian overfishing are evident, although not at a magnitude comparable with other more heavily exploited artisanal fisheries in the Philippines. It appears that Pulau Banggi's reef fisheries are at an early stage of Malthusian overfishing, and this is therefore a critical time for addressing and mitigating drivers of overfishing to prevent inevitable and further decline of Pulau Banggi's reef fisheries.     

3-D internal architecture of methane hydrate-bearing turbidite channels in the eastern Nankai Trough, Japan

The reservoir architecture of methane hydrate (MH) bearing turbidite channels in the eastern Nankai Trough, offshore Japan is evaluated using a combination of 3-D seismic and well data. On the 3-D seismic section, the MH-bearing turbidite channels correspond to complex patterns of strong seismic reflectors, which show the 3-D internal architecture of the channel complex. A seismic-sequence stratigraphic analysis reveals that the channel complex can be roughly classified into three different stages of depositional sequence (upper, middle, and lower). Each depositional sequence results in a different depositional system that primarily controls the reservoir architecture of the turbidite channels. To construct a 3-D facies model, the stacking patterns of the turbidite channels are interpreted, and the reservoir heterogeneities of MH-bearing sediments are discussed. The identified channels at the upper sequence around the β1 well exhibit low-sinuosity channels consisting of various channel widths that range from tens to several hundreds of meters. Paleo-current flow directions of the turbidite channels are typically oriented along the north-northeast-to-south-southwest direction. High-amplitude patterns were identified above the channels along the north-to-south and north-northeast-to-south-southeast directions. These roughly coincide with the paleo-current flow of the turbidite channels. An interval velocity using high-density velocity analysis shows that velocity anomalies (>2000 m/s) are found on the northeastern side of the turbidite channels. The depositional stage of the northeastern side of the turbidite channels exhibits slightly older sediment stages than the depositional stages of the remaining channels. Hence, the velocity anomalies of the northeastern side of the channels are related to the different stages of sediment supply, and this may lead to the different reservoir architectures of the turbidite channels.     

Management of the commons for biodiversity: lessons from the North Pacific

The North Pacific has the world's largest groundfish fisheries, with a value in excess of $1 billion annually. The North Pacific also is home to the largest population of Steller sea lions (SSL), an ancient species that is now endangered. Decline of the western stock of SSL in the 1970–1990s coincided with the US nationalization and exponential growth in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands groundfish fishery.The article treats five aspects of the competition between the fishery and protection of the endangered species. First, we analyze competition of interests in the use, management, and preservation of the North Pacific commons, including offshore and near-shore fisheries, environmental organizations, governments (federal, state, and local), and the scientific community. Second, the article compares and contrasts provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Magnuson–Stevens Act (as amended in 1996 by the Sustainable Fisheries Act).Third, we examine the regulatory environment with a focus on the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and its relationship to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. We illustrate how NMFS establishes fishery management plans and the methods, such as crafting biological opinions and environmental-impact-statements, it uses to resolve conflicts. Fourth, we investigate how the dual pressures on the agency—to increase fisheries production for the benefit of the industry and to preserve endangered marine species—have affected its culture (behavioral norms and operational codes). Then, the article explains agency changes in terms of crises, competition among affected interests, and development of new scientific knowledge.The article concludes by drawing lessons from the SSL controversy in the North Pacific which may pertain to national and global biodiversity conflicts. These concern the role of law in biodiversity protection, the role of science, and agency capacity for change.     

Objectives of fisheries management: case studies from the UK, France, Spain and Denmark

The main objectives of fisheries management are generally similar throughout the world. These are often stated in policy documents such as the Common Fisheries Policy and the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. However, at the local level often the key objectives of management are more detailed, characterised by both the overriding management structure and the status and type of fishery concerned. In this paper, we consider case study fisheries from the UK, France, Spain and Denmark to compare some of the various types of fisheries and fisheries management systems that exist in the European Union. From this, we define the key objectives for each management system.     

Flexible management of fishing rights and a sustainable fisheries industry in Europe

Although overexploitation of commercial fish stocks in European waters has been in the public debate now for more than 20 years, the European Union has so far failed to implement sustainable fisheries management. Millions in subsidies paid to the fishing industry have led to significant excess capacity in the fishing fleet. Various feeble attempts to stop overexploitation of marine resources have failed. The cause is that fishing policy is highly dominated by short-term socioeconomic interests. There is an urgent need for a new fisheries management system in Europe that supports reductions in the fishing fleet, increases responsibility among fishers and guarantees long-term conservation of natural marine resources.Transferable rights to fish have proved a reliable and effective means of creating incentives to conserve marine resources. By strengthening individual fishing rights under flexible quota management systems, the EU Member States could, within the Common Fisheries Policy, make a significant contribution to conserving fish stocks, to reducing excess capacity and to raising the profitability of the fisheries industry. A closer look at existing reservations against a flexible management system shows most of the objections to be overstated or capable of resolution.     

Effects of variable winds on biological productivity on continental shelves in coastal upwelling systems

The production and distribution of biological material in wind-driven coastal upwelling systems are of global importance, yet they remain poorly understood. Production is frequently presumed to be proportional to upwelling rate, yet high winds can lead to advective losses from continental shelves, where many species at higher trophic levels reside. An idealized mixed-layer conveyor (MLC) model of biological production from constant upwelling winds demonstrated previously that the amount of new production available to shelf species increased with upwelling at low winds, but declined at high winds [Botsford, L.W., Lawrence, C.A., Dever, E.P., Hastings, A., Largier, J., 2003. Wind strength and biological productivity in upwelling systems: an idealized study. Fisheries Oceanography 12, 245–259]. Here we analyze the response of this model to time-varying winds for parameter values and observed winds from the Wind Events and Shelf Transport (WEST) study region. We compare this response to the conventional view that the results of upwelling are proportional to upwelled volume. Most new production per volume upwelled available to shelf species occurs following rapid increases in shelf transit time due to decreases in wind (i.e. relaxations). However, on synoptic, event time-scales shelf production is positively correlated with upwelling rate. This is primarily due to the effect of synchronous periods of low values in these time series, paradoxically due to wind relaxations. On inter-annual time-scales, computing model production from wind forcing from 20 previous years shows that these synchronous periods of low values have little effect on correlations between upwelling and production. Comparison of model production from 20 years of wind data over a range of shelf widths shows that upwelling rate will predict biological production well only in locations where cross-shelf transit times are greater than the time required for phytoplankton or zooplankton production. For stronger mean winds (narrower shelves), annual production falls below the peak of constant wind prediction [Botsford et al., 2003. Wind strength and biological productivity in upwelling systems: an idealized study. Fisheries Oceanography 12, 245–259], then as winds increase further (shelves become narrower) production does not decline as steeply as the constant wind prediction.