Defining standard statistical coastal regions for Ireland

In order to develop a policy framework and guidelines for improving a national approach to the management of Irish coastal regions and associated resources one first needs to be able to define what is meant by ‘a coastal region’ in an Irish context and secondly to know how the socio-economic characteristics of Irish coastal populations differ from the national perspective. This paper is therefore concerned with the coastal economy and the socio-economic characteristics of Ireland's coastal regions. These coastal regions are defined at a number of alternative levels of spatial aggregation. The compilation of coastal economic data is important when one considers the recommendations of the European Council and Parliament concerning the implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management and the requirements of policies such as Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union and the EU Marine Framework Strategy Directive.     

The Spanish approach to marine spatial planning. Marine Strategy Framework Directive vs. EU Integrated Maritime Policy

The coming into effect of the Directive 2008/56/EC (Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)) will induce European Union member States to create mechanisms for managing maritime space in order to comply with the goals set out in this binding legislation. This leads one to think that marine spatial planning in various countries in the EU will be directed at complying with the Directive's environmental goals, as is the case in Spain, rather than undertaking proactive planning for developing the maritime sectors. To put the case of Spain into perspective, a review is conducted of the initiatives taken, especially in Europe and the European Union, exploring the correlations between the main focuses of the maritime sectors and the planning systems. The analysis of the Spanish initiative demonstrates how the maritime economy model and geopolitical factors explain the planning options for the marine environment. In other respects, with the coming into effect of the MSFD, a dual institutional course for marine spatial planning seems to be opening up in the EU: Integrated Maritime Policy vs. the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.     

Disputed South China Sea hydrocarbons in perspective

Maritime and territorial disputes have been a source of tension among the states bordering the South China Sea for decades. These disputes are often framed as being at least partially driven by the desire to gain access to much needed seabed hydrocarbon resources. Suggestions that major oil and gas riches are at stake in the South China Sea have arguably encouraged States to be inflexible in their claims and negatively impacted on bilateral relations. Indeed, controversial incidents relating to hydrocarbon exploration have occurred on multiple occasions, and as recently as mid-2011.This paper critically examines the South China Sea ‘hydrocarbon factor’. The wide range of estimates that circulate in the public domain are discussed in detail. Using a hypothetical and optimistic estimate of disputed oil and gas reserves based on the best possible interpretation of available data, depletion and production curve analysis is applied to determine the production profile of disputed reserves, and an evaluation of their potential benefit to energy security for each country with claims in the South China Sea is made. Analysis shows that constraints on production mean that disputed South China Sea oil and gas may only constitute a small part of the solution to Southeast Asia's growing energy security challenges, and does not have the capacity to reverse the trend of growing reliance on imports to the region. Escalating demand for imported hydrocarbons would instead reinforce the importance of sea-lane security to regional energy security.     

Undermining the Integrated Maritime Policy

The European Union’s Integrated Maritime Policy is intended in part to co-ordinate sectoral policies, to achieve joined-up thinking and action and overcome the inconsistency between policy approaches that has led to the degradation of European seas. An integrated governance would be relatively straight-forward if the different interests and actors were operating on the basis of shared values, but they are not. While the fisheries sector, whether large or small-scale, is driven by a commercial imperative which tends towards the greatest extraction of the resource possible, environmentalists would champion the removal of all human impacts, other than redress activity, as the optimum state for the ecosystem. However, the greatest impediment to an integrated approach is the failure to subject the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy to the objectives of the Integrated Maritime Policy. Instead, all decisions concerning fisheries will continue to be made in accordance with the Fisheries Regulation which demands exploitation of the fragile resource. Attention needs to be given to how EU fisheries policy is to acquire values beyond that of commercial extraction for immediate economic benefit so that it may cohere with objectives of the Integrated Maritime Policy and aid the regeneration of the seas.     

Extent and frequency of vessel oil spills in US marine protected areas

Little is known about how marine protected areas (MPAs) may be vulnerable to vessel oil spills in the United States. This study investigated individual size, frequency, and total amount of vessel oil spilled in US MPAs, and how characteristics of MPAs and individual spill events influenced spills. Vessel oil spills in US waters (2002-06) and MPA boundaries were mapped. Total number and volume of oil spills inside and outside MPAs were computed. Results show that the presence of a MPA does not seem to prevent vessel oil spills or reduce the amount of oil spilled, and that a variety of MPA attributes (e.g., scale of protection, fishing restrictions, and others) and spill event characteristics (e.g., vessel type, year of spill, and others) affect oil spills inside and outside MPAs. These results can be used to develop MPA rules and marine transportation policies that reduce the vulnerability of sensitive resources to oil spills.     

综合物探技术在海洋考古中的应用——以川岛水下考古为例

水下考古已成为考古领域的重要组成部分。在中国沿海,尤其在古海上丝绸之路沿线,留存了大量前人活动的遗迹。水下考古需要使用高新探测设备,并配合合理的操作流程。本文以广东川岛水下考古为例,由多波束测深系统、浅地层剖面仪、侧扫声呐系统和磁力仪等新型高精度海洋物探设备构成水下考古系统,建立了水下考古的基本流程。川岛是古海上丝绸之路的重要泊靠点,在此次川山群岛海域考古调查中,根据多波束大规模覆盖和侧扫声呐拖曳式作业,在泥湾水道、打铁湾以及乌猪洲等处有新的发现,包括清代瓷器碎片和古代铁炮等。川岛水下考古文物的发现,对于进一步沿古海上丝绸之路的文物调查具有重要促进作用,也使水下考古得到更多关注。     

GLACIER RETREAT IN THE MARITIME ALPS AREA

In the southernmost tract of the Alps (Italian‐French Maritime Alps), extensively covered by glaciers during the Last Glacial Maximum, about 30 small glaciers were present by the end of the Little Ice Age. The aim of this paper is to document the progressive decrease towards exhaustion of these glaciers, located at the latitude of 44° N, highlighting the factors affecting their retreat. All available data sources were investigated for this work including: the annual glaciers fluctuations record, comparative analyses of historical maps and multi‐temporal oblique photographs and direct surveys in the field. The history of the Maritime Alps glaciers fluctuations was thoroughly reconstructed. Stationary conditions were observed from 1896 up to the beginning of the 1930s; since then they underwent phases of withdrawal with variable intensity. In the early 1990s, only six glaciers were still present, the extent of which were all was dramatically reduced. In the past two decades, the Maritime Alps glacier fronts experienced a global retreat of about 100 m, with a sharp acceleration after 2002. Currently ice patches along cirque walls and/or semi‐buried lenses of ice are still present; morphological evidence of permafrost creeping in the glacier forefield accounts for the incipient transition to periglacial landforms (i.e. rock glaciers). The main factors controlling glaciers retreat seem to have been their original extent at the beginning of the current regressive phase and their distance from the main chain divide. From a climatic point of view unfavourable factors for glaciers persistence have been in the last decades a remarkable and sharp temperature increase, a decrease in winter snowfall and a shift of the rainfall peak from autumn to spring.     

Maritime trade, biological invasions, and the properties of alternate inspection regimes

We analyze the problem of preventing biological invasions caused by ships transporting internationally traded goods between countries and continents. Specifically, we ask the following question: should a port manager have a small number of inspectors inspect arriving ships less stringently or should this manager have a large number of inspectors inspect the same ships more stringently? We use a simple queuing-theoretic framework and show that if decreasing the economic cost of regulation is very important then it makes more sense for the port manager to choose the less stringent inspection regime. In contrast, if reducing the damage from biological invasions is more salient then the port manager ought to pick the more stringent inspection regime.     

“21世纪海上丝绸之路”沿线国家水产品贸易网络分析

水产品贸易是海洋经济的重要组成部分,是保证水产品有效供给、维护渔业产业链的重要措施。优化水产品贸易网络对保障中国粮食安全和扩展国际贸易具有重要意义。文章借助联合国商品贸易数据库,选取2000—2019年“21世纪海上丝绸之路”沿线国家水产品贸易数据,利用社会网络分析方法,测度“21世纪海上丝绸之路”沿线国家水产品贸易网络结构特征,进而分析沿线国家水产品贸易市场结构和产品结构。研究发现：1）2000—2019年“21世纪海上丝绸之路”沿线国家的水产品贸易变化可划分为2个阶段,其中第一阶段（2000—2008年）为平稳增长期,第二阶段（2009—2019年）为波动发展期。2）水产品贸易网络密度逐渐增大,空间集聚和网络凝聚力逐渐增强,网络的可达性不断提高,呈现小世界的特性。3）水产品贸易网络的核心—边缘结构较为稳定,核心国家的贸易联系紧密,贸易额占整体的一半以上,多边、双边贸易流存在差异,贸易网络的空间非均质性特征凸显;地理区位及距离对其组团有间接的影响,社团划分呈现层级性和地理临近组团的特点。4）水产品贸易网络的空间分异特性较为明显,重要节点国家主要集中在中国和东南亚国家,中间中心度高的国家和接近中心度排名靠前的国家具有趋同性,非洲东部及红海沿岸国家的网络中心性影响力较弱。5）在核心国家的水产品市场结构中,中国占据较大份额;国家间的关系变化引起市场结构发生调整;中国水产品进出口品种结构比较单一,进口和出口产品分别主要集中在冻鱼和水产品制品。     

海洋性大陆西部夏季降水异常:独立和联系于IOD的模态

采用1979—2013年的NCEP/NCAR、GPCP和GODAS月平均再分析资料,通过回归分析等方法,研究了海洋性大陆(Maritime Continent,MC)地区偏印度洋一侧降水的区域性特征及其与热带、东亚地区环流变化的联系。结果表明:MC西部,爪洼岛以西洋面(A区)与苏门答腊海以西赤道洋面(B区)降水存在一定程度相关的同时,还存在较大差异。两个区域夏季降水正异常时,来自赤道印度洋、赤道太平洋、南海及孟加拉湾地区的水汽输送偏强。A区降水与IOD(Indian Ocean Diapole)现象密切相关,B区降水则与季风活动的变化联系密切。A区降水异常偏多时,混合层的暖海水向A区汇合,A区的海温异常偏高得以维持,对流层低层在A区及其西南部出现气旋性环流,产生气流辐合,有利于上升运动的发生,降水增多。当B区降水正异常时,对流层低层环流与A区降水正异常时较为相似,但气旋性环流范围偏小、偏西。B区暖海温的维持主要与海洋中的垂直运动有关。这些研究结果有利于深刻认识MC区域气候变动特征及亚洲夏季风环流异常的成因。