An overview of climate change impacts on the society in China

Society could sustain the impact of climate change by adapting to the change and mitigating risks from adverse effects of increasing changes, so that it can continue maintaining its prospect and improving wellbeing. Nevertheless, climate change is more or less affecting society's functions at different scales, including both individuals and communities. In this review, we discuss the relationship between society and climate change in China from the aspects of the needs at different socioeconomic developing stages. The relationship as well as the current spatial pattern and future risks of the climate change impacts on societies are summarized. The complexity of social and climatic systems leads to the spatial heterogeneity of climate impacts and risks in China. To more effectively leverage increasing knowledge about the past, we advocate greater cross-disciplinary collaboration between climate adaption, poverty alleviation and Nature-based Solutions (Nbs). That could provide decision makers with more comprehensive train of thoughts for climate policy making.     

Re-evaluating the use of beached bird oiling rates to assess long-term trends in chronic oil pollution

The oiling rate (oiled birds/total birds) has become the international standard to analyze beached bird survey data. However, this index may not reliably track long-term changes in marine oil pollution in regions where other activities that kill seabirds vulnerable to oil, such as hunting and gill-netting, are also changing. We compare the oiling rate from beached bird surveys conducted in southeastern Newfoundland between 1984 and 2006 to an alternative approach, namely trends derived from a model examining the linear density of oiled birds (birds/km). In winter, there was no change in the oiling rate since 1984, while in summer oiling rates significantly increased. In contrast, the number of oiled birds/km showed a significant decline in both winter and summer. The discrepancy in these trends was attributed to steep declines in the number of unoiled birds found in both seasons. In winter, the decline in unoiled birds/km was related to a reduction in the legal murre hunt and less onshore winds, while in summer a reduced cod fishery resulting in fewer murres drowning in nets and warming summers may have lead to the decline. The significant declines in oiled birds/km over the past three decades are hopefully an indication of less oil being present in the marine environment. Although oiled bird densities since 2000 have remained relatively low for the region (winter: 0.58 birds/km, summer: 0.27 birds/km), they still exceed densities reported elsewhere in the world.     

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.     

井间高分辨率纵横波层析成像研究井间油藏

采用视速度-偏振井间波场分离法分离得到纵波和横波波场,使用跨孔地震走时层析成像级联方法计算井间纵波和横波速度结构以及泊松比空间分布.综合纵横波速度、泊松比和测井参数,分析两井间岩性和储层特性.数值模型试验表明该方法垂直分辨率达到主频波长的1/4,并能准确分辨倾斜断层和垂直断层.处理相同纵波资料结果表明本文方法分辨率远远高于以往的井间走时层析成像方法,比井间声波层析成像分辨率更高.使用该方法处理垦71区井间资料,得到同台同源纵波和横波速度结构和泊松比分布.泊松比的低/高变化与测井参数指示的砂/泥岩层基本吻合.根据泊松比分布,参考岩石地震物理学测试数据,可以区分井间介质中的泥岩层、砂岩层,以及砂岩层中的饱水和饱油区,确定储层的连通性,圈定井间的剩余油藏.     

Sociocultural institutions in Norwegian fisheries management

Many policymakers attribute the success of fisheries management regimes to the design and implementation of particular regulatory tools. While sound design and effective implementation are crucial elements of any successful regulatory action, fisheries policymakers and regulators should also account for the heterogeneous sociocultural institutions of partner communities. The success of fisheries policies relies on compliance and, ideally, cooperation (accepting policies, i.e. not protesting or otherwise strongly agitating against the system) from fisheries stakeholders. Even a policy that is sound in design and flawless in execution is at risk of failure if target stakeholders obstruct or otherwise undermine the system. This paper investigates how institutions, at various levels of scale and formality, play a role in determining the degree of compliance and/or cooperation that a fisheries management regime enjoys. In particular, it will examine the issue of Individual Vessel Quotas (IVQs) in Norway, and the response of fishing communities to the trade liberalization of IVQs.     

Good luck or good governance? The recovery of Celtic Sea herring

The herring stock in the Celtic Sea collapsed in 2004. The stock is managed under the European Union's (EU) Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), but with a large measure of local stakeholder involvement through the Pelagic Advisory Council and a local Irish stakeholder committee. An iterative process, initiated by the local committee culminated in a formal rebuilding plan, which ran until 2012, by which time, the stock had fully recovered. Subsequent analyses of stock development over this period suggest that the stock was already recovering by the time the final plan was implemented. Did the stock rebuild by good fortune or did the governance measures put in place achieve their aims? This question is answered by way of examination of stock trends over time, analyses of the main elements of the rebuilding measures, including a management strategy evaluation (MSE) along with analyses of the legal and institutional arrangements in Ireland and in the EU CFP, including the development of the Pelagic Advisory Council. Important innovations in the CFP are revealed as having been crucial for the rebuilding process.     

Connections or conflict? A social and economic analysis of the interconnections between the professional fishing industry,recreational fishing and marine tourism in coastal communities in NSW,Australia

Resource conflict is a common feature of coastal management. This conflict is often managed by using spatial planning tools to segregate uses, with access decisions made through a comparison of the economic costs and benefits of the competing sectors. These comparisons rarely include an in-depth analysis of the extent or nature of the conflict. One commonly experienced form of resource conflict in coastal communities involves professional fishing, recreational fishing and broader coastal tourism. In New South Wales, Australia the professional fishing industry is often seen as being in conflict with recreational fishing and tourism, and there are frequent calls to close areas to professional fishing, arguing that this will provide improved economic benefits to local communities. This research examined the relationships between the three sectors using economic valuations, qualitative interviews and a large-scale representative questionnaire of the general public. The results revealed highly interconnected and mutually supportive relationships, with professional fishing providing a range of services that benefit both tourism and recreational fishing. These results suggest that spatial management exercises that seek to segregate or remove one sector from an area, may be counterproductive to the interests of all these groups. Relying on economic valuations of each sector as if they stand alone is insufficient to adequately understand their roles in local communities. Resource allocation decisions should be based on evaluations that consider the interconnections between sectors, and consider whether negotiated sharing of resources may provide greater community benefits than excluding certain groups of users.     

Aquaculture stakeholders role in fisheries co-management

Industrial aquaculture has become one of the main protagonists both on the coasts and in international policy aimed at regulating matters concerning the sea. This new role is reflected in the recently adopted Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union, where the need to promote the sector and the involvement with other local actors, specifically artisanal fishers, is highlighted. However, the official promotion of this activity could be overvaluing its benefits while, at the same time, undervaluing the new barriers that it is introducing in fisheries co-management. Centered in Valencian Community (Spain) and through a qualitative methodology, this paper examines the views and positions of stakeholders directly involved in aquaculture activity (biologists, aquaculture businessmen and policy managers) on the possibilities of joint participation. It is concluded, that eroding the detected mistrust among stakeholders through "hybrid forms of participation" would be a necessary prerequisite to setting up a common framework for involvement leading to an effective co-management.     

Are Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries (TURFs) sufficiently large?

Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries (TURFs) are gaining renewed attention as a potential tool for sustainable fisheries management in small-scale fisheries. This growing popularity comes despite the fact that there are still unresolved questions about the most effective TURF designs. One of the key questions is the role of TURF size in their efficacy both from ecological and social standpoints. This study explores the expected effects of existing TURF sizes on yields for TURF systems in Chile, México and Japan. The expected effect of larval dispersal and adult movement on yields was simulated for TURFs in each system. The results show that the analyzed TURF systems fall into three main categories: (a) TURFs that are of adequate size to eliminate the expected negative effects of both adult and larval movement, (b) TURFs that are large enough to eliminate the expected negative effects of adult movement, but not the effects of larval dispersal, and c) TURFs that are too small to eliminate the expected impacts on yield of both adult and larval movement. These analyses suggest that either existing models of TURF performance are incomplete or that there is significant scope for improved performance with altered TURF designs. Considering these alternatives, empirical evidence from the TURFs deemed too small suggests that complementary management tools can enhance TURF performance when natural or social constraints prevent the construction of TURFs of optimal size.     

FAO's statistic data and sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture: Comments on Pauly and Zeller (2017)

In a recent commentary, Pauly and Zeller disagreed with the Food and Agriculture Organization's interpretation of its global capture fishery production records, arguing that trends were distorted by unreliable statistics in some countries. They criticized FAO for not having used their “catch reconstructions” in the 2016 State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) report and questioned the interpretation and significance of FAO's aquaculture production statistics. In this paper, we refute their claims and demonstrate that their critique is based on fundamental misunderstandings caused by mixing up statistical metrics and using simple normative explanations to interpret highly complex datasets. We explain how FAO maintains, curates and updates the only validated source of global fisheries landings, describe our capacity building projects and activities underpinning the annual updates for the over 231 different sources of fisheries data, and clarify such updates include dialogues with member countries to improve and revise present and historical records. FAO will continue to work closely with member states, IGOs, NGOs, academia and civil society, to further improve fishery and aquaculture databases, while calling on states to make renewed efforts to improve data quality. It also welcomes research efforts that contribute to the improvement of statistical data which are critical to the sustainable management of fisheries and aquaculture.