Marine protected areas—substantiating their worth

With the UK Marine Bill promoting the creation of a network of marine protected areas and similar commitments in other countries there is a need for tools to assist in their design and management. Although physical science often drives designation, the implementation of marine protected areas also encompasses political and socio-economic issues. This paper focuses on one tool in the armoury of decision-makers: choice experiments. It illustrates its application to the quantification of aspects of socio-economic value not readily incorporated into the evaluation of the costs and benefits of marine protected areas utilising cold-water deep coral reefs off the Republic of Ireland.     

Private rights,public benefits: Industry-driven seabed protection

New Zealand has a large exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that contains a variety of marine habitats and commercially-important species. The commercial fishing industry operating within New Zealand's EEZ is of significant value to the economy and fisheries resources are managed through the extensive use of Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs). One of the benefits of ITQs has been to better align some of the private incentives of quota owners with the public interest. These incentives contributed to an initiative proposed by the fishing industry to close large areas of New Zealand's EEZ to protect the seabed from trawling. These closed areas are termed benthic protection areas (BPAs) and protect the benthic biodiversity of about 1.1 million square kilometres of seabed—approximately 30% of New Zealand's EEZ. A significant proportion of New Zealand's known seamounts and active hydrothermal vents are protected by these closed areas. We describe and discuss the criteria used to select BPAs and some of the criticism of this marine protection initiative. We argue that the assignment of strong property rights in fishing resources was an important precondition to an industry initiative that has a significant public benefit. Where private and public interests are well aligned, government can adopt an enabling and facilitation role, ceding direct control of processes in order to get the results the align with the public interest.     

海洋生态文明视域下河口沙坝-潟湖生态修复思路探究

加大海岸整治修复力度是推进海洋生态文明建设的必然要求。沙坝-潟湖海岸具有典型的生态系统和独特的社会价值,同时也因人类活动受到不同程度破坏,是“蓝色海湾”等整治修复项目的重要对象。文章以辽宁省浮渡河口沙坝-潟湖为例,总结国内外河口沙坝-潟湖主要生态修复思路和方法,提出生态修复过程中沙坝-潟湖受损机制和生态修复评估体系构建两个关键技术问题。在此基础上,为深入推进我国海岸生态保护修复管理和海岸整治修复工程实践,需要做好顶层设计和提升整治修复能力两方面主要工作。     

海洋沉积物中铜含量测量不确定度评定 ——电热板加热消解法与微波消解法的比对

电热板加热消解法和微波消解法是目前海洋沉积物样品消解的常用方法。为了比较这两种处理方法对检测结果准确性的影响程度,文章依据《测量不确定度的评定与表示》技术规定中的相关要求对海洋沉积物中铜含量测定过程中采取的两种消解方法进行了不确定度评定与对比,建立了模型,并对各不确定度分量进行分析和量化,计算出两种消解方法测量沉积物中铜含量的相对合成不确定度分别为0.06721和0.04033,扩展不确定度分别为4.0mg/kg和2.4mg/kg。通过比较两种消解方法对测定结果不确定度的贡献,发现微波消解法明显优于电热板加热法。     

物联网在海洋相关领域研究与应用进展

随着科学技术的发展,物联网正成为海洋领域的前沿研究内容之一。在海洋观测领域,利用物联网构建海洋环境立体观测体系,对于研究全球气候变化、海上态势感知、海洋灾害预报等具有重大意义;在海岛生态监测领域,利用海岛生态物联网系统可以实现海岛生态的长期实时监测;在海洋牧场监测领域,利用物联网可以实现海洋牧场的环境、生物等要素的实时监测;在智能船舶领域,利用物联网可以实现船舶自身、港口、物流的信息自动感知。文章探讨了物联网在上述4个领域的研究与应用进展,以期进一步促进物联网在我国海洋信息化中的应用与发展。     

Recent Developments in Marine Diamond Mining

The marine diamond deposits of southern Africa owe their existence to fluvial transport down the Orange River to the South Atlantic. On the coast, they were moved, sorted and concentrated by high-energy sea and wind conditions to create a veneer of diamondiferous gravels on the sea floor. Large scale, offshore production by De Beers Marine commenced in 1989 in Namibian waters. The company now acts as a contractor for Namdeb, a corporation owned jointly with the Namibian governments. Some junior public companies also produce diamonds by large-scale mechanized means and conduct extensive exploration programs. Two important developments have occurred recently. Firstly, equipment for the recovery of diamonds from the seabed has been successfully borrowed from other industries. Large drills from onshore civil engineering have been modified for marine sampling and mining. Remotely controlled, seabed-mounted, excavational systems have assumed a major role. The new systems allow both evaluation sampling and subsequent mining to be undertaken by similar or the same equipment, making the results compatible. They permit highly selective extraction and enhanced recovery of the gravels from irregular bedrock in water approaching 200 m deep. But none is universally applicable offshore, each being the preferred system under different conditions. Secondly, the total output of sea diamonds from Namibian waters has increased to 0.8 million carats annually and now exceeds that from all the country's onshore sources. An industry has become established. Corporate and individual perseverence, government encouragement, new technology, shareholders' risk finance, and De Beers' diamond marketing have all played a role in the success. Future diamond production may increase as companies meet the challenge of working lower grade, higher volume deposits, which will require new approaches to the mining process. With a decrease in the physical risk of marine mining, the most variable inputs in operational planning and production forecasting are recovered grade and throughout rate, together with equipment availability. The importance of reliable grade estimation from sufficient sampling density is widely perceived, but the greatest performance risk can involve the predicted excavation rate and ''mineability'' of the seabed sediments. Published reserve statements would benefit from a requirement to specify the planned mining method, the consequent cutoff grade to be employed, and whether or not test mining has been undertaken.     

海洋生态系统动力学研究的相关网上资源

分４部分介绍互联网上与海洋生态系统动力学研究有关的信息资源、主要网址及其主要内容：（１）海洋生态系统模拟研究;（２）海洋科学研究组织和国际研究计划;（３）网上新闻讨论组;（４）海洋生态杂志。     

海洋微藻脂肪酸组成的比较研究

于１９９５￣１９９７年在中国科学院海洋研究所培养２０种海洋微藻,采用Ｂｌｉｇｈ－Ｄｙｅｒ法和气相色谱法进行脂肪酸组成的比较研究。结果表明,除个别藻外,海洋微藻的总脂含量均超过其干重的１０％,每一纲藻种都有其特征脂肪酸或几种脂肪酸的组合作为其化学分类的标记：绿藻纲中除小球藻的２０：５（ｎ－３）含量较高以外,一般含有较高的１６：４（ｎ－３）,不含２２：６（ｎ－３）;硅藻纲的１６：１（ｎ－７）含量高于１     

一种评价重金属污染对大型海藻毒性效应的新方法

提出一种监测污染物对大型海藻毒性效应的新方法。该方法仅需将在有害环境中生长或２的大型海藻置于一封闭的、经０．４５μｍ膜过滤的海水体系中,在一定条件下培养１ｈ（设白、黑二瓶）,之后测定白、黑二瓶ＰＨ值并设计其差值△ＰＨ,再同样测定对照组白、黑二瓶ＰＨ差值△ＰＨ,计算△ＰＨ／△ＰＨ,则此计算值可用来代表相对光合作用速率,并用于评价毒性效应大小,另外,还较详昼地论证了该方法的水化学依据。     

从234Th的固/液分配看海洋胶体的作用

1994—1995年期间,利用β计数法实测了南沙群岛海域、南海东北部海域、厦门湾塔角附近海域和九龙江河口区共计116份海水样品中溶解态与颗粒态234Th的放射性比活度。结果表明,颗粒态234Th占总34Th的份额大小顺序为：九龙江河口区＞厦门海塔角附近海域＞南沙海域。南海东北部海域。234Th的条件分配系数Kd介于1．1×104—20×106dm3／kg之间,平均为2．2×105dm3／kdKd与总悬浮颗粒物含量（7SAN呈负相关关系：lg（Kd）＝－0．59·lg（TSM）＋5．67,这一“颗粒物浓度效应”可归因于海洋胶体物质的存在。由上述关系获得4个研究海区胶体浓度与悬浮颗粒物浓度的函数关系：Cc＝f（TSM0．59）。