Experimental activities that intentionally perturb the marine environment: Implications for the marine environmental protection and marine scientific research provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

The global community's ability to assess the environmental effects of marine scientific research (MSR) as required by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea's (UNCLOS) marine environment provisions (MEP) is limited, as shown by experimental activities that intentionally manipulate the marine environment. Such work enhances knowledge of the ocean, but it may also have significant environmental effects. This growing use of the ocean as a laboratory has global scientific, environmental, legal and policy implications. Examined here is the relationship between the MSR and the MEP provisions of UNCLOS. International, science-driven guidelines are proposed.     

Code of Practice For Ocean Mining: An International Effort to Develop a Code For Environmental Management of Marine Mining

A code of practice for ocean mining has been developed by the International Marine Minerals Society. The code provides general guiding Principles for development of marine mineral resources and delineates Operating Guidelines for application, as appropriate, at specific mining sites. In total 11 operating guidelines are provided to serve as benchmarks for industry and targets for regulatory agencies and other stakeholders. They include the following commitments: •To sustainable development, •To environmentally responsible corporate ethics, •To the development of effective community partnership, •To implementation of environmental risk management, •To the integration of environmental management into all phases of development, •To the establishment of corporate environmental performance targets, •To timely environmental improvements and upgrading, •To responsible rehabilitation of operations sites and decommissioning of facilities, and •To accurate and timely, reporting and documentation, archiving, and performance review.     

Population dynamics of the venerid bivalve Callista chione (L.) in a coastal area of the eastern Mediterranean

The venerid bivalve Callista chione is the most prominent suspension-feeding bivalve inhabiting the soft bottom of coastal areas in the northern Euboikos Gulf (Aegean Sea), where it is exploited by small-scale fishery. The parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth function were estimated and the somatic production-to-biomass ratio was found to be 0.45 y⁻¹. The maximum age of adult individuals was 17 years. The species is gonochoristic, its oocyte diameter ranged from 54.5 to 120 μm with a conspicuous jelly-coat. Microscopical examination of the gonads showed that gonadal production did not start until the second year of life. The observations on the gonadal cycle indicate that this bivalve is capable of year-round reproduction.     

秦皇岛砂滩海洋线虫的数量研究

在两年的周期内,对秦皇岛4个砂滩的海洋线虫进行了6次芯样采集。灯塔、新煤码头、汤河口和北戴河赤土山4个砂滩均系分选好的细砂或中细砂,其中值粒径为140-285μm。对连续16个芯样计数的变异性所做的测试证明,1,2和3个芯样计算所得95％C.L.分别是0.539X—1.855X,0.647X—1.547X和0.700X—1.428X。秦皇岛砂滩海洋线虫的年平均密度:中潮带上区为1381±441 inds.10cm~(-2)。中潮带下区为1264±538 inds.10cm~(-2)。灯塔和新煤码头砂滩,8月出现高密度值,与温度的季节变化相符合,而汤河口则出现最低值,可能与污染物的大量排出有关。多数砂滩的大部分芯样显示了明显的重直分布,即种群数量的大部分集中在芯样顶部的两个分层:0～4和5～8cm。没有发现垂直分布的季节变化趋势。与世界其他海区砂滩的资料进行了比较。     

Rare species, habitat diversity and functional redundancy in marine benthos

Macro-ecological theories relating species richness, abundance, range size, biological traits and environmental tolerance have rarely been tested in marine soft-sediments, despite the spatial extent of these habitats and the inherent richness of resident communities. This study examines the contribution of rare species to marine soft-sediment communities from New Zealand, focussing on the relationships of range size with abundance, environment, habitat diversity and life history traits. 54% of the 351 species sampled exhibited restricted ranges (found at ≤ 2 sites). In contrast to many terrestrial systems, we observed only a weak positive relationship between abundance and frequency of occurrence. Restricted-range species were not randomly distributed, with their distribution related to habitat characteristics, suggesting an important link between habitat diversity and rarity. They exhibited a similar range of traits to the total observed species pool, suggesting that they are not only important to biodiversity but could play a role in stability. Restricted range species were generally not small and this, together with the number of different biological traits represented, suggests that rare species are important to the functioning of marine systems. Thus, our results highlight the importance of considering rare species in habitat-based approaches to conservation.     

Assessment of the effects of hydrocarbon contamination on the sedimentary bacterial communities and determination of the polar lipid fraction purity: Relevance of intact phospholipid analysis

This in situ study reports on the relevance of intact phospholipids as new biomarkers and highlights the limits of the classical fatty acid analysis after the hydrolysis of the polar lipid fraction. The analysis of polar lipid fractions revealed significant contributions of marine macrophytes with either non-phospholipid compounds (sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol) or with both non-bacterial phospholipid classes (phosphatidylcholine) and non-bacterial phospholipid molecular species (some molecular species of phosphatidylglycerol). The analysis of intact phospholipids showed also the predominance of gram-negative bacteria in sediments whereas the analysis of fatty acids alone cannot confirm such information. Lastly, as regard to the effects of petroleum hydrocarbons on the sedimentary bacterial communities, we observed a higher degree of saturation of the fatty acyl chains of the phospholipids extracted from sediment exposed to a massive and chronic crude oil contamination. Such a result was interpreted as an adaptive response resulting in higher membrane rigidity of the bacterial communities.     

Use of Continuous Plankton Recorder information in support of marine management: applications in fisheries, environmental protection, and in the study of ecosystem response to environmental change

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey was conceived from the outset as a programme of applied research designed to assist the fishing industry. Its survival and continuing vigour after 70 years is a testament to its utility, which has been achieved in spite of great changes in our understanding of the marine environment and in our concerns over how to manage it. The CPR has been superseded in several respects by other technologies, such as acoustics and remote sensing, but it continues to provide unrivalled seasonal and geographic information about a wide range of zooplankton and phytoplankton taxa. The value of this coverage increases with time and provides the basis for placing recent observations into the context of long-term, large-scale variability and thus suggesting what the causes are likely to be. Information from the CPR is used extensively in judging environmental impacts and producing quality status reports (QSR); it has shown the distributions of fish stocks, which had not previously been exploited; it has pointed to the extent of ungrazed phytoplankton production in the North Atlantic, which was a vital element in establishing the importance of carbon sequestration by phytoplankton.The CPR continues to be the principal source of large-scale, long-term information about the plankton ecosystem of the North Atlantic. It has recently provided extensive information about the biodiversity of the plankton and about the distribution of introduced species. It serves as a valuable example for the design of future monitoring of the marine environment and it has been essential to the design and implementation of most North Atlantic plankton research.     

French marine technology policy : Industrializing ocean depths

This paper outlines the structure of the institutions involved in scientific and technological development in France. It points to new trends in French marine policy, and gives details of the country's offshore petroleum technology and nodule mining.     

The South East Regional Marine Plan: Implementing Australia's Oceans Policy

In 1998, the Australian Government released Australia's Oceans Policy (AOP), a world first policy initiative focused on providing a framework for integrated ecosystem-based management of Australia's vast marine domain. The South East Regional Marine Plan, the first regional marine plan to be implemented under AOP, was released on 21 May 2004. This paper argues that although full integration across sectors and jurisdictions has not occurred, new AOP initiatives, institutions and governance processes have considerably increased sectoral and jurisdictional coordination in the South East region.     

The Effect of Internal Fluid on the Response of Vortex-Induced Vibration of Marine Risers

Based on Iwan‘s wake oseillator model developed with the classical van der Pol equalion, the differential equation for the response of the vortex-induced vihration (VIV) of the riser considering the effect of the internal flowing fluid and the external marine environmental condition is derived. The effect of the intermal flowing fluid on the response of VIV of the riser is studied by means of the Finite Element Method. The results show that the effect of the internal fluid velocity on the VIV of the riser is strong when the natural frequency of the riser is close to the vortex shedding frequency. In addition, the increase of the top tension can decrease the sensitivity of the riser to the internal fluid velocity.