Searching for market-based sustainability pathways: Challenges and opportunities for seafood certification programs in Japan

Over the past two decades, there has been a proliferation of consumer-facing, market-based initiatives for marine conservation—most notably in seafood eco-labels and sustainability certifications. Yet, despite the growing recognition of these initiatives by consumers and retailers in North America and Europe and the (subsequent) acceptance of their role in seafood distribution by fisheries and fish marketing industries around the world, seafood certification programs have thus far made little progress in Japan. Here, the evolution of the three seafood eco-label and certification programs in Japan is examined and insights into the ongoing challenges they face in terms of the domestic supply chain network, consumer preference and their social-cultural attitude toward sustainability are provided. Despite an initial lack of success, seafood certification programs in Japan can be useful in enhancing consumer awareness for fisheries resource conservation and identifying Japanese domestic small-scale fisheries that are already engaged in sustainable fishing practices. A possible pathway for developing an eco-certification program suitable for the Japanese seafood market is provided through integration of environmental and cultural sustainability under the existing certification framework.     

Impacts of current EU regulation on the UK whitefish value chain

Cod and haddock are two of the “big 5” UK supermarket fish species and intrinsic to fish and chip shops nationwide. UK whitefish fleets produce a significant amount, however there is a reliance on imports to maintain supply. The UK is in a strong position to compete for raw material from Iceland and Norway given high prices paid for imports and investment by Icelandic and Norwegian companies in the UK. Regarding UK production of whitefish, the European Common Fisheries Policy landing obligation has introduced significant uncertainty. To avoid discarding of any quota stock, fishing may be stopped before all target stocks quota is reached. For demersal fleets, there is a transition period between 2016 and 18 where target stocks are introduced according to Advisory Council and EU agreement and Article 15, with all quota stocks from 2019. As the capacity of the fleets balance to the new regulations, supply will likely return and if maximum sustainable yield (MSY) is reached in 2020 then an increase in TACs from current levels is likely too. However, markets and industries can change in a short period. Particularly, most processing companies are small to medium size enterprises and those that concentrate on cod and haddock may have to adjust their business. Fleets could be resilient to such short term reductions in landings however this cannot be assumed. The competitiveness of producers will surely be affected in the short to medium term as a result.     

Value chain analysis and small-scale fisheries management

A value chain analysis is conducted to identify upgrading, that is, improvements in quality and product design that enable producers to gain enhanced value or through diversification in the product lines served. However, a range of data and information of use to managing small-scale fisheries can be also be produced. Eight value chain studies, carried out for specific fish species in different locations around the Philippines, are examined. Policy and management lessons learned and interventions resulting from the value chain analysis for small-scale fisheries management are discussed. Recommendations for using value chain analysis in small-scale fisheries management include stricter regulation on size limits of harvest, monitoring schemes, certification processes, post-harvest facilities, seasonal closures, social enterprises, credit facilities, and habitat protection.     

Market assessment on the incentives and disincentives for the adoption of sustainable practices along the tuna value chain in Region 12, Philippines

With the world's increasing demand for tuna and the subsequent exhaustion of tuna stocks, this paper tries to assess the different attempts and/or practices that lead towards sustainability along the tuna value chain in the Philippines. In terms of economic gains, the net margins analysis, was used to measure the level of income of the actors which was considered as a factor that could possibly incentivize the adoption of sustainable practices, along with other market phenomena which were reviewed in this paper. These significant practices in the market include the provision of price premiums for the capture of mature tuna and the stringency of the market in terms of eco-labelling and certifications in contrast to the indifference of the local Philippine market in terms of preference. Lastly, having purse seine as a less sustainable method of tuna fishing, it was seen that there is a lack of incentive for them to adopt more sustainable practices.     

Land use change of Kitakyushu based on landscape ecology and Markov model

Based on four phases of TM images acquired in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005, this paper took Kitakyushu in Japan as a case study to analyze spatial change of land use landscape and corresponding effects on environmental issues guided by landscape ecology theory in virtue of combining technology of Remote Sensing with GIS. Firstly, land use types were divided into 6 classes (farmland, mountain, forestland, water body, urban land and unused land) according to national classification standard of land use, comprehensible ability of TM image and purpose of this study. Secondly, following the theory of landscape ecology analysis, 11 typical landscape indices were abstracted to evaluate the environmental effects and spatial feature changes of land use. Research results indicated that land use has grown more and more diversified and unbalanced, human activities have disturbed the landscape more seriously. Finally, transfer matrix of Markov was applied to forecast change process of land use in the future different periods, and then potential land use changes were also simulated from 2010 to 2050. Results showed that conversion tendency for all types of land use in Kitakyushu into urban construction land were enhanced. The study was anticipated to help local authorities better understand and address a complex land use system, and develop improved land use management strategies that could better balance urban expansion and ecological conservation.     

全球商品链中的地方产业群--以东莞的"商圈"现象为例

分析全球商品链与地方产业群之间的关系,特别强调产业群在发展中国家外资政策中的意义,并结合对东莞“商圈”现象的实地调查,分析了“生产者主导”和“订户主导”两种动力学在我国沿海出口加工地方产业群发展中所扮演的角色。文章认为原有基于土地和劳动力成本优势起来的沿海外向型出口加工业产业群,随着国内市场的进一步开放和成长,既存在新的发展机遇,也面临既成的制度瓶颈,因此,提出要从三方面实现政策侧重点的转变,以充分发挥地方产业群的竞争优势。     

Seismic Hazard Evaluation Using Markov Chains: Application to the Japan Area

Seismogenic regions within some geographic area are interrelated through tectonics and seismic history, although this relation is usually complex, so that seismicity in a given region cannot be predicted in a straightforward manner from the activity in other region(s). We present a new statistical method for seismic hazard evaluation based on modeling the transition probabilities of seismicity patterns in the regions of a geographic area during a time interval, as a Markov chain. Application of the method to the Japan area renders good results, considering the occurrence of a high probability transition as a successful forecast. For magnitudes M5.5 and time intervals t=0.10 year, the method yields a 78% aftcast (forecast of data already used to evaluate the hazard) success rate for the entire catalog, and an indicative 80% forecast success rate for the last 10 transitions in the catalog. A byproduct of the method, regional occurrence probabilities determined from the transition probabilities, also provides good results; aftcasts of regional activity have a 98% success rate, and those of activity in the highest probability region about 80.5% success rate. All results are superior to those from the null hypotheses (a memory-less Poissonian, fixed-rate, or uniform system) and have vanishingly small probabilities of resulting from purely random guessing.     

GEOGRAPHICAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ENDEMIC FLUOROSIS IN CHINA

Endemic fluorosis is given rise to by human intake of excess fluorine from environment by way of food chain. In China it is one of the extensively prevalent endemic diseases and its distribution shows clearly regional characteristics. In macroscopic sight, three large fluorosis zones may be divided: (1) The arid and semi-arid plains in the north of China. These regions have a dry climate, making fluorine accumulation in the Quaternary deposits. Thus, the drinking water with high content of fluorine is the main cause of the disease formation. (2) The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. In the region, rocks and soils rich in fluorine bring about fluorine excess in crop food. This plays an important role in the disease formation. (3) Southeast hills. The hot spring with high content of fluorine leads to fluorosis.The fluorine absorbed by people from the environment is firstly from the drinking water and secondly from the crop food originating from soil. The fluorine in the air can be accumulated in crop leaves to make     

Sequence in Australian coal seams

An embedded Markov model is used to test microlithotype analyses of subsections of a wide range of Australian coal seams for the presence of nonrandom sequences of lithologies. The data for individual seams, transformed to give five states (four states if dirt bands are excluded),were summed into geologically and geographically distinct groupings. The results suggest that dirt bands form an essential part of the sequences and that partial or complete cyclicity is present in many seam groupings. The cyclicity is either asymmetric or partially symmetric with the vitrite +clarite content of the coal decreasing upwards within each cycle. A new cycle is marked either by a sharp reversion, or by a slightly gradational reversion, to a vitrite +clariterich lithology. This reversion may or may not be preceded by a dirt band. In virtually all groupings, a vitrite +clarite-rich lithology is the most likely type after a dirt band. The sequences are similar to those that have been described in European coals and it seems probable that the presence of intraseam, cyclic sequences is a normal, rather than an unusual condition, within coal seams. This cyclicity is a response to changes in the sedimentation balance. These changes are probably due in large part to processes originating within the peat-forming environment but processes external to this environment are also likely to produce cyclic sequences of coal lithologies.     

一种基于Bayesian准则和MRF模型的SAR图像滤波方法

提出了一种新的斑点噪声的滤波方法，该方法基于小波分解的框架，采用小波域隐MRF模型，计算图像中表征像素纹理特征的隐状态参数的后验概率，以此后验概率作为权重因子对传统GammaMAP滤波算法进行改进。该算法被用于模拟SAR图像和真实ERS-1图像的Speckle抑制。试验结果表明，与传统Gam—maMAP算法相比，本文提出的方法能更好地抑制Speckle，并保持图像细节。