The end of shark finning? Impacts of declining catches and fin demand on coastal community livelihoods

For several decades, fishing sharks for their fins has provided important livelihoods for eastern Indonesian coastal communities that fish the Halmahera, Arafura and Timor Seas. Fishery and interview data collected in 2012-13 from three case studies on the islands of Seram, Aru and Rote were used to examine changes in shark fishers’ livelihoods over the preceding 20 years. While recent declines in catches and shark fin prices have had a substantial impact on fishers’ livelihoods, the fishery's low visibility in some areas of its geographic range and its political complexity in general have meant that government and international development agencies have largely been unaware of this impact. Many respondents remembered the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-98 and the turn of the millennium as a time when sharks were still abundant and shark fin prices high, but were concerned about the on-going fall of shark fin prices since March 2012. High-value species, particularly guitarfish, hammerhead and sandbar sharks were most affected, losing up to 40% of their pre-2012 value. These changes, combined with the loss of fishing grounds, few attractive options for alternative income and restrictive debt relationships with shark fin bosses, have led some fishers to resort to high-risk activities such as blast fishing, illegal transboundary fishing, and people smuggling. This paper examines the multi-layered causes and consequences of fishers’ decision-making in response to adverse changes in their fishery, and explores options and obstacles to pursuing livelihoods that carry lower environmental, financial and personal risks.     

Can start-up motives influence social-ecological resilience in community-based entrepreneurship setting? Case of coastal shrimp farmers in Sri Lanka

The aim of this paper is to understand the extent to which the start-up motives can influence social-ecological resilience in community-based entrepreneurship setting. The case study approach was used to study five coastal communities in northwestern Sri Lanka. Shrimp farmers’ start-up motives include both the desire to capitalize on opportunities to utilize their resources and skills (opportunity-driven) and the need to establish satisfactory sources of income (necessity-driven). They have come up with diverse entrepreneurial responses to face various stressors and shocks by using their existing capital types and their willingness for collaboration. Farmers’ coping capacity is demonstrated through their individual responses whereas adaptive and transformative capacities are demonstrated mostly through their community cooperative work. Findings also reveal that the start-up motives of small-scale shrimp farmers are less influential on their social-ecological resilience in the community setting. Instead, the key to social-ecological resilience lies with the understanding of the nature of stressors and their commitment for collective action.     

渔业生产者参与实施捕捞限额制度意愿的影响因素研究

文章以上海市、浙江省和山东省113户渔业生产者的问卷调研数据为基础,通过运用Logistic回归模型分析渔业生产者参与实施捕捞限额制度意愿的影响因素。研究表明,年龄、受教育水平、渔船总功率、年均捕捞量、捕捞收入与家庭总收入比例、举报奖励额与超额价值比例以及年监管次数均对渔业生产者参与实施捕捞限额制度的意愿产生显著影响。基于实证研究结果,提出应加大渔业培训力度,切实控制渔船功率,暂不设立举报机制以及结合目前的投入控制制度推行循序渐进、逐步严格的监管机制等建议,以提高渔业生产者参与实施捕捞限额制度的意愿,为制定有效的渔业资源管理制度提供参考依据,推进渔业现代化改革。     

我国远洋渔业发展阶段特征、演进动因与趋势预测

随着近海渔业资源的枯竭及近海养护政策的进一步实施,发展远洋渔业成为增加海水产品供给、改善居民膳食结构、实现我国渔业可持续发展的战略选择。文章回顾了新中国成立以来我国远洋渔业的发展历程:按照产量、产值、作业海域、远洋渔业产业结构等指标对其进行阶段划分,依次分为空白期(1949—1971年)、积极筹备期(1972—1984年)、起步期(1985—1990年)、快速发展期(1991—1997年)、调整期(1998—2006年)、优化期(2007年至今)6个阶段,并分析其阶段特征;发现国际渔业合作、远洋技术革新、近海渔业政策和政府补贴引导构成了远洋渔业不同阶段的演进动因。结合当前我国远洋渔业所处阶段的特征和国内外渔业环境,对我国远洋渔业的发展趋势进行预测,即我国远洋渔业发展趋势体现在如下三大转变,(1)由渔业资源依附型转变为科技资源驱动型;(2)资源消耗型转变成资源创造型,推进海外"蓝色粮仓"建设;(3)资源破坏型转变为资源养护型,树立负责任远洋渔业大国的形象。     

Patterns and trends in seabird bycatch in the pelagic longline fishery off South Africa

Both foreign and domestic pelagic longline fishing vessels operate in South Africa’s Exclusive Economic Zone and adjacent international waters where they kill hundreds of seabirds each year as bycatch. To update assessments of the impact of the pelagic longline fishery on seabirds off South Africa, information on necropsied seabirds and national fisheries observer bycatch records were summarised for 2006–2013. Foreign-flagged (Asian) vessels had 100% observer coverage throughout the study period, whereas only 6% of the fishing effort by South African-flagged vessels was observed (with no coverage in 2011–2013). Vessels with observers caught seabirds at a rate of 0.132 birds per 1 000 hooks, resulting in an estimated mortality of 2 851 individuals (356 per year) comprising 14 species. Extrapolation of the observed fishing sets to the unobserved fishing sets by the South African domestic longline fleet suggested that approximately 750 additional birds were likely killed during the study period, therefore a combined 450 birds were killed per year. White-chinned petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis was the most frequently killed species (66%), followed by ‘shy-type’ albatrosses Thalassarche cauta/steadi (21%), black-browed albatross T. melanophris (7%), Indian yellow-nosed albatross T. carteri (3%), and Cape gannet Morus capensis (2%). The seabird bycatch rates were lower than in 1998–2005. Nationality of the vessel, time of line-setting, moon phase, year, season, fishing area, and seabird bycatch mitigation measures all influenced seabird mortality. Concurrent with 100% observer coverage, significant reductions in the seabird bycatch rate occurred in the Asian fleet in the latter years of the study, and these rates now approximate the national target (0.05 birds per 1 000 hooks). However, seabird bycatch rates remained high in the South African fleet, where no observers were deployed during 2011–2013, highlighting the need for independent observer programmes in fisheries—a matter of global interest. Suggestions are made as to how seabird bycatch by pelagic longline fisheries off South Africa may be further reduced.     

Spatial assessment of fishing effort around European marine reserves: implications for successful fisheries management

We examined the spatial dynamic of artisanal fishing fleets around five European marine protected areas (MPAs) to derive general implications for the evaluation of MPAs as fisheries management tools. The coastal MPAs studied were located off France, Malta and Spain and presented a variety of spatial designs and processes of establishment. We developed a standardized methodology to define factors influencing effort allocation and to produce fishing effort maps by merging GIS with geostatistical modelling techniques. Results revealed that in most cases the factors “distance to the no-take”, “water depth”, and “distance to the port” had a significant influence on effort allocation by the fishing fleets. Overall, we found local concentration of fishing effort around the MPA borders. Thus, neglecting the pattern of fishing effort distribution in evaluating MPA benefits, such as spillover of biomass, could hamper sound interpretation of MPAs as fisheries management tools.     

南海原油和燃料油对仔虾和仔鱼的急性毒性试验

测定了南海原油、0号柴油和20号柴油对斑节对虾Penaeusmonodon、日本对虾Penaeusjoponicus、刀额新对虾Metapenaeusensis3种仔虾和黄鳍鲷和Sparuslatus、黑鲷Sparusmacrocephalus、前鳞鲻MugilOphuyseni和七星鲈Lateolabraxjaponicus4种仔鱼的急性毒性。油类对仔虾和仔鱼的毒性大小顺序均为：0号柴油＞20号柴油＞南海原油。油类分散液的毒性大于其水溶性组分。在曝油的3种仔虾中,刀额新对虾对0号柴油和20号柴油的耐受力最弱,而日本对虾对南海原油最为敏感。曝油仔鱼对3种油类的耐受力顺序为：黄鳍绸＞黑鲷＞前鳞鲻,而七星鲈对0号柴油最为敏感。3种仔虾对油类的耐受力明显低于4种仔鱼。     

山东省海洋渔业结构调整研究

在对山东省海洋渔业现状进行了全面调查、研究与分析的基础上,用灰色模型理论,模拟预测山东省渔业发展的特性与趋势;运用平衡产量和经济模型分别评估了山东省海洋捕捞的最高持续渔产量与最大持续经济产量及其相应努力量;运用线性规划的理论与方法,测算了各档次渔船的功率和船只匹配的优化估算值。依据该数值模型所作的评估结果,提出了对山东海洋渔业结构的调整意见。     

龙感湖水生植被

于１９９３年９月对龙感湖水生植被及环境进行了调查研究。龙感湖有水生植物２６科３８属５０种,依据优势种群划分９个群丛,其分布面积２８３．５ｋｍ＾２,占全湖总面积的８９．７％,植被现有年生产力达２１４７７３０ｔ,对渔业生产和生态环境具有十分重要的意义。建议对该湖植被应合理开发利用,如果围网养鱼得到广泛地发展,渔业生产潜力每年可达４１８１．８ｔ。     

新疆巴里坤湖卤虫卵孵化率的研究

研究了我国新疆维吾尔自治区巴里坤湖（43.6°N,92.8°E）产的卤虫卵的采收方法、贮存条件对孵化率的影响和提高孵化率的几种化学和物理处理方法。据此设计了巴里坤湖卤虫卵的加工工艺流程,为进行规模性开发利用盐湖卤虫卵资源打下基础。