An evaluation of systems for the integrated assessment of capture fisheries

Integrated fishery assessments are intended to take an integrated and wholistic view of fisheries management, to provide comprehensive systems-based evaluations of the sustainability of individual fisheries and their products. Using guidance derived from decision theory and management science, we develop 18 criteria to evaluate the likely effectiveness of nine integrated fishery assessment systems. The assessment systems do not consistently consider four key criteria: the socio-economic impacts of fisheries, the provision of food security, the local relevance of the assessment to the fishery under assessment, and the independent peer review of assessment outcomes. Other important areas of weakness include the lack of appropriate consultation processes relating to both the design of the assessment system and the outcomes of fishery assessments, and limitations in the quality of data and information used in assessments. Improvements will be needed in these areas across all the systems we evaluated if fishers, consumers, managers and other stakeholders are to be provided with consistently reliable assessment outcomes, and an assurance of the sustainability of capture fisheries.     

Late Eocene–early Miocene provenance evolution of the Crocker Fan in the southern South China Sea

There are many large-scale Cenozoic sedimentary basins with plentiful river deltas, deep-water fans and carbonate platforms in the southern South China Sea. The Crocker Fan was deposited as a typical submarine fan during the late Eocene–early Miocene, and stretches extensively across the entire Sarawak–Sabah of the northern Borneo area. However, systematic analyses are still lacking regarding its sediment composition and potential source suppliers. No consensus has been reached yet on the provenance evolution and sedimentary infilling processes, which seriously impeded the oil-and-gas exploration undertakings. By combining with sedimentary-facies identification, heavy mineral assemblages, elemental geochemistry and detrital zircon U-Pb dating, this paper aims to generalize an integrated analysis on the potential provenance terranes and restore source-to-sink pathways of the Crocker Fan. In general, the Crocker Fan was initially formed over the Cretaceous–lower/middle Eocene Rajang Group by an angular Rajang unconformity. The continual southward subduction of the proto-South China Sea resulted in magmatic activities and subsequent regional deformation and thrusting along the Lupar Line in the northern Borneo. The lowermost Crocker sequence is featured by a thick conglomerate layer sourced from in-situ or adjacent paleo-uplifts. From the late Eocene to the early Miocene, the Crocker Fan was constantly delivered with voluminous detritus from the Malay Peninsula of the western Sundaland. The Zengmu Basin was widely deposited with delta plain and neritic facies sediments, while the Brunei-Sabah Basin, to the farther east, was ubiquitously characterized by turbiditic sequences. The Crocker Fan successions are overall thick layers of modest-grained sandstones, which formed high-quality reservoirs in the southern South China Sea region.     

Zircon U–Pb and pyrite Re–Os age constraints on pyrite mineralization in the Yinjiagou deposit,China

We report new zircon U–Pb and pyrite Re–Os geochronological studies of the Yinjiagou poly-metallic deposit, sited along the southern margin of the North China Craton (SMNCC). In this deposit, pyrite, the most important economic mineral, is intergrown/associated with Mo, Cu, Au, Pb, Zn, and Ag. Prior to our new work, the age of chalcopyrite–pyrite mineralization was known only from its spatial relationship with molybdenite mineralization and with intrusions of known ages. The U–Pb and Re–Os isotope systems provide an excellent means of dating the mineralization itself and additionally place constraints on the ore genesis and metal source. Zircons separated from the quartz–chalcopyrite–pyrite veins include both detrital and magmatic groups. The magmatic zircons confine the maximum age of chalcopyrite–pyrite mineralization to 142.0 ± 1.5 Ma. The Re–Os results yield an age of 141.1 ± 1.1 Ma, which represents the age of the chalcopyrite–pyrite mineralization quite well. The common Os contents are notably low (0.5–20.1 ppt) in all samples. In contrast, the Re contents vary considerably (3.0–199.2 ppb), most likely depending on intensive boiling, which resulted in an increase of Re within the pyrite. This study demonstrates that the main chalcopyrite–pyrite mineralization occurred late in the magmatic history and was linked to a deeper intrusion involving dominant mantle-derived materials. This mineralization event might be related to the Early Cretaceous lithospheric destruction and thinning of the SMNCC.     

福建闽南沿海养殖贝类体中砷含量的分布

通过2003~2004年对福建闽南沿海5种养殖贝类体砷含量的调查监测,对养殖贝类体中砷含量的分布进行了探讨.福建闽南沿海5种养殖贝类体总砷含量为0.65×10^-6~4.80×10^-6,总平均值为2.09×10^-6,其中有机砷和无机砷占总砷含量的百分比分别为61.6%~98.2%和2.3%~38.4%,平均值分别为88.8%和11.2%.在相同养殖区,养殖贝类体总砷平均含量的种间分布差异较小.滩涂养殖底栖贝类体内总砷平均含量总体上高于浅海筏式养殖贝类体的平均含量.福建闽南沿海5种养殖贝类体内总砷含量在泉州湾、湄州湾、东山湾和九龙江口高,在诏安湾和围头湾低,在其余各湾相近.5种养殖贝类体内无机砷的污染指数和总平均值分别为0.05~0.76和0.23,总砷的污染指数和总平均值分别为0.06~0.48和0.21,总体符合国家食品卫生质量标准.养殖贝类体中砷含量与体长之间总体成正相关.     

Spectral Analysis of Nonlinear Drag Forces

The spectral properties of nonlinear drag forces of random waves on vertical circular cylinders are analyzed in this paper by means of nonlinear spectral analysis. The analysis provides basic parameters for estimation of the characteristic drag forces. Numerical computation is also performed for the investigation of the effects of nonlinearity of the drag forces.The results indicate that the wave drag forces calculated by linear wave theory are larger than those calculated by the third order Stokes wave theory for given waves. The difference between them increases with wave height. The wave drag forces calculated by use of hnear approximation are about 5% smaller than their actual values when measured in the peak values of spectral densities. This will result in a safety problem for the design of offshore structures. Therefore, the nonlinear effect of wave drag forces should be taken into comidemtion in design and application of important offshore structures.     

黄海南部黄鲫(Setipinna taty)资源利用分析

以2005-2006年江苏省帆式张网渔获资料为基础,分析研究了黄海南部黄鲫资源的时空分布、群体组成结构以及产卵群体生物学特征.结果表明,黄海南部黄鲫主要利用渔期为春季3-5月、冬季1月或12月.春季高产渔区主要分布在大沙渔场的西南部和吕泗渔场的东部,冬季和秋季高产渔区相对靠近或较春季高产渔区偏东.黄鲫高产渔区的分布无明显季节变化特征.黄鲫渔获群体主要由体长70-110mm、体重0-15g的个体组成,产卵群体的平均体重范围为8.7-12.0g.与1981-2000年的研究结果相比,黄鲫个体小型化越趋显著,当前利用个体偏小.     

Mineralogical characteristics of polymetallic sulfides from the Deyin-1 hydrothermal field near 15°S,southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge

A seafloor hydrothermal field, named Deyin-1 later, near 15°S southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge(SMAR) was newly found during the 22 nd cruise carried out by the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research Development Association(COMRA). Sulfide samples were collected at three stations from the hydrothermal field during the26 th cruise in 2012. In this paper, mineralogical characteristics of the sulfides were analyzed with optical microscope, X-ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscope and electron microprobe to study the crystallization sequence of minerals and the process of hydrothermal mineralization. According to the difference of the ore-forming metal elements, the sulfide samples can be divided into three types:(1) the Ferich sulfide, which contains mainly pyrite and chalcopyrite;(2) the Fe-Cu-rich sulfide consisting predominantly of pyrite, chalcopyrite and isocubanite, with lesser amount of sphalerite, marmatite and pyrrhotine; and(3) the Fe-Zn-rich sulfide dominated by pyrite, sphalerite and marmatite, with variable amounts of chalcopyrite, isocubanite, pyrrhotine, marcasite, galena and gratonite. Mineral precipitations in these sulfides are in the sequence of chalcopyrite(isocubanite and possible coarse pyrite), fine pyrite,sphalerite(marmatite), galena, gratonite and then the minerals out of the dissolution. Two morphologically distinct generations(Py-I and Py-II) of pyrite are identified in each of the samples; inclusions of marmatite tend to exist in the coarse pyrite crystals(Py-I). Sphalerite in the Fe-Zn-rich sulfide is characterized by a"chalcopyrite disease" phenomenon. Mineral paragenetic relationships and a wide range of chemical compositions suggest that the environment of hydrothermal mineralization was largely changing. By comparison, the Fe-rich sulfide was formed in a relatively stable environment with a high temperature, but the conditions for the formation of the Fe-Cu-rich sulfide were variable. The Fe-Zn-rich sulfide was precipitated during the hydrothermal venting at relatively low temperature.     

A comparison of the main methods for estimating probabilities of extreme still water levels

Sea-level return periods are estimated at 18 sites around the English Channel using: (i) the annual maxima method; (ii) the r-largest method; (iii) the joint probability method; and (iv) the revised joint probability method. Tests are undertaken to determine how sensitive these four methods are to three factors which may significantly influence the results; (a) the treatment of the long-term trends in extreme sea level; (b) the relative magnitudes of the tidal and non-tidal components of sea level; and (c) the frequency, length and completeness of the available data. Results show that unless sea-level records with lengths of at least 50 years are used, the way in which the long-term trends is handled in the different methods can lead to significant differences in the estimated return levels. The direct methods (i.e. methods i and ii) underestimate the long (> 20 years) period return levels when the astronomical tidal variations of sea level (relative to a mean of zero) are about twice that of the non-tidal variations. The performance of each of the four methods is assessed using prediction errors (the difference between the return periods of the observed maximum level at each site and the corresponding data range). Finally, return periods, estimated using the four methods, are compared with estimates from the spatial revised joint probability method along the UK south coast and are found to be significantly larger at most sites along this coast, due to the comparatively short records originally used to calibrate the model in this area. The revised joint probability method is found to have the lowest prediction errors at most sites analysed and this method is recommended for application wherever possible. However, no method can compensate for poor data.