Marine spatial planning: Coordinating divergent marine interests

Globally, ecosystem-based marine spatial planning has become a useful instrument to coordinate the planning of different authorities. This, for balancing different requirements when managing marine areas and space. In the planning process, ecology is setting limits to which human activities are acceptable to the society. The use of the marine environment can be planned similarly as the land environment. We argue that there are several aspects which must be taken into consideration. Marine activities have traditionally been planned and managed in a sectoral way. Today, it has become obvious that a more holistic, multi-sectoral and coordinated approach is needed in future successful marine planning and management. The increased awareness of the importance of the oceans and seas challenges the traditional sector division and geographical limits in marine policy and calls for better coordinated and coherent marine policies.     

Nitrogen Inputs from Agriculture: Towards Better Assessments of Eutrophication Status in Marine Waters

Nutrient enrichment of coastal marine waters caused by losses of nitrate (NO₃⁻) from agriculture is an increasing global problem. In the European Union, the Nitrates Directive (ND) of 1991 was meant to be a cornerstone in reducing eutrophication effects in coastal waters downstream from intensively farmed catchments. Although reductions in losses of nitrate have been attained, very few Member States have yet been able to reduce eutrophication effects caused by inputs of NO₃⁻ from agriculture. We report trends in concentrations of NO₃⁻ and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) in Danish coastal and open marine waters during the period from 1996 to 2011 together with an assessment of eutrophication status based on multiple indicators (e.g. nutrient concentrations, Chl-a, submerged aquatic vegetation and benthic macroinvertebrates). Despite decreasing concentrations of both NO₃⁻and Chl-a, Danish coastal waters are not yet to be classified as ‘unaffected by eutrophication’. In order to improve future pan-European evaluations of the effectiveness of the ND, we argue for the added value of including indicators and assessment principles from other European Directives, i.e. the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-014-0514-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

From the Levant to Gibraltar: A Regional Perspective for Marine Conservation in the Mediterranean Sea

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are critical to the well-being of threatened ecosystems and thus can be highly beneficial to humans, especially to those residing nearby. We explore the qualities of 117 MPAs in the Mediterranean basin and develop a taxonomy of their characteristics. We relate the spatial distribution of the MPAs to the various characteristics of the taxonomy (size, distance from shore, protection levels, management regimes, etc.) and to areas of high human impact and influence levels. To do this we use information on biogeographic regions and information from two different human influence models; one model developed for the marine environment and one covering the littoral terrestrial environment. Our analysis provides insights to planners and managers working in a regional capacity and trying to build MPA networks. Generally, current MPAs have not been established in high impact areas despite their being close to shores containing intense human activity. Decision-makers wishing to design and establish new MPAs may seek out areas of high cumulative human impacts (near the marine-terrestrial interface) or avoid them depending on marine conservation objectives, including the desire to vary types of MPAs within a network. Limitations of our analysis and methodology indicate areas for further research.     

The challenges of marine spatial planning in the Arctic: Results from the ACCESS programme

Marine spatial planning is increasingly used to manage the demands on marine areas, both spatially and temporally, where several different users may compete for resources or space, to ensure that development is as sustainable as possible. Diminishing sea-ice coverage in the Arctic will allow for potential increases in economic exploitation, and failure to plan for cross-sectoral management could have negative economic and environmental results. During the ACCESS programme, a marine spatial planning tool was developed for the Arctic, enabling the integrated study of human activities related to hydrocarbon exploitation, shipping and fisheries, and the possible environmental impacts, within the context of the next 30 years of climate change. In addition to areas under national jurisdiction, the Arctic Ocean contains a large area of high seas. Resources and ecosystems extend across political boundaries. We use three examples to highlight the need for transboundary planning and governance to be developed at a regional level.     

Food web assessments in the Baltic Sea: Models bridging the gap between indicators and policy needs

Ecosystem-based management requires understanding of food webs. Consequently, assessment of food web status is mandatory according to the European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) for EU Member States. However, how to best monitor and assess food webs in practise has proven a challenging question. Here, we review and assess the current status of food web indicators and food web models, and discuss whether the models can help addressing current shortcomings of indicator-based food web assessments, using the Baltic Sea as an example region. We show that although the MSFD food web assessment was designed to use food web indicators alone, they are currently poorly fit for the purpose, because they lack interconnectivity of trophic guilds. We then argue that the multiple food web models published for this region have a high potential to provide additional coherence to the definition of good environmental status, the evaluation of uncertainties, and estimates for unsampled indicator values, but we also identify current limitations that stand in the way of more formal implementation of this approach. We close with a discussion of which current models have the best capacity for this purpose in the Baltic Sea, and of the way forward towards the combination of measurable indicators and modelling approaches in food web assessments. Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01692-x.     

Marine nature conservation and conflicts with fisheries

Globally, conflicts between marine nature conservation and fishery interests are common and increasing, and there is often a glaring lack of dialogue between stakeholders representing these two interests. There is a need for a stronger and enforced coordination between fishing and conservation authorities when establishing marine protected areas for conservation purposes. We propose that an appropriate instrument for such coordination is a broad ecosystem-based marine spatial planning procedure, representing neither nature conservation nor fishery. Strategic environmental assessment for plans and programmes and environmental impact assessment for projects are commonly used tools for assessing the environmental impacts of different human activities, but are seldom used for evaluating the environmental effects of capture fisheries. The diversity of fisheries and the drastic effects of some fisheries on the environment are strong arguments for introducing these procedures as valuable supplements to existing fisheries assessment and management tools and able to provide relevant environmental information for an overall marine spatial planning process. Marine protected areas for nature conservation and for protection of fisheries have different objectives. Therefore, the legal procedure when establishing marine protected areas should depend on whether they are established for nature conservation purposes or as a fisheries resource management tool. Fishing in a marine protected area for conservation purpose should be regulated according to conservation law. Also, we argue that marine protected areas for conservation purposes, in the highest protection category, should primarily be established as fully protected marine national parks and marine reserves.     

Integrated Ocean Management as a Strategy to Meet Rapid Climate Change: The Norwegian Case

The prospects of rapid climate change and the potential existence of tipping points in marine ecosystems where nonlinear change may result from them being overstepped, raises the question of strategies for coping with ecosystem change. There is broad agreement that the combined forces of climate change, pollution and increasing economic activities necessitates more comprehensive approaches to oceans management, centering on the concept of ecosystem-based oceans management. This article addresses the Norwegian experience in introducing integrated, ecosystem-based oceans management, emphasizing how climate change, seen as a major long-term driver of change in ecosystems, is addressed in management plans. Understanding the direct effects of climate variability and change on ecosystems and indirect effects on human activities is essential for adaptive planning to be useful in the long-term management of the marine environment.     

Assessment of coastal ecosystems vulnerability to pollution: Algiers coast,Algeria

Coastal areas are frequently influenced by direct and/or indirect multiple anthropogenic pressures, which impacts marine life. Those perturbations may act in a heterogeneous way with a different intensity and are related to the complexity of coastal ecosystems. To visualize all these interactions at a local scale, a methodology inspired from many researches has been implemented in order to search, identify, and classify coastal ecosystems according to their sensitivity to anthropic pressure exerted by coastal cities. Thus, producing vulnerability maps will be essential tools to local coastal managers. We have applied this methodology on five coastal municipalities in Algiers. Firstly, the environmental sensitivity of coastal ecosystems was assessed by analyzing these four sub-indices: biological sensitivity, geomorphological sensitivity, hydrodynamic characteristics, and pollution intensity. Secondly, an assessment of the anthropogenic pressures presented by each municipality was carried out. Five sub-indexes have been taken into consideration when conducting this assessment: human activities, infrastructures, vectors of pollution, urbanization, and regulatory protection. Then, vulnerability maps were produced by the overlapping of sensitivity and anthropic pressure maps. The results assessed for the environmental vulnerability indicated that most areas are moderately to highly vulnerable, especially in the municipalities of Bab El Oued, Rais Hamidou, and Ain Bénian. The analysis of the obtained results shows the potential applicability of this methodology because they accurately reflect the reality. Therefore, these results can be useful to decision-makers by providing them with a relatively rational decision-making tool to prioritize future management and planning efforts.

     

Ocean pollution from land-based sources: East China Sea, China

The environment of East China Sea (ECS) has been faced by huge stresses from anthropogenic activities and population growth in the Yangtze River drainage basin and the areas along the coasts. Improper use of natural resources and short-term economic objectives have resulted in severe environmental degradation in a fairly short time frame and the degradation has now reached a level where the health and well being of the coastal populations are threatened. The main pollutants are inorganic nitrogen, phosphate, oil hydrocarbons, organic matters and heavy metals. Nutrients cause eutrophication of the coastal waters and the estuarine area and very often stimulate the occurrence of red tides. The environmental pollution of Yangtze River basin directly impact on the state of the marine environment in the ECS. The ecosystem stability is maintained by a steady water discharge from the river, that mixes with the marine salty water in the estuary, and the sediment loads from the river that balance ocean erosion in the delta and its adjacent coastal area. The large-scale water transfer and dam constructions in the Yangtze River basin will change this basis. For the ECS the challenge is to reverse the negative processes taking place and to restore ecosystem balance. The main challenge is to integrate socioeconomic and environmental decision making in order to promote sustainable development. A better understanding of the driving forces in society that cause these environmental pressures is required in order to overcome these obstacles. International cooperation may be an important contributor to the progress and in particular provide access to financial, technological, scientific and human resource assistance.     

A rapidly equilibrating, thin film, passive water sampler for organic contaminants; characterization and field testing

Improving methods for assessing the spatial and temporal resolution of organic compound concentrations in marine environments is important to the sustainable management of our coastal systems. Here we evaluate the use of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) as a candidate polymer for thin-film passive sampling in waters of marine environments. Log K_EVA−W partition coefficients correlate well (r² = 0.87) with Log K_OW values for selected pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) where Log K_EVA−W = 1.04 Log K_OW + 0.22. EVA is a suitable polymer for passive sampling due to both its high affinity for organic compounds and its ease of coating at sub-micron film thicknesses on various substrates. Twelve-day field deployments were effective in detecting target compounds with good precision making EVA a potential multi-media fugacity meter.     

Marine Radar Oil-Spill Monitoring through Local Adaptive Thresholding

Marine oil spills affect the environment, economy, and quality of life for coastal inhabitants. This article presents a method of X-band marine radar oil-spill identification by considering the marine radar images of the 2010 Dalian 7-16 accident. The Prewitt operator was improved and a linear interpolation was proposed to suppress co-channel interferences. In addition, a model of a gray-intensity-correcting matrix is proposed to smooth a whole image, thus displaying the oil film more intuitively. Furthermore, a contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization method was used to increase the contrast inside and outside the oil film. Moreover, the local adaptive thresholding method was improved to segment the oil spills. The results show that the proposed method is an improvement on similar previous approaches for this task when employing X-band marine radar images. The proposed method can provide technical and theoretical bases for emergency response, damage assessment, and liability identification of oil spills.     

Contaminants reduce the richness and evenness of marine communities: A review and meta-analysis

Biodiversity of marine ecosystems is integral to their stability and function and is threatened by anthropogenic processes. We conducted a literature review and meta-analysis of 216 studies to understand the effects of common contaminants upon diversity in various marine communities. The most common diversity measures were species richness, the Shannon-Wiener index (H′) and Pielou evenness (J). Largest effect sizes were observed for species richness, which tended to be the most sensitive index. Pollution was associated with marine communities containing fewer species or taxa than their pristine counterparts. Marine habitats did not vary in their susceptibility to contamination, rather a ∼40% reduction in richness occurred across all habitats. No class of contaminant was associated with significantly greater impacts on diversity than any other. Survey studies identified larger effects than laboratory or field experiments. Anthropogenic contamination is strongly associated with reductions in the species richness and evenness of marine habitats.     

Charging for Nature: Marine Park Fees and Management from a User Perspective

User fees can contribute to the financial sustainability of marine protected areas (MPAs), yet they must be acceptable to users. We explore changes in the fee system and management of Bonaire National Marine Park (BNMP) from the perspective of users. Responses from 393 tourists indicated that 90% were satisfied with park conditions and considered current user fees reasonable. However, only 47% of divers and 40% of non-divers were prepared to pay more. Diver willingness-to-pay (WTP) appears to have decreased since 1991, but this difference could be due in part to methodological differences between studies. Although current fees are close to diver maximum stated WTP, revenues could potentially be increased by improving the current fee system in ways that users deem acceptable. This potential surplus highlights the value of understanding user perceptions toward MPA fees and management.     

Economic effects of ocean acidification: Publication patterns and directions for future research

Human societies derive economic benefit from marine systems, yet these benefits may be modified as humans drive environmental change. Here, we conducted the first systematic review of literature on the potential economic effects of ocean acidification. We identified that while there is a growing literature discussing this topic, assessments of the direction and magnitude of anticipated economic change remain limited. The few assessments which have been conducted indicate largely negative economic effects of ocean acidification. Insights are, however, limited as the scope of the studies remains restricted. We propose that understanding of this topic will benefit from using standard approaches (e.g. timescales and emissions scenarios) to consider an increasing range of species/habitats and ecosystem services over a range of spatial scales. The resulting understanding could inform decisions such that we maintain, or enhance, economic services obtained from future marine environments.     

Determining the Feasibility of Establishing New Multiple-Use Marine Protected Areas in Chile

This paper evaluates the feasibility of establishing a multiple-use marine protected area. The methodology was applied to evaluate three proposed sites in Chile with diverse conservation needs, social stress and poverty levels, and different economic activities (small-scale fishing, heavy industry, and mining activities). We use two broad categories for the evaluation: socio-economic and political–institutional. The methodology uses a combination of secondary data with personal interviews, workshops, and focus groups with stakeholders (e.g., fishermen, unions, politicians, social organizations) from different political, social, and economic backgrounds to characterize current and potential natural and social resources and to evaluate in an ordinal scale the feasibility of establishing the protected area. The methodology allows us to correctly identify the challenges faced in each site and can be used to develop appropriate strategies for balancing economic, social, and environmental objectives. This methodology can be replicated to evaluate the feasibility of other marine or terrestrial protected areas.     

Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water and surface sediments from Daya Bay,China

Marine culture is thriving in China and represents a major component of the regional economy in coastal zones, yet the environmental quality of many of those areas has never been studied. This paper attempts to investigate the quality status of Daya Bay, a key aquaculture area in China. The levels of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in water and sediment samples of the bay. The total concentrations of 16 PAHs varied from 4228 to 29325 ng l(-1) in water, and from 115 to 1134 ng g(-1) dry weight in sediments. In comparison to many other marine systems studied, the PAH levels in Daya Bay waters were relatively high, and at six sites they were sufficiently high (> 10 microg l (-1)) to cause acute toxicity. The PAH composition pattern in sediments suggest dominance by medium to high molecular weight compounds, and the ratio of certain related PAHs indicate important pyrolytic and petrogenic sources. Further analysis showed that the distribution coefficient (KD) increased with the particular organic carbon content of sediments, consistent with the PAH partition theory. The organic carbon normalised distribution coefficient (K(oc)) also increased with the compounds' octanol/water partition coefficient (K(ow)), confirming the potential applicability of the linear free energy relationships in the modelling and prediction of PAH behaviour in marine environments.     

Ocean to continent transfer of atmospheric Se as revealed by epiphytic lichens

There is still a long-term debate concerning the relative contributions of naturally emitted and anthropogenic Se at the regional and local scales. Here, Se and heavy metal concentrations are reported for epiphytic lichens collected in coastal and inland areas from the USA, Canada and France for assessing atmospheric Se source. Correlations found between Se and Cl in lichens confirmed the major marine biogenic source for atmospheric Se. Continental samples do not show systematic relationships between Se and other metal (Pb, Cu, In …) contents, even for lichens collected in the vicinity of smelters or close to urban areas. Our results suggest that, although anthropogenic Se may be present, the marine biogenic Se source is a major contributor to atmospheric Se for our sampling locations. The contribution of naturally emitted atmospheric Se may be significant in urban and industrial areas and should be taken into account for further studies.     

Review of measured concentrations of triphenyltin compounds in marine ecosystems and meta-analysis of their risks to humans and the environment

The state of scientific knowledge regarding analytical methods, environmental fate, ecotoxicity and ecological risk of triphenyltin (TPT) compounds in marine ecosystems as well as their exposure and health hazard to humans was reviewed. Since the 1960s, TPT compounds have been commonly applied as biocides for diverse industrial and agricultural purposes. For instance, they are used as active ingredients in antifouling systems on marine vessels and mariculture facilities, and as fungicides in agriculture. Due to their intensive use, contamination of coastal waters by TPT and its products of transformation has become a worldwide problem. The proportion of quantified TPT to total phenyltin compounds in the marine environment provides evidence that TPT is photodegradable in water and sediment but resistant to biotransformation. Concentrations of TPT in marine biota are consistently greater than concentrations in water and sediment, which implies potential of TPT to bioaccumulate. TPT is toxic to both marine plants and animals. The predicted no effect concentration (PNEC) for TPT, as determined by use of the species sensitivity distribution approach, is 0.64 ng L⁻¹. In some parts of the world, concentrations of TPT in seawater exceed the PNEC, indicating that TPT can pose risks to marine life. Although there is negligible risk of TPT to average human consumers, TPT has been detected in blood of Finnish people and the concentration was greater in fishermen who ate more seafood. It is, therefore, advocated to initiate regular monitoring of TPT in blood and breast milk of populations that consume greater amounts of seafood.     

Spatial variability of metallic and organic contamination of anguilliform fish in New Caledonia

New Caledonia is one of the main hot spots of biodiversity on the planet. Large amounts of contaminants are discharged into the lagoon as a result of increasing anthropogenic activities such as intense mining, urbanization, and industrialization. Concentrations of 14 trace elements and 26 persistent organic pollutants (POPs: PCBs and pesticides) were measured in the muscles of two anguilliform fish species, over a coast to barrier reef gradient in two lagoon areas differently exposed to anthropic disturbances. This study emphasizes the high trace element contamination status of anguilliform fish and also highlights slight but perceptible organic pollution. The contamination extends throughout the lagoon, from coast to barrier reef, even in areas remote from emission points. High levels of trace elements, especially those linked to mining activities (i.e., Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, and Ni), were detected in coastal sites. Furthermore, the large dispersion of most POPs throughout the entire lagoon poses the question of their potential toxicity on marine organisms from numerous habitats. Our results underline the need for long-term monitoring of various contaminants over large spatial and time scales.