Marine Protected Areas and Dugong Conservation Along Australia's Indian Ocean Coast

/ The coastal zone of the Indian Ocean is coming under increasing pressure from human activities. Australia may be one of the few countries in this region that can afford to take adequate conservation measures in the near future. As it also has one of the longest Indian Ocean coastlines, Australia has the opportunity, and responsibility, to make a meaningful contribution to the conservation of Indian Ocean biodiversity. Threatened species, including marine turtles, inshore dolphins, and dugongs are an important component of that biodiversity. The dugong has been exterminated from several areas in the Indian Ocean, and it appears to be particularly threatened by mesh netting andhunting. Its long-term survival may depend on adequate protection in Australia, which contains the largest known Indian Ocean populations. This protection will require, in part, an appropriate system of marine protected areas (MPAs). This paper examines the adequacy of MPAs along Australia's Indian Ocean coast. Dugongs occur in two MPAs in Western Australia. The proposed expansion of the system of marine reserves is based primarily on representative samples of ecosystems from each biogeographic region. It is inadequate because it does not take into account the distribution and relative abundance of threatened species. If the conservation of biodiversity is to be maximized, the system of MPAs should incorporate both representativeness and the needs of threatened species. The level of protection provided by MPAs in Western Australia is low. Under current government policy potentially damaging activities, including commercial fishing, seismic surveys, and oil and gas drilling are permitted in protected areas.KEY WORDS: Marine protected areas; Dugongs; Western Australia; Indian Ocean; Conservation; Biodiversity     

无火焰原子吸收分光光度法测定海洋气溶胶中铜,铅,镉

介绍了用高流量大气采样器和瓦特曼滤膜采集样品，以硝酸－高氯酸消化，无火焰原子吸收分光光度法测定海洋气溶胶中铜、铅、镉。对高流量大气采样流量校准、滤膜选用，仪器测试条件及消化方法进行试验和讨论。本方法检测限分别为铜１．８ｎｇ／ｍ３、铅１．４ｎｇ／ｍ３、镉０．７ｎｇ／ｍ３，变异系数分别为铜９．６％、铅８．９％、镉１８．０％。     

Mekong River Fish Conservation Zones in Southern Laos: Assessing Effectiveness Using Local Ecological Knowledge

Small-scale fisheries are important in Laos, where rural people heavily depend upon Mekong River and tributary fish stocks for their livelihoods. Increasing pressures from human exploitation and habitat disturbance, however, have raised serious concerns about the potential depletion of various species. This has led to the establishment of large numbers of Fish Conservation Zones (FCZs) or “no-take” fish sanctuaries in southern Laos based on a “community-based fisheries co-management” framework. This study uses the local ecological knowledge (LEK) of fishers to assess the effectiveness of village-managed FCZs in enhancing fish stocks in the mainstream Mekong River in Khong District, Champasak Province. Focus group interviews about species that are believed to have benefited from different FCZs are compared with parameters such as FCZ area, age, depth, localized gradient, water velocity, and the presence of wetland forests nearby. The results suggest that no one aspect is likely to account for variations in fish stocks; rather, it is the interaction between numerous factors that has the largest impact. Secondly, the results indicate that microhabitat diversity and protection are critical for maintaining and enhancing Mekong fisheries. Deep-water pools are particularly important as dry season refuges for many fish species, and FCZ depth may be the single most important environmental factor affecting the success of FCZs in the Mekong River. FCZs have the most potential to benefit relatively sedentary species, but may also benefit highly migratory species, given the right conditions. This study shows that integrated approaches to stock assessment that employ LEK and scientific fisheries management have considerable potential for improving Mekong capture-fisheries management.     

A study on marine industry and environment of China: regarding Japan’s experience

China is facing the challenge of many marine environment problems with rapid economic growth. Japan had experienced similar marine environmental pressure during its industrialization and had been facing the problem through successful environment policy step by step. The paper reviews the lessons and experiences of Japan’s marine environment protection and analyzes the marine environment pollution in China and its causes, taking Shandong province as a case, such as GDP-oriented economic growth, heavy coal assumption, etc. The paper also analyzes the marine industry with focuses on coastal tourism and its relationship with marine environment. Suggestions on polices are provided based on the analysis on China’ marine environment and Japan’s experience.     

Transboundary marine spatial planning: a reflexive marine governance experiment?

Because seas and coastlines are shared between states, the formulation and implementation of marine spatial planning (MSP) should be transboundary by nature. The main argument of this paper is that MSP should be organized as a transboundary policy-making process, but this is hampered by the conceptual and institutional fragmentation MSP is facing. Based on an analysis of four transboundary planning processes in different European seas, the paper gives insight into the possibilities to develop and implement transboundary marine spatial planning (TMSP). To overcome the conceptual and institutional challenges, TMSP should be developed as a reflexive governance arrangement, in which the actors involved are able to change the rules of the game and to challenge the existing (national-oriented) MSP discourses. The paper develops four forms of reflexivity (unreflectiveness; performative reflectiveness; structural reflectiveness; and reflexivity) to assess TMSP processes and to formulate conditions which are crucial to develop TMSP as a reflexive marine governance arrangement.     

论我国海洋环境监测中的几个问题

随着沿海经济的发展,一些海湾、河口污染加重,近海赤潮发生越来越频繁,造成的损失越来越大,海水养殖病害增多,甚至危害人类健康。为保护海洋环境,促进海洋经济发展,必须提高对海洋环境监测的认识,增加投入,加强“热点”海域的监测,减少海洋灾害的损失;加强海洋生物监测,避免潜伏的海洋灾害发生。      

海洋大气腐蚀性分类分级

本文介绍了国内外大气腐蚀性分类分级的主要方法和发展状况，论述了在我国沿海开展大气腐蚀性研究的重要性，并提出了开展该项研究着重需要考虑的几个问题。     

Inter-species differences for polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in marine top predators from the Southern North Sea: Part 2. Biomagnification in harbour seals and harbour porpoises

Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) were found to differ in the ability to metabolize polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Biomagnification factors (BMFs), calculated between both predators and their prey (sole - Solea solea and whiting - Merlangius merlangus), had a large range of variation (between 0.5 and 91 for PCBs and between 0.6 and 53 for PBDEs). For the higher chlorinated PCBs and the highest brominated PBDEs, the BMF values in adult males were significantly higher than in the juvenile individuals of both species. BMF values of hexa- to octa-PCBs were the highest, suggesting reduced ability to degrade these congeners. Harbour porpoises had higher BMFs for lower chlorinated PCBs and for all PBDEs compared to harbour seals. Other factors, which may influence biomagnification, such as the octanol-water partition coefficients and the trophic level position measured through stable isotope (δ¹⁵N) analysis, were found to be of lesser importance to predict biomagnification in the studied food chain.     

Organchlorine content and shell thickness in brown booby (Sula leucogaster) eggs in the Gulf of California and the southern Pacific coast of Mexico

We determined egg concentrations of organochlorines and thickness of eggshells from brown boobies at eight colonies ranging from the northern Gulf of California to southern Mexico. The only common residue was that of DDE, which was found in almost all eggs. DDE content apparently reflected pre-1990 DDT use in nearby agricultural areas and, at one site, intensive mosquito control for high-end tourism development. There were no inter-colony differences in eggshell thickness, and variation in this variable likely reflected individual bird characteristics and/or individual feeding source. This variable was not a good proxy to DDE exposure of brown boobies, under current DDE levels in the brown booby trophic chain. In the northern Gulf of California, eggshell thickness has recovered to pre-DDT conditions. Our data indicate that the Gulf of California and southwestern coast of Mexico have a healthy near-shore marine environment, as far as organochlorines are concerned.     

Survey on environmental monitoring requirements of European ports

A group of 26 European ports was interviewed to understand their requirements for environmental information and to establish how widespread the use of Earth Observation (EO) data was amongst them. Aspects covered by the research included port profile characterisation, environmental management activities, environmental needs and current monitoring practices. The study reflected the diversity amongst European ports and their environmental performances. Most of the ports were publicly owned and located in estuaries and rivers. General cargo was the most popular commodity handled. Practically all the ports had an environmental policy in place and half of them had been accredited by an external body. The main environmental parameters that ports required to be monitored were marine related issues (currents, waves and tide), water quality, meteorological parameters, turbidity and sediment processes. The principal driver for monitoring was maintaining key port operations, followed by legislation, and local responsibilities. Ports in general collected their own data in situ and only one-third had used remotely sensed data (data from Earth Observation satellites or from airplane mounted sensors) for environmental purposes. Half of them used computer modelling. This study was conducted within the framework of the European funded port environmental information collector project (PEARL).