Direct marketing strategies: The rise of community supported fishery programs

Community Supported Fishery (CSF) Programs are arrangements between fishermen and consumers where consumers provide upfront payments to fishermen in exchange for scheduled seafood deliveries. They are modeled after the popular Community Supported Agriculture Programs, a form of direct-to-consumer-marketing in which a group of individuals support a farm. There are multiple market and non-market benefits from these programs. Fishermen receive higher prices for fish, are guaranteed a stable income, and can activate political and regulatory support through direct interaction with consumers. Consumers are provided with access to high-quality novel types of fish and benefit from interactions with the producers of their food. CSFs have frequently collaborated with non-governmental organizations to address the challenges associated with these programs. Under the catch share system in the Northeast US groundfish fishery, sectors may be well-positioned to implement a CSF. Direct marketing through a CSF is not likely to completely replace traditional markets for fishermen, but can be a valuable supplement to their operations.     

Incorporating economics into fisheries management frameworks in Australia

A large gap has been identified between the current and optimal economic performance of wild-capture commercial fisheries in Australia. Economic approaches have the potential to assist fisheries to bridge this gap, such as bio-economic models that combine biology with fishing costs to evaluate the economic performance of a broad range of management measures. Economic objectives are prevalent in overarching Australian fisheries legislation, however economic data is often not collected and economic analyses or instruments not broadly applied. This paper reviews selected Australian fisheries to demonstrate the accrued economic benefits from applying formal bio-economic models and conducting empirical analyses of the impact of supply on product value. Challenges to the implementation and continued use of economic analyses and instruments are discussed including: (i) short-term transition costs and associated trade-offs between ecological, economic, social and political objectives; (ii) scarce logistical and financial capacity to collect and analyse economic data; (iii) a lack of desire among industry to change and transition to economic targets such as maximum economic yield (MEY), particularly when it is associated with lower catches; and (iv) a lack of economic literacy among fisheries managers and industry. It is contended that many of these challenges initially arise from an absence of clearly identified and prioritised objectives within overarching legislation and management plans. Once objectives are prioritised, limited resources can be allocated more efficiently to improve data collection, economic analysis and increase awareness as well as education of managers and industry.     

Integrated theory of coastal management regarding protection of beaches and dunes

State adoption and implementation of coastal management program components regarding the protection of beaches and dunes vary among the coastal states with federally-approved coastal zone management programs. The level of development of state coastal management programs is influenced by a variety of political, economic, social, and environmental factors. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression analyses were employed to determine which of these state factors influence the level of development of coastal management programs. The state factors associated with highly developed coastal management programs were identified as pro-environmental, activist citizenry and history of adopting environmental policies.     

An investigation of constraints upon fisheries diversification using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Fishers in the UK face a range of administrative, economic and sociocultural challenges that influence the profitability and ultimate viability of their profession. While some fishers have responded to these challenges by diversifying into complementary activities such as tourism, marketing and retail, little is known of the constraints that deter individuals from adopting this strategy. This paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge by examining the relative importance of different constraints upon fisheries diversification using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). A survey of fishers and non-fishing stakeholders in the English Channel fishery revealed that respondents attributed similar levels of importance to the influence of administrative constraints, lack of opportunities, social constraints and economic factors; but considered lack of information to be relatively unimportant. The high level of inconsistency observed throughout the sample highlights a potential limitation of using AHP with research subjects who are unfamiliar with this technique.     

A comparison of economic performance in the fisheries sector: A short- and long-term perspective

Indicators of the economic performance of fishing vessels are frequently computed in various countries. In this paper, we use different types of information to assess capital value and the economic performance of fishing vessels. On the one hand, field surveys provide technical and financial information on the main components of fishing capital. On the other hand, book values are given in bookkeeping databases. We use both sources of information on fishing capital are used for the same set of vessels, namely the commercial fishing fleet of the French region of Brittany. Based on these two sources, measures of economic performance can be produced for the short term using gross surplus; and for the long term including the cost of capital. The measures of performance obtained are presented and the differences between them are then discussed.     

Design and testing of an underwater microscope and image processingsystem for the study of zooplankton distribution

A method that can monitor the density of zooplankton at an adequate spatio-temporal resolution is desired in oceanic ecosystem research. To address this need, we have developed a submersible microscope equipped with a noninterlace CCD camera. The target plankton for this microscope includes Copepoda, Ploima, and Ciliata, which are dominant species in the coastal waters around Japan. In addition, the requirements of systems for underwater imaging of zooplankton are discussed. The key issues investigated for their possible influence on system performance are lens selection, camera selection, and method of illumination. Higher order local autocorrelational (HLAC) masks are used to extract features from images. Combining these features with multivariate analysis, which is a two-step feature extraction method, results in a powerful tool for extracting general information from images. In our procedures, a set of these features provides a 33-dimensional vector. To identify and count zooplankton, canonical correlation analysis and discrimination analysis are performed. This allows zooplankton to be counted and classified into taxonomic units. Another canonical correlation analysis was made for the sizing of the plankton. Proof of the principle experiment is obtained with images of both preserved and living Copepoda     

Are Caribbean MPAs making progress toward their goals and objectives?

Regional efforts have increased the number and amount of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Caribbean, yet few studies have examined how these MPAs are progressing toward their goals and objectives. Using social and ecological data from a rapid assessment of 31 MPAs and their associated human communities in the wider Caribbean, this study investigates (1) the stated social and ecological objectives of MPAs; (2) the extent to which MPAs are making progress toward their stated social and ecological objectives; and (3) tradeoffs in progress toward social and ecological objectives. Findings indicate that Caribbean MPAs have multiple objectives related to both social and ecological conditions, and that most MPAs are making at least some progress towards achieving these objectives. Those MPAs with stated objectives to promote education and serve as a model for other MPAs seem to be making good progress on these objectives, while those with the objective of reducing conflict are not. Where MPAs are not meeting their goals and objectives, planners and managers should consider reallocating human and financial resources to address deficiencies and re-evaluating existing goals and objectives. It is important to consider how existing marine protected areas are performing as efforts in the Caribbean region and elsewhere continue to promote the establishment of new MPAs.     

曹妃甸围填海工程对近海环境的影响综述

曹妃甸明显的区位优势、独特的地理特征、较强的资源支撑为其成为我国北方天然深水大港提供了必要条件。曹妃甸临港工业区的开发建设将大大加快环渤海经济一体化的进程。规模宏大的曹妃甸围填海工程在带来显著社会经济效益的同时,也对近海环境产生了巨大影响。本文在结合前人调查研究的基础上,对曹妃甸海域概况及围填海工程背景进行了介绍;然后从地貌景观、水沙动力、海洋污染、生物多样性4个方面详细论述曹妃甸围填海工程对近海环境的影响;针对曹妃甸海域生态环境问题,提出加强科学研究、优化评估方法、落实管理制度、注重生态补偿的思考与建议,以期为曹妃甸围填海区域及其周边的可持续发展提供一定的科学依据。     

Management of the Kenyan coast

We describe the changes in the management of marine resources in Kenya from traditional management, through the era of marine protected areas and the fisheries sector, towards the initial developments of an integrated coastal area management system, which has only been active since the early 1990s. The first meetings between sectors were held in the mid-1990s where the responsibilities of management were agreed upon and from which a number of memorandums were initiated as part of the integrative process that was lead by the Coast Development Authority. Two integrated coastal management (ICM) pilot projects started in the mid- to late 1990s were undertaken to test the effectiveness of the process in two tourist beaches north of Mombasa and later Diani. These ICM programs primarily focused on infrastructural development and resource access issues and participants needed to be reminded that that the objectives of the ICM process were to improve natural resource management and protect biodiversity. There was also the problem that government and the larger economic interests were involved in policy and planning but the poor and associated communities were often marginalized because they lacked effective formal organizations and finances to represent them. The financial support for projects prior to 2003 was generally less than US $150 000 and this and the poverty of the institutions and difficulties of establishing financial sustainability limited the programs and their problem solving. Nonetheless, there has been sustained progress and lessons learned concerning interactions with stakeholders, zoning of activities, linkages among groups, and improvements in the environment that should form the basis for further integration and solutions.     

Hatchery programs,stock enhancement,and cost effectiveness: A case study of the Albemarle Sound/Roanoke River stocking program 1981–1996

Fish hatchery programs commonly are used to enhance depleted fish populations. While these programs are highly valued by the public, most likely due to their nonrestrictive approach to restoring a fishery, the effectiveness of these programs has been often questioned. This study investigates economic and ecological effectiveness of the Albemarle Sound/Roanoke River (AR) striped bass stocking program from 1981 to1996 as a case study.     

Determining the degree of 'small-scaleness' using fisheries in British Columbia as an example

Small-scale fisheries have been estimated to contribute up to 30% of the global landed value, which is caught by approximately 22 million fishers, some of which can be attributed to developed countries. Socio-economic analysis of small-scale fisheries often focuses on developing countries and fails to recognize the presence and contribution of small-scale fisheries in the developed world. Fisheries in British Columbia are diverse and often regarded as being industrialized and large-scale when analyzed in a global context. This study aims to demonstrate that features of small-scale fisheries are present within British Columbia's fleets. A list of re-occurring features of small-scale fisheries is curated from the literature to capture physical, economic and social features of small-scale fisheries. These commonly identified features of small-scale fisheries are applied to Aboriginal Food, Social and Ceremonial fisheries and all commercial fisheries in British Columbia are analyzed to determine the presence or absence of each small-scale fishery feature. The results of this research create a gradient of fisheries from smallest to largest scale. This approach determines that Aboriginal Food, Social and Ceremonial fisheries are the most small-scale, while the sablefish fishery is the largest scale. The qualitative nature of this framework creates an opportunity for any group of fisheries in the world to be compared.     

Selecting and assessing social objectives for Australian fisheries management

This paper details Australian research that developed tools to assist fisheries managers and government agencies in engaging with the social dimension of industry and community welfare in fisheries management. These tools are in the form of objectives and indicators. These highlight the social dimensions and the effects of management plans and policy implementation on fishing industries and associated communities, while also taking into account the primacy of ecological imperatives. The deployment of these objectives and indicators initially provides a benchmark and, over the life of a management plan, can subsequently be used to identify trends in effects on a variety of social and economic elements that may be objectives in the management of a fishery. It is acknowledged that the degree to which factors can be monitored will be dependent upon resources of management agencies, however these frameworks provide a method for effectively monitoring and measuring change in the social dimension of fisheries management.Essentially, the work discussed in this paper provides fisheries management with the means to both track and begin to understand the effects of government policy and management plans on the social dimension of the fishing industry and its associated communities. Such tools allow the consideration of these elements, within an evidence base, into policy arrangements, and consequently provide an invaluable contribution to the ability to address resilience and sustainability of fishing industries and associated communities.     

Fishers' perceptions as indicators of the performance of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

How users perceive the performance of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is fundamental for the social acceptance of these zones. Moreover, their perceptions may be relevant for monitoring the effects of MPAs on extractive activities. This study analyzes artisanal fishers' perceptions of the performance of a north-western Mediterranean coastal MPA, which encompasses two no-take zones (NTZs). Three viewpoints have been considered: the effect on the personal activity of fishers, the effect on the local fishery and the effect on the ecosystem. In order to test the hypothesis that biomass export (spillover) - which had previously been evidenced from the two NTZs - may influence fishers' perceptions of NTZ effects, fishers' perceptions were compared with both declared and observed fishing activity over an one-year period.The results show that negative perceptions of NTZs are either nil or are negligible. Most fishers are aware of the beneficial effects of NTZs on ecosystems and fisheries. However, they remain to be convinced of the beneficial effects of the NTZs on their own activity. For instance, the proximity of a NTZ appears never to be involved in the choice of a fishing spot. This partial lack of correspondence between scientific expectation and fishers' perceptions is discussed in the light of fishing habits in the zone adjacent to NTZs, and takes into account fishing grounds, targeted species and seniority (defined as the number of years the fisher has been fishing within the MPA). All three factors appear to influence fishers' perceptions. For example, having a positive perception about a NTZ and spending more time fishing in the adjacent zone are habits that can be associated with fishers with less seniority. Fishers' perceptions obviously indicate the social acceptance of the MPA and are an essential monitoring tool for MPA managers. However, perceptions cannot be seen as a substitute for scientific monitoring, as both approaches are clearly complementary.     

Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURFs): State of the art and the road ahead

Emerging as an innovation for improving the management of overexploited fisheries around the world, rights-based fisheries management systems are being implemented in the form of either species- or area-based management. While there are numerous reviews on species-based management, there have been none on area-based management. To fill this gap, we undertake a critical review of the literature on area-based management systems known as “Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries” (or TURFs). Following an exhaustive search, seventy-nine peer-reviewed journal papers discussing the evolution, effectiveness, enforcement, and management context of TURFs were identified and selected. Review of these papers reveals that there is a growing interest in investigating the real-world effects of TURFs, both positive and negative. The variability in TURF performance appears to be due to design features, enforcement behavior of fishers, and specific contextual conditions, namely, biological fishery characteristics, socio-economic aspects of fishers, and institutional arrangements. The bulk of the published research has focused on theoretical analysis and empirical evidence based on fishers’ perception and experience. And there has been little research on enforcement issues or how design features and management contexts influence performance. This review emphasizes the need for rigorous empirical analyses of TURF effects, including assessment of the cost-effectiveness of different enforcement schemes and the effects of contextual conditions on TURF performance. Addressing current shortcomings in the literature could improve the design, implementation and performance of TURFs worldwide.     

Do fishing vessel buyback programs work: A survey of the evidence

Vessel and license buyback programs are being used increasingly as a tool to reduce overcapacity in fisheries. This paper examines buybacks programs in a number fisheries around the world, in order to evaluate their effectiveness in achieving their objectives. We show that, though the objectives are usually similar, the design of different buyback programs varies widely with important ramifications. Although proper design can improve the performance of buyback programs, we conclude that buyback programs are generally not an effective way to address the problems they are meant to solve.     

Stakeholder consultation during the planning phase of scientific programs

Stakeholder consultation is being adopted as standard practice in the planning and management of natural resource management programs. While the utility of stakeholder participation has been investigated for the evaluation and implementation phases of natural resource management programs, few studies have examined the utility of stakeholder consultation during the initial phases of developing such programs. This paper presents a case study from a project developing a marine and coastal monitoring program for the Pilbara and Kimberley region of northern Western Australia. Via a series of workshops held in the region, stakeholders were asked to prioritise future research needs using several voting procedures. During the analyses of the results from the different voting procedures, it became apparent that there were high levels of inconsistency, poor correlation, and contradiction, between participants’ responses. Despite the rigour of the selection process used to identify ‘suitable’ stakeholders for the workshops, these results show that stakeholders did not have the technical or broader contextual knowledge about marine ecosystems to effectively and objectively contribute to the research prioritisation and planning process. Based on the outcomes of this study, we argue that project designers need to be clear about why they are involving stakeholders in a project, particularly in light of the costs involved (financial, time, resources, costs to the stakeholder) in stakeholder consultation. Stakeholder involvement may be appropriate in later stages of developing natural resource management programs (implementation and management), however, stakeholder involvement is not appropriate in the initial phases of such programs, where scientific expertise is essential in formulating scientific concepts and frameworks.     

Economic base model for the Guadiana estuary,Portugal an application for Integrated Coastal Zone Management

The concept of base-multiplier analysis is that export activities constitute the economic base of a region, whereas the other economic activities that sell their goods and services to the local residents grow or shrink depending on the performance of the base activities. These concepts, with origins extending at least as far back as the early 1900s, have reached maturity and are widely applied. The attractiveness of an economic base model (EBM) draws in its simplicity in expressing the power of demand in regional income determination. Extensive literature has grown up around the economic base theory, however, systematic publications concerning empirical application are scarce and focus mostly on the socio-economic dimension of the analyzed system. Such territorially oriented economic models are useful in a variety of decision making procedures; preparation of annual budgets, short-run market demand forecasting, longer-term growth strategies. The purpose of this article is to present a practical application of EBM to the geographical area of the Guadiana Estuary, on the south coast of Portugal. The interest of the EBM application in this case study includes its integration in a broader project that applies a Systems Approach Framework (SAF) towards Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). There are three pillars of sustainability considered here: social, ecological and economic, hence, the article not only describes EBM application but also how it has been use to demonstrate a chain of events resulting from the interaction between the ecological and the socio-economic sub systems of the area. The results obtained will probably raise the usual criticism to which the economic base model has been exposed previously; however it provides unequivocal evidence that a truly interdisciplinary approach to a given territorial target can be successfully shared with end users and the research community.     

Biological indicators in the Caribbean coastal zone and their role in integrated coastal management

Caribbean coastal ecosystems are increasingly being threatened by natural and anthropogenic factors. The scale of these factors is at local, national, regional and global levels. Threats include the effects of fisheries and extraction, eutrophication, siltation, and pollution as well as global climate events such as El Niño and global climate change. Integrated coastal management (ICM) should clearly demonstrate the adverse effects of environmental impacts, thus justifying the need for mitigation and should evaluate the success of management efforts. ICM requires robust indicators that gauge the ‘health’ of the coast in relation to environmental, social and economic activities. Biological indicators (bioindicators) offer a signal of the biological condition in an ecosystem. Using bioindicators as an early warning of pollution or degradation in an ecosystem can help sustain critical resources. Biological indicators in the Caribbean are focused around particular ecosystems, especially coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove forests and include a range of biological parameters relating to particular species, groups of species and biological processes. The use of these indicators is critically reviewed and the presence or absence of a relevant framework for their use in Caribbean ICM programs is discussed.     

Contrasting perspectives on mangroves in arid Northwestern Mexico: Implications for integrated coastal management

Mangroves in Northwestern Mexico are vital to maintain coastal environments healthy, to provide nutrients for several food chains, and to supply valuable goods and services that sustain and improve human livelihoods. Many of these values offer a range of opportunities for economic development that attract workers, investors and developers. Recently, federal privatization policies have promoted an accelerated coastal development of this region to obtain large profits in short times, creating competing and overlapping interests to use coastal environments and control key resources. Such intense developments are modifying the ecological conditions of many coastal areas, threatening the provision of important ecosystem services to society. After years of centralized decisions, new paradigms are needed to achieve a coastal management that ensures long-term ecosystem maintenance, fair resource use and social equity. Recognizing the multiplicity of actors involved in coastal management and using a qualitative research methodology, we identified and explored the perspectives of different key stakeholders in the states of Baja California Sur and Sonora, Mexico, to better understand their views on mangroves use and management as well as the interaction among them. We discuss similarities and/or discrepancies found among stakeholders’ perceptions by describing their central ideas and identifying overlapping interests that may create conflicts when defining development and conservation programs or formulating policies. This information also intends to encourage further research on the social-ecological system of the coasts in Northwestern Mexico and to contribute to address coastal management issues in integrated ways that consider the social dimension through documenting stakeholders’ narratives in the future.