Integrated marine science and management : wading through the morass

Many countries worldwide are now considering developing (or at least being required to consider developing) a holistic marine management planning framework which can encompass all the marine users and uses, the players and stakeholders, and the demands on the system (e.g. Borja et al., 2010). Given that there are many sectors involved in the marine environment (shipping, fishing, aquaculture, industries, recreation, etc.), there is the need for integrated management but within that multi-manager sectoral framework. Each sector usually has its own administrative body (e.g. Boyes and Elliott, 2014a) and often the complexity of the system means that one sectoral body, for example for conservation, is so preoccupied tackling its own conservation aspects that they pay less attention to others, such as fisheries

[Review of] Rita Dove, foreword. Multicultural Voices

Multicultural Voices gathers together an impressive array of writers and writings in a textbook aimed at secondary school readers. The book not only includes several of the more obvious and well-known authors -- Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, and Amy Tan, to name a few -- but also anthologizes a number of younger and less widely known writers whose contributions are equally provocative. While the bulk of the selections are either short stories or excerpts from novels (Zora Neale Hurston\u27s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Rudolfo Anaya\u27s Bless Me, Ultima are among those excerpted), the editors have also selected poetry, essays, and one short play, Denise Chavez\u27s The Flying Tortilla Man. Even though everyone will be able to think of a favorite author who is not represented (where is Amiri Baraka?), the range and quality of the book\u27s selections will make it a valuable classroom resource

The 10-tenets of adaptive management and sustainability: an holistic framework for understanding and managing the socio-ecological system

The three basic principles of sustainable development, relating to ecology, economy and society, have long been embedded within national and international strategies. In recent years we have augmented these principles by a further seven considerations giving rise to the so-called 10-tenets of sustainable management. Whilst theoretically appealing, discussion of the tenets to date has been largely generic and qualitative and, until the present paper, there has been no formal and quantitative application of these tenets to an actual example. To promote the concept of successful and sustainable environmental management there is the need to develop a robust and practical framework to accommodate value judgements relating to each of the tenets. Although, as originally presented, the tenets relate specifically to management measures, they may also be applied directly to a specific development or activity. This paper examines the application of the tenets in both of these contexts, and considers their incorporation into an assessment tool to help visualise and quantify issues of sustainability

The value of remote sensing techniques in supporting effective extrapolation across multiple marine spatial scales

The reporting of ecological phenomena and environmental status routinely required point observations, collected with traditional sampling approaches to be extrapolated to larger reporting scales. This process encompasses difficulties that can quickly entrain significant errors. Remote sensing techniques offer insights and exceptional spatial coverage for observing the marine environment. This review provides guidance on (i) the structures and discontinuities inherent within the extrapolative process, (ii) how to extrapolate effectively across multiple spatial scales, and (iii) remote sensing techniques and data sets that can facilitate this process. This evaluation illustrates that remote sensing techniques are a critical component in extrapolation and likely to underpin the production of high-quality assessments of ecological phenomena and the regional reporting of environmental status. Ultimately, is it hoped that this guidance will aid the production of robust and consistent extrapolations that also make full use of the techniques and data sets that expedite this process

Benthic monitoring and sampling design and effort to detect spatial changes: A case study using data from offshore wind farm sites

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. The exploitation of renewable energies, in particular offshore wind farms (OWFs), is an expanding sector which involves activities that may adversely affect the marine benthic ecology. Fit-for-purpose monitoring is required with sufficient statistical power to detect ecologically meaningful changes, but to date there have been no studies on the suitability of monitoring programmes applied to OWFs. The theoretical relationship of sampling effort with precision in community estimates and sensitivity of the analysis in detecting spatial changes was investigated, this latter assessed through power analysis. Benthic community monitoring strategies and descriptors applied to UK OWFs were used to interrogate real data variability in the marine environment. There was a general lack of clarity in the survey rationale and hypotheses tested within OWF monitoring programmes hence a lack of rigour in the survey design and statistical testing. Consequently the statistical properties of monitoring strategies have been rarely assessed. Precision of mean estimates of benthic community descriptors and the sensitivity in detecting differences in the means increased with sampling effort. At the average sampling effort applied in the OWF case studies (4 stations per impact type area and 3 replicates per station), the studies had sufficient power to detect a ≥50% change between areas in mean benthic species richness (S; 5 species). Due to their higher variability than S, more stations per impact type area were required to reliably detect a ≥50% change between areas in mean benthic abundance (N; 5 stations) and mean biomass (B; 10 stations). Higher sensitivity and precision of estimates of S, N and B was achieved with transformation of data. Understanding the general implications of monitoring design on the sensitivity of the detection of spatial changes is important, particularly when monitoring effort has to be adjusted due to logistic and financial constraints. Although there is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to marine environmental data acquisition, this study guides researchers, developers and regulators in optimising benthic monitoring strategies at OWFs

Behavioural effects of hypersaline exposure on the lobster Homarus gammarus (L) and the crab Cancer pagurus (L)

There is scarce existing information in the literature regarding the responses of any marine species, especially commercially valuable decapod crustaceans, to hypersalinity. Hypersaline discharges due to solute mining and desalination are increasing in temperate areas, hence the behavioural responses of the edible brown crab, Cancer pagurus, and the European lobster, Homarus gammarus, were studied in relation to a marine discharge of highly saline brine using a series of preference tests. Both species had a significant behavioural response to highly saline brine, being able to detect and avoid areas of hypersalinity once their particular threshold salinity was reached (salinity 50 for C. pagurus and salinity 45 for H. gammarus). The presence of shelters had no effect on this response and both species avoided hypersaline areas, even when shelters were provided there. If the salinity of commercial effluent into the marine environment exceeds the behavioural thresholds found here, it is likely that adults of these species will relocate to areas of more favourable salinity. In management terms it is advisable to ensure that any hypersaline discharges are limited to the lowest tolerance of all the economically valuable species in the area to avoid loss of revenue in fishery areas