Non-indigenous species (NIS) pose a major threat to biodiversity and the functioning and services of ecosystems. Despite their rapid spread in coastal waters worldwide, biotic invasions are widely disregarded in marine conservation planning. To guide conservation actions, a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms determining the success of NIS are therefore needed. Here we develop a combined modelling approach to identify the key drivers and community assembly processes determining the occurrence of invasive benthic invertebrates, using Danish coastal waters as a case study. To reflect factors affecting the introduction, establishment and spread of NIS throughout the area, we compiled long-term monitoring data on NIS, as well as information on commercial shipping, environmental conditions and estimates of larvae settling densities derived from drift model simulations informed by species traits. We then applied a set of species distribution models to identify the key drivers determining the occurrence of NIS. Our results demonstrate a significant positive effect of vessel activity, a negative effect of depth and bottom salinity, as well as a positive effect of the simulated settling densities on the probability of presence. Taken together, our results highlight the role of commercial shipping, habitat characteristics and passive advection of early-life stages on the presence of NIS. Our combined modelling approach provide improved process understanding on the key community assembly processes determining the presence of NIS and may serve to guide monitoring, management and conservation planning in order to limit future invasions and their negative consequences on coastal ecosystems.
Spatial tools to calculate cumulative impact assessments on the environment (CIA) are important contributors to the implementation of an ecosystem-based approach to maritime spatial planning (MSP). Ecosystem dynamics are increasingly important to understand as the activities and pressures in marine areas increase. Results from the application of a new training set for the CIA tool MYTILUS, developed in capacity-building MSP projects for active learning environments, illustrate important points on how the CIA method can be used in systematic scenario design. The feedback from its use in an online PhD course outlines how the training set successfully enables researchers from different disciplines and different parts of the world to meet the CIA approach with such interest and understanding that it enables them to highlight the strengths as well as the shortcomings of the tool interface, tool capabilities, and CIA method, even when none of these researchers are CIA experts. These promising results are presented in this paper and advocate for the increasing use of MYTILUS and similar CIA tools in MSP stakeholder sessions where no preliminary CIA expertise can be expected. The key strengths and challenges of training CIA with MYTILUS are discussed to point out focus points for how to make its approaches increasingly fit for participatory and decision-making processes in MSP to utilize its promising abilities for supporting ecosystem-based management.
The SEAwise project works to deliver a fully operational tool that will allow fishermen, managers, and policy makers to easily apply Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) in their own fisheries. One of the key uncertainties in fisheries science and management can be linked to (our understanding of) fishermen's behaviour. In this report we describe the project efforts to better understand fisher behavior by assessing literature, interviews and data to advance towards a better representation of fisher behavior in our modelling. A better understanding of fisher behavior is especially needed in the context of change affecting Europe's marine ecosystems. Change is both related to the natural part of the ecosystem (ie climate change) as to the social side of the ecosystem (ie building of wind parks).
To that aim we present nine different case studies in Europe as examples of how fisher behavior has been studied and which factors are (or can be) relevant for a better understanding of fisher behaviour. Each case study ends with a table summarizing the factors influencing behaviour, the categories within that factor and the (potential) application in modeling as well as the implications for management. The table below summarizes the factors found / used in the case studies and the elements (social, cultural, ecological, economic and institutional) to which they relate. A variety of social factors were identified that are promising for use in modelling. A key conclusion is that social data are often context dependent and cannot be copy pasted from one situation to the other and in some cases, additional data needs to be collected. The cases also demonstrate that mixed methods approaches and interdisciplinary approaches are key to get in-depth understanding of fisher behavior in fisheries science.
This article examines the historical development of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) fishery in North Greenland from 1774-1898. The purpose of the article is to present a starting point, a so-called baseline, for further studies of the extent of the historical fishery. With data from mainly two archival series, the historical catch figures are presented, which has led to the year 1862 as a realistic baseline for the historical fishery of the Greenland shark in North Greenland.
The publication reports on a study of blockchain in the maritime sector with a focus on three value chains, namely container transport, fishing and processing of fish and shellfish, and plastic recycling. The publication describes different ways of using blockchain in the form of different types of companies, and with this as a starting point, the publication discusses the prerequisites for blockchain to be used in the analyzed value chains.
While European policies have progressed towards an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM), limited attention has been paid to the implications for its advisory system. This paper analyzes the advisory landscape in the European Union (EU) by addressing two questions: to what extent can the needed advice be provided? how prepared is the management system to integrate ecosystem advice? We provide a systematic analysis of the relevant advisory bodies, explore gaps related to the requested and delivered advice, and identify paths for improvement. The findings confirm earlier observations of lack of a formalized process to provide and integrate advice in support of an ecosystem approach into EU fisheries management. Instead of enabling existing capacities to embed ecosystem components (eg investments and initiatives made by stakeholders (and authorities) to move to EAFM -pushing strategies), the system relies heavily on mandatory requests from policy makers (pulling mechanisms). Furthermore, social and economic dimensions are the weakest aspects in the advisory process, which hampers the balancing of objectives that represent one of the hallmarks of EAFM. The policy framework has adopted EAFM for European fisheries, but the advisory processes have not yet been adapted to substantially support EAFM.
Rapporter fra flere globale miljøinstitutioner, her
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under den internationale science-policy platform
om biodiversitet og økosystemtjenester (herefter
IPBES), understreger behovet for genopretning af
økosystemer (1,2). Den seneste globale IPBES-rap
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port fra maj 2019 peger således på, at forringelser
af økosystemer på land og i havet underminerer
livsgrundlaget for 3,2 milliarder mennesker. Gen
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opretning bliver fremhævet som en af de vigtig
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ste handlemuligheder for effektivt at begrænse
tabet af biodiversitet og forbedre livsgrundlaget
for os mennesker ved at imødegå forringelser for
en række økosystemtjenester. Det nuværende årti
2021-2030 er af UNEP udpeget til årtiet for genop
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retning med det formål at genetablere ødelagte
eller forarmede økosystemer verden over.
IPBES rapporterne dokumenterer, at biodiversi
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tetskrisen er en altomfattende og global udfor
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dring, og at krisen er på linje med klimakrisen. De
tiltagende klimaændringer er ligeledes en af ho
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vedårsagerne til tab af biodiversitet (2). Der er af
hensyn til begge kriser behov for, at der beskyttes
og genetableres velfungerende og uforstyrrede
økosystemer. Der bør derfor ske en national ud
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møntning af resultaterne fra de internationale aftaler baseret på den bedst tilgængelige viden.
With the blue economic sectors growing, marine macroalgae cultivation plays an important role in securing food and energy supplies, as well as better water quality in sustainable ways, whether alone or as part of a cluster solution to mitigate the effects of fish farming. While macroalgae cultivation exists in Europe, it is not that widely distributed yet; with increasing marine activities at sea, Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) needs to ensure social recognition as well as social and spatial representation for such a new marine activity. This comparative case study analysis of MSPs of three eastern Baltic Sea countries explores the levels of support for the development of macroalgae cultivation in MSP and the degree of co-location options for this new and increasingly important sector. It presents new analytical ways of incorporating co-location considerations into the concept of social sustainability. The results of this study support the harmonisation of views on co-location, propose ways of using space to benefit multiple users as well as marine ecosystems, and highlight some of the key social challenges and enablers for this sector.
In 2020, the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food launched a new state-led ecolabelling scheme for fish originating from small-scale, 'low-environmental-impact' fisheries; "Nature-friendly". The label was introduced to a domestic market where the vast majority of the fish landed by Danish vessels was already certified by the global leader in certification of (wild caught) fish products, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). MSC's high market penetration created a situation where especially small-scale fishermen felt that MSC certification had developed into a market norm without providing fishermen the benefits of demonstrating extraordinarily sustainable practices and thereby gaining competitive advantages. Rather, MSC's market penetration was perceived as undermining efforts to brand and market fish originating from small-scale fisheries as particularly sustainable. This article explores the processes that led up to the NaturSkånsom labeling scheme by applying a 'power in planning and policy framework' as an analytical lens. Through the NaturSkånsom process, the article investigates what happens when an ecolabel becomes a market norm, how small-scale fisheries actors who feel disadvantaged by such a development and environmental organizations form alliances, mobilize support and multiple resources to strengthen their positions in the political settings. The examination of this case highlights how stakeholders traditionally thought of as less resourceful can gain political influence. The article offers a glimpse into a possible, emerging future where those who perceive themselves as the most sustainable producers may increasingly view large and dominating ecolabels simultaneously as obstacles and forces for positive change.
A new proposed framework to assess sustainability impacts of maritime spatial plans (MSP-SA) utilizes the ecosystem service (ES) concept to address the often-lacking social sustainability of the plans. This study departs from the MSP-SA framework and applies it to the (emerging) sea use of mussel farming. Informed by a literature review and two surveys, it is investigated whether the benefits and impacts of mussel farming can be related to underlying ES and relevant planning questions. The results show that most benefits and impacts of mussel farming can be connected to ES and reveal different user-environment-beneficiary interactions, ranging from conflicts to synergies. The marine planning framework is structured into different planning phases and it is shown that the ES concept can contribute to a normative vision, strategic objectives, and site-specific operational questions. Studying the different user-environment-beneficiary interactions can reveal who benefits and who loses from planning decisions. While the marine planning framework developed in this study is targeted at mussel farming, the approach can be adapted to other uses and planning areas and can contribute to social and equity aspects in MSP by considering the receivers of (dis)benefits.