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Many sedentary marine invertebrates have a fine-scale (100s m) population structure that complicates their conservation and management. This is a consequence of the limited information on the boundaries between component populations and the biological variability among them. Blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra) form discrete populations many of which are ‘stunted’ with individuals reaching a maximum length less than those in adjacent areas. A range of morphological measurements from samples of stunted and ‘non-stunted’ H. rubra collected from sites spread across broad (10s km) and fine (100s m) spatial scales in southern South Australia. In addition, information on the growth, size at maturity and fecundity of H. rubra was obtained from these same sites. The ratio between shell length and shell height showed clear and significant differences among samples from stunted and non-stunted sites. The fine-scale morphometric collections suggested that stunted populations existed at smaller spatial scales compared to those for non-stunted populations. Spatial variation in these key life history parameters could primarily be attributed to differences between stunted and non-stunted sites. Relationships between each of these parameters and the ratio between shell length and shell height were also examined. The spatial patterns in morphology and biology were highly correlated suggesting that shell length:shell height ratio can be used as a simple ‘morphometric marker’ to distinguish among populations of abalone and identify their biological characteristics. The detection of differences H. rubra morphology among variable environments cannot determine whether these differences represent a plastic response to the local environment, or whether morphology is genetically fixed. A reciprocal transplant experiment was used to test whether stunted H. rubra are the result of a plastic response to the environment or fixed genetic trait. Furthermore, environmental factors that affect food availability were related to differences in morphology. Morphological plasticity was confirmed as the mechanism causing morphological variation in H. rubra. Individuals transplanted to sites with non-stunted H. rubra grew significantly faster when compared to stunted controls, while individuals transplanted to stunted sites grew significantly slower compared to non-stunted controls. It is suggested that these differences are related to resource availability with areas limited in food supply resulting in stunted populations and areas with abundant food resulting in non-stunted populations. To reduce the risks of over-fishing and localised depletion of H. rubra, management units (MUs) that encompass individual populations need to be determined and then managed according to their life-history characteristics. Potential MUs in the South Australian abalone fishery were identified from the broad-scale, spatial distribution of stunted and non-stunted populations of H. rubra, by applying the morphometric marker to commercial shell samples. Key life-history parameters of the H. rubra populations within the potential MUs were estimated using relationships between this marker and H. rubra biology. Data from fine-scale systematic sampling by commercial fishers were used to validate spatial patterns observed from the more broadly distributed commercial catch samples. The location, distribution and size of potential MUs were largely inconsistent with that of current management. The locations of two MUs were consistent across the broad- and fine-scale datasets with the fine-scale samples being more informative for identifying a potential boundary between these. These results suggest that this morphometric marker can used as a tool for the spatial management of abalone fisheries by simply and inexpensively inferring key biological parameters for individual populations and identify the boundaries among these based on these differences. This approach is among the first to provide a practical means of more closely aligning the scales of assessment and management with biological reality for sedentary marine invertebrates. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2009

Marine Protected Area (MPA), as a fisheries management tool has been promoted by both national and local conservationists and has provided de facto illustrations of integrated coastal management (ICM) in the Philippines. However, conflict is inevitable in the implementation of public policy such as the MPA because of contrasting objectives and expectations from various stakeholders. Coupled with non-human (e.g. MPA size) and human (e.g. mismanagement) threats, conflict becomes a hindrance to MPA effectivity. In the Philippines alone, only 10-20% of the 500 MPAs are attaining their objectives. This study presents an overview of MPA management and examines the interaction between the civil society and market forces of institutional arrangements in the case of North-Eastern Iloilo (NI) in the Philippines. It discusses overall scenarios that resemble conflict between various national, local and international sectors, assessing MPA success factors and the expected implications from such implementation. Results from key informant, focus-group discussion and social survey show that there are problems on MPA management in the region. Using data and strategic analyses, it presents that minimisation of conflicts amongst actors should be the primary goal of the NI municipalities. In addition, MPA size and membership to organisations are also significant factors of success. Moreover, the analysis from a simple correlation to complex Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) conclude that information on MPA regulation does not directly contribute to the improvement in MPA management. It implies that a focus on informing stakeholders about the benefits of having an MPA and its regulations is ineffective. The focus should be on the reduction of conflict between economic actors - for free riding problems are currently occurring, thus minimising conflict by conflict resolution and proper incentives. However, there are still remaining challenges on MPA management, for not all factors are incorporated on this study. The challenge now is on how to identify the remaining factors and integrate them into policies and implementations to improve the overall condition of coastal communities.

Historically, the governance streams of fisheries and conservation management have run separately to one another, with little attempt at integration despite their similar goals. Efforts to integrate the two have increased as a result of their similarities and the potential benefits that may arise, but a requirement for additional research was identified to determine the effectiveness of this approach. This thesis therefore took an interdisciplinary approach, seeking to combine knowledge and methods from ecological, social and economic disciplines to provide a holistic evaluation of the potential for success. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) were chosen as a management tool to evaluate for this purpose. Ecological research used underwater video methods to show that potting may be compatible with the conservation objectives of a multi-use MPA, but that this will depend on the level of impact and what is deemed ‘acceptable’ by regulators. An evaluation of social acceptance of MPAs using Q methodology stressed the importance of stakeholder engagement and transparency in decision making. Stakeholder acceptance can be facilitated by provision of clear evidence of the need for management, and of the benefits it may bring. Economic research evaluated the potential economic benefits of multi-use MPAs through quantification of change in quantity and value of landings for potting fisheries finding landings increased following MPA implementation. Finally, the thesis considered the effectiveness of ecosystem based fisheries management using a questionnaire designed to gather the opinions of stakeholders. This highlighted the potential role of co-management and the value of the ecosystem approach and emphasised the need for responsive, adaptive management which considers all stakeholders and all three disciplines. Overall the thesis highlighted the strength of taking an interdisciplinary approach, finding that whilst there is evidence for successful integration seen through designation of well managed multi-use MPAs, success may be limited by fundamental differences in the goals of the two streams. Further success may be facilitated by increased evidence for the benefits of integration for both governance streams, and provision of adequate resources to ensure management measures are reactive and adaptive.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-06-22Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:39:54Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 rojas_blb_me_rcla.pdf: 1802373 bytes, checksum: a7d3c07cf7409b4282a981aafbaf8cb0 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / As bacias do Orinoco e do Amazonas são similares, no sentido de que os dois rios correm em paralelo, em direção ao Oceano Atlântico, têm origem geológica similar e ictiofauna que se sobrepõem quanto ás espécies. O manejo, os impactos socioculturais e o ordenamento jurídico pesqueiro historicamente adotados para se realizar uma pesca responsável, foram revisados nesta dissertação para a Orinoquia venezuelana e Amazônia brasileira. Embora haja diferentes tipos ou estratégias de manejo de recursos naturais e de manejo da pesca em particular tais como: estratégias de manejo convencionais ou tradicionais, de manejo participativo ou comanejo, abordagem de conhecimento ecológico local, manejo adaptativo e mais recentemente o manejo com enfoque ecossistêmico, nesta dissertação foi feita uma análise comparativa para as duas bacias e examinada sua eficiência. Para este propósito se realizou o levantamento de dados secundários e séries históricas de desembarques, composição da frota pesqueira, principais espécies de peixes comerciais, cadeia de comercialização, aspectos técnico-pesqueiros e socioeconômicos dos pescadores das bacias de estudo. Foi realizada uma extensa revisão bibliográfica das características relevantes da Orinoquia venezuelana e da Amazônia brasileira, bem como seus aspectos biogeoquímicos e ecológicos. / The Orinoco and Amazonas river basins are similar, in the sense that the two rivers run in parallel, in direction to the Atlantic Ocean, they have similar geological origin and an overlapping fishfauna concerning their species. The socio-cultural impacts and the juridical basis for the management historically adopted for a responsible fishing were revised in this dissertation for the Venezuelan Orinoquia and the Brazilian Amazon. Although there are different types of natural resources management strategies and fisheries in particular as: conventional or traditional management strategies, participative or co-management, approach of local ecological knowledge, adaptive management and more recently the ecosystem approach. So in this dissertation a comparative analysis for the two basins was carried out and its efficiency was examined. For this purpose secondary data and historical series of landings, fishing fleet composition, main commercial fish species, commercialization chain, fisher´s socio-economic and technical aspects were examined. An extensive bibliographical revision of the important characteristics of Venezuelan Orinoquia accomplished and of the Brazilian Amazon was accomplished, as well as its biogeochemical and ecological aspects.

This dissertation applies object-oriented rhetorics and posthuman philosophies to environmental policy deliberation in order to help bridge gaps between policy makers, scientists, and citizens. For environmental policy scholars the non-credentialed expertise of local, or indigenous stakeholders is valued as possessing technical, objective merit that can improve the development and implementation of environmental policies. However, the utilization of stakeholder expertise in environmental policy faces serious challenges in terms of finding common grounds for communication within complex techno-social systems, of overcoming deep cultural differences and perceptions, and grave ethical issues of access and power. This dissertation develops two case studies of marine fisheries policy debates using theories of material ontology to detail the process of how the expertise of ordinary citizens develops within the context of environmental policy and how that expertise might be better utilized. By employing object-oriented rhetorical theories to trace material agency through the Snook and Gamefish’s (SGF) stakeholder integration programs in Florida’s Spotted Seatrout and Common Snook fishery debates, this dissertation argues that a material ontology of expertise offers a means of assessing the quality of lay-publics’ non-credentialed expertise. This dissertation suggests that an enriched since of what material objects are capable of rhetorically helps us develop tangible, actionable tools for environmental policy studies. By understanding expertise in terms of the accretion of material experiences, policy makers and scholars might more easily evaluate and utilize the expertise of environmental policy stakeholders

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / This study outlines human dimensions in the hake sector in South Africa in terms of hake fish workers. The hake fish workers condition of employment, security of employment, social security issues, remunerations and their living conditions forms part of the social, economic and political dimensions in hake fisheries. The need for ensuring sustainable long-term utilisation of the hake resource and to manage, prevent and reduce all adverse effects of harvesting the hake stock through knowledge based intervention is crucial to this study. Sustainable fisheries management can use the working and living conditions of fish workers as indicators for effective management of fisheries. Fish workers issues, which include their conditions of service, contractual agreements, work safety, income, working hours and other human dimensions, may have an effect on the effective sustainable management. Ecosystems approaches takes into consideration the human dimensions and ecological consideration for effective fisheries management. Knowledge of the historical and economic importance of the hake sector is crucial for the planning and future of the fisheries. Applying the concept of the ecosystems approaches to hake fisheries management is also critical in understanding the human dimensions in hake fisheries. The qualitative methodology of field work was used in understanding the human dimensions in commercial hake fisheries. The investigation into the fish workers labour issues and living conditions through a field work highlighted that the labour issues such as type of employment (permanent or casual), conditions of employment (social security, regulated hours of work, good working conditions), stagnation in terms of promotion, remuneration and issues surrounding labour brokers are some of the social issues in the hake sector. The living conditions of fish workers, stagnation and improved remuneration should be attended to in the sector. Fish workers in the hake sector rely on wages for their livelihood. Workers’ participation in decision-making at governance level should be enhanced for effective governance in the fisheries

Governing agencies increasingly employ collaborative forms of decision-making in fisheries management to improve decision quality and legitimacy. However, crafting fair and effective collaborative processes which will achieve these benefits is often difficult. In an effort to identify keys and obstacles to success, this research evaluated the Commercial Groundfish Initiative, a collaborative planning process tasked with reforming the management of Canada's Pacific groundfish fisheries. Using semi-structured interviews, I gathered the perspectives of participants from the two committees within the process: a consensus-based committee of commercial representatives and a committee broadly representative of other interest groups for which consensus was encouraged but not mandated. Control over the design of a proposal for management reform was asymmetrically divided between the two committees, giving the commercial committee the primary role. Participants from the commercial committee expressed high levels of support for their consensus process. Keys to this committee’s success in reaching a high quality agreement were (i) a strong incentive to cooperate, (ii) consensus decision-making, and (iii) independent process facilitation. The latter two functioned as security measures against the potential for process manipulation by participants or governing agencies. Results from an examination of the broader committee indicate non-commercial respondents were largely accepting of an “oversight” role provided that the scope for their input remained sufficient, which it did not. Early involvement in tasks such as designing the process and defining objectives were particularly critical to non-commercial respondents’ perceptions of procedural fairness and their ability to participate effectively. Several participants also raised concerns that the process was not appropriately representative of groups with an interest in groundfish management. The poor performance of the process in these respects overshadowed positive aspects of broadening participation beyond commercial users. Consensus approaches have gained currency among commercial participants as a result of their positive experience and made some of them more willing to consider meaningful collaboration with a broader range of interest groups. The ineffectiveness of the broader committee suggests there is still work to do in designing processes that will actually achieve this meaningful, broad collaboration. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

Samuel Gutestrand Mandarić, Marine Research and Fisheries Management: Swedish Hydrographic Commission 1893–1901, Umeå University: Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious studies, Master thesis in History of Science and Ideas, 15 credits, Spring semester 2020.The aim of this thesis is to describe the development of the Swedish marine research from a scientific and institutional perspective. The time period studied begins with the establish-ment of the Swedish Hydrographic Commission in 1893 and ends with the government decision to develop the Swedish Hydrographic-Biologic Commission in 1901. The first motive with the thesis is to increase the understanding for the development of the Swedish hydrography as a field of knowledge and science. Additionaly, with the purpose of gaining insight as to how the hydrographic research was organized, to highlight scientific ideas and theories, as well as to account for the questions that aimed to be answered through the conducting of marine research. The second motive with the thesis is, from a societal perspective, to increase the knowledge in for the existing relations between hydrographic research and fisheries management. The purpose of this being to show the significance and influence given to the survey of fish stocks within the field of marine research, as well as to describe the role of scientific knowledge and rationality in the fisheries management.The empirical and theoretical approach of this thesis is based on scientific development being a result of the cooperation between parties both producing and using gained knowledge. Three analytical concepts have been used to unlock the principles of using and producing knowledge; co-production, boundary work and networking. These concepts bring forth different aspects of the studied relation and they are used heuristically, with focus mainly on specific historical events within the field of marine research.The results show that the Scandinavian marine research was developed in the inter-section between establishment of managing an enterprise, the transformation of the hydrographical and biological research, and increasing national and international research cooperations. Societal applications were the prime motive for government approved and financed marine research and its institutional internationalization. The scientific marine and fish stock surveys were part of a commercial and political program with aim to bring reformation to the fisheries. The marine surveys were considered necessary in order for rational fishing to be carried out and they were also important in the development of the fishing industry. The official decision to introduce fisheries management, together with the international council, enabled the establishment of marine research as a branch of know-ledge and research within the field of natural science.

The nursery effect is a process where juvenile fish utilize coastal habitats to help them survive before moving to their adult habitat. This process establishes an important link between marine ecosystems. This study examines the nursery effect and nursery habitat utilization in the Indian River Lagoon and Florida Bay systems, and the coral reefs adjacent to them. Quantitative and spatial techniques were utilized to identify patterns of presence and abundance and the size structure of select fish species. Spatial analyses were also used to investigate distribution patterns. Findings from this study suggest that several species utilize to a high degree the Indian River Lagoon and Florida Bay as nurseries. Furthermore, the abundance of adults on coral reefs is strongly connected to the presence of nurseries. This study has implications in fisheries management such as locating where juveniles of species develop. With such knowledge, better management plans could be implemented to ensure healthy fish stocks. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection