Understanding the ecology and life history of marine turtle populations is fundamental for their effective conservation, especially for those that are harvested for food. This thesis presents a collection of six chapters that progress from the applied to the pure; conservation and management in the first chapters through to animal ecology in the latter. A variety of contemporary and multidisciplinary techniques are utilised to explore the structure, populations dynamics and ecology of two marine turtle species, the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), under harvest in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), Caribbean. The work first focuses on the structure of TCI’s small-scale fishery and the demographics of turtles landed and incorporates nesting seasonality, adult take, satellite tracking and genetic structure to suggest evidence-based legislative amendments. As part of the study of this fishery, this work reports on how the harvest might increase prevalence of disease in green turtles. As an exploration into the ecology of turtle stocks found in TCI, the work then describes and compares in- water immature and adult sex ratios, genetic differentiation and sex biased dispersal. Finally, stomach content and habitat matching, and stable isotope analyses provide insights into the foraging ecology and suggested keystone roles of sympatric green and hawksbill turtles.

With the growth in human pressures on the marine environment and the increase in competition for space and resources there has been recognition by many governments of the need to use the marine environment sustainably and allow for its acceptable allocation for each sector. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the use of Marxan and Marxan with Zones as practical tools to enable the production of marine plans that integrate environmental and socioeconomic data and to suggest best practice in the types of data used. In this thesis three key aspects of data type and integration were identified and evaluated. The resolution and complexity of data required to protected marine biodiversity was assessed. The effects of using different substrate data resolution on the selection of sites to protect a range of biotopes using Marxan are determined. The nature of the data used in marine planning has significant implications for the protection of marine biodiversity. Using less complex data, of any resolution, did not adequately protect marine biodiversity. There is a need to determine what is an acceptable allocation of marine resource to each sector. Two case study areas were used to determine how to integrate conservation and socioeconomic data and objectives in a marine plan. Objectives for all the sectors could not be met completely in a single marine plan and each sector had to compromise. This research highlighted the potential compromises required and indicates that if marine heritage and biodiversity are to be protected each sector will have to change the impact it has on the marine environment. Currently marine conservation assumes that all data on habitats and species presented for use in marine planning are equal, in accuracy, precision and value. This is not always the case, with data based on a wide range of sources including routine government monitoring, specific innovative research and stakeholder based data gathering. A case study area was used to evaluate the impacts of using confidence levels in habitat data on marine biodiversity. It was found that data outputs that best protected marine biodiversity used data over 20% and over 30% confidence. With the data currently available for the UK marine environment it is not possible to be confident that a representative MPA network can be created. Together these studies contribute key recommendations for best practice in marine planning and demonstrate that the use of spatial decision support tools (Marxan and Marxan with Zones) are essential for the integration of data in marine planning, to assess how using different types of data will impact marine planning and marine biodiversity protection and to explore implications of different management actions.

The fast coastal development has caused serious marine pollution with powerless policy and inappropriate management scheme, especially in dealing with the marine debris. The marine debris has been the major coastal problems over the year because of human related activities and nature disasters frequently occurring during the monsoon season or typhoon period each year around the coastal Taiwan. These make the marine debris issues to become the top priority for the government of Taiwan in dealing the marine pollution especially after the 8th of August, 2009. The present study is initiated to assess the current data information, policy, and regulation of Taiwan¡¦s coastal area debris management. This study uses comparative analysis, integrations of internal and external monitoring and management of marine debris-related researches. This thesis reports that Taiwan administration must undertake all three aspects of integration, monitoring and management to effectively managing the marine debris. As the aspect of integration, because marine debris come from land-based emissions, ocean currents carry and sea-based activities, the government needs to consolidate the entire river, rain water drainage systems, ports, ships and fishing areas, to establish an inter-ministerial and responsible agency, to truly develop and implement the bill of marine debris management. As the aspect of monitoring, the central and local government as well as civil society must do their best together to develop the monitoring operations format which needed both considering national unity and local differences, to take long-term continuous monitoring of all major coastal areas, to clarify the source of marine debris, so that government could effectively control the sources of marine debris. As the aspect of management, since the a variety of marine debris sources and diversity of monitoring, the inter-ministerial and responsible agency not only coordinates the various related fields, but also combines the public and private sectors, to truly implement the bill of marine debris management. Overall, Taiwan government must use a variety of economic incentives, cooperation issues and the law, as well as combines the strength of the IV private sectors to effectively manage the management of marine debris.

Worldwide, finfish fisheries receive increasing assessment and regulation, slowly leading to more sustainable exploitation and rebuilding. In their wake, invertebrate fisheries are rapidly expanding with little scientific scrutiny despite increasing socio-economic importance. This thesis provides the first global analysis of the trends, drivers, and population and ecosystem consequences of invertebrate fisheries, in general, and sea cucumber fisheries, in particular, based on a global catch database in combination with taxa-specific reviews. Further, I developed new methods to quantify trends over space and time in resource status and fishery development. Since 1950, global invertebrate catches increased six-fold with 1.5 times more countries fishing and double the taxa reported. By 2004, 31% of fisheries were over-exploited, collapsed, or closed. New fisheries developed increasingly rapidly, with a decrease of six years (± three years) in time from start to peak from 1960 to 1990. Moreover, 71% of invertebrate taxa (53% of catches) are harvested with habitat-destructive gear, and many provide important ecosystem functions including habitat, filtration, and grazing. For sea cucumber fisheries, global catch and value has increased strongly over the past two to three decades, closely linked to increasing prices and demand on Asian markets. However, the catch of individual fisheries followed a boom-and-bust pattern, declining nearly as quickly as it expanded, and expanding approximately five times as quickly in 1990 compared to 1960. Also, new fisheries expanded increasingly far from their driving market in Asia, and encompassed a global fishery by the 1990s. One-third of sea cucumber fisheries experienced declines in average body size fished; half showed serial exploitation over space by moving further away from the coast; three-quarters showed serial exploitation from high- to low-value species; and two-thirds experienced population declines due to overexploitation with local extirpation in some cases. One-third of all sea cucumber fisheries remain unregulated. These findings suggest that the basis of marine food webs is increasingly exploited with limited stock and ecosystem-impact assessments, and a new management focus is needed to avoid negative consequences for ocean ecosystems and human well-being.

Global, national and local institutions are adopting coastal management strategies that attempt to facilitate conservation without undermining socioeconomic development. Recently, two global conservation trends have developed that attempt to address prevailing issues of poverty and environmental degradation – community-based conservation and conservation networks. Using a political ecology lens, I examine the intersection of these trends in the local context of Pemba Island. Through fieldwork, textual analysis and literature reviews, I investigate how a community-based conservation association has been impacted by the establishment of a marine conservation network. In theory, community-based conservation and marine conservation networks offer solutions to the failures of fortress conservation and sectoral management. In practice, this case study demonstrates that these lofty objectives are difficult to achieve. These findings contribute to emerging research into the social dynamics of scaling up marine conservation areas and suggest that the success of marine conservation networks hinges on meaningful community participation.

This thesis research analyzed the perceptions of local community residents in Puerto Morelos, Mx., and its affect on the National Marine Park. Social and economic factors affecting the level of support for the marine park were evaluated. Formal semi-structured written surveys were conducted with stakeholders in two major sub-regions affected by the protected zone. The survey allowed for comparison of stakeholders providing qualitative and quantitative information regarding attitudes, regulation awareness, and formation of the marine protected area. The results demonstrated a difference in knowledge level based on location in the community. Demographic indicators including education, nationality and community residency time are significant influences on the community perception of marine protection. There was a significant relationship between economic growth provided by the protected area and the level of support for protection resources. Further understanding of the relationship between social indicators and resource management is needed for conservation of important coastal resources.

Sharks and manta rays are being heavily fished in Indonesia due to Asian demand for shark fins and manta gill rakers. The Indonesian government passed legislation in February 2014 to protect the two species of manta rays. A number of shark species have also been protected or banned from export. A major factor in this decision was the proven economic benefits from ecotourism compared to the economic benefits from the shark finning and manta gill industry.However, previous research on marine conservation underlines that there is a lack of social scientific studies on the socio-economic impacts that marine conservation have on stakeholder fishing communities. In an attempt to start filling this gap of knowledge, the purpose of this thesis was to investigate how the shark and manta ray conservation efforts affect the socio-economic situation of different stakeholder fishing communities in Indonesia. Fieldwork was done in fishing communities in the Komodo and Nusa Penida regions, together with the fishing village Tanjung Luar in Lombok, where people in fishing communities were interviewed about their livelihood situation. The study found that the impacts of marine conservation on the economic situation for stakeholder fishermen affects their attitude towards and compliance with marine conservation efforts. If no profitable economic alternatives are given to fishing, fishing communities have a lower degree of compliance with conservation efforts.

The ability to move and forage efficiently plays a major role in determining the fate of individuals, and has important implications for population dynamics and ecosystem functioning. Migration is a particular type of movement strategy, whereby animals may travel remarkable distances in order to take advantage of seasonality in resource availability or to avoid arduous winter conditions; however, this can be at a cost in terms of increased mortality. Indeed, anthropogenic threats in non-breeding areas are a major cause of population declines and a better understanding of non-breeding spatial ecology is required in order to advance both ecological theory and conservation management. The recent development of animal tracking technologies, in particular light-based geolocation, has made it possible to track large-scale and long-term movements; however, there are still gaps in our knowledge, such as the links between migratory and reproductive performance, connectivity among populations and the ontogeny of migration strategies. In this thesis, I utilise multi-species and longitudinal datasets from albatrosses and petrels, some of the most mobile species on Earth, to explore the drivers of variation in movements, habitat use and foraging behaviour, and the implications for life history and conservation. In Chapter 1, I provide an overview of the key topics of this thesis. In Chapter 2, I provide quantitative recommendations of minimum sample sizes needed to track pelagic seabird migrations, using data from 10 species. In Chapter 3, I examine between- and within-population differences in the habitat preferences and distributions of albatrosses, including the relative roles of habitat specialization and intra-specific competition. In Chapter 4, I investigate the year-round movement and foraging strategies of petrels living in nutrient-poor environments. In Chapter 5, I examine potential links between foraging behaviour during the non-breeding season and reproductive senescence. In Chapter 6, I explore the ontogeny of foraging behaviour and foraging site fidelity in young albatrosses, shedding light on their “lost years” at sea. Finally, I conclude with a general discussion summarizing main findings and suggesting future work. Overall, my results highlight the complex relationships among individual traits, the environment, movements and foraging behaviour, and population dynamics across the lifespan of individuals, with implications for the conservation of this highly threatened group of species.

Worldwide marine ecosystems are facing unprecedented threats, and the biodiversity crisis is paralleled by a decline in Indigenous cultures and languages. Increasingly, Indigenous peoples’ abilities to practice their traditional livelihoods and cultures are reduced, but there are many examples of cultural resurgence. My thesis was based on a collaboration for marine conservation planning for Tl’ches between the Songhees Nation and researchers from the University of Victoria. The primary objectives for my thesis were to 1) to document the Songhees marine conservation planning process, and compare it to systematic conservation planning to outline the similarities, differences, and highlight the uniqueness of an Indigenous-led planning approach and 2) to systematically document and integrate culturally significant species and their habitats into the Songhees stewardship vision for the marine use plan. I achieved my first objective by systematically documenting and showcasing the Indigenous-led marine conservation planning process of the Songhees Nation to reclaim and further stewardship over the Tl’ches archipelago near Victoria, BC. I ascribed process steps to the Songhees marine conservation planning approach and compared these steps to the traditional systematic conservation planning (SCP) steps as laid out by Pressey and Bottrill (2009). The Songhees approach showed similarities to SCP in the initial scoping phase of the marine conservation planning, in the review and compiling of existing data prior to the collection of data as well as the focus on focal species such as culturally important species. My second objective was accomplished by applying and evaluating the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Trident OpenROV as part of the Songhees marine conservation planning process around Tl’ches. This objective had three main outcomes: 1) I evaluated the marine ecological data collection capabilities for the Trident and 2) my surveys resulted in a systematic benthos classification and documentation of the algal community as well as a baseline of Songhees culturally important species. 3) I evaluated the ability of the Trident to provide high resolution ecological data to inform a marine use planning process. I found the Trident to be a capable tool to conduct systematic marine surveying despite some limitations such as low maneuverability in moderate to high current environments and dense kelp areas. I was able to document 14 of 25 culturally important species and 28 species of algae and seaweeds. I was also able to establish highly stressed environments suited for future restoration efforts. My research saw the creation of the Songhees Nation Marine Use Plan. The plan, along with the associated permanent data collection and compilation, can serve as a basis and guide to the Songhees Nation to initiate a monitoring program. Given the complicated jurisdictional landscape over the archipelago, the Songhees Nation Marine Use Plan could help strengthen assertions to exclusive stewardship and aid in creating a basis for dialogue between other stakeholders such as the Province of British Columbia. My collaboration fills a gap in the marine conservation planning literature by providing an example of an Indigenous-led marine conservation planning process according to the priorities of the Songhees Nation. / Graduate

Since the 1990s, the population on the Honduran island of Roatán has grown from around 20,000 (mostly English-speaking Islanders) to roughly 100,000 residents (at least half of which are native Spanish-speaking Ladinos from the Honduran mainland) (Bay Islands Voice 2014b). This population growth has occurred alongside increasing forms of economic and environmental precarity that have fueled widespread instability on the island. While ethnic tensions between Ladinos and Islanders have existed since colonial times, conflict between the groups reached a crescendo in 2014 after the murder of a cruise ship employee in Roatán by a Ladino migrant. This sparked a security crisis for the island’s idyllic tourism industry. In an effort to address growing security concerns, municipal authorities proposed a plan that included the installation of surveillance cameras in key population centers, use of 24-hour police patrols, and implementation of an identification program to track migration to the island. Authorities argued Ladino migrants were not only an ecological burden on the island, but also a major source of criminal activity, leading to the tourism industry’s instability. Yet, while stakeholders of island tourism were quick to cite Ladino migration as a major source of precarity, my research shows its causes are much broader and more complex. I argue simply blaming population growth – without a nuanced analysis of emerging human-environment relationships – does little to explain the multifaceted causes of instability in Roatán’s tourism industry. Drawing on twelve months of ethnographic research, I find the instability in Roatán’s tourism industry is more fully explained through four overlapping crises playing out across Honduras for the majority poor, including: a lack of physical and political representation, struggles over land rights, social and economic immobilities, and disappearing childhood. I examine this precarity as part of wider trends in global capitalism (e.g. increased expulsions of people from their lands), but also as something inextricably local in nature (e.g. filtered through a Ladino threat narrative). My analysis contributes to broader conversations occurring in the field of anthropology about how to discern and make sense of the growing forms of precarity humans face. For example, Sassen (2014) argues pinpointing the causes of precarity, such as those shaping life in Roatán, has grown more challenging as complex constellations of power obscure direct causal relationships. Parsing out the complicated relationships between formations of power on the Honduran mainland and growing sources of precarity on Roatán is one way I add to this body of literature. My research also contributes to this issue through examinations of the everyday cultural productions of value, meaning, and hope that emerge through engagements with the tourism industry—and how they anchor people amidst the backdrop of escalating uncertainty.