Naval Underwater Operation Unit (UOU), evolving from the Fleet Salvage Unit, is the only body specifically responsible for underwater operation under the Ministry of National Defense (MND). The mission of this Unit is to provide diving, salvage, mine counter-measurement, explosive ordnance disposal and diving training services to all armed forces and other government agencies. Since its establishment, UOU has been involved in many high visibility maritime distress operations over the years. UOU has a definite position and plays an important role in Taiwan¡¦s naval defensive warfare, maritime distress salvage, maritime pollution control and commercial diver training. With its professional capability and facilities, UOU has become the most capable governmental unit in diving and salvage in this country. To highlight its emphasis on marine affairs, the Executive Yuan established the ¡§National Council on the Advancement of Marine Affairs¡¨ on 7 January 2004 as a decision-making forum for marine affairs on the cabinet level. The adoption of the ¡§National Oceans Policy Guidelines¡¨ on 13 October 2004 and the formulation of the ¡§Program for the Development Planning of Marine Affairs¡¨ accordingly by this Council have set a new demarche to march towards an Ocean Nation for the country. Integration of government resources and cooperation among agencies are vital to the policy implementation. To implement the goals of national oceans policy and marine affairs development, government agencies should collaborate among themselves through resources integration. The main purpose of this study is to explore the position and development of the UOU in various domains of national marine affairs while the Government is making its effort to advance national oceans policy. To this end, this study examines the differences between the UOU and its equivalent units in the U.S. Navy from four perspectives, namely, organizational status, missions, capabilities and the relationship between these units and other government agencies, analyzes the needs imposed upon the UOU by various domains of national marine affairs, and then proposes the approaches for improving UOU¡¦s capabilities so as to fulfill the requirements of national marine affairs development.

This thesis, submitted for the Doctor of Philosophy in Geography and Environment, presents a case study of the development of the UK's market-based management system for oceanic fisheries. Implemented gradually in the years since 1984, the informal nature of the UK's fisheries management system, which has developed through a number of incremental changes and government-industry "gentlemen’s agreements" rather than clear legislative moves, means that few official policy documents (and perhaps consequently, little academic literature) on the subject currently exist. This thesis traces the material and political processes of market formation, looking at the origin of market-based policies in the theories of bioeconomics and wider economic history. It asks what the implicit assumptions of the economic discipline can – and can't – tell us about the impacts and outcomes of market creation, and using a Foucauldian inspired approach to economic performativity, discusses the role of ostensibly descriptive theories in shaping the world around them. Finally, it calls for a greater geographical engagement with marine issues, and proposes an action-research role for geographers in the politics of the sea.

Biscayne National Park is located off the southeast coast of Florida and attracts approximately half a million visitors annually. Managers of Biscayne National Park are proposing a new General Management Plan (GMP) in order to update the recreational and commercial use of resources in the park. A Fishery Management Plan (FMP) is also being drafted simultaneously in conjunction with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in order to address concerns associated with management of fish stocks within the park. The proposed plan alternatives of the GMP and the recommendations of the FMP were developed in response to the negative impacts on the park's marine ecosystem due to exponential population growth of the adjacent Miami metropolitan area. Problems associated with decreasing water quality, habitat degradation, and species exploitation contribute to the diminishing integrity of resources in the park and surrounding area. Currently commercial and recreational fishing are allowed in most of Biscayne National Park. The National Park Service's proposed alternatives are highly complex in order to make an attempt at appeasing stakeholder interests. In addition the recommendations of the FMP join the GMP alternatives in omitting marine reserves, a management practice that is widely thought by the scientific community to be an important step in marine resource rehabilitation. At present, there is a noticeable absence of scientific information and lack of participation of scientists in management decisions. Biscayne National Park would ultimately benefit by incorporating marine reserves into the park, and adjusting them based on scientific studies conducted by an appointed Scientific Advisory Board. Partnerships with state, federal, and international agencies could promote the idea of being a part of a marine reserve network for optimal resource protection in the Caribbean. An increase in revenue from a permit system and entrance fees would also promote enforcement and protection of park resources. Simple but strong regulation in the park could also help alleviate enforcement problems. In addition education of park resource users should be expanded inside and outside the park.

The Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico represents the first national attempt to address this environmental issue. Hypoxia is the condition of low concentrations of dissolved oxygen in a body of water. This condition leads to a so-called dead zone and potentially threatens industries dependent on the living marine resources of this area. The potential impact of any policy or plan designed to combat hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico could have significant impacts on stakeholder groups, specifically the fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico, and the agriculture and fertilizer industries in the Midwest. This thesis examines the influence of the relative economic power of the aforementioned industries on the development of effective policy to mitigate hypoxia. The relative economic power of the agriculture and fertilizer industries has significantly impacted the development and efficacy of this plan.

abstract: Many wildlife species that are essential to human livelihoods are targeted with the aim of extracting short-term benefits. Overexploitation, resulting from failed common-pool resource governance, has endangered the sustainability of large animal species, in particular. Rights-based approaches to wildlife conservation offer a possible path forward. In a wildlife market, property rights, or shares of an animal population, are allocated to resource users with interests in either harvest or preservation. Here, I apply the Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework (Ostrom, 2009) to identify the conditions under which the ecological, social, and economic outcomes of a conservation market are improved compared to the status quo. I first consider three case studies (Bighorn sheep, white rhino, and Atlantic Bluefin tuna) all of which employ different market mechanisms. Based on the SES framework and these case studies, I then evaluate whether markets are a feasible management option for other socially and ecologically significant species, such as whales (and similar highly migratory species), and whether market instruments are capable of accommodating non-consumptive environmental values in natural resource decision making. My results suggest that spatial and temporal distribution, ethical and cultural relevance, and institutional histories compatible with commodification of wildlife are key SES subsystem variables. Successful conservation markets for cross-boundary marine species, such as whales, sea turtles, and sharks, will require intergovernmental agreements. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Biology 2014

No description available.

Sustainable development of global marine resources has been the focus of various United Nations' agencies and coastal nations since World War II. As capture fisheries resources have come under pressure and perhaps reached their sustainable limit concern has been expressed over the ability to continue to meet the protein needs of expanding populations. One potentially significant contributor to addressing the food needs of the world is marine farming (mariculture). The expansion of marine farming in developing countries has been well-addressed in the literature, but marine farming in developed countries has received less attention. The traditional biophysical requirements of marine farming (sheltered clean water of appropriate depth) have led to conflicts with other users of the coastal environment. In the developed countries in particular, suitable sites are contested places of consumption (recreation, tourism) as well as production (capture fisheries). Moreover, the adjacent terrestrial land and water uses can significantly affect acceptability of marine farming. The avoidance of conflicts and the achievement of sustainable development in such settings are largely dependent on the systems of governance. In developed countries, these are often articulated through planning regimes and associated 'rights'. The global terrestrial planning response in the first two thirds of the 20th Century was dominated by a modernist approach to planning. In the later stages, a post-modern challenge coincided with the rise of neo-liberalism in many developed countries. Planning in New Zealand has shown a similar pattern. The extent to which modern, postmodern and neo-liberal approaches might have been manifest in the marine environment, especially with regard to marine farming, has received little attention. In most developed countries there has been an institutional separation between terrestrial and marine administrative agencies that has resulted in conflict between these agencies and between the regimes they work within and help create. Integrated Coastal Management emerged as a response to this situation and had become the dominant planning regime for coastal resources by the last decade of the 20th Century. It was largely uncritically promoted and accepted, especially by United Nations and coastal state government agencies. These themes provide the broad theoretical and practical context for this thesis. Since the 1970s, there has been a revolutionary break in New Zealand's resource management from a centralized command and control style of modernist planning to a neo-liberal, planning regime characterised by elements of modernism and postmodernism. Concurrently it has revamped, but failed to integrate, coastal and fisheries management and planning. Ironically, each of the resulting primary marine resource management statutes (the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and the Fisheries Act 1983/1996 (FA83/96)) is considered to implement a world-leading model. Marine farming lies at the interface between the regimes created by these and preceding Acts and the nature of the regimes is explored in relation to marine farming. The development of the regimes and the rationale for them is set out with the aid of Scott's (1989, 2000b) axial model of the characteristics of a property right. The thesis groups the development of the New Zealand planning regimes for marine farming into four era: pre-modern (1866-1964), proto-modern (1964-1971), modern (1971-1991), and transitional (1991-2001). The evolution of the industry is shown largely to follow a generalized model of the industry in developed countries. This suggests that the nature of the property rights available for marine farming in New Zealand is not of great significance in the general development of the industry. The planning regime, however, significantly affects the spatial pattern of development of the industry. An analysis of provisions for marine farms in various plans suggests quite different planning 'styles' and approaches have been adopted in different parts of the country at different times. A Geographic Information System of all individual marine farms in New Zealand is developed to the stage where it can be combined with other data to investigate the spatial patterns that have evolved in New Zealand. A typology of patterns of farm arrangement in relation to other farms is apparent from the resultant mapped information. These patterns are shown to represent the outcomes of a combination of competing rights and the responses of and to the contemporaneous planning regimes. The consequences of adopting different styles of planning are apparent. This macro-level research is extended to the micro-level by an exploration of variables affecting the individual farmer's locational decisions. A national postal questionnaire survey of marine farm owners yielded 148 usable responses (32% response rate). Inferential statistical analytical tools were used to test the significance of relationships between particular variables. Multivariate analyses were used to cluster the respondents and the variables and to search for latent factors. These analyses supported field interview findings with regard to the importance of particular variables, especially planning regimes in directing the location and nature of marine farming. The results enabled development of a descriptive model for exploring and comparing the quality of different means of acquiring marine space for marine farming. The analyses also confirmed that significant changes were occurring within the structure of the industry. Analysis of the field interviews, maps, policy documents, Environment Court decisions and other secondary material shows the major capture fishing companies are increasingly dominating the industry. There was a notable presence of a category of 'entrepreneur site developers' exploiting the neo-liberal nature of the planning regimes of the 1990s to open up new areas for marine farming on scales unprecedented in the rest of the world. The consequent race for space has met with stiff resistance from the capture fishing industry, but more especially from the recreational sector. This has led to significant transaction costs. The Government response, a partial moratorium on marine farm development in November 2001, is shown to emulate the modernist command and control style of planning of twenty years earlier and to signal a failure of neo-liberal ideology to meet the needs of the industry and the public at large.

釣魚臺列嶼爭端是影響東海區域和平穩定的主要因素，該海域除蘊藏豐富生物及非生物資源外，更因其具有重大的地緣戰略利益，對亞太區域安全有深遠之影響。惟歷經歷史時局的演變，主權歸屬問題涉及中共、日本與臺灣等國，基於特殊歷史背景與國際間一中政策制約，使我國僅有海洋國家之名，同時影響我對於上述島嶼之主權主張。 中共挾著新崛起的大國氣勢，明確提出「海洋強國」之戰略目標，透過整合內部海上執法機關，展現維護國家海洋權益之決心，進而鞏固和擴大海洋維權成果。然囿於其海域被島鏈封鎖，戰略迴旋空間有限，為實踐其海洋戰略利益，面對周遭潛在的軍事威脅和海洋爭端，中共目前正積極拓展海上力量。臺灣應如何突破外交困境，並於維護國家尊嚴與人民福祉之間，尋求解決釣魚臺海域爭端之最佳途徑，作為在現今國際劣勢下，發展國家海洋戰略事務之借鏡，以達知彼知己，百戰不殆之效。 海上安全儼然已成為全球化新興環境的核心議題，在面對中共積極強化東海經營管理策略及戰略部署的同時，我國更應該思考如何強化海洋政策作為，藉此與世界接軌，構建與各大國間的等距平衡交往戰略，從中獲得外交自主性，以確保國家最大利益。 / The territorial disputes of Diao-Yu-Tai Islands are the decisive factors to the stability of the East China Sea (ECS). ECS has not only rich living and non-living resources, but also profound effects on the security of Asia-Pacific area due to the significant geo-strategic interests thereof. According to the evolution of historical events, the Islands’ sovereignty disputes among the neighboring countries of China, Japan and Taiwan. Based on the special historic background and constraints of the international realism of one China policy, Taiwan is merely a marine country and has a difficulty to claim the sovereignty right of the Islands. China, the rising power, specifically set out the strategy of establishing itself as a “marine power” by integrating the internal maritime law enforcement agencies to demonstrate the determination of maintaining its maritime rights and interests so as to consolidate and expand the outcome of safeguarded rights. However, blocked by the Island chain of Asian Pacific that leads to insufficient defense and response space, China actively reinforces the maritime power to fulfill its ocean strategic interests and manage the potential military threats and maritime disputes. Taiwan shall break through the diplomatic bottleneck to seek for the best solution on the disputes of the Diao-Yu-Tai Islands to assert the national rights and people welfare under the international adverse situation. The maritime security is the core issue of the Globalization development. Facing to the strengthened stewardship strategy and military arrangement in the ECS of China, Taiwan should think over the marine policy to synchronize with the world and seek for the balance among the neighboring countries. As a result, it is beneficial for Taiwan to win the independent authority in diplomacy to ensure national best interests.

Species conservation is typically founded upon a range of management strategies, which integrate both biological and socioeconomic data. In this thesis, population genetics, acoustic telemetry, spawning aggregation surveys and stakeholder assessments were used to address key knowledge gaps limiting effective conservation management for critically endangered Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) stocks in The Bahamas. A panel of polymorphic microsatellite markers was optimised to assess the genetic population dynamics of more than 400 Nassau grouper sampled throughout the country. Microsatellite data indicate that contemporary Nassau grouper populations in The Bahamas are predominantly genetically diverse and weakly differentiated, but lack geographic population structure. Assessments of changes in effective population size (Ne) show substantive reductions in Ne within The Bahamas compared to historic values that are likely due to natural disturbances. Evidence for recent bottlenecks occurring in three islands as well as an active spawning site, along with higher inbreeding coefficients in two islands were also found, and can be attributed to more recent anthropogenic activities. Collapse of a historically important Nassau grouper fish spawning aggregation (FSA) was supported by both acoustic telemetry and spawning aggregation survey dives. Restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) of 94 Nassau grouper was used to explore intraspecific population dynamics, loci under selection and patterns of gene flow in The Bahamas. Genomic assessments of diversity were in accord with microsatellite data and examinations of gene flow support higher levels of connectivity in The Bahamas than was previously suggested. The increased resolution gained from assessments of genomic data support intraspecific population structuring that may be driven by differences in gene flow and putative loci under divergent selection. Telemetry data were successfully used to identify the origins of spawning adults, and support demographic connectivity through migrations between an active FSA in the central Bahamas and home reef habitats within the Exumas and a no-take marine protected area. Stakeholder assessments highlight the complexities of fisheries management within The Bahamas, with key stakeholders often exhibiting conflicting opinions regarding the status of Nassau grouper and the efficacy of management options. However, these groups mutually agree upon the need to better manage remaining Nassau grouper stocks within The Bahamas through science-grounded policies. Synthesis of these studies along with a review of fisheries governance in The Bahamas was used to develop a comprehensive national management plan for Nassau grouper to facilitate better conservation for remaining populations of this ecologically important marine species.