Rod Fujita

A Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems

The management and conservation of the worlds oceans require synthesis of spatial data on the distribution and intensity of human activities and the overlap of their impacts on marine ecosystems. We developed an ecosystem-specific, multiscale spatial model to synthesize 17 global data sets of anthropogenic drivers of ecological change for 20 marine ecosystems. Our analysis indicates that no area is unaffected by human influence and that a large fraction (41%) is strongly affected by multiple drivers. However, large areas of relatively little human impact remain, particularly near the poles. The analytical process and resulting maps provide flexible tools for regional and global efforts to allocate conservation resources; to implement ecosystem-based management; and to inform marine spatial planning, education, and basic research.

Renewable energy from the ocean

Growing concern over the threat of global climate change has led to an increased interest in research and development of renewable energy technologies. The ocean provides a vast source of potential energy resources, and as renewable energy technology develops, investment in ocean energy is likely to grow. Research in ocean thermal energy conversion, wave energy, tidal energy, and offshore wind energy has led to promising technologies and in some cases, commercial deployment. These sources have the potential to help alleviate the global climate change threat, but the ocean environment should be protected while these technologies are developed. Renewable energy sources from the ocean may be exploited without harming the marine environment if projects are sited and scaled appropriately and environmental guidelines are followed.

Assumptions, challenges, and future directions in cumulative impact analysis

Efforts to understand and map cumulative impacts of human activities on ecosystems have gained new interest and relevance as management moves towards ecosystem-based approaches that require such assessments. The last five years have seen a proliferation of efforts to characterize and map cumulative impacts, providing insight into the strengths and limitations of these efforts and where opportunities lie for progress. Here we provide a review of the key assumptions that underlie most cumulative impact mapping efforts, describing the implications and rationales for the assumptions, and highlight the many challenges cumulative impact mapping efforts face. We end with a brief summary of several future research directions that will help greatly improve application of cumulative impact mapping to resource management and conservation planning efforts.

Principles for managing marine ecosystems prone to tipping points

Abstract As climatic changes and human uses intensify, resource managers and other decision makers are taking actions to either avoid or respond to ecosystem tipping points, or dramatic shifts in structure and function that are often costly and hard to reverse. Evidence indicates that explicitly addressing tipping points leads to improved management outcomes. Drawing on theory and examples from marine systems, we distill a set of seven principles to guide effective management in ecosystems with tipping points, derived from the best available science. These principles are based on observations that tipping points (1) are possible everywhere, (2) are associated with intense and/or multifaceted human use, (3) may be preceded by changes in early‐warning indicators, (4) may redistribute benefits among stakeholders, (5) affect the relative costs of action and inaction, (6) suggest biologically informed management targets, and (7) often require an adaptive response to monitoring. We suggest that early action to preserve system resilience is likely more practical, affordable, and effective than late action to halt or reverse a tipping point. We articulate a conceptual approach to management focused on linking management targets to thresholds, tracking early‐warning signals of ecosystem instability, and stepping up investment in monitoring and mitigation as the likelihood of dramatic ecosystem change increases. This approach can simplify and economize management by allowing decision makers to capitalize on the increasing value of precise information about threshold relationships when a system is closer to tipping or by ensuring that restoration effort is sufficient to tip a system into the desired regime.

Secure sustainable seafood from developing countries

Require improvements as conditions for market access Demand for sustainably certified wild-caught fish and crustaceans is increasingly shaping global seafood markets. Retailers such as Walmart in the United States, Sainsburys in the United Kingdom, and Carrefour in France, and processors such as Canadianbased High Liner Foods, have promised to source all fresh, frozen, farmed, and wild seafood from sustainable sources by 2015 (1, 2). Credible arbiters of certifications, such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), require detailed environmental and traceability standards. Although these standards have been met in many commercial fisheries throughout the developed world (3), developing country fisheries (DCFs) represent only 7% of ~220 total MSC-certified fisheries (4, 5). With the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reporting that developing countries account for ~50% of seafood entering international trade, this presents a fundamental challenge for marketers of sustainable seafood (see the photo).

Embracing thresholds for better environmental management

Three decades of study have revealed dozens of examples in which natural systems have crossed biophysical thresholds (‘tipping points’)—nonlinear changes in ecosystem structure and function—as a result of human-induced stressors, dramatically altering ecosystem function and services. Environmental management that avoids such thresholds could prevent severe social, economic and environmental impacts. Here, we review management measures implemented in ecological systems that have thresholds. Using Ostroms social–ecological systems framework, we analysed key biophysical and institutional factors associated with 51 social–ecological systems and associated management regimes, and related these to management success defined by ecological outcomes. We categorized cases as instances of prospective or retrospective management, based upon whether management aimed to avoid a threshold or to restore systems that have crossed a threshold. We find that smaller systems are more amenable to threshold-based management, that routine monitoring is associated with successful avoidance of thresholds and recovery after thresholds have been crossed, and that success is associated with the explicit threshold-based management. These findings are powerful evidence for the policy relevance of information on ecological thresholds across a wide range of ecosystems.

Rights-based Fisheries Management: An Environmentalist Perspective

Fisheries management regimes take many forms, but most fail to designate shares of the catch. This failure creates strong incentives for individuals to maximize their share without regard to long-term sustainability, because the benefits of conservation actions do not accrue to individuals. The competition to maximize catch usually entails excessive capital investments in fishing vessels and gear and intense fishing pressure, resulting in overfishing, high bycatch rates, and the use of large, efficient types of gear that can harm habitat. Managers respond by increasing regulations, but this often exacerbates perverse incentives. In addition, many fisheries could be producing more value than the current system permits, i.e. large quantities of fish are landed during short seasons, forcing fishermen to sell for low prices. Conservation and economic problems facing fisheries can be addressed in an integrated way, by designating access privileges (specifying shares of the catch) to individuals, harvest cooperatives, fishing sectors, communities, or other appropriate entities. Designated Access Privilege (DAP) systems demonstrably end the competition to maximize catch and often result in better conservation and financial performance. The cost of implementing these systems can be relatively high and has been a barrier to better management. However, this doesn’t have to be so. Fisheries could accept investments from a variety of sources and use a portion of the increased financial performance to repay recoverable grants and loans. The key to protecting fish stocks, habitats, and the communities that depend on them will be to implement DAPs that are appropriate for each fishery or community, making investments in sustainability, and creating financing mechanisms that are themselves sustainable, drawing on the increased value that DAP fisheries can produce.

A practical approach for putting people in ecosystem‐based ocean planning

Marine and coastal ecosystems provide important benefits and services to coastal communities across the globe, but assessing the diversity of social relationships with oceans can prove difficult for conservation scientists and practitioners. This presents barriers to incorporating social dimensions of marine ecosystems into ecosystem-based planning processes, which can in turn affect the success of planning and management initiatives. Following a global assessment of social research and related planning practices in ocean environments, we present a step-by-step approach for natural resource planning practitioners to more systematically incorporate social data into ecosystem-based ocean planning. Our approach includes three sequential steps: (1) develop a typology of ocean-specific human uses that occur within the planning region of interest; (2) characterize the complexity of these uses, including the spatiotemporal variability, intensity, and diversity thereof, as well as associated conflicts and compati...

Thresholds in Caribbean coral reefs: implications for ecosystem-based fishery management

Summary 1. Ecosystem-based management of coral reef fisheries aims to sustainably deliver a diverse portfolio of ecosystem services. This goal can be undermined if the ecosystem shifts into a different state, with altered ecosystem functions and benefits to people. If levels of drivers that cause transitions between states are identified, management measures could be aimed at maintaining drivers below these levels to avoid ecosystem shifts. 2. Analysing data from a large number of Caribbean coral reefs (N = 2001), suites of nonlinear thresholds were identified between metrics of coral reef processes and structure along a gradient of total fish biomass (a proxy for fishing pressure). Several metrics (macroalgal cover, invertivorous fishes and fish species richness) associated with coral-dominated reefs exhibited thresholds at relatively high fish biomass levels (50–88% of unfished biomass). Other metrics (urchin biomass, ratio of macroalgal to coral cover, herbivorous fishes and coral cover) showed thresholds at lower fish biomass levels (28–37% of unfished biomass). 3. Ratios of total fish biomass in fishing areas to closed areas (unfished biomass) in the Caribbean indicate that reefs may generally be at risk for change at ratios between 05 (coral dominated) and 03 (macroalgal dominated). Similar relationships were found for coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. While these results illustrate thresholds at the scale of the entire Caribbean, assessing local reefs is advisable because biomass levels vary within the region, and reef trajectories depend on past, present and future local conditions. 4. Synthesis and applications. If the thresholds in this study are generalizable to scales relevant to management, it may be possible to produce sustainable yield while simultaneously maintaining coral-dominated reefs by restricting fishing mortality to levels that result in biomass ratios near 05. Fishing down to biomass ratios near 03 may increase the risk of overfishing (resulting in lower long-term yields) and transition to macroalgal-dominated reefs. Thresholds offer a simple and powerful way for managers to operationalize precautionary ecosystem-based fishery management by adaptively limiting fishing pressure in order to (i) maintain desirable coral reef conditions, (ii) establish a system-specific target for generating pretty good yield and (iii) maintain sustainable multi-species fishery yields.

A system-wide approach to supporting improvements in seafood production practices and outcomes

Environmental certification and consumer awareness programs are designed to create market incentives for implementing fisheries and aquaculture practices that are more sustainable. Typically focused on particular species and activities, such programs have so far triggered few changes to improve seafood sustainability. Here, we present a conceptual, system-wide fisheries and aquaculture certification program designed to recognize and promote change toward more sustainable and resilient seafood production systems. In contrast to previous efforts, this program concentrates on both ecosystems and various human stakeholders, relies on an adaptive management approach (termed “continual improvement”) to enhance outcomes, and considers socioeconomic factors. The goal of this program is to support the restoration and maintenance of healthy ecosystem states and thriving human communities as well as the improvement of whole social–ecological systems.