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The application of zinc (Zn) isotope compositions in bivalve organisms to quantify anthropogenic Zn bioaccumulation in marine biota is of great interest to environmental marine management programs such as the “Mussel Watch Program”. Field studies, however, are urgently needed to test its practical value. To this end, we investigated Zn isotope variations in the oyster Crassostrea gigas collected over four decades near the Loire estuary (France), where previous geochemical studies provided evidence for a regionally uniform but temporally variable metal contamination. We show that the Zn temporal isotope profile of oysters matches that of the sedimentary records with an isotope offset of approximately +0.5–0.7‰, tentatively attributed to compromised estuarine processes and trophic transfer. A Zn isotope model for quantifying anthropogenic Zn bioaccumulation suggests an overall decrease in anthropogenic estuarine Zn levels over the past 40 years. This first successful application of Zn isotope ratios in a bivalve species to quantify anthropogenic Zn bioaccumulation confirms their utility for supporting environmental management strategies in marine biomonitoring programs.

The themed article set (TS) “Science in support of a nonlinear non-equilibrium world” reflects the challenge presented by the increasing potential for complex non-linear behaviour in marine ecosystems, many of which are undergoing dramatic changes due to anthropogenic perturbations. Marine ecosystems are complex adaptive systems, yet management strategies are often guided by a linear, stable perspective that excludes non-linearities and the possibility for evolution and adaptation. Rapidly increasing amounts of observational data, the interdisciplinary development of powerful mathematical approaches from complexity theory, and the evolving complex adaptive systems approach that includes human behaviour promise to substantially advance the development of management strategies. For these reasons, the ICES Journal of Marine Science solicited contributions to a TS that would take up these issues. In this introduction, I focus on three important areas—causality, prediction, and emergence—where a “non-linear” perspective can advance our understanding and better support sustainable management of ecosystems. I briefly present the nine contributions that are included in the themed set and suggest some ways forward. We hope that these articles serve to convince managers and marine scientists of the benefits of incorporating approaches and results from research on non-linear dynamics.

Ecological studies that enhance our understanding of the structure and function of the natural world rely heavily on accurate species identification. With rapid sample accumulation and declining taxonomic expertise, cladistics, phylogenetics and coalescent-based analyses have become key tools for identification or discrimination of species. These tools differ in effectiveness and interpretation depending on researcher perspective and the unique evolutionary histories of the taxa. Given the cost and time required for taxonomic assessment of ambiguous species groups, we advocate a pragmatic approach to clarify species assignment. We carried out a case-study on species from the diverse ophiuroid genusOphiacanthacommon in shelf habitats around the Southern Ocean. Although several of the species are formally described with clear and distinctive morphological characters and reproductive strategies (O. vivipara,O. pentactis,O. densispina,O. antarctica, andO. wolfarntzi), recent molecular data has highlighted issues with these morphospecies, the characters that formally define them and their evolutionary histories. Here we provide evidence that key morphological features of species can be deceptive and show that six-armedO. vivipara, for example, is not a widely distributed Southern Ocean species as currently accepted, rather, three disparate clades.Ophiacantha pentactis, described as having five arms, frequently has six arms and the six-armed form is mistakenly classified asO. vivipara. All six-armed specimens collected from the Antarctic continental shelf fall into theO. pentactisspecies clade. Molecular tools designed for species delimitation appear to fail to reflect the “true” species composition. Rather than rely on a single tool for species recognition, we advocate an integrated approach using traditional detailed taxonomic morphology, summary statistics of molecular sequence data from populations, robust phylogenies, sufficient geographical sampling and local biological knowledge to ensure that species hypotheses can be built on mutually supporting lines of evidence.

Research funders can play an important role in supporting the integration of marine science into policy and practice to enable evidence-informed decision-making. However, to date, there is a paucity of guidance available to help research funders understand the specific actions they can take to support knowledge exchange among the researchers that they fund and relevant stakeholders, particularly within marine contexts. This Brief Research Report aims to begin to fill this gap through an in-depth case study of the Lenfest Ocean Program (LOP). Specifically, through qualitative interviews with 32 participants across eight LOP funded research projects (i.e., case studies) we sought to: (i) understand the types of impacts that have resulted from the LOP funded research, (ii) determine which activities undertaken by the LOP enabled funded research projects to achieve these impacts, and (iii) synthesize findings to articulate the core lessons that have emerged from our examination of these research projects. Results show that the concept of “research impact” is complex and can be interpreted in a number of ways including: (i) raising awareness of research among end-users, (ii) development and expansion of social networks, (iii) the provision of information to decision-makers, (iv) the development of decision-support tools, and (v) a direct contribution to policy change. We highlight the ways by which the LOP has supported the attainment of these impacts, as well as 10 general considerations that research funders should consider when seeking to enhance the impact of the research that they fund on marine policy and practice.

1. Connectivity of marine populations and ecosystems is crucial to maintaining and enhancing their structure, distribution, persistence, resilience and productivity. Artificial hard substrate, such as that associated with oil and gas platforms, provides settlement opportunities for species adapted to hard substrates in areas of soft sediment. The contribution of artificial hard substrate and the consequences of its removal (e.g. through decommissioning) to marine connectivity is not clear, yet such information is vital to inform marine spatial planning and future policy decisions on the use and protection of marine resources. 2. This study demonstrates the application of a social network analysis approach to quantify and describe the ecological connectivity, informed by particle tracking model outputs, of hard substrate marine communities in the North Sea. Through comparison of networks with and without artificial hard substrate, and based on hypothetical decommissioning scenarios, this study provides insight into the contribution of artificial hard substrate, and the consequence of decommissioning, to the structure and function of marine community connectivity. 3. This study highlights that artificial hard substrate, despite providing only a small proportion of the total area of hard substrate, increases the geographic extent and connectivity of the hard substrate network, bridging gaps, thereby providing ‘stepping stones’ between otherwise disconnected areas of natural hard substrate. Compared to the baseline scenario, a decommissioning scenario with full removal of oil and gas platforms results in a nearly 60% reduction in connectivity. Such reduction in connectivity may have negative implications for species’ distribution, gene flow and resilience following disturbance or exploitation of marine hard substrate communities. 4. Synthesis and applications. Social network analysis can provide valuable insight into connectivity between marine communities and enable the evaluation of impacts associated with changes to the marine environment. Providing standardized, transparent and robust outputs, such a tool is useful to facilitate understanding across different disciplines, including marine science, marine spatial planning and marine policy. Social network analysis therefore has great potential to address current knowledge gaps with respect to marine connectivity and crucially facilitate assessment of the impacts of changes in offshore substrate as part of the marine spatial planning process, thereby informing policy and marine management decisions.

Background Drawing upon multiple types of knowledge (e.g., Indigenous knowledge, local knowledge, science-based knowledge) strengthens the evidence-base for policy advice, decision making, and environmental management. While the benefits of incorporating multiple types of knowledge in environmental research and management are many, doing so has remained a challenge. This systematic map examined the extent, range, and nature of the published literature (i.e., commercially published and grey) that seeks to respectively bridge Indigenous and science-based knowledge in coastal and marine research and management in Canada. Methods This systematic map applied standardized search terms across four databases focused on commercially published literature, carefully selected specialist websites, and two web-based search engines. In addition, reference sections of relevant review articles were cross-checked to identify articles that may not have been found using the search strategy. Search results were screened in two sequential stages; (1) at title and abstract; and (2) at full text following a published protocol. All case studies included were coded using a standard questionnaire. A narrative synthesis approach was used to identify trends in the evidence, knowledge gaps, and knowledge clusters. Results A total of 62 articles that spanned 71 Canadian case studies were included in the systematic map. Studies across the coastal and marine regions of Inuit Nunangat accounted for the majority of the studies. Whether the focus is on management and decision making or research and monitoring, the predominant ecological scale was at the species level, accounting for over two-thirds of the included studies. There were 24 distinct coastal and marine species of central focus across the studies. Nunavut had the greatest taxonomic coverage as studies conducted to date cover 13 different genera. The predominant methodology employed for combining and/or including Indigenous knowledge was case study design, which accounted for over half of the studies. Other methodologies employed for combining and/or including different ways of knowing included: (i) community-based participatory research; (ii) mixed methods; (iii) ethnography; and (iv) simulation modelling. There are a suite of methods utilized for documenting and translating Indigenous knowledge and an equally diverse tool box of methods used in the collection of scientific data. Over half of the case studies involved Indigenous knowledge systems of the Inuit, while another significant proportion involved Indigenous knowledge systems of First Nations, reflecting 21 unique nations. We found that demographics of knowledge holders were generally not reported in the articles reviewed. Conclusions The results of this systematic map provide key insights to inform and improve future research. First, a variety of methodologies and methods are used in these types of studies. Therefore, there is a need to consider in more detail how Indigenous and science-based knowledge systems can be respectively bridged across subjects while also recognizing specific place-based needs of Indigenous communities. Second, the work highlights the need to better report the demographics of knowledge holders. Further inquiry focused on the extent of knowledge co-production and assessing Indigenous participation across different stages of the research process would serve the research community well to improve future research and monitoring in support of, and to strengthen, evidence-based environmental management.

Several initiatives have been taken worldwide to promote international coordination and integrated approach in marine management. At the European level, ten years after the adoption of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the Member State strategies still present some ecological, economic and social challenges. This review identifies the minor, intermediate and major impediments (respectively defined as ‘bottlenecks, showstoppers and train-wrecks’) to marine management, resulting from a 4-year analysis of national, regional and European reports. Most of the problems are linked to the resistance of countries to collaborate and to the inability to integrate the work already carried out under other pieces of legislation. The European countries will need to better integrate and coordinate their actions in marine management in the second cycle of the MSFD, in order to achieve its final goal of Good Environmental Status as well as the objectives of other environmental policies.

In 2020 the management of transboundary fisheries was severely impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Most annual meetings of regional fisheries and marine management organizations were held virtually, postponed, or cancelled. Even though most organizations managed to meet virtually in 2020, many important decisions were postponed to 2021. Consequently, regional secretariats and delegations face a difficult calendar with substantial agendas and complex decision-making challenges. This commentary provides a brief overview of the virtual meeting processes that have been implemented by regional organisations in response to COVID-19 and provides a calendar of their plans for 2021.

WOS:000600321500002; International audience; Maritime spatial planning (MSP) is a governance approach that has been applauded for its promise to reconcile human uses and conservation, and is now widely implemented in member states of the European Union (EU), as well as in other countries in the Global North, like Canada, the United States and Australia. Five years ago, very few countries in the Global South seemed to be engaged in MSP. The Atlantic Ocean assumes the status of a major ecosystem and has geopolitical importance in the context of EU and is even more strengthened by the long-term political cooperation with the Tropical Atlantic countries regarding maritime affairs. The PADDLE project (EU RISE) aims to assess, in a north-south context, precisely how countries on the "Atlantic Boarder", namely Senegal, Cape Verde and Brazil, encompass this trend towards MSP within their legal, institutional and political frameworks, following blue economy options and blue growth strategies. This contribution is an updated output of an international PADDLE project expert assessment, held in Brazil in February 2019, following two years of research. It intends to summarize the main conclusions on the state of the art and MSP prospects in the Tropical Atlantic, also referring to the ongoing MSP process in several EU countries. Political, legal and institutional frameworks enhancing MSP were presented and future trends for tropical MSP governance discussed.

In the last 20 years, the EU has adopted some rather ambitious pieces of legislation with the aim to achieve a good environmental status in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Both the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) have a strong focus on the natural environment and biological criteria for assessing the status of the relevant ecosystems. In the same time period, much research on environmental governance has focused on the interconnectedness of social systems and ecosystems, so-called social-ecological systems (SES). While having high aspirations, the legal frameworks underpinning current EU water and marine management do not necessarily reflect the advances of contemporary science relating to SES. Using the geographical intersection of the two directives, i.e., coastal waters as a focal point, the paper explores the inchoate integration of social and ecological perspectives in the EU marine governance. What are the main challenges for the current EU legal regimes for managing coastal waters in a way that builds on the understanding of social and ecological systems as interconnected? Having explored the two directives, the paper introduces the possibility of using marine spatial planning (MSP), and the EU directive establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning (MSPD) as a bridge between the social and ecological dimensions and discusses what implications this would have for the current system for governing coastal waters in Europe.

Marine ecosystems are under high demand for human use, giving concerns about how pressures from human activities may affect their structure, function, and status. In Europe, recent developments in mapping of marine habitats and human activities now enable a coherent spatial evaluation of potential combined effects of human activities. Results indicate that combined effects from multiple human pressures are spread to 96% of the European marine area, and more specifically that combined effects from physical disturbance are spread to 86% of the coastal area and 46% of the shelf area. We compare our approach with corresponding assessments at other spatial scales and validate our results with European-scale status assessments for coastal waters. Uncertainties and development points are identified. Still, the results suggest that Europe’s seas are widely disturbed, indicating potential discrepancy between ambitions for Blue Growth and the objective of achieving good environmental status within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Decision-support tools (DSTs) synthesize complex information to assist environmental managers in the decision-making process. Here, we review DSTs applied in the Baltic Sea area, to investigate how well the ecosystem approach is reflected in them, how different environmental problems are covered, and how well the tools meet the needs of the end users. The DSTs were evaluated based on (i) a set of performance criteria, (ii) information on end user preferences, (iii) how end users had been involved in tool development, and (iv) what experiences developers/hosts had on the use of the tools. We found that DSTs frequently addressed management needs related to eutrophication, biodiversity loss, or contaminant pollution. The majority of the DSTs addressed human activities, their pressures, or environmental status changes, but they seldom provided solutions for a complete ecosystem approach. In general, the DSTs were scientifically documented and transparent, but confidence in the outputs was poorly communicated. End user preferences were, apart from the shortcomings in communicating uncertainty, well accounted for in the DSTs. Although end users were commonly consulted during the DST development phase, they were not usually part of the development team. Answers from developers/hosts indicate that DSTs are not applied to their full potential. Deeper involvement of end users in the development phase could potentially increase the value and impact of DSTs. As a way forward, we propose streamlining the outputs of specific DSTs, so that they can be combined to a holistic insight of the consequences of management actions and serve the ecosystem approach in a better manner.

Formal and semi-formal networks are emerging as effective, collaborative, and adaptable approaches for addressing complex, rapidly evolving ocean governance issues. One such group of networks, which we refer to as marine-related learning networks, play multifaceted roles within ocean governance systems by facilitating knowledge creation, exchange, and dissemination, and by building the capacity of individuals and institutions to address problems and improve coastal and ocean governance. This study investigates the emergence, key attributes, and outcomes of marine-related networks using semi-structured interview data from 40 key informants representing 16 different networks that operate around the world at local, national, regional, and global scales. Our findings indicate that marine-related learning networks form in response to knowledge and action gaps and the specific needs of network members, and they function to inform policy and improve ocean management. Their success depends on attributes such as having a distinct purpose, building trust and relationships, emphasizing equitable participation, and supporting clear, sustained leadership. Marine-related learning networks are uniquely positioned to act as catalyzers and conduits to build capacity and develop solutions in response to governance needs through inclusive and collaborative responses to ongoing and emerging marine issues. As such, a broader understanding of their growing significance and the effective practices they employ is warranted.

Background Local management action to address coral-reef stressors can improve reef health and mitigate the effects of global climate change. Coastal development and runoff lead to sedimentation, which directly impacts coral recruitment, growth, mortality, and the ecosystem services that coral reefs provide. Decision making for reef resilience in the face of global and local stressors requires information on thresholds for management action. In response to needs identified by reef managers, we plan to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis that will explore the effects of both deposited and suspended sediment on corals to identify single and interacting stressor thresholds. We will identify levels of sediment exposure (i.e., concentration, duration, and frequency) that cause adverse physical, physiological, behavioral, developmental, and ecological responses in coral and describe geographic and taxonomic patterns in these responses. Our ultimate goal is to provide managers with sediment exposure thresholds that can be expected to cause these responses. Methods Our systematic review will synthesize available evidence on the effects of suspended and deposited sediment on corals. The research questions were formulated with an advisory team to support management decisions concerning local reef stressors in waters under U.S. federal jurisdiction. While the advisory team is most concerned with reefs adjacent to U.S. Pacific Islands, our review will include studies that examine reef-building coral species around the world. We will search online databases and grey literature to obtain a list of potential studies, assess their relevance, and critically appraise them for validity and risk of bias. Provided enough data can be extracted from relevant experimental studies, we will conduct meta-analyses that examine changes in coral health and survival in response to suspended and/or deposited sediment, with the goal to define sediment thresholds for reef managers. If enough data are available from within the U.S. Pacific Islands, we will construct region-, site-, and/or species-specific thresholds to improve local management.

Most species of whales are vulnerable to vessel collisions, and the probability of lethality increases logistically with vessel speed. An Automatic Identification System (AIS) can provide valuable vessel activity data, but terrestrial-based AIS has a limited spatial range. As the need for open ocean monitoring increases, AIS broadcasts relayed over earth-orbiting satellites, satellite AIS (SAIS), provides a method for expanding the range of AIS broadcast reception. We used SAIS data from 2013 and 2014 to calculate vessel density and speed over ground around the coast of Washington state in the northwestern United States. Nearby shipping lanes connecting the Ports of Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, and in Canada, Vancouver, have the greatest density of vessel traffic arriving and departing. Knowledge of shipping activity is important in this area due to the nearby presence of NOAA designated Cetacean Density and Distribution Working Group’s Biologically Important Areas (BIA) for large whale species vulnerable to vessel collisions. We quantified density and speed for each vessel type that transits through BIA’s. We found that cargo and tanker vessels traveled the farthest distance at the greatest speeds. As ship-strike risk assessments have traditionally relied on terrestrial AIS, we explored issues in the application of SAIS data. Temporal gaps in SAIS data led to a resulting systematic underestimation of vessel speed in calculated speed over ground. However, SAIS can be helpful in documenting minimum vessel speeds across large geographic areas and across national boundaries, especially beyond the reach of terrestrial AIS receivers. SAIS data can also be useful in examining vessel density at broad scales and could be used to assess basin-wide open ocean routes. Future use of additional satellite platforms with AIS receivers and technological advances will help rectify this issue and improve data coverage and quality.

Cumulative effects assessments are a legal requirement in many jurisdictions and are key to informing marine policy. However, practice does not yet deliver fit-for-purpose assessments relative to sustainable development and environmental protection obligations. The complexity of cumulative effect questions, which are embedded in complex social-ecological systems, makes multiple, methodologically diverse assessments a necessity. Using the expansion of marine renewable energy developments in European Union waters as a case study, this paper explores how social-ecological systems thinking and cumulative effects assessment theory can combine to structure CEAs that better support the management and regulation of maritime activities at regional scales. A general perspective for cumulative effects assessment is proposed to remove ambiguity of intent and to orient assessments towards a common objective. Candidate principles for practice are presented for consideration. These principles are integrated into a stepped assessment approach that seeks to improve cumulative effects assessments of localised activities relative to the information needs of decision-makers implementing the ecosystem approach.

International audience; The French initial assessment of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) highlighted the lack of reliable data concerning offshore areas. During the planning of the monitoring programmes, the scientists therefore proposed to partially cover this gap by using existing fisheries research vessel surveys deployed for the purposes of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). This paper describes ways of improving the effectiveness of these surveys and making them better suited to delivering the information needed for the MSFD. The process took two years and became operational at the beginning of the year 2016. Testing phases from October 2013 to August 2015 had to be organized to fit within the ongoing fisheries tasks without significantly increasing the workload in terms of both time and human resources. Six fisheries research surveys henceforth collect new data, with or without additional sampling techniques. Specific examples are given with litter and hydrological data which will be used to assess the environmental status of French marine waters. The paper also identifies certain limitations regarding this approach. This French experiment enabled more efficient and effective use of current data collection efforts, while optimising vessel time and implementing an ecosystem approach in collecting data for fisheries management.

Marine litter (ML) contaminates essentially all global coastal and marine environments and drives multiple ecosystem-level effects. Although deleterious effects of ML on several organisms have been investigated in the last years, this information tends to be dispersed or underreported, even in marine biodiversity hotspots such as reef ecosystems. Two are the main goals of this paper: (i) to integrate and synthesize current knowledge on the interactions of ML and reef organisms, and (ii) to evaluate the multiple disruptions on the ecological processes in reef systems. We report here ML-driven ecological disruptions on 418 species across eight reef taxa, including interactions that were previously not addressed in detail, and evaluate their major conservation implications. These results can help raise awareness of global impacts on the world's reefs by highlighting ML associations in different reef systems around the world, and can aid in ML input reduction and marine management.

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is a tool for managing and improving marine environments. The field is dominated by natural scientists and has not been commonly associated with planning. This research analyzes the MSP literature to explore how planners can contribute to MSP research and practice. We organize the literature into eight themes, focusing on how planners may be able to contribute to MSP research and practice: ocean zoning, defining boundaries, planning in dynamic environments, stakeholder involvement, information needs, integrating ocean and land-use management, managing multiple and conflicting uses, and transboundary institutional structures. We conclude that planners have a lot to contribute in these eight areas.

In Easter Island, most of fisheries regulations are top-down implemented by the central fisheries authority located ~4000 km eastwards. This could generate problems in regulations compliance, given the cultural differences between the western worldview and Polynesian culture of Easter Island. A total of 18 issues that must be considered previously to an intervention in the island were identified. Four of them scored the highest difference between Rapanui and public services representatives. Among them, “Integrating traditions and culture” had a little priority for the public services representatives, but was the most important for the Rapanui. According to the public services representatives in Easter Island and local fishermen, there is a little compliance with regulations related to fisheries and, due to cultural aspects, it is not possible to enforce regulations and apply sanctions. The low compliance with fisheries regulations is due to the lack of representativeness of regulations. Interventions in the island are based on western worldview that does not fit with social and ecological domains of social-ecological system. A flexible governance system, based on decision making at local level in line with local tradition is needed to navigate to a resource management and conservation in Easter Island.

An objective and comprehensive understanding of the development intensity of China's coastal area is of great significance to China's planning and marine management. On the basis of specifying the impact factors and characteristic indexes of the development intensity of China's coastal area, this paper constructs a model for ocean development intensity evaluation, comprehensively evaluates the development intensity of China's coastal area and summarizes the distribution features and patterns of ocean development intensities of different areas by fully using the relative data of sea area use and management, providing reference for future ocean development and protection policies.

Gelatinous zooplankton, including cnidarians, ctenophores, and tunicates (appendicularians, pyrosomes, salps and doliolids), are often overlooked by scientific studies, ecosystem assessments and at a management level. Despite the important economic consequences that they can have on human activities and on the marine food-web, arguments often related to the costs of monitoring or their coordination, or simply negligence, have resulted in the absence of relevant monitoring programs. A cost-effective protocol has been applied on trawling from existing fishery surveys conducted by national laboratories in England and France. The testing phase has successfully demonstrated the adequacy of such a tool to sample macro- and mega-zooplankton gelatinous organisms in a cost-effective way. This success has led to the acceptance of this protocol into the French implementation of the EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Here, a protocol which can be applied to any trawl-based fishery survey and in any new large-scale monitoring program is provided. As an ecosystem approach to marine management is currently adopted, exemplified by the MSFD in Europe, gelatinous zooplankton should be monitored correctly to prevent a knowledge gap and bias to ecosystem assessments in future.

The ocean is increasingly facing direct and indirect threats from multiple human activities that alter marine ecosystems worldwide. Mitigating these threats requires a global shift in the way people perceive and interact with the marine environment. Marine public perceptions research has emerged as a useful tool to understand public awareness and attitudes towards the sea. This study compares available surveys of public perceptions of marine threats and protection involving >32,000 respondents across 21 countries. Results indicate that 70% of respondents believe the marine environment is under threat from human activities, and 45% believe the threat is high or very high. Yet when asked about the ocean's health, only 15% thought it was poor or threatened. Respondents consistently ranked pollution issues as the highest threat, followed by fishing, habitat alteration and climate change. With respect to ocean protection, 73% of respondents support marine protected areas in their region. Most respondents overestimated the area of ocean currently protected, and would like to see much larger areas protected in the future. Overall, a clear picture emerged of the perceived threats and support for protection which can inform marine managers, policy makers, conservation practitioners and educators to improve marine management and conservation programs.

Over the past decade the development of Decision Support Systems (DSSs) for the management of seas and oceans has increased rapidly. These DSSs take many shapes and forms and their application in actual decision processes varies widely. In order to appreciate the multitude of DSSs a theoretical framework was developed to evaluate the appropriateness of a given DSS for marine management decision processes with the aim to guide developers in building better DSSs. This framework was applied to a number of DSSs recently developed for marine management. Many tools, promoted to be DSSs, are in fact science driven models that do not address the basic problems and challenges of decision making. Of course, by providing information and making scientific data available in order to make scientifically informed decisions, science does have a role in environmental and ecosystem based decision making, yet the contribution of science to decision making in marine management by these models is highly overrated. In order for a DSS to be relevant and useful it must be aligned with the needs of the decision maker and provide available data in such a way that it becomes information in the decision process. The framework used to evaluate the DSSs can be a helpful tool to apply throughout the development of a DSS in order to enhance the effectiveness/usefulness of these tools through the engagement of end-users and stakeholders.

This paper reviews the key developments of ocean management leading up to and over the past decade, especially marine or maritime spatial planning and ecosystem-based management, with an emphasis on the former. From scattered seeds in a few marine places—from early marine spatial analysis and data atlases to the EU Marine Spatial Directive in 2014—MSP has grown to a world-wide movement by governments at various levels to manage comprehensively marine resources in space and time. Early efforts to apply systems thinking to marine planning, especially in oWestern/Northern Europe, have developed an extensive knowledge base of what works and doesn't work based not only on academic theory, but now on practical experience. From a few pioneering examples of the implementation of MSP by 2005, today over 75 countries are experimenting with MSP as a practical approach toward ecosystem-based marine management. The paper begins with a summary of early attempts to map the geography of the sea and to define how planning at sea began to some of the first applications of MSP from 1980 to 2005. Real-world efforts to apply MSP, especially in Western/Northern Europe and North America are identified and described. A few key milestones of MSP—the first international workshop on MSP (2006), the early work of the EC in funding pilot MSP projects in Europe, the EU MSP Directive of 2014, and the second international workshop on MSP in 2017 are noted. Current MSP activities in world regions are summarised and characterised. Finally, a target for MSP outcomes by 2030 and future challenges for MSP are identified.

There is an urgent need to develop efficient evaluation tools that use easily measured variables to make rapid and timely eutrophication assessments, which are important for marine health management, and to implement eutrophication monitoring programs. In this study, an approach for rapidly assessing the eutrophication status of coastal waters with three easily measured parameters (turbidity, chlorophyll a and dissolved oxygen) was developed by the grid search (GS) optimized support vector machine (SVM), with trophic index TRIX classification results as the reference. With the optimized penalty parameter C =64 and the kernel parameter γ =1, the classification accuracy rates reached 89.3% for the training data, 88.3% for the cross-validation, and 88.5% for the validation dataset. Because the developed approach only used three easy-to-measure variables, its application could facilitate the rapid assessment of the eutrophication status of coastal waters, resulting in potential cost savings in marine monitoring programs and assisting in the provision of timely advice for marine management.

Benthic habitats and communities are key components of the marine ecosystem. Securing their functioning is a central aim in marine environmental management, where monitoring data provide the base for assessing the state of marine ecosystems. In the Baltic Sea, a > 50-year-long tradition of zoobenthic monitoring exists. However, the monitoring programmes were designed prior to the current policies, primarily to detect long-term trends at basin-scale and are thus not optimal to fulfil recent requirements such as area-based periodic status assessments. Here, we review the current monitoring programmes and assess the precision and representativity of the monitoring data in status assessments to identify routes for improvement. At present, the monitoring is focused on soft-bottoms, not accounting for all habitat types occurring in the Baltic Sea. Evaluating the sources of variance in the assessment data revealed that the component accounting for variability among stations forms the largest proportion of the uncertainty. Furthermore, it is shown that the precision of the status estimates can be improved, with the current number of samples. Reducing sampling effort per station, but sampling more stations, is the best option to improve precision in status assessments. Furthermore, by allocating the sampling stations more evenly in the sub-basins, a better representativity of the area can be achieved. However, emphasis on securing the long-term data series is needed if changes to the monitoring programmes are planned.

As mariculture progresses offshore in the US Exclusive Economic Zone, technical and ecological challenges need to be overcome, such as the choice of suitable sites that favor the production of target species. The offshore culture of blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, is performed with submerged longlines and mussels need to withstand more motion than on coastal sites. Temperature affects the ability of the byssus to adhere to farming rope, while chlorophyll concentration provides an estimation of food availability. Together, these are important factors in predicting the suitability of offshore mussel farms. To identify suitable depth of submersion for mussel ropes in New England federal waters, historical oceanographic data of temperature and chlorophyll a from 2005 to 2012 were used. The results suggest that mussel ropes were submerged during summer to a minimum depth of 15 m in northern and a 20-m depth in southern areas of New England where temperature is at a species-optimum and phytoplankton biomass is abundant. For the site offshore Massachusetts, in situ biodeposition measurements validated predicted depth, confirming satisfactory mussel performance. Promising local areas have shallow thermoclines, such as offshore Long Island, Cape Ann and New Hampshire. Recommended depths can be adjusted to future temperature increases associated with climate change.

The aim of this study is to measure PAHs concentrations in mussels ( Mytilus galloprovincialis ) and fish ( Anguilla anguilla ) from the Bizerte lagoon (north Tunisia), and evaluate their distribution and sources, in order to provide a baseline of the state of PAH contamination in this lagoon and assess their human health risk. For this purpose, several native mussel and fish specimens were collected and analyzed using a high-performance liquid chromatography method with fluorescence detection for 15 EPA priority PAHs. PAHs levels in mussels and fish ranged from 107.4 to 430.7 ng g −1 dw and 114.5–133.7 ng g −1 dw, respectively. Naphthalene was the major component measured in mussels (31.5–272.6 ng g −1 dw) and fish (57.9–68.6 ng g −1 dw) and all specimens were classified as moderately contaminated. The PAHs composition pattern was similar for both species and was dominated by the presence of PAHs with 2- to 3-rings. The study of PAH ratios indicated a mixed petrogenic/pyrolytic origin. The health risks by consumption of these species was assessed and showed to present no threat to public health concerning PAH intakes. The results of this study would provide a useful aid for sustainable marine management in the region.

Societal values are crucial for the prioritisation of activities within the marine environment and are therefore fundamental to successfully implementing Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) in New Zealand (NZ). Documenting Social Values (Mauri Moana) is a research project within the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge (NSC) that is exploring how societal values for the marine environment like intrinsic and recreational along with Māori values are integrated into EBM. Using a case study approach, we explore how Māori values are catered for within planning approaches and institutions for Tauranga Moana (Tauranga Harbour). Through our earlier work in the Sustainable Seas NSC, we developed a framework (He Waka Taurua) for a NZ marine management system that was informed by EBM and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge). The current study further elaborates on the components that form a proposed NZ marine management system based on the Tauranga Moana case study. This framework provides a useful approach for informing how co-governance institutions can manage the different values and aspirations of Māori, and local communities with government institutions to support healthy oceans and healthy people.

Determining the overall effects of human activities on the estuaries, seas and coasts, as a precursor to marine management, requires quantifying three aspects. These are: (a) the area in which the human activities take place, (b) the area covered by the pressures generated by the activities on the prevailing habitats and species, in which pressures are defined as the mechanisms of change, and (c) the area over which any adverse effects occur. These features can be respectively termed the activities-footprints, the pressures-footprints and the effects-footprints. The latter in turn incorporates both the effects on the natural system and the effects on ecosystem services from which society extracts goods and benefits. This viewpoint article explains the rationale behind this typology and proposes definitions for each of these three types of footprints.

Monitoring communities of fish is important for the management and sustainability of fisheries and marine ecosystems. Baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVs) are among the most effective nondestructive techniques for sampling bony fishes and elasmobranchs (sharks, rays, and skates). However, BRUVs sample visually conspicuous biota; hence, some taxa are undersampled or not recorded at all. We compared the diversity of fishes characterized using BRUVs with diversity detected via environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding. We sampled seawater and captured BRUVs imagery at 48 locales that included reef and seagrass beds inside and outside a marine reserve (Jurien Bay in Western Australia). Eighty‐two fish genera from 13 orders were detected, and the community of fishes described using eDNA and BRUVs combined yielded >30% more generic richness than when either method was used alone. Rather than detecting a homogenous genetic signature, the eDNA assemblages mirrored the BRUVs’ spatial explicitness; differentiation of taxa between seagrass and reef was clear despite the relatively small geographical scale of the study site (∼35 km2). Taxa that were not sampled by one approach, due to limitations and biases intrinsic to the method, were often detected with the other. Therefore, using BRUVs and eDNA in concert provides a more holistic view of vertebrate marine communities across habitats. Both methods are noninvasive, which enhances their potential for widespread implementation in the surveillance of marine ecosystems., Article impact statement: Use of video and environmental genomics in conservation will greatly improve capacity to effectively monitor fish biodiversity.

Over-fishing is a global problem that damages the marine environment and compromises the long-term sustainability of fisheries. This damage can be mitigated by restricting catch or other activities which can occur in marine areas. However, such management is only effective when restrictions are enforced to ensure compliance. We expect fishers to help enforce restrictions when they have exclusive user rights and can capture the benefits of management. In a number of such cases, however, fisher participation in the enforcement of user rights is absent. In this analysis we used central Chile as a case-study to investigate why some fishers may not participate in enforcement even when they have exclusive territorial user rights for fisheries. We used a best-worst scaling survey to assess why fishers would choose not to participate in enforcement through monitoring their TURF management areas, and what would help to increase their participation. We found that the main reason fishers may not monitor is because they consider government policing of marine areas and punishment of poachers to be ineffective. Increased and timely responsiveness by government when poachers are detected and more stringent penalisation of poachers may lead to greater involvement in enforcement by fishers.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are among the most widely accepted methods of marine management. MPAs are not, however, always placed such that they can maximize impact on conservation and livelihoods. Current MPA guidelines fall short in focusing primarily on biophysical criteria, overlooking interrelated socioeconomic factors. We identified 32 socioeconomic factors that influence whether MPA placement has an impact on biodiversity and/or livelihoods and weighted the quality of evidence using a novel “Evidence for Impact” Score. Results suggest that stakeholder engagement, poverty, population density, and strong leadership have most potential to positively impact biodiversity and/or livelihoods, but the direction of impact (i.e., positive or negative) can be context-dependent. We found a generally poor evidence base for impact evaluation of socioeconomic factors: though some factors were highly cited, few studies actually evaluate impact. Results indicate the need for a more interdisciplinary approach to MPA placement and more empirical studies that assess impact.

Two waves of choice experiment surveys were carried out to capture preferences on recreational attributes of a coastal Marine Protected Area in England. A significant effect on preferences after a management intervention targeting recreation was observed. A mixed logit model with status quo as a random parameter showed that in 2014, the status quo had a negative effect, suggesting visitors were not satisfied by the status quo. However by 2015, after investments on a nature reserve, the status quo variable is highly significant and positive. The average benefits, measured in willingness to pay, generated by a refurbished visitor centre and other improvements is equal to £9.18 per visit per person. The study also found that key management attributes for future MPAs that will generate increased economic benefits from recreational activity are those that promote the diversity of wildlife and the provision of educational information. As expected the donation and the restriction attributes decrease the benefits, but on average their effects are smaller than wildlife improvements. From a policy and management perspective, especially in the context of public funding pressures, these results are particularly important as they provide evidence on management strategies that support conservation objectives and maximise economic benefits.

Marine management has typically prioritised natural science methodological traditions as an evidence base for decision-making; yet better integration of social science methods are increasingly shown to provide a more comprehensive picture to base management decisions. Specifically, perceptions-based assessments are gaining support, as they can provide efficient and holistic evaluation regarding management issues. This study focuses on coral reefs because they are particularly threatened ecosystems, due to their ecological complexity, socio-economic importance, and the range of environmental drivers that impact them. Research has largely concentrated on assessing proximate threats to coral reefs. Less attention has been given to distal drivers, such as socio-economic and governance factors. A common understanding of threats related to coral reef degradation is critical for integrated management that takes account of peoples’ concerns. This study compares perceptions of drivers of reef health among stakeholders (n = 110) across different sectors and governance levels, in four Caribbean countries. Interview data identified 37 proximate and 136 distal drivers, categorised into 27 themes. Five sub-groups of themes connecting proximate and distal drivers were identified. Perceptions of two of these narratives, relating to ‘fishing and socioeconomic issues’ and ‘reef management and coastal development’, differed among respondents from different countries and sectors respectively. However, the findings highlight a shared perception of many themes, with 18 of the 27 (67%) mentioned by > 25% of respondents. This paper highlights the application of perceptions data for marine management, demonstrating how knowledge of proximate and distal drivers can be applied to identify important issues at different context-specific scales.

Our understanding of ecological processes that lead to ecosystem services is still evolving but ecological research aims to understand the linkages between the ecosystem and services. These linkages can affect trade-offs between different ecosystem services. Understanding these linkages, by considering multiple ecosystem services simultaneously supports management of the environment and sustainable use of resources. The UK marine environment is relatively data rich, yet the links between ecosystem and several ecosystem services and linkages between services are poorly described. A workshop with 35 marine scientists was used to create a conceptual model that links ecosystem components and key processes to four services they provide and to highlight trade-offs between them. The model was subsequently further developed to include pressures and mitigating management measures. The models are discussed in terms of their application to marine data to facilitate evidence-based marine management and their usefulness to communicate management measures with managers and stakeholders.

Marine management developments are occurring across the United Kingdom with the major aim to ensure economic growth and security of marine resources via the provision of legislative guidelines for sustainable management of activities within the marine environment. Many of these directives also provide guidance for maintaining ecologically valuable and/or endangered species and habitats that exist alongside, and may also support, marine activities/use. Marine governance is largely guided by several key directives laid out and implemented by governing authorities of Europe, the United Kingdom and those countries comprising the United Kingdom, and in line with several international conventions. The directives set out by each authority or convention may act discretely but more often tend to overlap, which can lead to confusion about the relevant marine conservation requirements and objectives that must be fulfilled for a given region, site or feature. Additionally, management objectives driven by the same legislation may oppose one another, adding further complexity to the matter. This article aims to provide an overview of governance that holds relevance to managing marine habitats and species, especially those deemed sensitive, ecologically valuable and/or endangered. A general overview and summary schematic tool of the marine governance, legislation and designations within each level of authority for the United Kingdom are provided. Additional consideration of the implications for legislation upon the United Kingdom leaving the EU is briefly discussed and a comparative case study of two marine habitats of high conservation value is provided to demonstrate how different sites/features may have considerably different management requirements.

The UK Marine Management Organisation (MMO) tasked the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas) with reviewing the current UK dispersant efficacy testing procedures. The aim was to identify possibilities to increase standardisation, improve health and safety performance and explore harmonisation possibilities with international dispersant efficacy testing procedures. The US EPA 'Baffled Flask Test' (BFT) was adopted, implemented and validated as a new standard method in the UK. The outputs from this study suggest that dispersant efficacy results from the adopted BFT test and the currently used protocol are in a similar range and results presented by the US EPA. As a result, the transition to the adopted BFT test will require minimal changes in the assessment of the results or reporting and increase harmonisation between tests used in the UK and North America.

Developing equitable marine management systems that recognise Indigenous worldviews, values, and practices, alongside international initiatives such as Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) are paramount in countries which aim to recognise Indigenous rights. This is the case for New Zealand (NZ) where Indigenous-Māori rights to partner with the Government for the purpose of environmental management were guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi, 1840, and subsequent Acts (e.g. Resource Management Act, 1991). Our aim was to explore how both Indigenous-Māori and NZ societal values can be integrated into a marine co-management decision-making framework. Here we describe the Waka-Taurua (double-canoe) framework, and how it can be applied in developing a NZ marine management system (NZ-MMS), which includes both kaitiakitanga (a Māori concept of reciprocal care between Indigenous-Māori people and their territorial environment), and EBM, equitably. We argue that the Waka-Taurua framework can improve how marine co-management systems are developed by facilitating a more structured and equitable discussion of both Indigenous-Māori and broader societal worldviews, values, and practices.

Costa, B., 2019. Multispectral acoustic backscatter: How useful is it for marine habitat mapping and management? Journal of Coastal Research, 35(5), 1062–1079. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISS...

Molecular tools and analyses have played pivotal roles in uncovering the processes and patterns of biodiversity in the Indian and Pacific oceans. However, integrating genetic results into management and conservation objectives has been challenging, with few examples that show practical applicability. This review aims to address some of the perceived barriers to an enhanced approach that integrates molecular data into management and conservation goals, by reviewing papers relevant to both conservation and fisheries management in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly with respect to phylogeography, connectivity, and species identification, as well as stock delineation, restoration of depleted wild stocks, mislabeled marine resources and "molecular forensics." We also highlight case studies from each of these areas that illustrate how molecular analyses are relevant to conservation and management in the Indo- Pacific, spanning a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate species. We discuss the application of genetic data to the design and evaluation of the effectiveness of marine protected area networks, stock delineation, and restoration and the usage of exclusion tests and parentage analyses for fisheries management. We conclude that there is a distinct need for increasing public awareness and ownership of genetically unique lineages and, ultimately, the increased inclusion of genetic research into management policy and conservation. Finally, we make a case for the importance of clear and effective communication for promoting public awareness, public ownership, and for achieving conservation goals within the region.

In Europe and around the world, the approach to management of the marine environment has developed from the management of single issues (e.g., species and/or pressures) toward holistic Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) that includes aims to maintain biological diversity and protect ecosystem functioning. Within the European Union, this approach is implemented through the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, 2008/56/EC). Integrated Ecosystem Assessment is required by the Directive in order to assess Good Environmental Status (GES). Ecological modeling has a key role to play within the implementation of the MSFD, as demonstrated here by case studies covering a range of spatial scales and a selection of anthropogenic threats. Modeling studies have a strong role to play in embedding data collected at limited points within a larger spatial and temporal scale, thus enabling assessments of pelagic and seabed habitat. Furthermore, integrative studies using food web and ecosystem models are able to investigate changes in food web functioning and biological diversity in response to changes in the environment and human pressures. Modeling should be used to: support the development and selection of specific indicators; set reference points to assess state and the achievement of GES; inform adaptive monitoring programs and trial management scenarios. The modus operandi proposed shows how ecological modeling could support the decision making process leading to appropriate management measures and inform new policy., This manuscript is a result of DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biological diversity and assessing good Environmental Status) project, funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme, “The Ocean of Tomorrow” Theme (grant agreement no. 308392), www.devotes-project.eu.

Recent additions to marine environmental legislation are usually designed to fill gaps in protection and management, build on existing practices or correct deficiencies in previous instruments. Article 13 of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires Member States to develop a Programme of Measures (PoM) by 2015, to meet the objective of Good Environmental Status (GES) for their waters by 2020. This review explores key maritime-related policies with the aim to identify the opportunities and threats that they pose for the achievement of GES. It specifically examines how Member States have relied on and will integrate existing legislation and policies to implement their PoM and the potential opportunities and difficulties associated with this. Using case studies of three Member States, other external impediments to achieving GES are discussed including uses and users of the marine environment who are not governed by the MSFD, and gives recommendations for overcoming barriers.

This paper discusses the contribution of marine sites of outstanding universal value, enlisted as natural and mixed sites in the World Heritage List, to the sustainability of marine resources and protection schemes. Departing from the strict application of the Convention’s criteria, the management requirements and good practices will be discussed, with emphasis on the dissemination of the latter in other (non)protected areas as well as its contribution, in terms of the integrity principle to be met, to the expansion of this approach in areas beyond national jurisdiction through the development of synergies with existing and emerging marine environment protection regimes.

The complex socio‐environmental issues faced by society – including climate change, resource management, and fostering resiliency in landscapes that intermix human and natural features – are difficult challenges that demand contextually appropriate evidence‐based interventions. Institutional arrangements for providing scientific advice range from individual science advisors to large scientific committees or advisory councils, with a great deal of variation in their formal and informal structures. Regardless of the structuring of advisors, however, these arrangements face a common challenge: being required to speak to a wide range of issues in a time‐sensitive manner, each of which has extensive stakeholder communities, deep disciplinary knowledge, and many complicating attributes. It is argued that creating a formally associated, supporting boundary organization that is tasked with supporting the advisory functions can help to resolve this challenge and improve the overall quality of advice offered. Using a case study – the California Ocean Science Trust and its advice on coastal and ocean management issues – it is argued that boundary organizations can help science advisors maintain links with disparate stakeholder communities, adjudicate between competing forms of expertise, help to provide nuance in grappling with the tensions between science and politics, and support an “honest broker” advising function.