Filipe Martinho, Henrique N. Cabral, Ulisses M. Azeiteiro and Miguel A. Pardal
Estuaries and shallow coastal areas are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, being recognized as important nursery areas for marine fish. The aim of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Estuaries and shallow coastal areas are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, being recognized as important nursery areas for marine fish. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the causes and consequences of recruitment variability in marine fish, contributing to ecosystem‐based management strategies of estuarine and coastal areas.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a literature review, exploring the role of estuaries as nursery areas for marine fish, and analyzed the connectivity between estuaries and coastal areas, the main processes driving recruitment variability in marine fish during their pelagic (larval) and estuarine residency (juveniles) phases, and how it can be translated into variable coastal stocks.
Findings
Recruitment variability in marine fish is still one of the most important issues in marine fisheries ecology. In this paper, the authors demonstrate the potential of several processes for inducing variability in recruitment, including density‐independent mechanisms such as temperature, hydrodynamics, river flow and large‐scale factors, as well as density‐dependent processes, related with food abundance, competition and predation. Lastly, the authors evaluated the connectivity between estuaries and the ocean, and how this relationship can influence coastal stocks in the future. The main findings were analyzed in the context of climate change, which has been demonstrated to influence marine life at the individual, population and ecosystem levels.
Originality/value
This paper is a valuable tool for marine researchers and stakeholders, since it summarizes some of the most important processes that drive recruitment variability in marine fish, and how this information can be used for establishing sustainable ecosystem management programmes.
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Cristina Pita, Ratana Chuenpagdee and Graham J. Pierce
The purpose of this paper is to describe the fisheries governance system in the European Union (EU) and review fishers’ participation in the decision‐making process in the EU.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the fisheries governance system in the European Union (EU) and review fishers’ participation in the decision‐making process in the EU.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was based on a variety of sources, such as review of the literature, including scientific articles and reports, and data collected by the Coastal Transects Analysis Model (CTAM) online decision support tool.
Findings
The review reveals major improvements in involving fishers in the decision‐making process in Europe, but participation and empowerment are still generally lacking.
Social implications
The lack of fisher participation in the decision‐making process leads to limited acceptance of management measures which in turn results in management objectives not being met, with negative effects on environmental, economic and social sustainability.
Originality/value
The paper provides a review of participation in the EU decision‐making process. The results could give management bodies an insight into the failures of participation and point to possible ways forward.
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Sara C. Carvalho, Fátima Alves, Ulisses M. Azeiteiro and Pablo A. Meira‐Cartea
Environmental threats of immediate risk in areas such as coastal zones (CZ) have aroused new trends of citizenship and participatory democracy. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Environmental threats of immediate risk in areas such as coastal zones (CZ) have aroused new trends of citizenship and participatory democracy. The purpose of this paper is to analyse elements within those trends, such as environmental culture, socio‐political context, dynamics of social associative movement and integration of local knowledge. It also aims to contribute to an overview of the opportunities and barriers found in considering socio‐cultural and educational challenges in CZ.
Design/methodology/approach
In this analysis, case studies of integrated coastal management occurring worldwide were selected and reviewed, considering several nuances of socio‐economic and political contexts of CZ. Experiences of public response to coastal catastrophes such the Prestige oil spill in Spain, are also described.
Findings
Whether implementing sustainable coastal management through either balanced systems (between large and small‐scale strategies) or through largely bottom‐up approaches, participation is detected as one of the main factors for a successful integrated approach. Principles such as participatory governance and social justice should be adopted in initial phases of sustainable management processes and preferably involve all of the implied actors of CZ.
Originality/value
The literature reviewed highlighted specific factors that have empirically contributed to participatory sustainability of CZ, integrating three dimensions of citizenship: education, society's dynamics and culture.
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José Ângelo Guerreiro da Silva, Raquel Curto Fernandes e Castro Ribeiro, Ana de Carvalho Cameira Mocinho Viras and Catarina Bentes Silva Grilo
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), set specific targets for halting biodiversity loss, including the need to establish 10 per cent of coastal/marine areas conserved…
Abstract
Purpose
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), set specific targets for halting biodiversity loss, including the need to establish 10 per cent of coastal/marine areas conserved through, among other things, well‐connected systems of protected areas by 2020. The reality is that whereas nearly 15 per cent of land is protected, just over 1 per cent of marine space is similarly protected. The challenge is to reach “a global representative system” of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), recognizing that countries need to establish cooperative mechanisms at ecoregion level. The purpose of this paper is to address the options and trends for countries to develop transboundary cooperation through MPAs.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors address several case studies, focusing on political, governance and financing frameworks.
Findings
The main findings revealed that countries use MoU, MoA or Joint Declaration supported on international conventions as the WHC, Ramsar Convention and CMS. Governance models seem to include political/management/technical levels, with political decisions translated into action plans carried out by joint committees, supported by national institutions and scientific/technical boards. Also the involvement of civil society in management is a growing driving force. Financing transboundary MPAs is going through an evolutionary process, from an exclusive binomial national budgets/UNEP‐GEF to a wider financial net through ecotourism income and private donors.
Originality/value
The different solutions found point out myriad possibilities where transboundary cooperation is envisaged. States can benefit from the experiences already acquired to jointly achieve the target of protecting 10 per cent of the marine environment by 2020.
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Sónia Isabel Fernandes Borges Pena Seixas, John Bostock and Margaret Eleftheriou
The purpose of this paper is to review a number of recent initiatives to promote sustainable aquaculture development through improvements to education and training capacity, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review a number of recent initiatives to promote sustainable aquaculture development through improvements to education and training capacity, and innovations in the use of eLearning.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors share their experience in these initiatives and demonstrate how e‐learning has been developed in specific cases to better serve the needs of the aquaculture sector, while addressing the pedagogical issues of distance learning and finding the best use of new internet‐based technologies.
Findings
These examples show how to respond to the needs of adult learners who may have a substantially different learner profile to typical campus students and have a more diverse range of needs and background knowledge. Greater focus is needed on defining, enhancing and accrediting knowledge and skills acquired informally and “on the job”, so as to develop more effective formal education interventions.
Practical implications
Adults engaging with job‐related education are not empty vessels requiring to be filled with the correct mix of knowledge and skills by teachers who know all the answers. They are active learners seeking a supportive and enabling structure involving access to appropriate resources, engagement with fellow learners and more expert practitioners, and appropriate challenges and rewards to maximise effort and achievement.
Originality/value
The paper shows that there is substantial social benefit in promoting an innovative and sustainable aquaculture industry that contributes positively to food security and human health. Continued Professional Development involving eLearning and other innovative approaches can make an important contribution throughout the sector.
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Maria Rosário Bastos, João Alveirinho Dias, Ana Cristina Dias, Silvia Dias Pereira, Nanci Vieira de Oliveira and Maria Antonieta Rodrigues
The purpose of this paper is to perform a comparative analysis between Aveiro's Lagoon (Portugal) and Sepetiba Bay (Brazil), in order to understand the similarities and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to perform a comparative analysis between Aveiro's Lagoon (Portugal) and Sepetiba Bay (Brazil), in order to understand the similarities and differences between these two coastal zones, in terms of human occupation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is supported by works (papers and scientific projects being developed) produced in Portugal and Brazil, by researchers from different areas of expertise.
Findings
These two coastal zones have a similar geomorphologic evolution, due to the fact that both appeared because of a sandy spit, which started to grow and separated these areas from the sea, converting them into sheltered coasts. It was because they are protected that these two study cases early became targets for human occupation. The anthropic impacts in the systems were sustainable until the middle of the twentieth century. Since then, however, the economic development options, based first in industry and second in tourism exploration, have compromised the natural healthy balance.
Practical implications
This paper could be a contribution to a scientific support for political decisions on the coastal zone management (namely in these studied areas).
Social implications
The paper provides and increases the knowledge of the coastal zones’ evolution and occupation – from a multidisciplinary perspective – produced and made available to scientists, local politicians, students and local populations.
Originality/value
The paper provides a truly interdisciplinary approach, which allows a better understanding of the evolution of these two systems, discussing the causes and consequences of human activities in both coastal areas.
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Ana Pinto de Moura, Luís M. Cunha, M. Castro‐Cunha and Rui Costa Lima
The purpose of this paper is to explore women's perceptions about the benefits and risks of fish consumption, while exploring differences on their views about wild and farmed…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore women's perceptions about the benefits and risks of fish consumption, while exploring differences on their views about wild and farmed fish, considering light fish consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology adopted is exploratory, using focus group technique, segregating women by education level (higher education versus lower education). A focus group guide was designed, taking into account the following dimensions: attitudes towards fish consumption and perceptions towards farmed fish relative to wild fish, also considering risk perceptions related to farmed versus wild fish.
Findings
This study has shown that fish consumers enjoy the taste of fish and they are strongly convinced that eating fish is healthy. The main reason for their low fish consumption is related to perceive lacking of convenience. Women with higher education levels expressed additional knowledge considering different aquaculture systems and women with lower education levels were convinced that both wild and farmed fish offer benefits and present disadvantages.
Originality/value
The paper shows that attitudes of light fish users are partially similar to heavy fish users considering farmed fish production, with the search for convenience being driven by either perceived lack of time or perceived lack of cookery skills to prepare fish‐based meals.
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Sandra Sofia Caeiro, Tomas Angel Del Valls and Peter Michael Chapman
The purpose of this paper is to discuss integrative environmental assessments applicable to estuarine sediments, including the advantages and limitations of different lines of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss integrative environmental assessments applicable to estuarine sediments, including the advantages and limitations of different lines of evidence that could form part of such assessments and their application to ecosystem services.
Design/methodology/approach
Weight of evident framework integrating multiple lines of evidence for sediment quality assessment.
Findings
Integrative environmental assessments are required to fully address the risks to resident fauna of anthropogenic contaminants deposited in estuarine sediments.
Originality/value
The paper presents an updated discussion of the methodologies for environmental assessments of contaminated estuarine sediments.