Marine Policy最新文献

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement sets out in details the mechanism for resolving fisheries disputes between the EU and the UK. It consists of the following core components: the mechanism for the settlement of fisheries disputes arising from access to waters, the mechanism for the settlement of fisheries disputes arising from failure to fulfill fisheries obligations, the Specialised Committee on Fisheries as a platform for consultation, and the Arbitration Tribunal for Disputes. Although it has assisted both parties to resolve fisheries disputes peacefully within the framework of international law, the implementation of the mechanism still faces a number of challenges. At present, China is facing long-term and complex fishery enforcement disputes with neighboring countries. Although China has signed bilateral fishery cooperation agreements with several countries, the establishment of an effective fishery enforcement settlement mechanism on fisheries remains unresovled. This paper on the EU-UK fishery dispute mechanism aims to provide some experience and lessons for China to resolve fishery enforcement disputes with neighboring countries more effectively. This paper is mainly divided into three parts, the first part is mainly about the overview of the EU-UK fishery dispute mechanism, the second part is the dilemma of China's fishery enforcement dispute settlement, and the third part is the lessons from the EU-UK fishery dispute mechanism.

Aquaculture is undergoing a revolution of data-driven innovation. The rapid uptake of digital technologies in the sector contributes ever larger amounts of data that hold potential for improving decision making for aquatic food system sustainability. Realising the potential of digital tools and new data streams is, however, not inevitable. The current ecosystem of global and production-level digital aquaculture technologies and platforms is highly fragmented with a strong focus on private farm-level data for improving production efficiency, and limited publicly available data that can be used for social and environmental sustainability. Three scenarios for the future development of the aquaculture data ecosystem are possible (1) continued fragmentation; (2) centralisation, and (3) coordination in a federated ecosystem. Recognising a federated ecosystem as having the most potential for contributing to food system sustainability we provide three priority areas for improving data coverage, sharing and integration between and among farm-level and global platforms.

Australia used to be an active law enforcer in the Southern Ocean in the 2000s and manifested its fulfillment of multiple roles and duties in exercising jurisdictions effectively to deter the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in this region. This paper provides an updated review of Australia’s maritime enforcement against IUU fishing. Australia’s approach to combating IUU fishing in the Southern waters has been reflected in its legislation, institutional arrangements, as well as judicial cases. This paper examines international and national laws relevant to Australia’s jurisdictions in the Southern Ocean, as well as critically reviews Australia’s institutional arrangements and availability of military resources in maritime enforcement. A analysis of enforcement programs and judicial practices is also provided by this paper.

Fisheries-based livelihood activities constitute an essential means of income and well-being for the majority living in coastal areas. This paper examines vulnerability of fisheries-based livelihoods caused by climate variability and change. It focuses on three small pelagic fishers’ communities including Kipumbwi, Kilindoni, and Kilwa-Kivinje, along the Tanzanian coast, as a case study. Little research has been done on the effect of climate variability and change on the livelihoods of small-scale fishing communities in developing countries, particularly along the Tanzanian coast. In collecting data, questionnaire, focused group discussion and an interactive governance approach were used. Results showed that the natural vulnerability issues include, reduced catches, and strong winds. Economic vulnerability, mentioned lack of credit facilities. For social vulnerability, respondents mentioned an increased number of fishers and fishing vessels On the aspect of technology, respondents mentioned lack of modern fishing methods. As findings suggest, these vulnerability aspects, are possibly associated with anthropogenic factors such as illegal fishing, may not be related to climate change, but climate change may intensify them. The findings further showed that climate variability has negatively affected the fisheries on which fisher communities depend for income and for food security thus affecting their local economy. Climate change has negatively affected small pelagic fishers. The decline in fish catches and economic- un-matching changes in fish prices have negatively affected the fishing community's income, employment, and food security. The recommended means for reducing vulnerability include reducing taxes and levies, availability of facilities for reducing post-harvesting loss and availability of reliable markets.

The disciplines of Coastal Management and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) are predominantly focussed on creating a regulatory and legislative framework within which national and regional planning policies, climate mitigation measures and environmental monitoring requirements can be effectively implemented. These evidence-based processes necessitate the discoverability, accessibility and integration of appropriate ‘trusted’ coastal and marine data together with contiguous terrestrial datasets. This presents significant challenges at national and local levels. While authoritative open data is often available, the data for any management requirement is often dispersed across a wide range of national online portals, statistical and research hubs, ‘scientific’ platforms and occasionally, private companies. This is exemplified in Ireland, where MSP is in its infancy, and consequently, the breadth of MSP foundational thematic marine data requirements required to comply with this Directive has yet to be fully realised by end-users/stakeholders and data providers. This study examines the nexus between mandatory data requirements of the European Community’s Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) Directive¹ (2007/2/EC), (EC, 2007) and the evidence-base needs of its Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Directive (2014/89/EU). An extensive inventory of coastal and MSP thematic data features is identified and categorised (into sectoral/thematic clusters) and appropriate and authoritative online sources (where available) are scoped out. Through an in-depth interrogation of national and EU sectoral platforms or portals, (much of whose data was originally captured for a diverse range of applications and management processes), and in view of INSPIRE’s well-established (legally-binding) data specifications, standards and guidance, a methodology is presented to accelerate coastal and marine data discovery, and to collate or ‘group’ these authoritative data sources under broad but succinct MSP thematic headings. The resulting coastal and marine data catalogue is the first step in the creation of an easy data reference and retrieval tool for Irish coastal and marine practitioners, and presents a model for other nations.

Since its inception in 1982, the Marine Environmental Protection Law (MEPL) has undergone several revisions in 1999, 2013, 2016, and 2017, capping in the inclusive overhaul of 2023. These successive revisions have gradually shaped a robust legal system encompassing the Constitution as the foundational basis, the MEPL as the core regulatory instrument, and several corresponding laws safeguarding specific marine elements as the driving force. The newly revised MEPL 2023, compared to its previous iterations, introduces significant improvements that are largely reflected in strengthening the protection of marine biodiversity conservation, advancing the prevention and control of ship-source marine pollution, optimising the supervision of the marine environment, enhancing the prevention and control of land-based marine pollution, and imposing stricter liabilities. This paper examines how the new MEPL 2023 improves China’s marine environmental protection, and incorporates international best practices within the legal framework. Additionally, the research explores potential areas for further development that provide some implications for policymakers and should have been considered.

Wildlife overexploitation is a significant challenge in biodiversity conservation. Regulation can enforce consumer behavior change to be biodiversity-friendly but also cause unintended negative impacts. A quantitative investigation of consumer preference for alternative goods is needed before the regulation intervention. This study focused on the case of Japanese eels, whose population was declining due to commercial fishery and overfishing, and aimed to clarify potential alternative choices if ban regulations are issued. This study employed a best-worst scaling technique. Our analysis identified two consumer groups; approximately 30 % of consumers (the Potential Illegal group) preferred to select illegal eel consumption as their second-best preference. The Potential Illegal group tends to contain males, younger, and people who eat eels once or more annually, in comparison to the other group. Our findings can contribute to setting effective regulations as useful information about potential consumer choice changes.

This study explores how China strategically advances its position and interacts with institutional contexts to shape environmental negotiations. By employing process-tracing methods and conducting expert interviews on the case of sea cucumber negotiations, we find that China intends to garner international support in a policy venue (CITES) while actively engaging in another policy venue that better aligns with China's interests (FAO). Building upon existing studies on institutional change and negotiation strategy, we highlight two aspects of a venue-linking framework, including the institutional settings enabling countries to deploy such a strategy in environmental negotiations and the actors’ capacity to seize the opportunity. In doing so, we show how China has strategically engaged in multiple policy venues to advance its preferences through a particular, more amenable venue. Our findings offer new empirical insights into how China navigates the complex political dynamics in global environmental governance when multiple policy venues with overlapping jurisdictions are involved.

In its 2023 strategy for reducing GHG emissions from ships, the International Maritime Organization aims for the uptake of zero or near-zero GHG emissions technologies, fuels or energy to represent at least 5 %, striving for 10 %, of the energy used by 2030. Measures proposed to reach this target combine two kinds of policy instruments: an emission intensity standard and GHG emissions pricing. Proposals vary in terms of the design of the pricing scheme and the subsequent uncertainty that would affect the price signal. This paper assesses the extent to which emissions pricing effectively complements a more restrictive standard on the intensity of GHG emissions to boost transition to low-carbon vessels. Attention is paid to the role of the volatility of the price signal of GHG emissions and fuels prices. For this purpose, the paper applies a multiple real options model to the decision to renew a ship under various sources of uncertainty. Simulations carried out based on a case study show that the price signal effectively complements the more restrictive standard but that the decarbonization objectives are only achieved with a quite ambitious level of pricing. The role of the volatility of the price signal of GHG emissions appears negligible compared to other sources of volatility.

In the digital era, the limitations of traditional maritime law enforcement models have become apparent. China actively promotes digital maritime law enforcement and has conducted thorough exploration across policy, technology, and legal domains. The primary legal foundation is the Coast Guard Law, bolstered by policy initiatives like the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, the “Maritime Community with a Shared Future” strategy, and the “Technology Empowers the Marine” plan. By coupling law and technology, China’s digital maritime law enforcement has innovatively established a three-dimensional enforcement model of “online + offline” at sea. It utilizes artificial intelligence to assist in maritime law enforcement decision-making, employs big data sharing for collaborative maritime law enforcement, and advances maritime compliance enforcement by digital technology. Through case analysis and effectiveness assessment, China’s digital maritime law enforcement has yielded significant results. Nonetheless, it also encounters various challenges, including data privacy infringement, cybersecurity attacks, the legitimacy of digital evidence collection, and data sharing barriers. Therefore, at the institutional level, standardizing digital maritime law enforcement procedures and establishing both horizontal and vertical coordination mechanisms are imperative. At the technical level, introducing privacy protection technologies and increasing investment in network security technologies are necessary. At the conceptual level, China should adhere to data ethics principles and strengthen awareness of open data sharing. The future of the oceans is digital, and China should advance the modernization of national maritime governance through digital maritime law enforcement.