Results 1 - 10
of
254
The implications of Complexity for Integrated Resources Management
- Software
, 2004
"... Abstract: Integrated environmental resources management is a purposeful activity with the goal to maintain and improve the state of an environmental resource affected by human activities. In many cases different goals are in conflict and the notion “Integrated ” indicates clearly that resources mana ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 34 (3 self)
- Add to MetaCart
Abstract: Integrated environmental resources management is a purposeful activity with the goal to maintain and improve the state of an environmental resource affected by human activities. In many cases different goals are in conflict and the notion “Integrated ” indicates clearly that resources management should be approached from a broad perspective taking all potential trade-offs and different scales in space and time into account. However, we are yet far from putting integrated resources management taking fully into account the complexity of human-technology-environment systems into practice.The tradition of resources management and of dealing with environmental problems is characterized by a command and control approach. The increasing awareness for the complexity of environmental problems and of human-technology-environment systems has triggered the development of new management approaches. The paper discusses the importance to focus on the transition to new management paradigms based on the insight that the systems to be managed are complex adaptive systems. It provides arguments for the role of social learning processes and the need to develop methods combining approaches from hard and soft systems analysis. Soft systems analysis focuses on the importance of subjective perceptions and socially constructed reality. Soft systems methods and group model building techniques are quite common in management science where the prime target of management has always been the social system. Resources management is still quite slow to take up such innovations that
Limiting abuse: marine protected areas, a limited solution
- Ecological Economics
, 1999
"... Designation of marine protected areas (MPAs) is increasing as humans seek to combat overexploitation of marine resources and preserve the integrity of the ocean’s unique biodiversity. At present there are over 1300 MPAs. The primary legal responsibility for the designation of MPAs falls to individua ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 29 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Designation of marine protected areas (MPAs) is increasing as humans seek to combat overexploitation of marine resources and preserve the integrity of the ocean’s unique biodiversity. At present there are over 1300 MPAs. The primary legal responsibility for the designation of MPAs falls to individual countries, but protection of the marine environment at large scales is also critical because ocean circulation does not honor legal boundaries and often exceeds the influence of any one nation or group of nations. There are many reasons for establishing MPAs; the papers we surveyed principally referred to scientific, economic, cultural, and ethical factors. Two approaches predominated: fisheries management and habitat protection. Although the major threat to terrestrial systems is habitat loss, the major threats to the world’s oceans are fisheries overexploitation, coastal development, and chemical and biological pollution. MPAs may provide conservation of formerly exploited species as well as benefits to the fishery through leakage of ‘surplus ’ adults (spillover) and larvae (larval replenishment) across reserve boundaries. Higher order effects, such as changes in species richness or changes in community structure and function, have only been superficially explored. Because many MPAs are along coastlines, within shipping lanes, and near human centers of activity, the chance of chemical and biological pollution is high. Use of MPAs to combat development and pollution is not appropriate, because MPAs do not have functional boundaries. The ocean is a living matrix carrying
Viewpoint: environmental effects of marine fishing
- Aquat. Cons.: Mar. Freshwat. Ecosys
, 1995
"... 1. Some effects of fisheries on the associated biological systems are reviewed and management options and their inherent risks are considered. 2. In addition to the effects on target species, other sensitive groups impacted by fishing are considered including marine mammals, turtles, sea birds, elas ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 29 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
1. Some effects of fisheries on the associated biological systems are reviewed and management options and their inherent risks are considered. 2. In addition to the effects on target species, other sensitive groups impacted by fishing are considered including marine mammals, turtles, sea birds, elasmobranchs and some invertebrates with low reproductive rates. 3. Other impacts discussed include the destruction of benthic habitat, the provision of unnatural sources of food and the generation of debris. 4. Management options are considered including the designation of marine protected areas, risk aversion, and the burden of proof. 5. A balanced consideration of the risks and consequences of ‘Type 1 ’ and ‘Type IF errors is advocated.
Management of Evolving Fish Stocks
"... This paper attempts to extend the pioneering work by Law and Grey (1989). These authors compared the performance of different age-specific harvest strategies after evolutionary change in fish, induced by a given harvest strategy, has taken place. They introduced the concept of the `evolutionarily st ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 27 (4 self)
- Add to MetaCart
This paper attempts to extend the pioneering work by Law and Grey (1989). These authors compared the performance of different age-specific harvest strategies after evolutionary change in fish, induced by a given harvest strategy, has taken place. They introduced the concept of the `evolutionarily stable optimal harvesting strategy' (ESOHS), which is the strategy that maximizes yield after evolutionary change, neglecting possible short-term losses in yield it might incur. However, since Law and Grey (1989) studied harvesting only under steady state conditions, there was no possibility for assessing the performance and evolutionary consequences of different types of harvest strategies. A further complication is that if an ESOHS implies losses in yield in the near future, it is an acceptable management goal only if zero economic discount rates are assumed. Therefore, it is an important question whether ESOHS can be attained by optimizing harvest strategies to current fish life histories, without consideration of possible future gains or losses in yield due to evolutionary change
The Role of Marine Reserves as Fisheries Management Tools: a review pf concepts, evidence, and international experience
, 2001
"... A selection of recent published opinions from marine fisheries managers, scientists and conservationists “Marine protected areas thus provide the sociological anchor for averting the ‘tragedy of the common” and fostering a sense of stewardship for ocean resource and ocean space among the people who ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 21 (1 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
A selection of recent published opinions from marine fisheries managers, scientists and conservationists “Marine protected areas thus provide the sociological anchor for averting the ‘tragedy of the common” and fostering a sense of stewardship for ocean resource and ocean space among the people who most rely on healthy, intact coastal system. ” (Agardy 1994) “ … possibly high costs relating to exclusion of certain users, the mechanics of boundary delineation, scientific uncertainties relating to identification of ecologically critical areas, lost opportunity and the spill-over of potentially increasing fishing pressure outside the limits of the closed area all necessitate that managers evaluate costs and benefits carefully before using closed areas to complement other forms of fisheries management ” (Agardy 2000) “Reserves will be essential for conservation efforts because they can provide unique protection for critical areas, they can provide a spatial escape for intensely exploited species, and they can potentially act as buffers against some management miscalculations and unforeseen or unusual conditions.” (Allison et al. 1998) “To date, most reserve design and site selection have involved little scientific justification.”
Assessing the habitat requirements of stream fishes: an overview and evaluation of different approaches
- Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
"... Abstract.—With the widespread decline and endangerment of freshwater fishes, there is a need to clearly define habitat requirements for effective species management and habitat restoration. Fish biologists often infer habitat requirements on the basis of correlative habitat associations in the wild. ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 20 (2 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Abstract.—With the widespread decline and endangerment of freshwater fishes, there is a need to clearly define habitat requirements for effective species management and habitat restoration. Fish biologists often infer habitat requirements on the basis of correlative habitat associations in the wild. This generates descriptive models that predict species presence or abundance at a hierarchy of scales: distributional (macrohabitat) models predict the presence/absence of species at large scales, capacity models predict the abundance at the reach or channel unit scale when a species is present, and microhabitat models predict the distribution of individual fish at smaller spatial scales (e.g., instream habitat suitability curves for velocity, depth, and substrate). However, re-lationships based on habitat associations in the wild rarely give definitive insight into the absolute requirement for a particular habitat (i.e., necessity of a habitat for the persistence of individuals and populations). The assumption that habitat selection accurately reflects the fitness consequences of habitat use is rarely validated; more rigorous assessment of habitat requirement usually involves manipulative experiments or measurements of fitness (individual growth, survival, or reproductive success) in different habitat types. Bioenergetic habitat models offer a promising mechanistic alternative to correlative habitat suitability models for drift-feeding fish and have the potential to
Membership of the eight Regional Fishery Management Councils in the United States: Are special interests over-represented
- Marine Policy
, 2003
"... The failure of modern fisheries management is blamed on myriad socio-economic and technical problems, but the most fundamental reason for failure might be the overwhelming dominance of extractive interests in participatory decision-making venues. In the United States, commercial fishing interests ma ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 14 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
The failure of modern fisheries management is blamed on myriad socio-economic and technical problems, but the most fundamental reason for failure might be the overwhelming dominance of extractive interests in participatory decision-making venues. In the United States, commercial fishing interests made up 49 % of appointed voting members of the eight Regional Fishery Management Councils between 1990 and 2001; recreational fishing interests made up 33%, and all other interests combined made up 17%. Dominance of commercial fishing representation over the ‘other ’ group was statistically significant, and this unequal apportionment of interests remained statistically stable throughout the 12 years of reporting. Contemporary economic sensibilities within this ‘industry-captured ’ regulatory process generate perverse incentives for management decisions that conflict with, and can undermine, national sustainability goals and standards, even when those standards are logically sound and agreed to by consensus. Positive feedbacks in the system reinforce the unequal representation of interests. The relative dominance of these interests can be adjusted through an experiment that legally mandates an apportionment formula designed to optimize the welfare and interests of the general public, thus testing the notion that increasing the relative representation of general public interests would improve the lacklustre performance of US federal fisheries management.
Pacific Northwest salmon: forecasting their status
- in 2100. Reviews in Fisheries Science
, 2003
"... Available on the web: ..."
(Show Context)
Status of native fishes in the western United States and issues for fire and fuels management. Forest Ecology and Management
, 2003
"... Conservation of native fishes and changing patterns in wildfire and fuels are defining challenges for managers of forested landscapes in the western United States. Many species and populations of native fishes have declined in recorded history and some now occur as isolated remnants of what once wer ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 14 (4 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Conservation of native fishes and changing patterns in wildfire and fuels are defining challenges for managers of forested landscapes in the western United States. Many species and populations of native fishes have declined in recorded history and some now occur as isolated remnants of what once were larger more complex systems. Land management activities have been viewed as one cause of this problem. Fires also can have substantial effects on streams and riparian systems and may threaten the persistence of some populations of fish, particularly those that are small and isolated. Despite that, major new efforts to actively manage fires and fuels in forests throughout the region may be perceived as a threat rather than a benefit to conservation of native fishes and their habitats. The management of terrestrial and aquatic resources has often been contentious, divided among a variety of agencies with different goals and mandates. Management of forests, for example, has generally been viewed as an impact on aquatic systems. Implementation of the management-regulatory process has reinforced a uniform approach to mitigate the threats to aquatic species and habitats that may be influenced by management activities. The problems and
