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Cisneros‐Montemayor, Andrés M; Townsel, Amanda; Gonzales, Claire M; Haas, Andrea R; Navarro‐Holm, Estrella E; Salorio‐Zuñiga, Teresa; Johnson, Andrew F
doi: 10.1111/1477-8947.12193pmid: N/A
Ecotourism can incentivize social and environmental benefits through marine conservation, in parallel with efforts to better manage fisheries, coastal development, and other human pressures. In Mexico's Gulf of California and Baja California Peninsula (GCBP), marine ecosystems support tourism activities in many communities, but to date there have been no region‐wide studies to estimate their benefits or identify key species. Based on data collected in this study, each year nature‐based marine tourism in the GCBP results in 896,000 visits, US$518 million in expenditures and at least 3,575 direct jobs from formal operations. In interviews with operators, over 40 species groups were named as important; sea lions, whale sharks, whales, and marlin were the highest ranked, highlighting the importance of ecosystem‐wide health for nature‐based tourism sustainability. Local employment and the ability to make economic and conservation goals compatible were noted by operators as significant opportunities provided by nature‐based marine tourism; challenges included pollution and declines in ecosystem health, a lack of infrastructure, poor resource management policies, and high operating costs. As nature‐based marine tourism expands, a wider transition to true ecotourism, a focus on equitable benefits and collaboration between stakeholders and a cross‐scale and ecosystem approach to management will be vital for achieving potential sustainable social, ecological and economic benefits.
doi: 10.1111/1477-8947.12188pmid: N/A
Seawater desalination has become the focus of many countries to solve the problem of lacking freshwater resources. Seawater desalination in China launched in the 1960s and has developed rapidly since entering into the 21st Century. However, the technology of seawater desalination causes marine environmental pollution. After exploring the regulatory framework and legal system of reducing environmental risks of seawater desalination in China, it can be found that the existing regulatory framework and legal system have played a positive role in the treatment of seawater desalination, but it is undeniable that there are still many problems. How to effectively prevent or reduce the marine environment risks caused by seawater desalination and improve the existing regulatory framework and legal system in China are discussed. Specifically, in addition to further improve the Marine Environmental Protection Law, China shall integrate seawater desalination into unified regulation of marine resources, clarify statutory functions of various regulatory departments, improve the coordination mechanism, and promote marine environment and ecology protection by institutional construction.
Estévez, Rodrigo A.; Veloso, Carlos; Jerez, Gabriel; Gelcich, Stefan
doi: 10.1111/1477-8947.12200pmid: N/A
Fisheries management is increasingly transitioning towards collaborative governance. Collaborative systems depend on stakeholders’ capacity to design and implement legitimate and scientifically robust management plans within collective action arenas. Here we propose that collaborative governance outcomes, in fisheries management, will benefit from using structured participatory decision making frameworks that enhance deliberative thinking among stakeholders. We tested our approach in the artisanal fishery of Chile, an important producer of marine resources. Recently in 2013, Chile made important changes to fisheries policies by creating multi‐sectorial management committees to manage de facto open access fishing areas. We applied a structured decision making framework to inform the restructuring of a management plan within a committee. As a result, we identified goals,objectives and indicators, including social, economic, biological and ecological dimensions; we explored tradeoffs, assessing the relative importance of the objectives; finally, we created scenarios and prioritized alternatives, reflecting on the interplay between self‐regulation and government control. Members of the management committee were able to rationalize the different steps of the framework and identify ways forward which highlighted the importance of self‐regulation in comparison to central authorities’ control. We concluded that structured decision making promotes spaces for rational analysis of alternatives costs and benefits. Promoting deliberative thinking in fisheries management can improve equity, legitimacy and sustainability of collaborative governance.
Will, Emma; Pettersson, Maria; Stage, Jesper
doi: 10.1111/1477-8947.12199pmid: N/A
This paper studies how fisheries services are classified in the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework for trade in services and discusses the potential impact of unclear classifications. The WTO plays a key role in regulation and assessment in the area of trade in services, mainly due to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which contains the only set of multilateral rules managing such trade internationally. The purpose of GATS is to create a credible and reliable system of international trade rules that ensures fair treatment of all participants. Through negotiations, individual countries establish commitments to provide market access and limiting national treatment in various service sectors. During such negotiations, the classification of services is a prerequisite to ensure unambiguous and comparable commitments. However, the classification list used by the WTO, namely the W/120, is based on, and corresponds to, old versions of other classification lists, leading to unclear classifications. This lack of clarity in sectoral classifications makes policy analysis unnecessarily difficult and creates a risk that trade agreements may be interpreted differently by different parties.
doi: 10.1111/1477-8947.12201pmid: N/A
This paper explores corruption in global fisheries. While reducing corruption is critical for the effective management of the fisheries sector and the fulfilment of the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs, and SDGs14 and 16 in particular), to do so, it is necessary to first have a systematic and comprehensive understanding of what corruption is and how it is manifested in the sector. There is literature on illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, but not much on corruption. The paper proposes an analytical framework and applies it with six revelatory cases to improve the conceptual clarity of corruption in fisheries. Specific corruption problems found in licensing, negotiating access agreements, lax enforcement, extortion, political corruption, money laundering and tax manipulation, human trafficking, etc. can therefore be better identified through this analysis, which lays a base for systematic responses to tackling corruption in fisheries and accordingly furthering the sustainable development of the sector.
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