Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Marine resources conservation”

This thesis adopts an interdisciplinary approach. It examines the development of marine and coastal policy in Indonesia and explores how well Indonesia is governing its marine and coastal space and resources and with what effects and consequences. This thesis uses a policy analysis framework, with legislative and institutional activity as the basic unit of analysis. Three factors are identified as having been the major influences on the evolution of marine and coastal policy in Indonesia. These are international law, marine science and “state of the art” marine and coastal management. The role of these factors in the management of the coastal zone, living and non-living marine resources, marine science and technology, the marine environment and relevant international relations are analysed and discussed in the Indonesian case. This thesis concludes that Indonesia’s major challenges in terms of sustainable marine and coastal development are (a) to establish an appropriate management regime, and (b) to formulate and implement a combination of measures in order to attain the objectives of sustainable development. The basic problem is the fact that currently, Indonesia is not a “marine oriented” nation. Therefore, marine and coastal affairs are not at the top of the public policy agenda. Principles of international instruments have influenced the establishment of marine and coastal policy and management in Indonesia. However, in the implementation of sound management practices, Indonesia faces many challenges. The distinctive characteristics of Indonesia as an archipelagic nation underpin the basic philosophy of marine and coastal policy and management. With the increasing priority of marine and coastal policy in national development, science and environmental aspects have been able to play a greater role in policy development. ii A number of lessons can be taken from the Australian experience that may have some relevance to how Indonesia meets the challenges of implementing its new marine and coastal policy. For example, Indonesia needs to follow the lead of Australia, establishing national principles, goals and objectives for the sustainable of Indonesia’s marine and coastal resources and the conservation, protection and restoration of the marine and coastal environment. The solution for major marine and coastal management problems between federal and states, such as Offshore Constitutional Settlement (OCS) and Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment (IGAE), offer an attractive alternative for the implementation of regional autonomy in Indonesia. Also, there is a need for multi-stakeholder involvement throughout the policy development process. In readiness for the 21st Century, the Guidelines of State Policy (GBHN) 1999 stated a shift of paradigm from ‘terrestrial oriented’ towards ‘marine oriented’ development. Indonesia started to give more priority to marine and coastal development and now faces the challenges posed by the transition from issue analysis and planning to the implementation of policies. One way or the other, it is reasonable to conclude that new forces and new needs are likely to bring change and improvement to marine and coastal governance in Indonesia over the next decade or so. iii

Globally, ecosystems are experiencing increasing pressure from anthropogenic stressors. Human population growth is responsible for overexploitation of natural resources, pollution, land alteration and climate change. A change in landscape connectivity, may not only reduce the habitable space for species, but may also affect their movement and population dynamics. These changes potentially reduce the resilience of ecosystems against other stressors. Reserves are a common method to protect areas from overexploitation and habitat destruction and help to safeguard ecosystem functioning. Reserve size, location and configuration influence the effect of reserves and the optimal design of protected areas is a field of ongoing research. Connectivity is a guiding principle in protected area planning but the explicit incorporation of connections remains a challenge. Reasons can be found in the scarcity of quantitative data on connectivity and a lack of agreement on connectivity measures. Currently, connections in marine landscapes are less studied than on land. The aim of this thesis was to examine the relationship between connectivity and ecosystem processes, and to test methods for modelling and incorporating quantitative data on connectivity in the design of marine protected areas.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Grifffith School of Environment
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology
Full Text

Thesis: Ph. D., Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
Marine populations are increasingly subjected to changing conditions whether through harvest or through broad-scale habitat change. Historically, few models have accounted for such trends over time, and even fewer have been used to study how trends affect optimal harvests. I developed and analyzed several models that explore, first, endogenous change caused by harvest and, second, exogenous change from factors (such as rising ocean temperatures) outside harvesters' control. In these models, I characterized the profit-or yield-maximizing strategy when harvesting damages habitat in a multispecies fishery, when harvest creates a selective pressure on dispersal, and when rising temperatures cause changes in vital rates. I explore this last case in both deterministic and stochastic environments, and also allow the harvester to learn about unknown parameters of the stock recruitment model while harvesting. I also develop an unambiguous definition of and describe a statistical test for a shift in a species' spatial distribution. My results demonstrate that optimal harvesting strategies in a changing environment differ in important ways from optimal strategies in a constant environment.
by Emily Alison Moberg.
Ph. D.

This study focuses on communities in conservation in central Philippines, with reference to marine protected areas. It analyzes communities as intersections of multiple actors with stratified interests and power, involving complex processes of place-making, ecological knowledge, tenure, governance, markets, and negotiation with domestic and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs). As rights to places are fundamentally at issue with protected areas, matters of tenure are central for the study. And because marine protected areas (MPAs) are community-based, questions of local empowerment have equal centrality.
The ownership of rights to marine resources by village members is a necessary if not sufficient condition for the political empowerment of communities in conservation. The issue of property rights in the Philippines is irrevocably linked to issues of equity, as social actors confront prevailing unequal relations of power. The development of community commitment to the reconfigured arrangements of marine protected area establishment depends on substantial economic gains for marginalized villagers, an equitable distribution of those gain, the ecologically sound management of resources over which rights are negotiated and gains generated, and a socially meaningful realignment of relations of power among nested sources of authority.
My analysis points to the advantages of a reinforced community property regime that would call for measures by the national government to enhance villagers' tenure over their settlements and community waters (katubigang barangay). Such a regime is no panacea for the manifold social and environmental challenges faced by communities, but it would enable them to engage more confidently and constructively with state, NGO and other interests in conservation, and to address the real or perceived threats of dislocation by externally proposed schemes.
Two villages with MPAs in the province of Bohol in central Philippines serve as case study sites to explore intertwined social, economic and political variables that influence issues of conservation, equity and empowerment.

This study formed part of a larger provincial marine systematic conservation plan for KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, called SeaPLAN. Owing to budget and time constraints, not all ± 1640 fish species that occur in the region were considered. A method to prioritise species was therefore developed to identify those species which were most at most risk of being excluded by a conservation plan based primarily on habitat representation (i.e. SeaPLAN). The method was based on three underlying principles: (i) species with limited conservation options; (ii) threatened species; and (iii) inherently vulnerable species. From these three principles, seven criteria were defined (e.g. endemic or rare species). Sixtyseven species met the qualifying conditions for these criteria and were consequently included in this study (FishPLAN). In order to map the distributions of these 67 fish species, the spatial and temporal accuracy of existing marine fish data for KZN was investigated. Only 17 percent of the data evaluated met the spatial resolution requirements of 1 km2, while temporal resolution was high: >99 percent of the data were collected at daily resolution. A resulting recommendation is that future data collection employ handheld data recording devices (with GPS capability), in order to increase the spatial accuracy of data, minimise human error and improve the efficiency of data flow. Species life cycle envelopes (SLICES) were developed to capture spatial differences in areas occupied during three life-cycle phases (reproductive, juvenile and feeding). Two distribution modelling techniques were used: Maxent, which uses quantitative data, and CHARMS (cartographic habitat association range models), which uses qualitative range data. A combination of statistical and biological criteria was used to determine the most informative and appropriate model for each species. Species distribution models (SDMs) were constructed for three temporal partitions of the data: annual, summer and winter. Patterns of species richness developed from the seasonal models showed seasonal differences in patterns that conformed to known seasonal distributions of fish assemblages: richness was higher in southern KZN during winter, while it was higher in northern KZN during summer. The resulting SDMs were used to develop a conservation plan for fish: conservation targets were set using the minimum recommended baseline of 20 percent of a species’ range, to which biological retention targets (additional proportion of the range) were added, in an attempt to ensure species persistence. The conservation targets were then adjusted using catch per unit effort (CPUE) data to match seasonal abundance of a given species. Within the existing network of marine protected areas (MPAs), none of the species’ targets are met by MPA sanctuary zones (zone As) alone, and all species require greater areas of protection. Three areas, namely offshore of the Tugela River mouth, the reefs offshore of Durban, and Aliwal Shoal, were consistently identified as being important in addition to existing MPAs for conservation of the fish species investigated. The greater efficiency of a seasonal MPA network to protect seasonally varying distributions of biodiversity, suggests that this may be a useful tool to consider in conservation management. The outcome of a conservation plan from this study (FishPLAN) was finally compared with the broader, more inclusive conservation plan, SeaPLAN. This comparison demonstrated how conservation plans based on a single group of species run the risk of identifying areas that are appropriate only for the relevant species, and might fail to conserve biodiversity as a whole.

Marine environmental resource managers and consultants require comprehensive, accurate and current data on the status of marine biodiversity in order to fully evaluate resource consent applications that involve development, impact or encroachment within the marine environment, and for identifying areas of coast appropriate for conservation. The role and efficacy of existing global, national and regional marine biodiversity databases in delivering these types of data are evaluated. Consultation with environmental consultants revealed that none regularly, if ever used any existing marine biodiversity database during their routine consulting activities. Moreover, no existing biodiversity database had appropriate data-mining tools, although each was determined to provide information of value to resource managers and environmental consultants operating at national and regional scales; none was deemed to provide the sort of information required to manage marine resources at a local scale. To achieve the objectives of this research programme, resource managers, data users and data compilers were consulted to determine their ideal data and database requirements. Existing biodiversity data sets that included New Zealand marine biodiversity then were searched or procured, and these data and that of a novel data set of species occurring at 296 intertidal and 25 fringe-saline (effectively freshwater) sites within and proximal to the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park (from Mimiwhangata Bay in the north to Tauranga Harbour in the south) were compared with species inventories from environmental consultants operating in this region. Biodiversity data from the 296 saline, comprising presence/absence data for 713 taxa recorded from the survey region were analysed in detail. Significantly different species assemblages were identified amongst these 296 sites, five intertidal habitats being recognised, each with characteristic species assemblages: marine-hard shores, marine-soft shores, brackish-hard shores, brackish-soft shores, and mangrove shores. Species richness and diversity were consistently higher in marine habitats, and greatest on hard substrata. Most sites host unique assemblages of species. A novel index of species richness is proposed, and although the spatial distribution of richness isn’t particularly revealing, as obvious patterns in the distribution of richness are not apparent, this index has value in that the richness of any shore can be compared and contrasted with that of others throughout the region. Augmenting this richness index is a novel index of species rarity. Based on the frequency of occurrence of taxa on shores throughout the survey region, very rare through to ubiquitous taxa are recognised to routinely occur on almost all shores, regardless of the total species richness. Moreover, very rare to uncommon taxa often comprise a disproportionately high percentage of the total species occurring on any given intertidal shore, in any habitat. Accordingly, alarm bells should ring for reviewers of resource consent applications wherein environmental consultants state that an area subject to development ‘hosts no rare, unique or otherwise remarkable species or ecology.’ Two applications of these novel biodiversity data are demonstrated: the relationship between species richness and regional council consented activities is described, with a negative correlation reported for the intensity of disturbance (using the number of consented activities as a proxy for disturbance) and species richness on marine hard shores; and an appraisal of four selection criteria for marine reserves (naturalness, representativeness, uniqueness and complementarities), wherein the intertidal fauna and flora of no existing or proposed marine reserve appears to be natural, unique or representative, and effort seems to have been spent duplicating certain assemblages of species in reserve networks. The former is intuitively obvious, but the latter is alarming, and the ramifications of it far reaching in terms of conservation of the marine environment. Protocols for conducting biodiversity surveys must be established and implemented to elevate the standards of environmental consultants, resulting value judgements on the composition of species, and the likely and actual effects of these developments on the marine environment to ensure that statements made in reports are based on current data rather than perceptions and client expectations. It is possible that resource consents have been issued based on spurious appraisals of the immediate and cumulative effect of discharge on the environment, or of the relative rarity (or appreciation of this) of species that occur within it. Prior to development of the novel Monalisa data set, no existing database or data set existed that provided the information routinely required by managers and consultants to make informed judgements that affect coastal development throughout the survey region. Recommendations for additional research to build on findings detailed herein are made.

All marine ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea are highly threatened by anthropogenic stressors that can alter their structure and function, especially in rocky shores. Moreover, extreme climate events are becoming more frequent and intense in our times. To detect the potential impacts and the vulnerability of any ecosystem, the combination of experimental and observational studies in the field is vital. In addition, long-term monitoring programs carried out simultaneously on human-protected and human- impacted environments may be crucial to discern the nature of the impacts. Macroalgal beds dominate the shallow benthic Mediterranean habitats where they play a pivotal role. Among them, the canopy-forming Cystoseira sensu lato species represent the highest structural complexity level and provide unique habitats with ecological services comparable to terrestrial forests. Canopy-forming algae are in decline in many coastal areas where, among other impacts, overgrazing by herbivorous can lead to the loss of these diverse habitats shifting towards degraded sea urchin barren grounds. Conservation tools such as marine reserves or No-take zones (NTZs) have the potential to reduce some of the anthropogenic threats and to restore benthic habitats through trophic cascade effects caused by the major abundance of predator. Besides, active ecosystem restoration strategies may speed up the recovery of impacted ecosystems. Nevertheless, there is an important lack of continuous and long-term studies providing robust ecological data of the natural dynamic and vulnerability of macroalgal assemblages while integrating the role of marine conservation. In this dissertation, different methodological approaches were combined to explore the long-term dynamics of macroalgal communities and the role of different conservation strategies (NTZs and active restoration) in the Montgrí, Medes Islands, and Baix Ter (MIMBT) Natural Park (NW Mediterranean Sea). In the first two chapters, the analysis of long-term monitoring datasets provided essential information to understand how macroalgal assemblages and sea urchin populations respond to natural fluctuations and anthropogenic disturbances, mainly overfishing. In the third chapter, field monitoring and sampling were combined with genetic analyses to increase the ecological knowledge of the canopy-forming alga Treptacantha elegans as well as to describe their recent expansion. In the fourth and last chapter, active restoration actions as seeding experiments were conducted in aquaria and in the field to optimize restoration techniques to recover degraded shallow ecosystems. In addition, different restoration strategies were combined in the field inside and outside the Medes Islands NTZ to evaluate the role of marine protection on restoration activities. The results of this thesis showed that the abundance and structure of the main macroalgal assemblages in the MIMBT Natural Park were stable at large over the last fifteen years. Overall, any effect of marine protection was observed on the most representative species of this habitat but we found a higher abundance of canopy- forming algae inside the NTZ than in unprotected areas. Contrarily, sea urchin populations were deeply affected by a severe storm in 2008 which caused the almost depletion of its populations in all the studied areas. Although similar trajectories of sea urchin abundance have been observed over the years between both protection regimes due to the large stability of the sea urchin high-density state, clear differences in the recovery of sea urchin populations were found after the storm linked to marine protection. The sea urchin populations inside the NTZ recovered slowly than the populations outside the NTZ inside due to the higher predatory fish abundance inside the NTZ. In contrast to the global widespread decline of canopy-forming macroalgal assemblages across many regions during the last decades, Treptacantha elegans has increased their distributional range and has shown an extraordinary expansion along the Catalan northern coast over the last two decades. The results of this thesis contributed to explaining this geographical and depth range extension, which could be linked to some ecological attributes such as their relative fast-growing dynamics, early fertile maturity, and high turnover rate. Besides, the molecular analyses have shown that all the populations of T. elegans in the Catalan coast constitute a single genetic group that could be originated in the MIMBT Natural Park under the marine protection benefit. Given the fast and stable population dynamics of T. elegans, this species was selected as a potential species to actively restore degraded shallow rocky ecosystems (e.g., sea urchin barren grounds) turning them into productive marine forests. In this way, the effectiveness of active restoration actions combined with passive strategies such as marine protection (e.g., NTZs) was experimentally demonstrated. This thesis addressed marine vegetation changes in the shallow rocky shores of the MIMBT Natural Park integrating the macroalgal and sea urchin dynamics in front of natural and human-related impacts, and the role and effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas and restoration actions as conservation tools at lower trophic levels. Besides, since most of this thesis is based on long-term monitoring data, a valuable baseline of the algal community’s structure and functioning was provided here which could be vital to predict and detect ecological changes that could jeopardize the preservation of marine forests.
Els ecosistemes bentònics mediterranis es troben fortament amenaçats per pressions, tant a nivell local com global, que poden alterar la seva estructura i funcionament, especialment en els fons rocosos litorals. A més, els episodis climàtics extrems esdevenen cada vegada més freqüents i intensos. Per a detectar els possibles impactes sobre qualsevol ecosistema així com la seva vulnerabilitat, la combinació d’estudis observacionals i experimentals al camp és primordial. En aquest sentit, els estudis a llarg termini realitzats simultàniament en zones impactades i en zones protegides de l’acció humana, poden ser crucials per a identificar la naturalesa dels impactes. Al mar Mediterrani, les comunitats de macroalgues dominen els hàbitats bentònics soms, on tenen un paper primordial. D’entre elles, les algues de tipus arborescent del gènere Cystoseira representen el nivell més elevat de complexitat estructural i proporcionen hàbitats amb serveis comparables als boscos terrestres. Aquestes algues es troben en declivi en diverses zones costaneres. És aquí on, entre altres impactes, la sobrepastura dels herbívors pot portar a la pèrdua d’aquests hàbitats rics i diversos i la seva transició cap a fons degradats dominats pels eriçons. Les eines de conservació, així com ara les reserves marines o les àrees on està prohibida completament l’extracció (NTZs), tenen el potencial de reduir algunes de les amenaces derivades de l’acció humana i de restaurar els hàbitats bentònics gràcies als efectes dels depredadors a través de les cascades tròfiques. A més de la restauració passiva a través de la creació d’aquestes àrees protegides, la restauració activa dels ecosistemes impactats pot accelerar la seva recuperació. No obstant això, hi ha una manca important d’estudis continuats i a llarg termini que proporcionin dades ecològiques robustes sobre la dinàmica natural i la vulnerabilitat dels hàbitats de macroalgues i que alhora integrin el paper de les diferents eines de conservació marina. En aquesta tesi, s’han combinat diferents metodologies per explorar la dinàmica de les comunitats de macroalgues juntament amb el paper de diferents estratègies de conservació (NTZs i restauració activa) al Parc Natural del Montgrí, les Illes Medes i el Baix Ter (MIMBT), situat al Nord-oest del mar Mediterrani. En els primers dos capítols, les anàlisis de dades d’estudis a llarg termini han proporcionat informació essencial per millorar la nostra comprensió sobre com les comunitats de macroalgues i les poblacions d’eriçons responen a les fluctuacions naturals i a les pertorbacions d’origen antròpic, principalment, la sobrepesca. En el tercer capítol, mostrejos en el camp s’han combinat amb anàlisis genètics per augmentar el coneixement ecològic de l’alga arborescent Treptacantha elegans i per descriure la seva recent expansió. Al quart i últim capítol, s’han realitzat accions de restauració activa, com ara experiments de sembra en aquaris i al camp per optimitzar les tècniques de restauració dels ecosistemes poc profunds degradats. A més, s’han combinat diferents estratègies de restauració a camp, dins i fora de la NTZ de les Illes Medes, per avaluar el paper de la protecció en les activitats de restauració. Els resultats d’aquesta tesi mostren que la abundància i la composició de les principals comunitats algals del Parc Natural del MIMBT s’han mantingut estables al llarg dels darrers quinze anys. En general, no es va observar cap efecte de la protecció en les espècies d’algues més representatives, tot i que si que es van trobar abundàncies més elevades de l’alga T. elegans a dins de la NTZ que a les zones no protegides de l’acció humana. Al contrari, les poblacions d’eriçons es van veure profundament afectades per una forta tempesta l’any 2008, el que va provocar el declivi gairebé total d’aquestes poblacions a les zones estudiades. Tot i que s’havien observat trajectòries similars en l’abundància d’eriçons al llarg del temps, tant a dins com a fora de la NTZ, degut a la gran estabilitat de les poblacions d’eriçons quan les poblacions presenten elevades densitats, en aquesta tesi es van trobar clares diferències en la recuperació d’aquestes poblacions després de la tempesta que estarien vinculades a l’efecte de la protecció marina. Les poblacions d’eriçons a dins de la NTZ es van recuperar més lentament que les de les zones no protegides degut a la major abundància de peixos depredadors a dins de la NTZ. Davant de la davallada generalitzada de les macroalgues arborescents que s’ha pogut observar a moltes regions al llarg de les darreres dècades, l’alga Treptacantha elegans ha demostrat una extraordinària expansió a la costa nord catalana al llarg de les dues darreres dècades, augmentat considerablement la seva distribució. Els resultats d'aquesta tesi contribueixen a explicar aquesta expansió, tant en fondària com a nivell geogràfic, que podria estar relacionada amb alguns trets ecològics, com ara la seva dinàmica de creixement relativament ràpid, la maduresa reproductiva precoç i la seva elevada taxa de renovació poblacional. A més, les anàlisis moleculars mostren que totes les poblacions de T. elegans a la costa catalana constitueixen un únic grup genètic que podria tenir el seu origen al Parc Natural del MIMBT com a conseqüència de la protecció marina. Atesa la dinàmica ràpida i estable de les poblacions de T. elegans, es va seleccionar aquesta com a potencial espècie per restaurar activament els ecosistemes rocosos poc profunds degradats (els blancalls originats per la sobrepastura d’eriçons) convertint-los en productius boscos marins. Gràcies a això, també s’ha demostrat experimentalment l’èxit de combinar accions de restauració activa amb estratègies passives com la protecció marina (p.e. NTZs). Aquesta tesi aborda els canvis de vegetació marina als fons soms i rocosos del Parc Natural del MIMBT integrant la dinàmica de les macroalgues i els eriçons enfront dels impactes naturals i humans, i, el paper i l’eficàcia de les zones marines protegides i de les accions de restauració com a eines de conservació per als nivells tròfics més basals. A més, atès que la major part d’aquesta tesi es basa en dades d’estudis a llarg termini, aquesta tesi proporciona una valuosa referència de la dinàmica i de l’estat actual de les comunitats infralitorals dominades per algues, el que podria ser vital per predir i detectar canvis ecològics que puguin posar en perill la preservació dels boscos marins.

Throughout the Pacific, many species of echinoderms and molluscs have cultural value and are harvested extensively in subsistence fisheries. Many of these species are sedentary and often associated with distinct reef-top habitats. Despite the significance of reef habitats and their fauna for fisheries and biodiversity etc, little information has been available on the distribution of habitats and their influence on the reef-top fauna in the Cook Islands. This thesis developed a novel approach to assess the status of the shallow-water reef-tops of Rarotonga, Cook Islands, to provide critical information to fisheries and conservation managers. The approach used remote sensing (aerial photography with ground truthing) to map the spatial arrangement and extent of the entire reef-top habitats accurately, and historical wind data and coastline shape to determine the windward and leeward sides of the island. The benthic habitat maps and degree of wind exposure were used to design and undertake a stratified sampling programme to assess the distribution and abundance of the epibenthic macroinvertebrate fauna of the reef-top. I quantified the distribution and abundance of the epibenthic macroinvertebrates and how they varied with habitat, assessed the effectiveness of a traditional ra�ui (marine protected area) for conserving stocks of Trochus niloticus and other invertebrates, and investigated the reproductive biology and impacts of traditional gonad harvesting on Holothuria leucospilota. There were four major habitat types (rubble/rock, sand/coral matrix, algal rim and sand) identified, the most extensive being rubble/rock (45%) and sand/coral matrix (35%). The degree of exposure to winds was found to correlate with the reef development and habitat distribution. The assemblage composition of each major habitat type differed significantly from every other habitat. The rubble/rock habitat had the greatest substratum heterogeneity and structural complexity, and the highest number of species and individuals. The overall abundance of the fauna was dominated by holothurians (68%) and echinoids (30%), while Trochus niloticus and Tridacna maxima accounted for the remaining 2% of the total invertebrate assemblage. Clear habitat partitioning was also found for adult and juvenile Trochus niloticus and Tridacna maxima. In the traditional fishery for Holothuria leucospilota, the mature gonads of males are harvested by making an incision in the body-wall of the animal, removing the gonads and then returning the animal to the reef to allow regeneration. Monthly collections of H. leucospilota were used to describe the reproductive biology of this species. Gametogenesis and spawning were synchronous between the sexes and spawning occurred annually during summer, when water temperature and photoperiod were at their highest. Although the incision in the body-wall and gonad removal had no impact on the survival of H.leucospilota in experimental cages, their body weight, and general sheltering and feeding behaviors were affected. Gonads took at least 41 days to start regenerating, suggesting a considerable delay in the spawning of fished individuals. In 1998, five Rarotongan communities re-introduced the traditional ra�ui system of resource management, prohibiting all fishing and gathering from their reefs. The performance of the Nikao ra�ui, which had been put in place to allow trochus stocks to increase, was investigated. Comparisons of macroinvertebrate assemblage composition and species density were made between three fishing treatments, i.e. fished areas adjacent to the ra�ui, within the ra�ui after two years of protection, and in the ra�ui after it had been lifted for three weeks to allow a commercial trochus harvest. Analysis of variance on the count data for the twelve most abundant species, and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling indicated that there were no differences in the microhabitat or the invertebrate assemblage composition between the three fishing treatments. However, there were significant differences between the rubble/rock and sand/coral matrix habitat types. The results on the effectiveness of the Nikao ra�ui are equivocal, due to the small sample size, and the variability between samples which was highlighted by the wide confidence intervals. This study highlights the importance of habitat to the macroinvertebrate fauna of the reef-top and the need for accurate habitat maps to increase the cost-effectiveness of future resource surveys, to provide information to management, and for the design of Marine Protected Areas. The mapping and survey methods must be reliable and repeatable in terms of the limitations of time, and the availability of expertise, funding and resources. The results provide important information for fisheries and conservation managers of Rarotonga and other Pacific Islands to better design rigorous sampling programmes for monitoring the status of reef-top resources, and for evaluating and planning Marine Protected Areas.

Sturgeons belong to one of the oldest families of bony fish in existence, having their first appearance in the fossil records approximately 200 million years ago. Their natural habitats are found in the subtropical, temperate and sub-Arctic rivers, lakes and coastlines of Eurasia and North America. In the Romanian waters, five anadromous species of sturgeon, out of the total 25 species known by science, once migrated from the Black Sea into the Danube for spawning: beluga; Huso huso, Russian sturgeon; Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, stellate sturgeon; A. stellatus, ship sturgeon; A. nudiventris and the European Atlantic sturgeon; A. sturio (Knight, 2009). The NW Black Sea and Lower Danube River sturgeons, like many Acipenserids, were seriously affected by the rapid changes brought by human development. Being one of the finest caviar producers in the world they were intensively harvested for many centuries. Heavy uncontrolled fishing and destruction of habitat led to the collapse of most of the Acipenserids and the total disappearance of the European Atlantic sturgeon (A. sturio) from the NW Black Sea. Public attention was focused world wide on sturgeons after their listing in the IUCN Red List of Threatened species in 1996. In 1998, after evaluating their abundance in the wild, CITES also decided to strictly regulate the international trade in all Acipenserids. The paper aims to analyze and review conservation measures that were taken locally, nationally and internationally by humans and the effect they had on one of Europe’s only naturally reproducing sturgeon populations.

The state of marine fishery resources globally and particularly in Nigeria is a matter of considerable concern. Hitherto, international and Nigerian fisheries laws, as well as the opinions of legal scholars on how to address this problem, have focused predominantly on overfishing. Meanwhile, scientific literature reveals that increasing ocean temperatures caused by global warming have serious legal and management implications on the sustainable development of marine fishery resources. This thesis argues that sustainability of marine fishery resources is achievable only if states, including Nigeria, adopt a holistic and proactive approach to their management. This approach demands mainstreaming climate change into harvest-based measures by applying precautionary and ecosystem management methods. The approach further requires coastal and fishing states to comply with fisheries and climate change regimes. The management of Norwegian spring spawning herring and Frazer River sockeye was case-studied and the lessons learned are used as a guide to address the adverse impact of climate change on Nigeria’s already overexploited marine fisheries. However, since societies are not the same and documentary data require triangulation, semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain the views of stakeholders in the marine fisheries sector on the major themes investigated. The first part of this thesis covers the introduction, research methodology and an examination of some preliminary issues. Part two ascertains how international fisheries law has addressed the problems of overfishing and climate change. Part three identifies the main lessons from the aforementioned case studies and advocates that states should adopt holistic approaches to compliance in solving the marine fish crisis. Part four investigates the extent to which Nigerian fisheries law has addressed the problems of overfishing and climate change; it also examines Nigeria’s compliance with international fisheries law. The concluding part recommends, in particular, that Nigeria should enforce conservation measures at sea, broaden participation of stakeholders in marine fisheries management and reduce its greenhouse gases emissions.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly being used as tools for fishery management and marine conservation.  This thesis investigates several aspects of the human dimensions of MPAs in Scotland with the purpose to contribute to the understanding of the attitudes of Scottish inshore fishers towards this management measure. Paper I reviews the literature on fishers’ attitudes towards MPAs.  It reveals that most empirical work collects information on fishers’ attitudes towards three general issues of importance to MPAs: governance, conservation of biodiversity and the environment, and the impact of MPAs on fishing activity. Using data from surveys conducted with Scottish fishers, papers II, III, IV and V investigate fishers’ attitudes towards, and perceptions of, several issues of interest to MPAs.  Plus, multivariate data analysis was used in all papers in order to identify which individual characteristics influence fishers’ attitudes towards, or perceptions about, the issues under investigation.  Papers II, IV and V use data collected on a survey conducted with Scottish inshore fishers in 2006/07, while Paper III uses data from a survey conducted previously (in 2001/02). Paper II investigates Scottish inshore fishers’ perceptions about participation in the decision-making process. Results reveal that around half of the fishers perceived themselves to be informed about management, but most did not perceive themselves to be consulted or involved in the decision-making process. Papers III and IV investigate fishers’ attitudes towards labour mobility.  More precisely, the papers investigate fishers’ willingness to leave the fishing sector, change to another gear or move to another area to remain fishing.  Results reveal that fishers’ attitudes towards leaving the fishing sector were different in the two periods.  In 2002 most fishers were willing to leave the fishing sector (Paper III) while five years later most were not (Paper V).  Most importantly, both papers point to the importance of job satisfaction for fishers. Results point to the importance of understanding the economic, social and cultural contexts of the fishing industry for the success of measures and policies aimed at providing fishers with alternative job opportunities in order to counter impacts of displacement caused by the implementation of MPAs and reduction of the overcapacity of the European fishing fleets. Paper V investigates inshore fishers’ attitudes towards MPAs and issues of relevance to MPAs (e.g. compliance with, and enforcement of, rules, and state of resources). More precisely, the paper investigates the attitudes towards closed areas between users of different gears which are affected by closed areas in different ways.  Results reveal that Scottish inshore fishers are not a homogenous collective; the attitudes towards closed areas differ among users of different gears.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate tourism capacity, the effectiveness of the management plan and the visitors’ willingness to pay (WTP) for increased conservation effort in the Buccoo Reef Marine Park (BRMP) in Tobago. Non-market contingent valuation was applied to estimate tourists’ WTP, using the data from a survey of 164 tourists. Local residents and government agencies were consulted to evaluate the management plan and the tourism capacity. Eighty-eight percent of local residents stated that the park was not well managed and that they lacked trust in the park agency. The density of tourists was 67-97% more than socially acceptable crowding norm. The tourists were willing to pay an additional entry fee of US$11.72 per person, which would generate additional revenue for the park management. In conclusion, the BRMP management needs modification in order to increase stakeholders’ trust, reduce tourists crowding intensity, and generate additional user-based revenue.

This thesis focuses on the Ngqeleni district of Mpondoland and particularly on the communities living adjacent to the Hluleka Nature Reserve from c. 1920 to the present. It aims to discuss the history of conservation in the area and the relationship of the local community and its leaders to conservation authorities. It seeks to demonstrate that conservation, both terrestrial and marine is experienced in different ways by men and women who consequently respond to the authorities in different ways. More particularly, it suggests that conservation both past and present has tended to be top-down and has failed to anticipate the effect of state measures on local livelihood strategies.

The islands of Bonaire and Curacao, Dutch Caribbean, were both mapped along their leeward coasts for dominant coral community and other benthic cover in the early 1980s. This mapping effort offers a unique baseline for comparing changes in the benthic community of the two islands since that time, particularly given the marked differences between the two islands. Bonaire is well-protected and completely surrounded by a marine protected area (MPA), which includes two no-diving marine reserves; additionally, Bonaire's population is only around 15,000. In contrast, the island of Curacao is home to 140,000 inhabitants and marine protection is limited, with a reef area of 600 ha established as a "paper" park (i.e., little enforcement). Video transects collected by SCUBA over the reefs were collected on Bonaire in January of 2008; when compared to data from 1985, coral cover had declined in the shallowest portion of the reef (< 5 m) and was mostly the result of declines in Acropora spp., whereas head corals increased. Transects closest to the no-diving marine reserves showed higher coral cover and diversity than transects located farther from the reserves. Satellite remote sensing techniques were used to create landscape-scale reef maps along the leeward coasts of both islands, which could differentiate areas of high hard coral cover (> 20%), predominantly sand (> 50%) and areas where hard coral and sand were mixed with soft corals, sea whips and marine plants. These modern maps (2007-09) were groundtruthed using the video data collected on Bonaire for accuracy and then compared to the early 1980s maps of the reefs on both islands. Bonaire experienced declines in coral cover overall and the remaining coral was increasingly patchy; however, changes in patch characteristics were not significant over the time period, but status as a marine reserve and the sheltering of the shoreline did appear to buffer against coral loss. Surprisingly, the island of Curacao did not experience a decline in total coral cover, but did become increasingly patchy, significantly more so than Bonaire. The Curacao Underwater Park afforded no additional protection against coral loss or fragmentation than an adjacent unprotected area of reef. The difference between the two islands in coral loss versus fragmentation has the potential for a unique natural experiment to study the effects of habitat fragmentation in the absence of overall habitat loss at the landscape scale. The Bonaire National Marine Park could benefit by restricting visitors to its most frequented dive sites by increasing the cost of entry into a tiered pay system, thus generating more income for education and management of the park, as well as deterring some divers from these overused sites. Satellite remote sensing-derived maps are useful for rapid reef mapping and can be utilized for comparison to ancillary maps created by more traditional methods. Satellite-derived maps can only distinguish benthic habitats coarsely (3-4 habitat classes) and are only as reliable as their source data, they benefit greatly from fieldwork to determine depth, geographic location, and benthic habitat cover in real time.

Macrofauna-based biocriteria to assess impairment in aquatic communities are well-developed and have been widely accepted as useful for coastal monitoring programs worldwide. Meiofauna-based methods are not as well developed, but meiofauna are intimately associated with sediments through their life cycles and are functionally important. Thus, an understanding of meiofauna relationships with environmental quality is also important. Relationships between the abundance and composition of major meiofauna taxa for two shallow water habitat types (protected, with muddy sediment; exposed, with sandy sediment) were investigated along gradients associated with changing land use, sediment contamination and environmental stressors in Chesapeake Bay. Principal component analysis shows that urbanization, eutrophication and sediment contamination affect shallow water sites in the lower Chesapeake Bay, Virginia ecosystem. Multidimensional scaling ordination of meiofauna community data reveals gradients associated with human activities and major habitat types. Both sediment enrichment (high percent organic carbon and percent nitrogen) and sediment toxicity were associated with shifts in meiofauna community composition in muddy sediment. Benthic Foraminifera, known to be pollution sensitive, were rare or absent in collections from sites with sediment enrichment or toxicity. Nematodes were abundant at a site with enrichment, but not at a site with significant sediment toxicity. Major meiofauna taxa also differed clearly between protected and exposed sites, with greater abundances in collections from mud versus sand sediment. Results of analyses matching biotic to environmental patterns point to the importance of regional historic salinity and chlorophyll-a levels in addition to other habitat properties, including sediment organic carbon, total nitrogen and sediment toxicity as predictors of meiofauna community structure. The Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity (B-IBI) developed for Chesapeake Bay based on macrofauna was negatively correlated with nematode abundance at muddy sites when a site with significant sediment toxicity was excluded. There were no other significant relationships between meiofauna metrics and the B-IBI. The ratio of nematodes to copepods was not effective for discriminating relationships among sites relative to anthropogenic effects.

Marine unconsolidated sediments constitute the largest ecosystems on earth in terms of spatial coverage, but there are still critical gaps in the science required to support conservation and ecosystem-based management. This is mainly due to the inaccessibility of these ecosystems in wave-exposed environments or deeper waters and the difficulty in observing biota in their three-dimensional sedimentary habitat. Currently, the physical driving processes of intertidal unconsolidated sediment ecosystems are much better understood than those of the subtidal ecosystems. However, these ecosystems are linked through water and sediment movement. This thesis, therefore, considers the continuum of unconsolidated sediment ecosystems across the entire continental shelf (i.e. intertidal to the shelf edge). The aim of this thesis was two-fold; (i) to advance the foundational understanding of biodiversity patterns and driving processes in unconsolidated sediment habitats, and (ii) to apply this knowledge in the development of a systematic conservation plan for marine unconsolidated sediment ecosystems. The South African west coast continental shelf was used as a case study in order to represent Eastern boundary upwelling regions. This study sought to investigate biodiversity patterns in macro-infaunal communities and determine their driving processes for incorporation into habitat classifications and the development of a habitat map. Systematic conservation plans require a map of biodiversity patterns and processes, and quantitative conservation targets to ensure representation of all biodiversity features including habitats.in marine protected areas. This thesis provided these key elements by classifying the unconsolidated sediment habitats and determining habitat-specific evidence-based conservation targets to support conservation of these important ecosystems. The application of these elements was then demonstrated in a systematic conservation plan for the unconsolidated sediment ecosystems of the South African west coast. Diversity patterns were examined using physical and macro-infauna data, ranging from the beach to the shelf edge (0-412 m). These data were analysed to develop two different habitat classifications, namely seascapes derived from geophysical and biophysical data, and biotopes derived from the combination of macro-infaunal and physical data. Multivariate analyses of 13 physical variables identified eight seascapes for the unconsolidated sediment samples from 48 sites on the South African west coast. These were based on depth, slope, sediment type, and upwelling-related processes (i.e. maximum chlorophyll concentration, sediment organic carbon content and austral summer bottom oxygen concentration). Latitude and bottom temperature were not considered major drivers of seascapes on the west coast because latitude closely reflected changes in upwelling-related processes and the temperature range was narrow across the shelf. This study revealed that productivity, a biophysical variable not usually included in geo-physical habitat classifications, played a significant role in the definition of seascapes on the South African west coast. It is therefore recommended that productivity be included in future seascape classifications to improve the utility of these classifications particularly in areas of variable productivity. Seascapes should, however, be tested against biological data to improve the understanding of key physical drivers of communities in unconsolidated sediment ecosystems. Macro-infaunal community distributions were determined along with their physical drivers for the unconsolidated sediments of the South African west coast. A total of 44 828 individuals from 469 taxa were identified from 48 sites representing 46.2 m2 of seafloor. Seven distinct macro-infaunal communities were defined through multivariate analyses and their key characteristic and distinguishing species were identified. These communities reflected five depth zones across the shelf, namely beach, inner shelf (10-42 m), middle shelf (60-142 m), outer shelf (150-357 m) and shelf edge (348-412 m). The processes driving the community structure of these depth zones were postulated to be tides, wave turbulence, seasonal hypoxia, habitat stability and homogeneity, and internal tides and/or shelf break upwelling, with drivers listed in order of increasing influence with depth. The middle shelf was further separated into three distinct communities based on sediment type, sediment organic carbon content and frequency of hypoxia. Variations in water turbulence, sediment grain size, upwelling-related variables and riverine sediment input were identified as the likely primary drivers of macro-infaunal community patterns. This chapter culminated in the development of a biotope classification based on the combination of macro-infaunal communities and their physical habitats (i.e. biotopes). South Africa has developed an expert-derived National Marine and Coastal Habitat (SANMC) Classification System which is used as a biodiversity surrogate in ecosystem assessment and spatial planning. This thesis tested the validity of this classification and the data derived Seascape classification against macro-infauna species abundance and biomass data in an effort to determine how well the different classifications represent macro-infaunal diversity of the west coast. These two classifications were also compared to the Biotope classification which combines macro-infaunal communities with their physical habitats. A canonical analysis of principle coordinates (CAP) was utilised to test the success with which each sample was allocated to the relevant habitat type in each classification. The total allocation success for each classification was used as a measure of effectiveness in terms of representing biodiversity patterns. Both classifications had similar allocation successes of 89-92 percent and 92-94 percent for the Seascape and National Habitat Classification respectively, but either over- or under-classified the macrofauna communities. The Biotope classification had the highest allocation success (98 percent), therefore it is the most accurate reflection of the macrofauna biodiversity patterns on the west coast. A key finding of this study was the increasing accuracy of classifications from physically- to expert- to biologically-derived habitat classifications. In this thesis, the Biotope classification was deemed the best representative of biodiversity patterns and was therefore used to produce the Biotope map for use in spatial assessment and planning. The distinct depth patterns that emerged in both the Seascape and Biotope classifications highlighted the need for further investigation of the relationship between depth and biodiversity. Despite variability in macro-infaunal communities, a general unifying pattern in biodiversity across the shelf was sought. Three relationships between depth and species richness have been described in the literature; namely a unimodal pattern, a positively linear relationship with depth, and no relationship between depth and species richness. These hypotheses were tested on the west coast. Two different species richness metrics were utilised to test the depth-diversity relationship, namely observed species density (spp.0.2m-2) and estimated species richness (spp.site-1). Observed species density increased from the beach to the shelf edge (350 m), then decreased to 412 m. The decline may have been due to difficulty in detecting species at greater depths as a result of sampling challenges. The inclusion of an innovative extrapolative method for estimating species richness (the capture-recapture heterogeneity model) within the Bayesian statistical framework mitigated the effects of species detection heterogeneity and revealed that species richness actually increased continuously across the shelf from beach to shelf edge. Thus the general relationship between depth and species richness is positively linear on the west coast of South Africa The new macro-infauna dataset and biotope map provided the opportunity to develop the first habitat-specific evidence-based conservation targets for unconsolidated sediments of the west coast. Species-Area Relationship (SAR) based conservation targets were developed for the biotopes using a modification of the generally accepted methodology. The accepted methodology has three steps (i) the estimation of total species richness for each habitat using the Bootstrap asymptotic estimator, (ii) the calculation of the slope of the species area curve (i.e. the z-value), and (iii) the calculation of targets representing 80 percent of the species. The inclusion of an innovative extrapolative species richness estimator, the Multi-species Site Occupancy Model (MSOM) provided better species richness estimation than the more conventional bootstrap species richness estimator, even though both are based on species accumulation. The MSOM, applied in the Bayesian statistical framework takes detectability of a species into account.

In this thesis I examine the limits of community involvement in accomplishing the conservation goals of biodiversity and ecosystem function in resource management by analyzing the multiple interest groups that compose community. Two case studies are presented to accomplish this goal. The first case study is the West Hawaii Fisheries Management Area, where a group of community stakeholders provide management recommendations that are then implemented by the state. The second case study is the Ka’u forest reserve, where community involvement is invited into the management decision-making process but is also limited in its ultimate political power by the state. Through an examination of these cases I find that the ability of community involvement to accomplish conservation goals is limited when powerful interest groups within the community oppose these goals.

The South African marine environment is utilised for both consumptive and non-consumptive activities and for those activities to continue sustainably it is important that these activities be monitored and policed. South Africa's environmental legislation is structured to do just that; outlining specific regulations for all consumptive and non-consumptive activities that can be conducted in the marine environment. Some disparities have been observed regarding the policing of consumptive and non-consumptive marine activities, and these disparities were analysed by means of several case studies and semi-structured key informant interviews. Case studies covered both consumptive (abalone poaching and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing) and non-consumptive activities (the sardine run and tiger shark diving) currently being conduct in the marine environment. Key informant interviews collected opinions from legal practitioners who felt that the legislation was solid but poorly implemented; and non-consumptive operators who felt that the legislation was implemented in a way that made it difficult for non-consumptive and ecotourism activities to thrive. The poor implementation has resulted in a situation which seems to promote consumptive crimes instead of curbing them.

In the late 1990s the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) and the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) faced a shock caused by the illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing of marine resources in the Southern Ocean. This challenge has the potential to undermine the credibility of the ATS and it also reveals the extent of the threat posed to the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean by commercial exploitation without adequate scientific understanding. Although the Patagonian toothfish faces commercial extinction, and despite the unsustainable incidental mortality inflicted on the seabirds of the Southern Ocean, the CCAMLR regime may be transformed by this shock into a more effective environmental regime. This will be demonstrated by an analysis relying on the use of regime theory to investigate the effectiveness of CCAMLR in responding to the IUU fishing problems. In developing the analysis of CCAMLR theory relating to epistemic communities and regime change will also be explored. The background to the establishment of the ATS will be briefly covered. The development of CCAMLR will be assessed in two parts. The first part looks at the development of CCAMLR before IUU fishing became a serious problem. The second part is a close focus on the development of the IUU fishing problems and the reaction by CCAMLR and its member states. The thesis finds that while CCAMLR has experienced a phase of creative tension leading to improved effectiveness in the past, currently it is pushing the limits of rational use of marine living resources in the Southern Ocean.

The need for a broader geographical and functional perspective in managing natural resources of the Belize barrier reef system was examined. The small country of Belize in Central America is struggling to increase its economic development and growth. It has an excellent natural resource base, the most dramatic component being the extensive barrier reef system just offshore. The research identified key economic and environmental issues relative to Belize’s reef complex, and analyzed resource management policies and actions taken to date. Development and conservation needs suggest a multiple use strategy aimed at economic and environmental sustainability. Due to areal extent and ecological complexity, the present reactive, small-scale and piecemeal approach is not adequate to realize sustainable utilization of the area’s resources. This research shows the need for a broad spatial and interdisciplinary “coastal zone" perspective, leading to a comprehensive and integrated strategy upon which to base resource planning and management. A strategy for the reef system must be accomplished within the broader context of a national resource management strategy, integrating concerns of economic development and environmental protection. As a component of this national policy, the proposed strategy for the barrier reef system is based on principles of multiple use of resources, coastal zone scope, and sustainability. The research supports a reef system-wide protected area, using a biosphere reserve framework and a customized model planning process to implement the strategy.
Master of Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Antioch University New England, 2008.
Title from PDF t.p. (August 7, 2009). "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England (2008)."--The title page. Advisor: James Jordan, Ph. D. Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-204).

This ethnohistorical study identifies maritime resources of southwest Australia which were subject to human exploitation prior to 1901 and provides an overview of how, when and why this took. place by integrating historical, archaeological, ethnographic, and natural-science information. The resources included for discussion arc whales, seals, seabirds, guano, oysters and pearls, and fish. An argument is developed that the socio-spatial relationship which existed between peoples and marine• estuarine species in the region was determined by the physiography and climate. This relationship has always been imperfect, if not chaotic because of the unpredictability of the resources through long and short term cyclic phenomena. Control of access was the key to furthering economic and social advantage for all peoples, and this control could be sustained by a complex matrix of customary beliefs and/or law. An abundant resource could occasionally engender friendly interaction, however ruthless competition, and resource over-exploitation emerged as predominant themes. The study proposes that regardless of cultural origins, the finite nature of southwest Australian maritime and estuarine resources has long been recognised, and the resultant priority of people was to maximise effort at the most opportune times in order to augment socioeconomic advantage.

The degradation of natural diversity results in the erosion of key systemic properties such as resilience, or the capacity to recover from disturbances. Resilience loss leads to an increase in the fragility and vulnerability of natural communities, fearfully approaching, if not surpassing, the tipping point that turns them into degraded communities with fewer ecosystem services. A potential pathway to avoid the continuous decline of resilience is to generate biodiversity- inclusive resilience metrics that can be broadly applied, monitored, and taken into consideration before conservation decision making. It is hard to manage what cannot be measured. This thesis contributed to our understanding of the resilience of marine temperate rocky reefs, integrating biodiversity metrics with environmental variables and management actions. To do so, this thesis put forward multiple community metrics that allowed a global and integrative vision of the actual situation of the temperate rocky reefs of the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish territories in Northern Africa, the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands. In particular, the thesis investigated the impact of artificial substrates on diversity, quantified the resistance of marine communities to recover a more pristine stage, analyzed the efficiency of marine protection on fish communities, and developed a new integrative tool that allowed the quantification of marine resilience by harmonizing numerous biological, environmental, and management factors that regulate the resilience of temperate marine systems. The results obtained in this thesis showed the negative impact of artificial substrates on diversity, mainly in sessile organisms or species with reduced mobility. This thesis provided evidence that unprotected marine areas were more resistant than partially protected areas to recover their diversity. Furthermore, marine protection had greater benefits on the biomass than on the diversity of the marine fish community. This thesis also laid the foundations to quantify resilience and to detect priority areas to preserve, reflecting the importance of adequate marine management. This thesis is, therefore, a compendium of studies that reflects my commitment to advance our understanding of marine biodiversity. The research carried out in this thesis evaluated the current status of our littoral rocky reefs and promoted its conservation using emerging ecological concepts with strong implications for management. In particular, my thesis set the basis for an improved understanding of the resilience of temperate rocky reefs providing widely-spread, georeferenced empirical estimates of resilience, a particularly elusive topic in the scientific literature to date. Overall, this thesis actively sought to promote a healthier, more diverse marine environment through the study of biodiversity-based resilience and its potential to improve management.
La acentuada degradación que están sufriendo los ecosistemas naturales promueve la erosión de propiedades comunitarias vitales como la resiliencia, o la capacidad de recuperación. La pérdida de resiliencia conlleva un aumento de la fragilidad y vulnerabilidad de las comunidades naturales, haciendo que estas comunidades naturales se aproximen temerosamente al punto de inflexión que las conduce a convertirse en comunidades degradadas, disminuyendo los servicios ecosistémicos proporcionados. Una potencial vía para evitar la continua degradación de resiliencia es estudiar esta métrica a través de la diversidad biológica, de tal forma que se puedan aplicar, supervisar y, considerar esta información antes de la toma de decisiones en conservación. Es difícil gestionar lo que no se puede medir. La presente tesis contribuye a conocer el estado de la diversidad y resiliencia marina en diferentes contextos de los arrecifes rocosos templados marinos. Para ello, la tesis elaboró métricas comunitarias que permitieron crear una visión global e integradora de la situación real de los arrecifes rocosos de la Península Ibérica, archipiélago Canario y Balear y, el norte de África. En concreto, la tesis investigó el impacto que tienen los substratos artificiales sobre la diversidad, cuantificó la resistencia de las comunidades marinas a recuperar un estado más prístino, estudió la eficiencia que tienen las figuras de protección sobre la comunidad de peces marinos. Y, desarrolló una nueva herramienta integradora que permitió cuantificar la resiliencia marina mediante la armonización de numerosos factores biológicos, ambientales y de gestión que regulan la resiliencia de los sistemas marinos de las zonas templadas. Los resultados obtenidos en la tesis ponen de manifiesto el impacto negativo que tienen los substratos artificiales en la diversidad de los organismos marinos, principalmente en la comunidad sésil o con movilidad reducida. La tesis aportó pruebas de que las zonas marinas no protegidas son más resistentes que las zonas parcialmente protegidas para recuperar su diversidad. También se ha reflejado que la protección marina presenta mayores beneficios en la biomasa que en la diversidad de la comunidad de peces marinos. Y por último, esta tesis siesta las bases para cuantificación de la resiliencia y detección de zonas prioritarias a conservar, lo que refleja la importancia de una ordenación marina adecuada. Por todo ello, esta tesis es un compendio de estudios que reflejan mi compromiso de avanzar en nuestra comprensión de la biodiversidad marina, evaluar el estado actual de nuestros arrecifes rocosos templados y promover su conservación utilizando conceptos ecológicos emergentes con fuertes implicaciones para la ordenación. En particular, mi tesis ha sentado las bases para una mejor comprensión de la capacidad de recuperación de los arrecifes rocosos de las zonas templadas, proporcionando estimaciones empíricas de resiliencia georreferenciadas y sobre una gran área geográfica, un tema particularmente elusivo en la literatura científica hasta la fecha. En definitiva, esta tesis promueve activamente un medio ambiente marino más saludable y más diverso mediante el estudio de la resiliencia basado en la biodiversidad y su potencial para mejorar la gestión.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2002.
"September 2002." Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-207). Also available online in PDF format via the NOAA Coastal Services Center home page.

This thesis investigates the movement behaviour of South African two coastal fish species and evaluates the effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) in their protection and management. Its primary focus is on resolving the movement patterns of roman Chrysoblephus laticeps (Sparidae) in and around the Goukamma and Castle Rock MPAs in the Western Cape province of South Africa. A pilot study of the methodology investigated the movement behaviour of spotted grunter Pomadasys commersonnii (Haemulidae) in the sheltered East Kleinmonde Estuary in the Eastern Cape province. The application of different tagging methods was tested in a controlled tank experiment. Tagged roman were monitored over a 198-day period. Barbed dart, t-bar anchor and Visible Implanted Fluorescent Elastomer (VIFE) tags were compared. Application techniques and underwater visibility of VIFE tags were tested on roman and on fransmadam Boobsoidia inornata in a pilot study. Needles of gauge 25 were found to be optimal for VIFE tag application. Whereas VIFE tagging caused fin rot in fransmadam, it had no negative effect on roman. VIFE tagged fish could be identified by divers from a distance of three metres under ambient light in an observation tank in five metres water depth. There was no significant difference in growth rate between groups of roman with different tags and controls after 198 days. High tag loss rates were experienced for barbed dart and t-bar anchor tags, although barbed dart tags performed better than t-bar anchor tags. Although some of the VIFE marks had deteriorated, all VIFE tagged fish were individually recognised at the end of the study. Conventional dart and VIFE tags are feasible methods to tag roman. However, the high tag loss rate of conventional tags must be taken into account in the design of a tagging study. Previous mark and recapture studies on roman are beset with a number of problems. Poor experimental design and low precision of capture positions resulted in equivocal results of limited value. A tagging experiment was designed to eliminate ambiguity in data interpretation and to produce a dataset that could be used to model roman residency and dispersal. A combination of conventional barbed dart tags and Visible Implanted Fluorescent Elastomer tags was used to tag roman in the Goukamma Marine Protected Area (GMPA) on the temperate South African south coast. Sixty one percent of roman were recaptured within 50 m of the tagging position. A small proportion moved considerable distances of up to four kilometres. The extent of these movements was not dependent on fish size or sex. Data from this experiment and from a previous tagging study in the Tsitsikamma National Park (TNP) were used to model the resident behaviour of roman. The model suggests a probability of 91% (GMPA) and 94% (TNP) of residency within a 10000 m² cell. This result suggests that individual roman will benefit from protection in small MPAs. A different experimental approach was required to investigate the exact home range of this species. Firstly the feasibility of using acoustic telemetry to study the movement of coastal fish in South Africa was investigated. The telemetry equipment comprised two VEMCO V8 transmitters and a VEMCO VR60 receiver linked to a directional hydrophone. A tank experiment was conducted to examine the effects of the transmitter implantation. A tracking experiment was conducted on spotted grunter Pomadasys commersonnii in the East Kleinmonde Estuary. Operated fish recovered quickly and, with respect to swimming behaviour and growth rates, no differences were found between fish with implants and controls. The maximum detection range in the estuary was 400 m. Interference between different transmitter frequencies was negligible. Transmitter location recordings were found to be accurate within five metres. Two fish were tracked over a seven-day period. The fish preferred the lower reaches of the estuary where they made repeated and prolonged use of specific areas. The success of the initial experiments allowed this method to be used to investigate the spatial utilisation and activity patterns of roman Chrysoblephus laticeps. Surgically implanted VEMCO V8, V13 and V16 transmitters were used to track 13 roman inside the Castle Rock MPA in False Bay. Transmitters implanted into C. laticeps in tanks had no apparent effects on growth and physiology. Manual boatand diver-based tracking experiments covered a 17-month period. A VEMCO VRAP radio acoustic positioning system was used over two one-month periods during and after the spawning season of roman. Analysis of data using a 95% fixed kernel algorithm suggests that roman are resident throughout their adult life, occupying home ranges between 1000 and 3000 m². Activity was lower at night. During periods of cold-water upwelling, fish retreated into caves. During the spawning season, females extended their home ranges, possibly to mate with different males. These results confirm that this species is well suited for protection and management with small MPAs. The effect of two MPAs on the South African south coast on the population of C. laticeps was simulated with a spatially explicit individual based model (IBM). Life history parameters determined in recent studies and the effect of fishing on the size of sex change was taken into account. Fish densities and size frequencies were based on recent underwater visual census. The distribution of suitable habitat in the study areas was also incorporated. The results show a rapid recovery of the fish size frequency spectrum and sex ratio to pre-exploitation levels inside both MPAs. Little 'spillover' of fish into the fished areas occurred resulting in negligible improvement of catches. The results suggest that for resident species like roman, even small MPAs offer sufficient protection.