Biodiversity of the Pasific Ocean (original) (raw)
Related papers
Burnett Mary Regional Assessment. Coastal and Marine Biodiversity.
Technical Paper, Burnett Mary Regional Group for Natural Resource Management. July 2004. Pp 1-54, 2004
habitats, including coral reefs, continental shelf, sand, mud and rock substrata and vegetated habitats such as mangrove forests, saltmarshes, seagrass beds and algal beds. This region also covers a large geographic range over a transition zone between temperate and tropical faunas on the east coast of Australia. As a result of this large diversity of habitats in a zone which includes both temperate and tropical faunas, the BMR has a very high diversity of marine organisms. It also possesses significant tidal wetlands which provide roosting grounds for a diverse range of birds, and contains several areas that have been recognised internationally for their high biodiversity values (Hervey Bay Marine Park, Fraser Island World Heritage Area, Woongarra Marine Park, Great Sandy Straits RAMSAR Site and part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area). The marine biodiversity of the BMR has been patchily documented, with some taxa in some areas having been extensively researched (e.g. the fishes of the Capricorn-Bunker Group), and others virtually unknown (e.g. the marine algae of the region). The most complete overall documentation of the biodiversity of the BMR is the Queensland Museum (QM) faunal database, which provides an extensive list of the marine, aquatic and terrestrial fauna that has been collected from the region and lodged with the museum. This database contains approximately 32,000 records of taxa from the BMR, comprising about 3,700 species belonging to 14 phyla (Appendix 1). However, this database is incomplete and the actual number of species and phyla present in the region is certainly far greater than those present in the QM collections. In fact, the marine sediments within the BMR almost certainly house representatives of at least 30 animal phyla.
To provide a means of evaluating changes in bycatch over the last 10 years and inform the current review of the Commonwealth Policy on Fisheries Bycatch, an examination of the existing data is required, together with a description of the changes that have occurred in each fishery that specifically (or indirectly) relate to bycatch. This report provides background information on the existing data on bycatch from key Commonwealth fisheries. The fisheries considered are the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF), the Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF), Sub-Antarctic Fisheries, the Coral Sea Fishery (CSF), the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery (ETBF) and the Small Pelagic Fishery (SPF). Outcomes achieved include the documentation of the data collected, the bycatch management processes that have been put in place and the temporal trends in observations of bycatch and bycatch composition.
Bycatch of high sea longline fisheries and measures taken by Taiwan: Actions and challenges
Marine Policy, 2011
Taiwan is a major longline fishing nation with an interest in proactive conservation measures. Facing global concerns about the incidental catch in longline fisheries, Taiwan has focused on bycatch issues since the 2000s. This paper reviews the existing information on bycatch and the actions taken by Taiwan in the past ten years, including the establishment of observer programs, education and outreach, adoption of national plans of action and publicizing regulations for mitigation measures. This review suggests that continuing and improving the observer program, ensuring the compliance of mitigation measures, and encouraging information exchange and international cooperation will contribute to the conservation of non-commercial species of concern.
Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Annual Review 2015
This document contains a summary of information and research on aquatic environment issues relevant to the management of New Zealand fisheries. It is designed to complement the Ministry’s annual Reports from Fisheries Assessment Plenaries (e.g., the November Plenary, MPI 2015b, and the May plenary, MPI 2015a) and emulate those documents’ dual role in providing an authoritative summary of current understanding and an assessment of status relative to any overall targets and limits. However, whereas the Reports from Fisheries Assessment Plenaries have a focus on individual fishstocks, this report has a focus on aquatic environment fisheries management issues and biodiversity responsibilities that often cut across many fishstocks, fisheries, or activities, and sometimes across the responsibilities of multiple agencies. This update has been developed by the Science Team within the Fisheries Management Directorate of the Regulation and Assurance branch, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). It does not cover all issues but, as anticipated, includes more chapters than previous editions. As with the Reports from Fisheries Assessment Plenaries, it is expected to change and grow as new information becomes available, more issues are considered, and as feedback and ideas are received. This synopsis has a broad, national focus on each issue and the general approach has been to avoid too much detail at a local, fishery, or fishstock level. For instance, the benthic (seabed) effects of mobile bottom‐fishing methods are dealt with at the level of all bottom trawl and dredge fisheries combined rather than at the level of a target fishery that, although it might be locally important, might contribute only a small proportion of the total impact. The details of benthic impacts by individual fisheries will be documented in the respective chapters in the May or November Report from the Fisheries Assessment Plenary, and linked there to the fine detail and analysis in Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Reports (AEBRs), Fisheries Assessment Reports (FARs), and Final Research Reports (FRRs). Such sections have already been developed for several species in the Fishery Assessment Plenary Reports, and others will follow. The first part of this document describes the legislative and broad policy context for aquatic environment and biodiversity research commissioned by MPI, and the science processes used to generate and review that research. The second, and main, part of the document contains chapters focused on various aquatic environment issues for fisheries management. Those chapters are divided into five broad themes: protected species; non‐ QMS (mostly fish) bycatch; benthic effects; ecosystem issues (including New Zealand’s oceanic setting); and marine biodiversity. A third part of the review includes a number of appendices for reference. This review is not yet comprehensive in its coverage of all issues or of all research within each issue, but attempts to summarise the best available information on the issues covered. Each chapter has been considered by the appropriate working group at least once.
Depletion, Degradation, and Recovery Potential of Estuaries and Coastal Seas
Science, 2006
Study systems and data availability. We chose systems to represent broad temporal and spatial gradients of human impacts, diverse geographical locations, and for available palaeontological, archaeological, historical, fisheries, and ecological data on individual species, water quality, and invasions (see for references). For comparability, most study systems were located in the temperate zone. The systems varied widely in size and geological origin, which we defined as the time when the system reached its present shape for references). To compare background biological characteristics, we compiled data on primary productivity and fish species richness (as a proxy for overall species richness) by Large Marine Ecosystem (LME , S1). We determined human population size (HP) for all provinces and countries bordering the study systems , and calculated HP total, HP density = HP total / system size, and HP growth rate = HP total today / HP total at the beginning of the Development period for references).