Eight urgent,fundamental and simultaneous steps needed to restore ocean health,and the consequences for humanity and the planet of inaction or delay

1. The ocean crisis is urgent and central to human wellbeing and life on Earth; past and current activities are damaging the planet's main life support system for future generations. We are witnessing an increase in ocean heat, disturbance, acidification, bio‐invasions and nutrients, and reducing oxygen levels. Several of these act like ratchets: once detrimental or negative changes have occurred, they may lock in place and may not be reversible, especially at gross ecological and ocean process scales.
2. Each change may represent a loss to humanity of resources, ecosystem function, oxygen production and species. The longer we pursue unsuitable actions, the more we close the path to recovery and better ocean health and greater benefits for humanity in the future.
3. We stand at a critical juncture and have identified eight priority issues that need to be addressed in unison to help avert a potential ecological disaster in the global ocean. They form a purposely ambitious agenda for global governance and are aimed at informing decision‐makers at a high level. They should also be of interest to the general public.
4. Of all the themes, the highest priority is to rigorously address global warming and limit surface temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2100, as warming is the pre‐eminent factor driving change in the ocean. The other themes are establishing a robust and comprehensive High Seas Treaty, enforcing existing standards for Marine Protected Areas and expanding their coverage, especially in terms of high levels of protection, adopting a precautionary pause on deep‐sea mining, ending overfishing and destructive fishing practices, radically reducing marine pollution, putting in place a financing mechanism for ocean management and protection, and lastly, scaling up science/data gathering and facilitating data sharing.
5. By implementing all eight measures in unison, as a coordinated strategy, we can build resilience to climate change, help sustain fisheries productivity, particularly for low‐income countries dependent on fisheries, protect coasts (e.g. via soft‐engineering/habitat‐based approaches), promote mitigation (e.g. carbon storage) and enable improved adaptation to rapid global change.

     

UK deep‐sea conservation: Progress,lessons learned,and actions for the future

1. Despite a relatively long history of scientific interest fuelled by exploratory research cruises, the UK deep sea has only recently emerged as the subject of targeted and proactive conservation. Enabling legislation over the past 10 years has resulted in the designation of marine protected areas and the implementation of fisheries management areas as spatial conservation tools. This paper reflects on progress and lessons learned, recommending actions for the future.
2. Increased investment has been made to improve the evidence base for deep‐sea conservation, including collaborative research surveys and use of emerging technologies. New open data portals and developments in marine habitat classification systems have been two notable steps to furthering understanding of deep‐sea biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in support of conservation action.
3. There are still extensive gaps in fundamental knowledge of deep‐sea ecosystems and of cause and effect. Costs of new technologies and a limited ability to share data in a timely and efficient manner across sectors are barriers to furthering understanding. In addition, whilst the concepts of natural capital and ecosystem services are considered a useful tool to support the achievement of conservation goals, practical application is challenging.
4. Continued collaborative research efforts and engagement with industry to share knowledge and resources could offer cost‐effective solutions to some of these barriers. Further elaboration of the concepts of natural capital and ecosystem services will aid understanding of the costs and benefits associated with human–environment interactions and support informed decision‐making in conserving the deep sea.
5. Whilst multiple challenges arise for deep‐sea conservation, it is critical to continue ongoing conservation efforts, including exploration and collaboration, and to adopt new conservation strategies that are implemented in a systematic and holistic way and to ensure that these are adaptive to growing economic interest in this marine area.

     

海洋类高校图书馆海洋信息资源的开发与利用

通过了解我国海洋类高校信息资源的建设现状,提出建立海洋文献信息资源共建共享体系的建议,阐述海洋类高校图书馆开发和利用海洋信息资源的相应途径。     

Spatial and temporal changes in the groundfish assemblages on the north-east Newfoundland/Labrador Shelf, north-west Atlantic, 1978–1991

From 1978 to 1991, biomass and abundance have declined in members of the marine fish community on the Newfoundland-Labrador Shelf. This decline was common to all commercial groundfish and to many noncommercial ones as well. Since about 1985, the biomass decline has been accompanied by major shifts in the geographic distribution of almost every species. Some species disappeared from inshore, others disappeared from the north, and others did both. Some species appear to have had major shifts in abundance (north to south or inshore to offshore) whereas other species exhibited a biomass decline in one area but maintained a rather uniform level in others. Multivariate analysis of groundfish survey data identified four groundfish assemblage areas on the shelf, i.e. areas characterized by a homogeneous faunal composition. Distribution patterns of the assemblages remained relatively stable from 1978 until 1987, but have entered a period of dramatic change since then. Changes in the distribution patterns of individual species anticipated changes at the community level. Intense exploitation of groundfish is the most likely explanation for the decline of fish biomass on the Newfoundland-Labrador Shelf. The shifts in distribution observed, however, suggest that broad-scale environmental effects may also be at work.     

浅议上海海洋文化社会的变迁与启示

上海是一座"因海而生,因海而兴"的滨海国际大都市。从海洋文化社会视角分析上海的城市变迁,有助于剖析上海城市变迁的内在动力,把握和理解上海城市精神的内涵,探讨上海城市变迁的发展趋势。在史料分析的基础上,从海洋文化视角分析归纳出上海曾历经江南渔村、国内贸易港口、远东航运中心、国际航运中心等海洋文化社会形态的变迁;发现上海经济社会的发展,受益于海洋文化的滋润和影响,得益于海洋精神这一根本动力。因此,从某种意义上而言,上海的城市变迁主要是海洋文化作用于上海城市发展的结果,是海洋精神内在动力外化的直接反映。城市发展的最高阶段是成为国际文化中心。由于上海富有海洋文化特色的独特城市精神,因此,上海在建成"四个中心"之后,将会逐步发展成为一座以海洋文化为主要元素的国际文化中心。     

海洋酸化对海洋生物呼吸代谢的影响及机制

海洋酸化是对海洋生态系统最大威胁之一。随着海洋酸化不断加剧,海洋生物呼吸代谢酶活性下降,呼吸代谢方式改变,严重影响海洋生物的正常生长发育和生存。文章主要综述海洋酸化对海洋生物特别是鱼类呼吸代谢的影响及机制,旨在深入研究海洋酸化对海洋生物呼吸代谢的影响、机理及适应机制,为控制海洋酸化提供依据,同时也为海洋生物养殖水体的调控提供参考。     

海洋酸化对海水青鳉性别分化的影响

以海水青鳉作为研究对象,研究海洋酸化对其性别分化的影响。将刚受精的受精卵置于对照组(CO_2浓度为480×10~(-6))和2个处理组(CO_2浓度分别为1 000×10~(-6)和2 000×10~(-6))的水体中,直到孵化出膜。将出膜后仔鱼饲养在对照组水体中至性成熟,然后通过形态学、组织学和遗传学方法,对每一尾实验鱼进行表现型和基因型的性别鉴定。经形态学判断,发现酸化处理组的雄雌比例显著高于对照组(P0.01)。经形态学观察其第二性征和遗传学性别判断,对照组的青鳉从孵化到性成熟的个体中并未出现基因型和表现型性别不一致的个体,而在2个酸化处理组中,均有基因型为XX而表现型为雄性的个体,即性逆转雄性,性逆转率分别为38.4%和47.5%。     

Bridging the divide: Social–ecological coherence in Marine Protected Area network design

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Improvement in recruitment of Japanese sardine with delays of the spring phytoplankton bloom in the Sea of Japan

To evaluate the impact of temporal variation of primary productivity on the recruitment of Japanese sardine (Sardinops melanostictus) in the Sea of Japan, the phenology of sea surface phytoplankton abundance was estimated from 8 day multiple satellite (SeaWiFS, MODIS‐Aqua, MERIS, and VIIRS) derived sea surface chlorophyll (SSChl) a concentrations from January 1998 to December 2015. Because relationships between SSChl a and in situ chlorophyll a concentrations were significantly different among periods based on the satellite combinations used, maximum and minimum SSChl a concentrations of 1 year were relativized as 1 and 0, respectively. Spatio‐temporal variation of relativized SSChl a concentrations was determined by using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. Scores in the first EOF mode denoted the basin‐scale variations of SSChl a concentrations in the Sea of Japan, and the major peak from the end of February to the end of May displayed the spring bloom. The logarithm of recruitment per spawner (LNRPS) for sardine was positively affected by delays in the start and end dates of the spring phytoplankton bloom. The delay of the date of the lowest sea surface temperature contributed to the delay of the end of the spring bloom during the period 1998–2015 and elevated the LNRPS during the period 1982–2015. Sardine spawns in the southern Sea of Japan from April to May, hence, delays of the spring bloom prolonged its overlap with sardine larval periods, and thus improved the recruitment of Japanese sardine in the Sea of Japan.     

Amazon River water in the northeastern Caribbean Sea and its effect on larval reef fish assemblages during April 2009

During April to June 2009, a large bolus of Amazon River water impacted the northeastern Caribbean Sea. Shipboard observations collected near Saba Bank, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, and the Anegada Passage showed low surface salinity (35.76 ± 0.05 Practical Salinity Unit (PSU)), elevated surface temperature (26.77 ± 0.14°C), high chlorophyll‐a (1.26 ± 0.21 mg m^?3) and high dissolved oxygen (4.90 ± 0.06 mL L^?1) in a 20‐ to 30‐m thick surface layer in the riverine plume. The water was ~1°C warmer, 1 PSU fresher, 0.3 mL L^?1 higher in oxygen and 1.2 mg m^?3 higher in chlorophyll‐a than Atlantic Ocean waters to the north, with Caribbean surface waters showing intermediate values. Plankton net tows obtained in the upper 100 m of the water column revealed larval fish assemblages within the plume that were significantly different from those of the surrounding waters and from those encountered in the area in previous years. The plume waters contained higher concentrations of mesopelagic fish larvae from the families Myctophidae and Nomeidae, which as adults typically inhabit offshore, deep water habitats. Concentrations of larvae from inshore and reef‐associated families such as Scaridae, Serranidae, Labridae and Clupeidae were lower than those found outside the plume in similar shallow areas, particularly in near‐surface waters. An event like the one observed in 2009 had not been documented in at least the past 30 yr, and yet it was followed by another similarly extreme event in 2010. The ecological implications, including any long‐term consequences of such recent extreme events, are important and merit further study.