Tidd Alex N, Vermard Youen, Marchal Paul, Pinnegar John, Blanchard Julia L, Milner-Gulland E J
SPC, BP D5, 98848, Noumea, New Caledonia; Cefas, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, United Kingdom.
IFREMER, Département Ressources Biologiques et Environnement Responsable de l'Unité Halieutique Manche-Mer du Nord, Unit 150, Quai Gambetta, BP 699 62321, Boulogne sur mer, France.
PLoS One. 2015 Jan 27;10(1):e0116335. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116335. eCollection 2015.
The European Union and other states are moving towards Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management to balance food production and security with wider ecosystem concerns. Fishing is only one of several sectors operating within the ocean environment, competing for renewable and non-renewable resources that overlap in a limited space. Other sectors include marine mining, energy generation, recreation, transport and conservation. Trade-offs of these competing sectors are already part of the process but attempts to detail how the seas are being utilised have been primarily based on compilations of data on human activity at large spatial scales. Advances including satellite and shipping automatic tracking enable investigation of factors influencing fishers' choice of fishing grounds at spatial scales relevant to decision-making, including the presence or avoidance of activities by other sectors. We analyse the determinants of English and Welsh scallop-dredging fleet behaviour, including competing sectors, operating in the eastern English Channel. Results indicate aggregate mining activity, maritime traffic, increased fishing costs, and the English inshore 6 and French 12 nautical mile limits negatively impact fishers' likelihood of fishing in otherwise suitable areas. Past success, net-benefits and fishing within the 12 NM predispose fishers to use areas. Systematic conservation planning has yet to be widely applied in marine systems, and the dynamics of spatial overlap of fishing with other activities have not been studied at scales relevant to fisher decision-making. This study demonstrates fisher decision-making is indeed affected by the real-time presence of other sectors in an area, and therefore trade-offs which need to be accounted for in marine planning. As marine resource extraction demands intensify, governments will need to take a more proactive approach to resolving these trade-offs, and studies such as this will be required as the evidential foundation for future seascape planning.
欧盟和其他国家正朝着基于生态系统的渔业管理迈进，以平衡粮食生产和安全与更广泛的生态系统问题。捕鱼只是海洋环境中运作的几个部门之一，它们在有限的空间内争夺可再生和不可再生资源。其他部门包括海洋采矿、能源生产、娱乐、运输和保护。这些相互竞争的部门之间的权衡已经是这一过程的一部分，但详细说明海洋如何被利用的尝试主要基于大空间尺度上人类活动数据的汇编。包括卫星和船舶自动跟踪在内的技术进步，使得能够在与决策相关的空间尺度上，研究影响渔民渔场选择的因素，包括其他部门活动的存在或规避情况。我们分析了在英吉利海峡东部作业的英格兰和威尔士扇贝拖网捕捞船队行为的决定因素，包括相互竞争的部门。结果表明，总体采矿活动、海上交通、捕鱼成本增加，以及英国近海6海里和法国12海里界限对渔民在其他适宜区域捕鱼的可能性产生负面影响。过去的成功、净收益以及在12海里范围内捕鱼使渔民倾向于使用某些区域。系统性的保护规划尚未在海洋系统中广泛应用，而且捕鱼与其他活动的空间重叠动态尚未在与渔民决策相关的尺度上进行研究。这项研究表明，渔民的决策确实受到某一区域其他部门实时存在的影响，因此在海洋规划中需要考虑这些权衡。随着海洋资源开采需求的加剧，政府将需要采取更积极主动的方法来解决这些权衡问题，而这样的研究将作为未来海景规划的证据基础。
