Sunday, October 24, 2010

Annotated Bibliography


Russ, Garry R. et al. "Marine Reserve Benefits Local Fisheries." Ecological Applications 14.2 (2004): 597-505. Print


This scholarly article entitled Marine Reserve Benefits Local Fisheries, written by Russ et al. studies the hypothesized spillover and recruitment effects of marine reserves on local fisheries. They studied the reefs surrounding the Apo Island, Phillipines for 18 years. This article offers a new method of calculating the hypothesized benefits of marine reserves, by studying the hook-and-line catch per unit effort of fisherman in the area. Since this article develops a new method it would be considered in the genre of breakthrough.

In this article they test the hypothesis that marine reserves will sustain outside fisheries through two processes: Net export of adults (spillover) and  net export of propagules (recruitment). They used an underwater visual census to study the two fish populations, the Acanthuridae (surgeonfish) and Carangidae (jacks) who represent between 40-75% of the yield from the island over a period of 18 years. They determined that within the protected area biomass for these two fish tripled while outside the reserve there was no visible improvement. They also found that biomass outside the reserve increased significantly within 200-250m of the boundary while there was only a mild increase 250-500m away. Their conclusion states that fishery yields between 1998-2001 (after 16-19 yrs of protection) were 50% higher than 1986-1998. Therefore there was a positive correlation between protected areas and improved fisheries.

This article was extremely complex with a high amount of technical methods used. They went into a great deal of depth in an attempt to prove their hypothesis and their results lined up with their theory. Their argument considered many variables including benefits to both the environment and to local fisheries. Although this article was written in 2004 it is still very relevant because it clearly proves the benefits of protected areas for local fisheries.  However, they do state that more studies have to be conducted in this field, because the island they studied could theoretically be unique. The article was very useful because it spelled out the direct benefits of protected areas on surrounding fisheries.


Pauly, Daniel, Reg Watson, Jackie Alder. "Global Trends in World Fisheries: Impacts on Marine Ecosystems and Food Security." Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences 360.1453 (2005): 5-12.

In this article entitled, Global Trends in World Fisheries: Impacts on Marine Ecosystems and Food Security, written by Pauly, Watson, and Alder, they examine the historical trends in human history that have lead to the degradation of our fishing resources. Although this is an article based on scientific fact, if focuses primarily on the philosophies concerning why our fisheries have been collapsing, therefore it would most likely fall into the genre of theoretical scholarly article.

They describe how our fisheries are declining by first looking at the anthropological history of fishing. they compare the affects of humans on large terrestrial mammals in North America, 12,000 - 13,000 years ago to the mass extinction events we are experiencing now. They then go on to map trends of declining fish size and catch amounts in the Northern Hemisphere. They believe that due to industrialization and improved fishing technologies, in the mid 1980's, that we reached our natural catch limit, because as fish populations were overexploited, they were not allowed to replenish, which has lead to a gradual decline of global fish landings. They then go on to discuss who is most affected by this decline. They also incorporate a discussion about global food security, should fisheries collapse. Finally, they offer insights in possible solutions to overfishing.

When all is said and done, this is a very complex and deep article. They do a great job of spelling ou tthe causes and comparing them to other similar events that have happened in the past. This article was very comprehensive because it goes through all of history to try and decipher why our fish stocks are in decline. This article is still very relevant, although it was written in 2005. Mostly because fish stocks have still continued to decline, and there is no foreseeable end point in the future, until our fisheries end up collapsing. They also offer great insight on possible solutions including marine protected areas, which are a great way to reduce the impact of overfishing.

Kellner, Julie B. et al. "Fishing the Line near Marine Reserves in Single and Multispecies Fisheries." Ecological Applications 17.4 (2007): 1039-1054. Print.


This article entitled Fishing the Line near Marine Reserves in Single and Multispecies fisheries, was conduced by Kellner et al studied the optimal fishing practices to maximize the benefit of protected areas on adjacent fisheries off of Santa Catalina, USA. They propose a mathematical model to determine the optimal level of fisherman that can fish the line, in order to maximize benefit. This article offers a new spatial explicit theoretical model and would therefore fall into the genre of breakthrough article.

After a few pages of mathematical formulas they found that fishing the line is an essential practice along no-take zones regardless of the level of cooperation among fisherman. They also found that fishing the line has a great impact on catch per unit of effort and fish density inside and outside of the protected area. They go on to explain that fishing the line can also enhance population size and catch for overexploited fish populations. After their initial findings they explore the significance of optimal fishing in a multispecies fishery and found that the most mobile species portrayed the greatest level of spillover while more sedentary species had lower levels. This led them to discover that the optimal level of fishing should be based on intermediate rates of mobility for the desired species.

This article is extremely complex with about 5 pages devoted to explaining the mathematical models used to determine the optimal level of fishing along the boundaries of protected areas. This article was written in 2007 and is therefore extremely relevant to the debate surrounding the best way to protect our ailing fisheries. It was also extremely comprehensive because it analyzed benefits within and outside of the reserves. It was very useful because it explained the best fishing technique for maximizing the benefit associated with a no-take area.

Anderson, Lee G., and Dwight R. Lee. "Optimal Governing Instrument, Operations Level, and Enforcement in Natural Resource Regulation: The Case of the Fishery." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 68.3 (1986): 678-690. Print.

This article entitled, Optimal Governing Instrument, Operation Leve, and Enforcement in Natural Resourse Regulation: The Case of the Fishery, was written by Anderson & Lee, they developed a model to show how profit-maximizing firms react when regulatory control mechanisms are put in place. They considered the benefits from extra production, the costs of penalties and noncompliance to develop the optimal level of compliance to new regulations.

Their model led them to 7 conclusions and applications. First, they found that the optimal regulatory policy would have to consider comparing the net benefits derived from a range of programs, namely fishing quotas, effort controls and gear restrictions.  Second, they found that the social cost of avoidance must be considered when creating new management protocols. Third, the industries behavior can only be indirectly affected by regulation. There is a need for a critical understanding of relations between compliance, industry output, and avoidance caused by the regulation. Fourth, enforcement policy must be handled delicately because with fines, the difference between market and nonmarket regulation blurs therefore it is best if it involves a lower level of enforcement in order to incur lower avoidance costs. Fifth, as long as the quota is set relatively low, changes in monitoring can be rapidly adopted by fisherman who will change their behavior accordingly. Sixth, they found that by penalizing noncompliance with fines the ability for politics to affect the market process might be relatively low. Finally, acknowledge that although they assumed fisherman may try and cheat the system, it is also possible that fisherman would comply.

This article is extremely complex and considers a large variety of variables within their model to determine the optimal level of regulation that would encourage full social compliance. Their argument is very deep and considers complex mathematical models that support their hypotheses. Even though this article was written in 1986 it is still relevant because it outlines effective management strategies for governing the fishing industry in the interest of both protecting the environment and encouraging full cooperation. It was an extremely useful article because it outlines the optimal level of regulation needed to have the greatest affect. 


Sincerely,

That Guy

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