BROGGIATO, A., ARNAUD-HAOND, S., CHIAROLLA, C., & GREIBER, T. (2014). Fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the utilization of marine genetic resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction: Bridging the gaps between science and policy. Marine Policy, 49, 176–185.
Résumé: Marine genetic resources are a subject of a growing body of research and development activities, as demonstrated by the abundance of marine patented genes reported in GenBank. Given the lack of a comprehensive legal regime for the management of marine genetic resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction, the General Assembly of the United Nations met in 2006 to discuss whether there are regulatory or governance gaps and how to address them. Besides the crystallization of the different political positions, the process is now advancing towards making a decision about whether to develop an international instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity, within which the regulation of access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits from their utilization has emerged as an in-dissociable issue. In order to propose concrete options to be considered for the establishment of a legal framework addressing these issues, policy-makers need to better understand the feasibility, the costs and the modalities of scientific activities undertaken, together with the actual level of commercialization of new products. They also need to be aware of the already advanced practices in place within the scientific community, especially regarding sharing of non-monetary benefits. This paper particularly highlights and discusses practical scenarios to advance in the international process, based on the approaches adopted in other regional and international regimes for the management of genetic resources and on the best practices developed within the scientific community.
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Fromentin, J. - M., Bonhommeau, S., Arrizabalaga, H., & Kell, L. T. (2014). The spectre of uncertainty in management of exploited fish stocks: The illustrative case of Atlantic bluefin tuna. Marine Policy, 47, 8–14.
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Taghizadeh Rahmat Abadi, Z., Khodabandeh, S., Charmantier, G., Charmantier-Daures, M., & Lignot, J. H. (2014). Ontogeny and osmoregulatory function of the urinary system in the Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus (Borodin, 1897). Tissue and Cell, 46(5), 287–298.
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Poisson, F., Séret, B., Vernet, A. - L., Goujon, M., & Dagorn, L. (2014). Collaborative research: Development of a manual on elasmobranch handling and release best practices in tropical tuna purse-seine fisheries. Marine Policy, 44, 312–320.
Résumé: Abstract The reduction of by-catch mortality is an objective of the ecosystem approach to fisheries and a request made by consumers. Elasmobranchs, an important component of the French tropical tuna purse seine fishery by-catch, are currently thrown back into the sea. Fishers interact with various types of elasmobranchs that range widely in size, weight and shape, and could pose various degrees of danger to the crew. A diversity of discarding practices within the fleet were reported, some practices were considered suitable, others needed to be adapted and improved and others simply had to be banned. The majority of the crews were likely to improve their handling practices if they were presented with practical suggestions that were quick and easy. Combining scientific observations and empirical knowledge from skippers and crew, a manual, providing appropriate handling practices to ensure crew safety and increase the odds of survival for released animals has been developed and disseminated. Bringing these good practices onto the decks of fishing vessels should contribute to the reduction of the fishing mortality of some vulnerable species. It would be positively viewed by consumers as an act that reduces fishing's footprint on the environment and promoting animal welfare which would improve the image of fishing industry. Mitigation research is by definition an iterative process and different complementary methods must be carried out at different levels of the fishing process to significantly reduce the mortality of the by-catch.
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Van Dover, C. L., Aronson, J., Pendleton, L., Smith, S., ARNAUD-HAOND, S., Moreno-Mateos, D., et al. (2014). Ecological Restoration in the Deep Sea: Desiderata. Marine Policy, 44, 98–106.
Résumé: An era of expanding deep-ocean industrialization is before us, with policy makers establishing governance frameworks for sustainable management of deep-sea resources while scientists learn more about the ecological structure and functioning of the largest biome on the planet. Missing from discussion of the stewardship of the deep ocean is ecological restoration. If existing activities in the deep sea continue or are expanded and new deep-ocean industries are developed, there is need to consider what is required to minimize or repair resulting damages to the deep-sea environment. In addition, thought should be given as to how any past damage can be rectified. This paper develops the discourse on deep-sea restoration and offers guidance on planning and implementing ecological restoration projects for deep-sea ecosystems that are already, or are at threat of becoming, degraded, damaged or destroyed. Two deep-sea restoration case studies or scenarios are described (deep-sea stony corals on the Darwin Mounds off the west coast of Scotland, deep-sea hydrothermal vents in Manus Basin, Papua New Guinea) and are contrasted with on-going saltmarsh restoration in San Francisco Bay. For these case studies, a set of socio-economic, ecological, and technological decision parameters that might favor (or not) their restoration are examined. Costs for hypothetical restoration scenarios in the deep sea are estimated and first indications suggest they may be two to three orders of magnitude greater per hectare than costs for restoration efforts in shallow-water marine systems.
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