BE/CNH: Disparate Scales of Process and Nearshore Fishery Management

公众对近岸渔业管理的信心处于历史最低水平。沿着美国西海岸，几乎所有20英寻(~36米)以下的水域都禁止底层捕捞，以保护几种岩鱼不受当地灭绝的影响。在北部海峡群岛周围建立了禁止捕捞的海洋保护区，作为保护生物多样性和鱼类丰度的一种手段。近岸水域渔业和生态多样性的下降是有据可查的，这导致了近岸鱼类资源管理的“危机模式”哲学。这一跨学科研究项目将审查近岸社区和依赖它们的渔业的复杂性。近岸渔业将自然(生态)和人类(渔业管理)过程结合在一个非常复杂的紧急动态系统中。该项目的目标是模仿加利福尼亚州的沿海环境，制定近岸渔业及其管理的流程级描述。调查人员将审查混乱的沿海环流、鱼类生物生命周期、近岸生境的生产力和适宜性、捕捞鱼类的强度和性质、管理渔业、渔民和渔业法规的经济学以及实施法规的官僚制度之间的相互作用而产生的新的复杂性。这些分析的目的是评估成本、利润、不确定性、种群生存能力和近岸捕捞环境的生态价值之间的平衡点。发展对流、鱼和捕捞之间相互作用的预测性理解的核心是时间和空间尺度的概念。支配这一自然-人类耦合系统的物理、生物学和社会经济过程在本质上不同的空间和时间尺度上运行。如果不明确考虑规模不匹配的问题，渔业管理不善的情况很可能有增无减。在模拟沿海海洋环流、海洋生命周期动态、信息对渔业管理的价值以及在面对不确定性的情况下作出管理选择的后果方面的最新进展，独立地创造了制定近岸渔业管理综合办法所需的要素。此外，监测沿海生态系统动态的大型项目正在提供必要的经验数据，以对这些模型进行参数化和检验。研究人员将把这些组成部分连接到新的计算和概念模型中，这些模型检查面对不可避免的物理和生物不确定性时的最佳管理选择。将研究的问题和概念框架将产生广泛的全球影响。鱼类数量和产量的下降并不局限于任何国家或地理区域。事实上，空间和时间尺度不匹配造成的核心问题几乎是所有海洋渔业的特点。此外，尽管渔业管理通常仅限于政治边界，但海洋流动和鱼类并不如此。沿海生态系统的生态规模在本质上是国际性的。这项拟议的努力与墨西哥、智利、新西兰和澳大利亚正在进行的生态项目之间的国际伙伴关系将把这一努力的区域重点扩大到全球层面。该项目还将提供各个年龄段的教育机会。该计划将整合小学、中学、本科生和研究生水平的跨学科教育机会，以及通过成人课程。该项目得到了2003财年环境中生物复杂性特别竞赛的一个奖项的支持，该竞赛的重点是耦合的自然和人类系统的动力学。

Public confidence in management of nearshore fisheries is at an all time low. Along the U.S. West Coast, nearly all waters deeper than 20 fathoms (~36 m) are closed to all bottom fishing to protect several species of rockfish from local extinction. No-take marine reserves have been created around the northern Channel Islands as a means of protecting biodiversity and fish abundances. The well-documented decline of fisheries and ecological diversity of nearshore waters has engendered a "crisis-mode" philosophy for the management of nearshore fish resources. This interdisciplinary research project will examine the complexity of nearshore communities and the fisheries that depend upon them. Nearshore fisheries couple natural (ecological) and human (fishery management) processes in an emergent dynamic system that is rich in complexity. The project's goal is to develop a process-level description of nearshore fisheries and their management patterned after California coastal environments. The investigators will examine the emergent complexity that arises due to interactions among chaotic coastal circulations, fished organism life cycles, the productivity and suitability of nearshore habitats, the intensity and nature of fish harvesting, the economics governing fisheries, fishers and fishery regulations, and the bureaucratic system that implements regulations. The aim of these analyses is to assess the balance points among costs, profits, uncertainties, stock viability, and ecological values of nearshore fished environments. Central to developing a predictive understanding of the interactions between flow, fish and fishing is the notion of temporal and spatial scales. The physics, biology, and socioeconomic processes governing this coupled natural-human system operate on inherently different spatial and temporal scales. Without considering the mismatch in scales explicitly, mismanagement of fisheries is likely to continue unabated. Recent advances in modeling coastal ocean circulations, marine life cycle dynamics, the values of information to fishery management, and the consequences of management choices in the face of uncertainty have independently created the pieces necessary to assemble a synthetic approach to nearshore fisheries management. Moreover, large-scale programs monitoring the dynamics of coastal ecosystems are providing the empirical data necessary to parameterize and test these models. The investigators will link these components into new computational and conceptual models that examine optimal management choices in the face of unavoidable physical and biological uncertainty.The issues addressed and conceptual frameworks that will be studied will have broad, global impacts. Declines in fish stocks and yields are not restricted to any nation or geographical region. Indeed, the core problems from mismatches in spatial and temporal scales are characteristic of nearly all marine fisheries. In addition, although fisheries management commonly stops at political borders, ocean flows and fish do not. The ecological scales of coastal ecosystems are inherently international in scope. The international partnerships between this proposed effort and ongoing ecological programs in Mexico, Chile, New Zealand, and Australia will expand the regional focus of this effort to global dimensions. This project also will provide educational opportunities across a range of ages. This program will integrate opportunities for interdisciplinary education at elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels as well as through adult programs. This project is supported by an award resulting from the FY 2003 special competition in Biocomplexity in the Environment focusing on the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems.