THE SCIENCE AND POLICY OF MARINE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
GLOSSARY
Compiled by the AMNH's Center
for Biodiversity and Conservation
http://research.amnh.org/biodiversity/
with contributions from various symposium speakers.
Actors
Those people involved in all the different aspects of the planning,
using, and protecting of a marine protected area.
Adaptive Management
A policy that seeks to improve management of biological resources,
particularly in areas of scientific uncertainty, by viewing program
actions as tools for learning. Actions are designed so that, even if
they fail, they will provide useful information for future actions.
Monitoring and evaluation are emphasized so that the interaction of
different elements within marine systems may be better understood.
Apex Predators
Predators at the top of a local food web (see below). Typically, they
suffer little predation from other carnivores, and they limit the
population densities of their prey.
Artisanal Fisheries
Small-scale fisheries carried out by people who rely on fishing to
support their families and other local people. This type of fishing
is not fully commercial in nature. The fishing technology may be very
sophisticated, but it is not highly dependent on outside sources of
capital and materials.
Benthic Community
The assemblage of interacting organisms, including those forming
structural elements, found at or near the bottom of a body of water.
Biodiversity
The variety of life, and its interactions, at all levels from genes
to ecosystems.
Biomass
The collective weight or mass of all the members of a given
population or stock at a given time, or averaged over a given time
period.
Bioregion
An area where the groups of plants and animals and the physical
features (such as depth, sediment type, and climatic regime) are
sufficiently distinct from the surroundings at a chosen scale.
Blast Fishing
A method of fishing which involves the use of dynamite or homemade
explosives to quickly catch large numbers of fish. Used on coral
reefs in Asia, Africa, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean, the
effects are devastating to reef life.
Bottom-Trawling
A common fishing technique where ships drag a large, funnel-shaped
net hung with weights across the ocean floor. This technique is used
for different target catches such as cod, shrimp, squid, flatfish,
octopus, or crabs.
Bycatch
That part of a fisheries catch (see below) that contains non-targeted
species. Bycatch may be either "landed" or discarded at sea.
Bycatch
is also sometimes called incidental catch.
Catch
The fish (or other aquatic organisms) of a given stock or population
killed during a certain period by the operation of fishing gear,
whether or not they were the target of the fishery in question. This
definition implies that fish that are not landed and are either
discarded at sea or killed by lost gear ("ghost fishing") must
be
counted as part of the "catch" of a fishery.
Co-Management
The sharing of responsibility and power for managing fisheries
between a government agency and a fishery-dependent community.
Co-management is well developed in the Pacific Northwest and is also
an increasingly important model for small-scale fisheries management
in developing countries and in some remote and highly
fishery-dependent regions of North America.
Common Pool Resources
Natural resources that are difficult to divide up or to fence in and
where what one user of the resource does can affect what is available
to another user. Common pool resources may be treated as "open
access" (see below), but they may also be treated as "common
property" (see below) or even "private property" (see below)
resources.
Common Property Resources
Natural resources accessed through social and legal institutions that
ensure sharing of benefits from the resources but that may also
impose regulations on their use. This should not be confused with
"open access" resources (see below). Recognizing the existence
of
common property institutions has helped emphasize the importance of
community-based management and co-management.
Community-Based Management
A resource management approach where fishery-dependent communities
take responsibility for managing some or all aspects of the fisheries
they rely on. This management method is common in developing
countries and is of increased importance as an alternative to the
government-controlled management approach commonly used in developed
countries.
Connectivity
The movement of organisms from place to place (such as between
reserves) through dispersion or migration.
Consensus Process
A process in which individuals representing all parties with a stake
in an issue attempt to reach agreement on a course of action or
mutually acceptable solution
Contingent Valuation
The value above current expenditures that people are willing to pay
to receive the same benefits. In terms of natural resources, this
refers to what people would be willing to pay for the goods and
services that a resource presently provides if it were no longer
capable of doing so. This valuation is used by resource economists to
help calculate the economic value of a healthy resource.
Cyanide Fishing
A fishing technique where small quantities of cyanide are used to
temporarily stun rather than kill coral-reef fish, which then float
to the surface where they can be easily caught. The fish are often
sold to the aquarium trade or to the Asian luxury live-fish food
industry where live fish fetch many times the price of dead fish.
This technique is banned in many countries since it damages reefs.
Discount Rate
The rate used for adjusting the total present economic value of a
resource, projected over time, that takes into account the declining
value of money. This rate is used by resource economists to help
calculate relative economic values from conserving or liquidating
"natural capital" (i.e., natural resources).
Drift Nets
Monofilament nets, such as those used for gill netting, which are
allowed to drift in the sea. Drift netting is globally banned as a
fishing technique.
Ecological Integrity
The ability of an ecosystem to function healthily and continue to
provide natural goods and services and maintain biodiversity.
Ecological Reserve
An area of a sanctuary consisting of contiguous, diverse habitats,
within which uses are subject to conditions, restrictions, and
prohibitions. In a marine environment, these restrictions are
intended to minimize human influences and to provide natural
spawning, nursery, and permanent residence areas for the
replenishment and genetic protection of marine life.
Ecosystem
The area where a set of animal and plant species interact in a
characteristic fashion, and generate among them biomass flows that
are stronger than those linking that area to adjacent ones.
Ecosystem Services
The quantifiable services that an ecosystem provides to humans,
including consumables and non-consumables. Resource economists assign
monetary values to these services to estimate the economic value of a
healthy ecosystem.
Ecotourism
A tourism market based on an area's natural resources that attempts
to minimize the ecological impact of the tourism.
Existing Management Area
An area of a sanctuary that is within or is a resource management
area established by NOAA or by another federal or state jurisdiction
of competent jurisdiction as of June 12, 1997, where protections
above and beyond those provided by sanctuary-wide regulations are
needed to adequately protect resources.
Fishery Management Councils
Regional councils which were established under the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (see below). Each of the
eight councils is individually responsible for regulating fisheries
within its jurisdiction.
Fishing Capacity
The quantity of fish that can be taken by an individual, community,
vessel, or fleet, assuming that there is no limitation on the yield
from the stock. It is usually expressed in terms of some measure of
vessel size, such as gross tonnage, hold capacity, or horsepower.
Fishing Effort
Any measure of input extended by people to catch fish. This includes
the days at sea by boats of a certain type, number of hooks set per
day, fuel consumed, etc. Generally, the amount of fish caught per
unit of effort in a given fishery declines with time, due to reduced
abundance of the underlying population.
Fishing Gear
The equipment used for fishing. This includes boats, nets, lines and cranes.
Fishing Mortality Rate
The rate of removal of fish from a population by fishing. It can be
reported as an annual rate or as an instantaneous rate. Instantaneous
mortality is the percentage of fish dying at any one time while
annual mortality is the percentage of fish dying over one year.
Food Web
The interconnected feeding relationships in an ecosystem. These
relationships can be complex; some organisms may feed on more than
one trophic level, or changes may occur depending on a species' life
history stages or the availability of food.
Geographical Information System
(GIS)
A computerized system that provides advanced capabilities for the
processing and interpretation of spatial information from the real
world.
Gill-Netting
A fishing technique that uses stationary, wide monofilament nets that
are anchored to the ocean floor. Buoys interspersed throughout help
extend the nets up toward the surface. Fish swim into the almost
invisible netting, snagging their gills as they attempt to back out,
and are trapped.
Industrial Fisheries
Fisheries in which the product is used to make commodities such as
fish oil and fishmeal. This is in contrast to "food fisheries"
where
the harvest is intended for human consumption.
Relatively
large-scale fisheries that depend on high levels of
capital investment and outside sources of financing and technology,
with the aim of making a profit for company owners and stockholders.
This is in contrast to "artisanal fisheries" (see above).
Integrated Coastal Management
/ Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICM/ICZM)
The protection of coastal and ocean areas by coordinated management
of extractive uses such as fishing and mining as well as controls on
indirect impacts on the environment such as pollution.
Landings
That part of the catch that shows up at ports and in markets.
Life History
The sequence of changes making up the span of an organism's life.
These can range from simple to very complex depending upon the
species.
Long-Line Fishing
A fishing technique which uses a long, main line (possibly over 100
km long) with branch lines, or snoods, with baited hooks (sometimes
more than 20,000). This technique is commonly used to catch tuna,
swordfish, marlin, and sailfish.
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management
and Conservation Act
A federal law, established in 1976 and amended in October 1996, which
aims to provide for the conservation and management of the fisheries
in the United States' exclusive economic zone. The act established
eight regional fisheries councils and sets general goals for the
rebuilding of fisheries and the prevention of overfishing.
Marine Protected Area (MPA)
Any coastal or open ocean area in which certain uses are regulated to
protect natural resources, biodiversity, or human livelihoods. The
level of protection between MPAs varies considerably; most allow some
extractive activities such as fishing, while prohibiting others such
as drilling for oil or gas.
Marine Reserve (also called
a no-take zone or area)
An area of the sea which is completely protected from all extractive
activities. Within a reserve, biological resources are generally
protected through prohibitions on fishing and the removal or
disturbance of living and non-living marine resources, except as
necessary for monitoring or research to evaluate reserve
effectiveness. Marine reserves are a special category of marine
protected areas (see above).
Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)
The largest average catch that can be harvested from a stock on a
sustainable basis under existing conditions.
Moratorium
A cessation of fishing activities.
Network (of marine protected
areas or marine reserves)
A group of marine reserves (see above) or marine protected areas (see
above) within a biogeographic region that are linked to improve
management and/or safeguard the ecological integrity of a region.
They can be linked by larval dispersal and juvenile or adult
migration.
Open Access Resources
Natural resources accessible to anyone, with no restrictions on their
use. This is the basis of the idea of "the tragedy of the commons"
(see below). This should not be confused with "common property"
resources (see above).
Optimum Yield (OY)
The optimum biomass that a fisheries stock is theoretically capable
of yielding without collapse.
Population
A group of individuals of one species, which live in a particular
area and are much more likely to breed with one another than with
individuals from another such group.
Population Connectivity
The extent to which one population exchanges individuals with another
via larval dispersal. Low population connectivity means that few
larvae are exchanged between local populations, leading to isolation.
High population connectivity means local populations are well mixed
with other downstream populations. Population connectivity can be
considered on either evolutionary (genetic) or ecological time scales.
Precautionary Principle or
Approach
An approach to environmental decision-making that structures outcomes
to defeat the potentially deleterious role of uncertainty by
assigning the burden of proof to the exploiter, and providing other
safeguards.
Private Property Resources
Resources where ownership or access is held exclusively by
individuals or firms, with or without the right to sell rights. In
fisheries, an important example is the "individual transferable
quota" system, but some fisheries have individual quotas, or boat
quotas, without the right to transfer that quota to others.
Productivity
The rate of production of biomass. "Primary productivity" refers
to
the biomass produced by the photosynthesizing plant components of an
ecosystem.
Purse Seines
Nets used to encircle entire schools of fish, such as herring or
tuna, at or close to the surface. The fish are trapped in a pouch
made by tightening a drawstring cable that is threaded through the
bottom of the net, and are hauled on board with a crane.
Ratchet Effect
The constant increase in exploitation due to the fact that positive
short-term economic benefits often cannot be counterbalanced by the
uncertain predictions of possible deleterious effects.
Recruitment
The number of individuals entering a population or a fishery each year.
Remittance
Money sent from one place or person to another. A remittance economy
is one dependent on such money transfers, often from a family member
abroad to relatives back home.
Resilience
The ability for an ecosystem to rebound from a disturbance.
Sanctuary Preservation Area
An area of a sanctuary that encompasses a discrete, biologically
important area, within which uses are subject to conditions,
restrictions, and prohibitions.
Settlement
The process in the life cycle during which larvae leave the water
column and take up a benthic existence.
Stakeholders
The various people who are affected by or have an interest in the
establishment of a marine protected area or any other issue.
Stock
A management unit of one species in a fishery that ideally
corresponds to a natural population. It can be the subject of
assessment and management.
Sustainability
The use of ecosystems and their resources in a manner that satisfies
current needs while allowing them to persist in the long term.
Traditional Management Practices
Customary ways of using resources to ensure that some of these
resources are spared for future use. These practices include no-take
zones, no-take species, and bans on fishing gear, along with
observing various other customs related to using and respecting
resources.
"Tragedy of the Commons"
The idea that where there is no clear ownership of rights to a
natural resource, the users of the resource are likely to overexploit
it. This becomes an argument either for strong government
intervention or for privatization of rights to the resource. In this
case, "commons" refers to "open access" resources
(see above), not to
"common property" resources (see above).
Trophic Cascade
A chain-reaction within food webs that results from changing
population densities at higher trophic levels (see below), shifting
the dominance and impact of consumers in lower levels. Typically this
results in inverse patterns of abundance across more than one trophic
level in a food web. For example, in three-tiered food webs, an
increase in the abundance of top predators can result in lower
abundances of herbivore consumers and a higher abundance of plants.
Trophic Level (TL)
A number indicating the position of a species within an ecosystem. By
definition, plants have a TL = 1, herbivores TL = 2, and so on, up to
a TL = 5 in killer whales and polar bears. Note that trophic levels
do not need to be whole numbers; intermediate values occur among
fishes and other animals with a mixed diet composition. The phrase
"fishing down marine food webs" refers to the increased tendency
for
marine landings to consist of animals with lower trophic levels.
Uncertainty
A measure of how poorly we understand or can predict something such
as a parameter or future behavior; in some cases this is the same as
a lack of precision.
Wilderness
A wild or uncultivated habitat that is inhabited only by wild organisms.
© 2002, American Museum of Natural History