Advancing marine conservation
To pursue sustainable fisheries, the world needs to constrain bottom trawling (BT) through effective management. Such change is particularly urgent for China, which operates one of the largest bottom-trawl fisheries (BTF) both in and beyond its waters. We provide the first comprehensive review of China’s approach to BTF over seven decades (1949–2018) based on bibliometric …
All seahorse species (genus Hippocampus) are listed under Schedule I of India’s Wild Life Protection Act, making all capture and trade of seahorses illegal. In the more than 15 years since the ban, little work has been done to assess its effects on seahorse conservation. Between 2015 and 2017, fisheries and trade surveys were conducted …
Abstract: Quantitatively evaluating policy effectiveness is vital to evidence-based decision making. Such analysis is, however, rare in natural resource management. We here initiate a novel framework that integrates econometric models, ecological approaches, and novel performance indices. Our focus lies in regulations of bottom trawl fisheries (BTF), a destructive form of exploitation that is executed globally, …
Abstract: The first extensive seahorse trade surveys undertaken in India, during 1999, take on tremendous importance in light of subsequent changes in management of seahorse fisheries and trade. As these early surveys have never been published, we now present our findings. We gathered information from 325 interviews on the biology, fisheries, and trade of seahorses, …
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Article impact statement: Only when conservationists consider the perspective of government can they realize implementing their own advice is not as easy as it sounds. Abstract: What happens when those who provide conservation advice are required to take policy and management action based on that advice? Conservation advocates and scientists often try to prompt regulatory …
Abstract Participatory mapping is a valuable approach for documenting the influence of human activities on species, ecosystems, and ecosystem services, as well as the variability of human activities over space and time. This method is particularly valuable in data-poor systems; however, there has never been a systematic approach for identifying the total number of respondents …
Abstract The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora decided to implement export controls for all seahorses in 2002 to ensure international trade is sustainable, legal and monitored. The Philippines, however, has not implemented the listing because their domestic Fisheries Code banned the extraction of any CITES listed marine species, …
Analysing the associations between the endangered White’s seahorse Hippocampus whitei and characteristics of its environment (including habitat, prey and predator variables) in an estuary in New South Wales, Australia, revealed that seahorses had a greater number of significant associations with environmental correlates within a single seagrass bed than among seagrass beds. Predator abundance was negatively correlated …