Regional Maritime Research Articles

Militarized marine protected areas in overseas territories: Conserving biodiversity, geopolitical positioning, and securing resources in the 21st century

Under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Aichi biodiversity targets, nations have committed to conserving 10% of the oceans within their territories by 2020. Over the past decade, this goal has driven the establishment of many large marine protected areas (MPAs), several of which surround overseas island territories with current or historical military involvement, ranging from World War 2 battle sites to testing areas for the “ABCs” of atomic, biological, and chemical weapons during the cold war. For countries with significant overseas territories, such as the USA, France, and the UK, these remote possessions provide an opportunity to achieve biodiversity conservation objectives over large spatial scales. They also provide a strategic footprint for regional maritime spheres of influence, as well as possible future energy and mineral resources. Building on insights from terrestrial “militarized” protected areas, and drawing on archival and contemporary sources, this paper examines the multiple motivations behind designating very large MPAs in overseas territories, from protecting biodiversity to more long-term geopolitical, security, and resource-oriented motivations.

Regional maritime security in the eastern Mediterranean: expectations and reality

Abstract Recent developments in the eastern Mediterranean, such as significant gas finds; disagreements over the demarcation of maritime boundaries; large-scale violence and political instability following the Arab Spring; mass migration via sea routes; Great Power dynamics in the region; and environmental hazards, make the political entities along the shores of the eastern Mediterranean part of a regional security complex and create strong incentives for regional coordination on maritime security. Material international relations theories predict that growing security challenges (realism) coupled with expected gains (liberalism) will facilitate regional cooperation. Yet, the political entities in the region rely mainly on unilateral actions, or limited quasi-alliances in response to these challenges. The article shows the puzzling gap between the theoretical expectation and practical outcome in the region and explains why regional cooperation in the maritime domain fails to occur. It argues that cooperation on a regional scale fails to take place due to three complementing reasons: 1) lack of shared ideational features like cultural traits, set of values and regime type; 2) enduring rivalries between political entities in the region (Israel–Palestine; Turkey–Greece–Cyprus) coupled with internal strife within other regional political entities (Libya; Syria); and unequal political standing and lack of sovereignty of some of the political entities in the region (Northern Cyprus; the Palestinian Authority and the Gaza Strip).

The brighter side of climate change: How local oceanography amplified a lobster boom in the Gulf of Maine

Ocean warming can drive poleward shifts of commercially important species with potentially significant economic impacts. Nowhere are those impacts greater than in the Gulf of Maine where North America's most valuable marine species, the American lobster (Homarus americanus Milne Edwards), has thrived for decades. However, there are growing concerns that regional maritime economies will suffer as monitored shallow water young‐of‐year lobsters decline and landings shift to the northeast. We examine how the interplay of ocean warming, tidal mixing, and larval behavior results in a brighter side of climate change. Since the 1980s lobster stocks have increased fivefold. We suggest that this increase resulted from a complex interplay between lobster larvae settlement behavior, climate change, and local oceanographic conditions. Specifically, postlarval sounding behavior is confined to a thermal envelope above 12°C and below 20°C. Summer thermally stratified surface waters in southwestern regions have historically been well within the settlement thermal envelope. Although surface layers are warming fastest in this region, the steep depth‐wise temperature gradient caused thermally suitable areas for larval settlement to expand only modestly. This contrasts with the northeast where strong tidal mixing prevents thermal stratification and recent ocean warming has made an expansive area of seabed more favorable for larval settlement. Recent declines in lobster settlement densities observed at shallow monitoring sites correlate with the expanded area of thermally suitable habitat associated with warmer summers. This leads us to hypothesize that the expanded area of suitable habitat may help explain strong lobster population increases in this region over the last decade and offset potential future declines. It also suggests that the fate of fisheries in a changing climate requires understanding local interaction between life stage‐specific biological thresholds and finer scale oceanographic processes.

Integration of individual encounter information into causation probability modelling of ship collision accidents

Maritime accidents, especially ship collisions, have always been a threat to the safety of maritime transport industry, the regional and global economy, and societies, due to its dire consequences. In this paper, a novel method to model causational factors, one of the critical elements of probabilistic risk modelling of ship collision accidents, is proposed. A credal probabilistic graphical network model based on imprecise probabilities was established based on accident investigation reports and domain experts as the overall framework to represent expert knowledge and probabilistic inference under uncertainty. Causational probability is estimated from the micro-to-macroscopic perspective where information of ship encounters are integrated into the causational model to perform probabilistic inference on each encounter and to obtain collective results. The causation probability interval is obtained and compared between model with and without the availability of geometric encounter data. The results indicate that: (1) the encounter information (relative bearing, TCPA, and presence of other ship) has influence on causational probability of ship collision accident to certain extent; human and organisational factors play more significant role; and (2) with AIS data integration, causational probability analysis can be utilized to determine encounters with higher likelihood and obtain details of dangerous ship encounters in regional maritime traffic.

The Presidential Order and Challenges of the Maritime Sector in Nigeria

This paper evaluated the 2017 Presidential order and the challenges of the Nigeria Maritime Sector as it hampered the smooth, efficient and effective running of the activities within the maritime sector. These challenges ranges from operational delays, marine theft or robbery, hijacking or kidnapping, piracy, militancy, illegal maritime operations and the likes. The implications are enormous as they have over the years significantly impacted negatively on critical sector of the economy ranging from transportation, production, oil and gas sectors and more importantly, threatened the growth and advancement of the regional maritime trade. This paper adopted several literatures and from their assessment and analysis, it was found that, significant relationship existed between the presidential order and the ease of doing business within the maritime sector. The study also found that there is a significant relationship between the presidential order and infrastructural development of the maritime sub-systems. It was also recommended that going forward, government’s approach to maritime policies and issues should be devoid of any form of ad-hoc, fire brigade or kill-and –go methods that have never helped us in this part of the globe. Hence, stakeholders’ engagement is dimmed necessary for an effective, efficient and sustainable maritime security and safety to prompt maritime operational activities.

The impacts of the sulphur emission regulation on the sulphur emission abatement innovation system in the Baltic Sea region

According to the Porter hypothesis, regulations on environmental emissions under certain conditions can promote eco-innovation. This is why the technological innovation systems (TIS) theory sees regulatory pressure as a major system function critical in the take-off phase. In other words, the design and timing of any regulation may be decisive for the regulatory outcome. The research seeks to provide empirical evidence on how the Baltic Sea Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) has impacted the technological innovation system within the Baltic Sea Region maritime sectors. The results (1) show that regulatory compliance gave a knowledge development that has made it possible for clean-tech companies to engage in entrepreneurial activities that created new markets, (2) empirically support the TIS theory and the Porter hypothesis, and (3) provide qualitative evidence on how businesses see environmental regulation.Graphical abstractThe innovation system for ship sulphur emission abatement.

Si Đinpingov autoritarizam, kinеska spoljna politika i indija

China's President Xi Jinping has placed great emphasis on power consolidation, focusing on domestic restructuring to enhance the centrality of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its communist ideology. This has compelled political pundits to mull over the bearing of a strong authoritarian Chinese regime on Xi Jinping's foreign policy. China is already casting strong regional maritime advances and leveraging its economic might over its continental periphery. In this regard, tensions are rising in the Indo-Pacific region with countries like India and Japan coalescing to negate China's assertiveness. Nonetheless, the new security architecture of Asia demands balanced strategic manoeuvring, exemplified by China and India pushing their bilateral ties forward while striking new deals with other like-minded countries.

인근 지역의 바다와 연계한 환경교육활동이 유아의 환경감수성 및 생명존중인식에 미치는 영향

본 연구의 목적은 인근 지역의 바다와 연계한 환경교육활동이 유아의 환경감수성 및 생명존중인식에 미치는 영향을 알아보는 데에 있다. 연구대상은 N군에 소재하고 있는 유치원에 재원 중인 만5세 유아 26명(실험집단 13명, 통제집단 13명)으로, 실험처치는 인근 지역의 바다와 연계한 환경교육활동의 각 주제에 대해 5~7회에 걸쳐 10주간 이루어졌으며, 사전과 사후에 실험집단과 통제 집단 모두에게 환경감수성검사와 생명존중인식 검사를 실시하였다. 그 결과 인근 지역의 바다와 연계한 환경교육활동이 유아의 환경감수성과 생명존중인식의 대부분에 긍정적인 영향을 미쳤으나, 생명존중태도에는 긍정적인 영향을 미치지 못한 것으로 나타났다. 이와 같은 결과는 인근 지역의 바다와 연계한 환경교육활동이 유아환경교육의 의미 있는 접근 방안이 될 수 있음을 시사하며, 기존의 숲 체험, 텃밭 가꾸기에 치중되었던 환경교육의 범위를 확대하는 데에 그 의의가 있다.

Southeast Asian Region Maritime Connectivity And The Potential Development Of The Northern Sea Route For Commercial Shipping

Today the Suez Canal remains the traditional sea route where cargoes transported between the Far East and Europe, and vice versa. However, the most important international waterway is the Straits of Malacca situated in the Southeast Asian region where it is estimated more than 80,000 vessels are plying through the straits annually. There was recently an interest to venture into a new route namely the Northern Sea Route (NSR) as an alternative route between Europe, and the Far East and vice versa. This paper aims to explain the background of the international trade and shipping at the Straits of Malacca. Secondly, to explain the importance of the NSR in facilitates commercial shipping and trade in the Artic Region. Thirdly, to analyses the NSR’s commercial potential and economic importance as an alternative route for commercial shipping and trade with Asian Region and finally to analyses the challenges and constraints of the NSR including the physical aspects of the route which is in ice conditions most of the time around a year. Findings show that Singapore had shown its interest by becoming a member of the Artic Council, while other countries in the region including Malaysia needs to take into consideration the potential of the NSR as an alternative shipping route in the future to overcome some long-standing issues related to the traffic congestion at the Straits of Malacca.Keywords: maritime connectivity, Southeast Asia, Northern Sea Route, commercial shipping, port infrastructure

Habitat protection actions for coastal delphinids in a disturbed environment with explicit information gaps

Bridging information gaps in an animal's habitat configuration is an explicit challenge in planning habitat protection actions (HPAs) for marine megafauna species near sites of intense anthropogenic activity. This challenge is further complicated by inadequate field survey designs and data manipulation that likely bias habitat configuration baselines. In this study, the likely habitat configuration of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, Sousa chinensis, in the Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong was projected using species distribution modeling (SDM). The influence of inadequate survey design and data manipulation of the baseline presentation was explored by comparing the SDM results from different datasets with current knowledge of humpback dolphin distributions in Chinese waters. Only the SDM based on data from systematically designed surveys projected a habitat configuration matching the current humpback dolphin distribution in China. The likely habitat configuration of humpback dolphins was characterized by high primary productivity and a shallow water depth. This study showed that ecosystem service losses, indexed by CO2 absorption, due to coastal alteration activities need to be factored into environmental impact assessments. Sound HPA practices include sharing information between research teams, mitigating the adverse impacts of anthropogenic activities, associating protected area networking with regional maritime spatial planning, monitoring coastal landscapes and seascape baselines, reducing land-based pollution, restoring degraded habitats for aquatic biota, and recovering land-to-sea connectivity. These measures require comprehensive coordination and collaboration between scientific research teams, policy representatives, NGOs/NPOs and stakeholder groups.

Quality of medicines in southern Togo: Investigation of antibiotics and of medicines for non-communicable diseases from pharmacies and informal vendors.

Substandard and falsified medicines represent a serious threat for public health and patient safety. Especially in low and middle-income countries, the prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines is reportedly high. However, reliable information on the prevalence of poor-quality medicines is scarce. In this study, 12 essential medicines, including antibiotics, antidiabetics, cardiac drugs and antiasthmatic drugs, were collected from six informal vendors and six licensed pharmacies in the southern part of Togo (regions Maritime and Plateaux). A mystery shopper approach was used in both types of outlets. In total, 64 samples were collected from licensed pharmacies and 30 from informal vendors. Both availability of medicines and prices of medicines were higher in licensed pharmacies than in informal vendors. 92 medicine samples were analyzed by visual examination, followed by chemical analysis for the content and for the dissolution of the active pharmaceutical ingredients according to the respective monographs of the United States Pharmacopoeia. 7 samples (8%) did not comply with the pharmacopoeial specifications, and one sample (1%) showed even extreme deviations. None of the samples was obviously falsified. However, one sample of amoxicillin capsules contained only 47% of the declared content of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, indicating that it may represent amoxicillin capsules 250 mg, rather than 500mg as declared on the label. Medicines stated to originate from Asia (i.e. mainly from India and China) showed a significantly higher proportion (24%) of non-compliant samples than those from Africa and Europe (4%, p = 0.007). High failure rates were observed in medicines both from informal vendors (13%) and from licensed pharmacies (5%), but the difference between both groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.152). The observed high prevalence of substandard medicines requires action from regulatory authorities and health care providers. Testing of selected samples for related substances indicated that inappropriate transport and storage conditions may have been an important cause for substandard quality.

The implementation of the ballast water management convention in the Adriatic Sea through States' cooperation: The contribution of environmental law and institutions

The Adriatic Sea, a semi-enclosed and vulnerable environment, deserves special attention regarding the risk of introducing Harmful Aquatic Organisms and Pathogens via ships' ballast water as new species findings occur at an alarming rate. This species introduction vector was addressed with the 2004 International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, which entered into force in 2017. The efficient implementation of this convention calls for Adriatic States' cooperation on environmental specifics that have not been dealt with neither by national nor by international measures yet. Based on legal and institutional data gathered, and considering the regional maritime traffic and environmental specifics, this paper reveals that the integration of current environmental law commitments as well as a better dialogue between public institutions from shipping and environmental sectors may foster the implementation of ballast water management obligations through appropriate Adriatic States' cooperation.

PERAIRAN BERMASALAH : TANTANGAN MARITIM DI ASIA PASIFIK

<p><em>Asia Pacific is a region with great attractions and also highly dynamic, with its growth and economic pulse that affects economy of the world. High economic growth coupled with regionalism and globalization generates implications the emergence of issues related to maritime security, national borders, disputes on territory rich in resources, environmental issues, transnational organized crimes, natural disasters, and energy and food security. Globalization itself creates new interactions among regional countries as a precondition to solve and face common problems in maritime domain awareness network. Regional Maritime Partnership is a smart choice when regional stability is becoming the goal of all states to maintain regional resilience. Indonesia’s position is unique as the link between two regions (Pacific and Indian Ocean) dependent on each other. Indonesia never recedes in providing the drive for regional stability through balancing strategies without becoming entangled in alliances. Indonesian Navy as a component of national strength participates in the application of national strategy into naval strategy and operationalizing it in diplomacy and multilateral exercises to enhance interoperability among navies in Asia Pacific, especially among ASEAN nations.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><strong><em>Keywords:</em></strong><em> Maritime Challenges, Maritime Security, Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), Regional Maritime Partnership. </em></p>

Deniz Ulaştırma İşletmelerinde Entelektüel Sermaye ve Örgüt Performansı Arasındaki İlişkide Yenilikçiliğin Rolü

The main objective of this study is to determine the causal relationships between intellectual capital, organizational performance and innovation in maritime transport firms operating in a global and dynamic competitive environment. It is also another purpose of the study to find out whether there is a mediating variable role in this related innovation. For the purpose of the study, data were collected by survey from 413 executives working in 262 maritime transport operations registered in Istanbul and Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean and Black Sea Regions Maritime Chamber of Commerce (IMEAK) and Mersin Chamber of Shipping (MDTO). Using the obtained data, research hypotheses were tested with the aid of statistical package programs SPSS 21 and AMOS 21. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the intellectual capital consisting of human, structural and relational capital components has a positive and significant effect on organizational performance and innovation, also innovation has a partial mediating variable effect on this.

PARAMETERS AND FACTORS OF ENSURING COMPETITIVE STABILITY OF THE PORT SECTOR OF UKRAINE

Topicality. The expediency of the development of scientific regulations is related to the main problems of achieving the competitiveness of the sea trade ports of Ukraine in the maritime trade market, first of all with the necessity: to achieve the adequacy of the technical and economic level of the stevedoring operators to the requirements of the environment; compliance with national needs and multimodal transport systems; support of national zones of international transport corridors; development of theoretical and methodological foundations for the competitive positioning of national maritime trading ports, taking into account the conditions of integration and globalization.Aim and tasks. The purpose of the article is to clarify new trends in the system of competitive positioning of sea merchant ports, to systematize the parameters of the competitiveness of national maritime merchant ports and to substantiate the factors of effective development of Ukraine's port infrastructure.Research results. The condition and conditions of the competitive development of Ukrainian seaports in the system of maritime trade market are analyzed. The assessment of the port infrastructure of the national terminal operators is given and the development trends and perspectives of the competitive positioning of the national stevedoring operators are grounded. The system factors and parameters of functioning of marine transport enterprises are grounded. The dynamics of cargo turnover of the largest container ports of Europe for the period 2015-2017 is presented and the main tendencies of development of container terminals of the world economy are revealed. The evaluation of the competitive functioning of state and private national stevedoring operators and the identification of the problem of economic stability of sea trading ports in the system of competitive positioning in the regional maritime trade market was conducted. The estimation of the relation between the profit rate and the cost of loading and unloading works of the largest ports of Ukraine is presented and given, and the change in the structure of the cargo traffic of sea ports of Ukraine under the influence of new trends in the world maritime transport industry is analyzed.Conclusions. The systematic parameters of the competitiveness of Ukrainian seaports in the maritime trade market system are substantiated and the main principles of achieving the normalized economic results of functioning of the sea commercial ports of Ukraine are substantiated. The information-logistic model, which characterizes the influence of external conditions on the competitive positioning of national sea commercial ports, is presented. The main features of the competitiveness of national stevedoring operators are revealed. The new tendencies in the system of competitive positioning of the sea commercial ports of Ukraine are specified, factors of competitive stability of the port infrastructure under the conditions of risk and uncertainty are grounded. The revealed standards and restrictions of development of the port infrastructure of the national maritime trading ports in the system of globalization and integration.

Regional Maritime Cooperation in Maintaining Maritime Security and Stability: A Test Case for ASEAN Unity and Centrality

Southeast and East Asia region has emerged as a global strategic maritime. Yet, maritime in the region remains vulnerable with overlapping claims on sea borders, piracy attacks and other transnational challenges at sea. For these purposes, some major powers in the region such as the US, China and Indonesia have launched their respective strategies in securing maritime for their interests. To harmonize the various interests, ASEAN with its counterparts in East Asia region need an ASEAN-led, inclusive and comprehensive regional maritime mechanism and strategic partnership between ASEAN member states and its dialog partners to maintain good order at sea. In November 2015, the East Asian Summit eventually launched a joint statement on Enhancing Regional Maritime Cooperation to justify the centrality of ASEAN and to counter the failure of ASEAN Defense Minister Meeting. In such case, ASEAN member states need to manage their disunity to minimize hindrances of the realization and implementation of the plan. This paper mainly elaborates the reasons why the region needs regional maritime cooperation and challenges that ASEAN have to deal with in order to implement the ASEAN unity and centrality in promoting maritime cooperation and regional stability. To explain the maritime strategies of ASEAN and its dialogue partners, this study uses qualitative methods and utilizes states’ documents as well as ASEAN statements particularly on maritime issues.

Boundaries Delineation of Marine Management Sharing According to Local Government Law No. 23/2014 (Case Study: Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Bangkalan and Sampang)

Regional autonomy is the right, the authority, and the obligation of autonomous region to set up and manage their own affairs and interests of the community in accordance with the potential and peculiarities of each area. To implement regional autonomy, the autonomous region must be clear where the location of its borders. Boundary area is divided into two, namely boundaries in the land and boundaries in the sea. Based on the authority of region government that regulated in Law of Republic Indonesia Number 23 in 2014, the regional maritime boundary consist of maritime management boundary for the province and maritime income sharing boundary for the district/city. This study aimed to determine the maritime income sharing boundary between Surabaya City, Sidoarjo, Bangkalan and Sampang District related to the presence of tanah oloran. Tanah oloran is located in the border of Surabaya City and Sidoarjo district which is currently being disputed border and seizure of property by the two districts/cities. The results of research represent that the claim ownership of Tanah Oloran can impact on maritime income sharing boundaries of Surabaya City and Sidoarjo District with region maritime overlapping is 2,258 ha and will benefit for the region maritime income sharing Sidoarjo District Government.

Total Mercury Concentrations in Lake and Streams Sediments Related to Wet-Area Coverage and Geogenic Sources within Upslope Basins

ABSTRACTTotal mercury concentrations (THg) in lake and stream sediments generally decrease with wet-area coverage (AW) per upslope basin area (AB). This was determined by delineating the wet-area component of 12,653 basins above as many sediment-sampling locations of the Geological Survey of Canada. These locations represent four climate regions (maritime, boreal, arctic, alpine) comprising six stream and six lake study areas. The dependence of sediment THg on AW/AB was examined by dividing the 0 < AW/AB < 1 range into 40 equal segments, and obtaining the mean sediment THg value for each segment. The results were evaluated by way of regression analysis using the following equation: mean sediment THg = a (1 − AW/AB)b + c AW/AB, with a, b and c as area-specific coefficients. The “a” and “c” coefficients could – in part – be inferred from bedrock type, annual atmospheric Hg deposition, and mean monthly air temperatures, and mean annual precipitation. Both “a” and “c” increased with increasing atmospheric Hg deposition for lake sediments. For stream sediments, only “a” did so. The geogenic influence on the THg variations per study area was addressed through multiple regression analyses, using sediment concentrations of other heavy elements and organic matter as independent variables.

Development of Regional Maritime Networks during the Early Metal Age in Northern Maluku Islands: A View from Excavated Glass Ornaments and Pottery Variation

ABSTRACTIn this paper we discuss the results of excavation at the Aru Manara site in the Northern Maluku islands along with a description of the recovered pottery assemblage and results of compositional analysis of glass ornaments. By comparing our data to those from other sites in the area, we suggest the possible development of regional maritime networks in and around the Northern Maluku Islands during the Early Metal Age. The lowest level of the site contained a large number of secondary human burials, burial pots, and jars with distinctive anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs (including human faces and lizards), and possible baked clay ornaments. These all date to between ca. 2100 and 1900 years BP, corresponding to the Early Metal Age in Island Southeast Asia. The site also produced numerous glass beads and bracelets. X-ray fluorescence analysis confirms a high proportion of potash glass that possibly originated from China, Mainland Southeast Asia or India and is common in sites in Thailand and Vietnam dating to between 2500 and 2100 years BP. There was a minor occurrence of high alumina-soda glass beads known as Indo-Pacific beads that originated from India to Southeast Asia and which are commonly found in sites dated between 2300 and 1500 years BP or later. The glass ornaments from different areas, combined with variable pottery, indicates the possible development of maritime and cross-regional networks to the Northern Maluku Islands.

Regional Maritime Contexts and the Maritorium: A Latin American Perspective on Archaeological Land and Sea Integration

In the field of maritime archaeology, the use of maritime, coastal, riverine, and lacustrine spaces by past societies has been perceived in different and changing viewpoints. These perspectives have flourished in dynamic and varying ways in many countries, and under different theoretical constructs. If in the 1970s the subject was perhaps not recognized as a central research subject by much of our community, it is now not only accepted but it has become a robust area of interest in maritime research. Two concepts in Latin America have been accepted that have had widespread application and influence, namely the regional maritime context and the maritorio. The points of contact between both are so intense that it is possible to speak about a single alternative with two possible names. In this article, their origins, applications, and theoretical influences are presented in a way that unifies these two concepts into a single approach (the maritorium), and examines how these ideas have been applied to research carried out in Mexico, Chile, and Uruguay. These applications are wide ranging, as they include the interconnected complexity between land and sea as used and inhabited by past societies. They have been applied in the study of ship traps, whole fleets, sites of maritime conflict and warfare, exploration activities, and ethnographic research. These will also be presented in light of other concepts of similar interest in the international sphere, such as the widespread concept of the Maritime Cultural Landscape, and also in view of other theoretical frameworks coming from the wider sphere of the profession, such as Landscape Archaeology and Phenomenological Archaeology.