The Legal Regulation of Floats and Gliders—In Quest of a New Regime?

This article analyzes the legal status of unmanned instruments (particularly, floats and gliders) for observation purposes in the ocean environment. These new kinds of instruments are being deployed by the thousands into the oceans, not the least as part of the Argo Project of the International Oceanographic Commission. Their uncontrolled drifting has raised legal questions, especially when such instruments enter waters subject to the jurisdiction of foreign states. The authors argue that the current international legal framework is insufficient to address the pertinent issues, and that a new legal regime is needed.     

Towards the integration of animal‐borne instruments into global ocean observing systems

Marine animals are increasingly instrumented with environmental sensors that provide large volumes of oceanographic data. Here, we conduct an innovative and comprehensive global analysis to determine the potential contribution of animal‐borne instruments (ABI) into ocean observing systems (OOSs) and provide a foundation to establish future integrated ocean monitoring programmes. We analyse the current gaps of the long‐term Argo observing system (>1.5 million profiles) and assess its spatial overlap with the distribution of marine animals across eight major species groups (tuna and billfishes, sharks and rays, marine turtles, pinnipeds, cetaceans, sirenians, flying seabirds and penguins). We combine distribution ranges of 183 species and satellite tracking observations from >3,000 animals. Our analyses identify potential areas where ABI could complement OOS. Specifically, ABI have the potential to fill gaps in marginal seas, upwelling areas, the upper 10 m of the water column, shelf regions and polewards of 60° latitude. Our approach provides the global baseline required to plan the integration of ABI into global and regional OOS while integrating conservation and ocean monitoring priorities.     

热带大西洋黄鳍金枪鱼垂直分布空间分析

为了解热带大西洋黄鳍金枪鱼(Thunnus albacares)延绳钓适宜渔获水温的等温线时空分布,分析黄鳍适宜的垂直和水平空间分布范围,采用Argo浮标剖面温度数据重构热带大西洋13℃和距海洋表层水温8℃(Δ8℃)的月平均等温线场,网格化计算了13℃和Δ8℃等温线深度值和温跃层下界深度差,并结合大西洋金枪鱼会委员(International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas ICCAT)的黄鳍金枪鱼延绳钓渔业数据,绘制了13℃和Δ8℃等温线深度与月平均CPUE的空间叠加图,用于分析热带大西洋黄鳍金枪鱼中心渔场单位捕捞努力渔获量(Catch per unit effort CPUE)时空分布和次表层环境季节性变化关系。结果表明,13℃等温线,在高值CPUE出现的海域深度值大多小于250 m,主要在170—249 m,深度值超过250 m的海域CPUE普遍较小。5°S—9°N区域,Δ8℃等温线高值CPUE出现的海域深度值大多小于150 m,主要在50—139 m;7—10月份在南半球的非洲西海岸,在Δ8℃等温线深度值为150—350 m的海域也会出现中心渔场。全年在低纬度区域,高渔获率的垂直分布深度更加集中。13℃等温线影响热带大西洋黄鳍金枪鱼的空间分布,温跃层下界温度影响黄鳍金枪鱼的垂直分布。采用频次分析和经验累积分布函数计算其适宜次表层环境因子分布,13℃等温线180—240 m;Δ8℃等温线50—139 m;与下界深度差:13℃等温线-70—29 m;海表以下8℃等温线30—149 m。文章初步得出热带大西洋黄鳍金枪鱼适宜的水平、垂直深度分布区间。结果可以辅助渔情预报,为热带大西洋黄鳍金枪鱼实际生产作业和资源管理提供参考依据。     

大西洋中部延绳钓黄鳍金枪鱼渔场时空分布与温跃层的关系

为了解大西洋延绳钓黄鳍金枪鱼(Thunnus albacares)渔场适宜的温跃层参数分布区间,采用Argo浮标水温信息和大西洋金枪鱼会委员(International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas ICCAT)的黄鳍金枪鱼延绳钓渔获数据,绘制了大西洋中部月平均温跃层特征参数和月平均单位捕捞努力量渔获量(Catch per unit effort CPUE)的空间叠加图,用于分析大西洋中部延绳钓黄鳍金枪鱼中心渔场时空分布和温跃层特征参数关系。分析结果表明:大西洋中部温跃层上界深度、温度具有明显的季节性变化,而温跃层下界深度、温度没有明显的季节变化特征。空间叠加图显示,1-6月份在赤道地区中心渔场主要分布在温跃层上界深度为20-60 m之间。7-9月份在60-80 m,同期在纳米比亚外海,中心渔场区域温跃层上界深度超过100 m。10-12月份,中心渔场区域温跃层上界深度下降到60 m左右。全年在赤道区域,中心渔场CPUE主要分布在温跃层上界温度26-29 ℃,低于24℃区域渔获率很低;温跃层下界深度在160-250 m,集中在230 m;温跃层下界温度在12-14 ℃之间,在此区间外CPUE值都比较低。7-11月份,在纳米比亚外海的中心渔场区域上界温度会低至20 ℃,下界深度分布在140-160 m,下界温度在14-15 ℃左右。数值计算得出大西洋中部黄鳍金枪鱼适宜的温跃层上界温度是26-28.9 ℃;适宜的温跃层下界温度和深度分别是12-14.9 ℃和150-249 m,而上界深度和中心渔场CPUE关系不明显。研究得出大西洋延绳钓黄鳍金枪鱼中心渔场温跃层各特征参数的适宜分布区间及季节变化特征,为延绳钓黄鳍金枪鱼实际生产作业和资源管理提供理论参考。