Ethical Know-how and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Small Scale Fisheries on the Eastern Black Sea Coast of Turkey

In the context of development and changes in two small-boat fisheries on the eastern Black Sea coast of Turkey, this article discusses how institutions are embedded in tradition, and what is “traditional” in “traditional knowledge”. Taking new institutional economics’ focus on institutions and approaches to traditional ecological knowledge as vantage points for discussion I compare systems of informal management in one discontinued and one new fishery to address questions such as: What kinds of knowledges and rules are involved in these kinds of fishing? What constitutes a tradition of knowledge? What is the role of tradition in working out new rules? I couple theories of situated knowledge (Ingold) and embeddedness of rules (Varela), both of which are inspired by Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological approach, to show how institutions and traditional ecological knowledge are embedded and come together in practice.     

The Polychaete Polydora limicola in Benthic Communities of the Black Sea

Many papers dealing with nonindigenous species in the Black Sea do not mention the polychaete Polydora limicola Annenkova, a new invader in the Pontic-Azov Basin. In this connection, we will analyze here the taxonomic status of this species and discuss the history of its introduction and distribution in the northwestern Black Sea and related coastal lagoons. It is shown that P. limicola is now one of the most common species of the benthos in the Black Sea, especially in estuarine areas and coastal lagoons. The naturalization of this species resulted in changes in the structure of some bottom biocenoses of this region.     

Marine biological invasions in waters of the port of Novorossiysk in the Black Sea

The results of the monitoring of ballast waters of commercial vessels and research on the ecosystem biodiversity of the Novorossiysk Port are reported. Data on structure of immigrant fauna, its abundance, survival and origin of species were obtained. It has been established that the risk of introduction of Mediterranean species into the Novorossiysk Bay is the most probable. The basic “risk groups” are copepods and polychaetes. It has been hypothesized, that ship ballast water can become a primary factor of the “mediterranization” of the copepod fauna (Copepoda) in the northeast of the Black Sea. During the period of research in the Novorossiysk Bay, 36 species of Mediterranean copepods were recorded. A massive number of the cyclopoid copepod Oithona brevicornis Giesbr., 1891, a new species for the Black Sea, was recorded in samples collected in the autumn of 2005 and 2006. The status of the invader was attributed to the polychaete of the Streblospio genus. The necessity of ship ballast water control in Russia and the development of methodology, methods, and regulations for the prevention of the intrusion of pathogenic and potentially dangerous organisms by marine traffic were corroborated.