Knowledge Overlap in Nearshore Service Delivery

Multinational organizations now increasingly source tasks from nearshore units. While, offshore locations promise superior opportunities for cost savings and access to large scale, flexible workforces, organisations are increasingly distributing work much closer to home (Deliotte 2014). One of the biggest attractions of nearshore locations is proximity. In principle nearshore units are geographically, temporally, and culturally closer to their onshore counterparts reducing the cost and coordination effort to manage distance. Despite the anticipation that onshore units and nearshore units will operate effectively from distinctive and separate knowledge bases, they continue to be bogged down by knowledge overlaps. Knowledge overlaps (KOs) are a duplication of information and know-how of specific migrated activities that allow onshore units to retain control of nearshore units. In this paper, we draw on data from an on-going qualitative case study to demonstrate how nearshore units manage KOs and relinquish control of processes

Quantifying fisher responses to environmental and regulatory dynamics in marine systems

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017Commercial fisheries are part of an inherently complicated cycle. As fishers have adopted new technologies and larger vessels to compete for resources, fisheries managers have adapted regulatory structures to sustain stocks and to mitigate unintended impacts of fishing (e.g., bycatch). Meanwhile, the ecosystems that are targeted by fishers are affected by a changing climate, which in turn forces fishers to further adapt, and subsequently, will require regulations to be updated. From the management side, one of the great limitations for understanding how changes in fishery environments or regulations impact fishers has been a lack of sufficient data for resolving their behaviors. In some fisheries, observer programs have provided sufficient data for monitoring the dynamics of fishing fleets, but these programs are expensive and often do not cover every trip or vessel. In the last two decades however, vessel monitoring systems (VMS) have begun to provide vessel location data at regular intervals such that fishing effort and behavioral decisions can be resolved across time and space for many fisheries. I demonstrate the utility of such data by examining the responses of two disparate fishing fleets to environmental and regulatory changes. This study was one of "big data" and required the development of nuanced approaches to process and model millions of records from multiple datasets. I thus present the work in three components: (1) How can we extract the information that we need? I present a detailed characterization of the types of data and an algorithm used to derive relevant behavioral aspects of fishing, like the duration and distances traveled during fishing trips; (2) How do fishers' spatial behaviors in the Bering Sea pollock fishery change in response to environmental variability; and (3) How were fisher behaviors and economic performances affected by a series of regulatory changes in the Gulf of Mexico grouper-tilefish longline fishery? I found a high degree of heterogeneity among vessel behaviors within the pollock fishery, underscoring the role that markets and processor-level decisions play in facilitating fisher responses to environmental change. In the Gulf of Mexico, my VMS-based approach estimated unobserved fishing effort with a high degree of accuracy and confirmed that the regulatory shift (e.g., the longline endorsement program and catch share program) yielded the intended impacts of reducing effort and improving both the economic performance and the overall harvest efficiency for the fleet. Overall, this work provides broadly applicable approaches for testing hypotheses regarding the dynamics of spatial behaviors in response to regulatory and environmental changes in a diversity of fisheries around the world.General introduction -- Chapter 1 Using vessel monitoring system data to identify and characterize trips made by fishing vessels in the United States North Pacific -- Chapter 2 Paths to resilience: Alaska pollock fleet uses multiple fishing strategies to buffer against environmental change in the Bering Sea -- Chapter 3 Vessel monitoring systems (VMS) reveal increased fishing efficiency following regulatory change in a bottom longline fishery -- General Conclusions

Advancing the integration of spatial data to map human and natural drivers on coral reefs

<div><p>A major challenge for coral reef conservation and management is understanding how a wide range of interacting human and natural drivers cumulatively impact and shape these ecosystems. Despite the importance of understanding these interactions, a methodological framework to synthesize spatially explicit data of such drivers is lacking. To fill this gap, we established a transferable data synthesis methodology to integrate spatial data on environmental and anthropogenic drivers of coral reefs, and applied this methodology to a case study location–the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI). Environmental drivers were derived from time series (2002–2013) of climatological ranges and anomalies of remotely sensed sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-<i>a</i>, irradiance, and wave power. Anthropogenic drivers were characterized using empirically derived and modeled datasets of spatial fisheries catch, sedimentation, nutrient input, new development, habitat modification, and invasive species. Within our case study system, resulting driver maps showed high spatial heterogeneity across the MHI, with anthropogenic drivers generally greatest and most widespread on O‘ahu, where 70% of the state’s population resides, while sedimentation and nutrients were dominant in less populated islands. Together, the spatial integration of environmental and anthropogenic driver data described here provides a first-ever synthetic approach to visualize how the drivers of coral reef state vary in space and demonstrates a methodological framework for implementation of this approach in other regions of the world. By quantifying and synthesizing spatial drivers of change on coral reefs, we provide an avenue for further research to understand how drivers determine reef diversity and resilience, which can ultimately inform policies to protect coral reefs.</p></div

Ecological Drivers of Brown Pelican Movement Patterns and Reproductive Success in the Gulf of Mexico

The effects of environmental change on vast, inaccessible marine ecosystems are often difficult to measure and detect. As accessible and highly visible apex predators in marine environments, seabirds are often selected as indicators for studying the effects of disturbance at lower trophic levels, although data are restricted both temporally and spatially. For example, studies of seabirds have historically been limited to the breeding season, with limited data being available throughout the remainder of the annual cycle. Additionally, understanding of habitat associations and behavior of seabirds in the marine environment comes primarily from pelagic seabirds, whose habitat year-round is generally in remote marine areas removed from anthropogenic development, while similar data from nearshore seabirds are less common. Such data gaps limit our understanding or life-history traits among seabirds, one of the most imperiled avian groups globally, and subsequently our ability to inform conservation and marine spatial planning. My goal was to examine ecological relationships of diet, breeding biology, and movement patterns of a nearshore tropical seabird, the Eastern brown pelican, in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the most anthropogenically developed marine ecosystems worldwide. While my results supported previous findings that nutritional conditions are a key driver of seabird reproductive success and recruitment, they differ in suggesting that prey availability and delivery rates are more important to reproductive rates than energetic value of prey species. Since direct measurement of reproductive rates is time-consuming and difficult to collect, I also tested an integrated measure of nutritional stress during development, feather corticosterone, as a predictor of nestling survival and fledging rates. Corticosterone predicted 94% of inter-colony variation in fledging success and was also correlated with post-fledging survival, making it a powerful tool for measuring demographic patterns in this species. To measure adult movement patterns, I deployed bird-borne biologgers to collect highly accurate spatial data from pelicans throughout the annual cycle. I found that individual breeders quickly returned to normal behavior after capture and tagging. GPS tracking also indicated that pelicans were highly mobile, ranging over large areas during the breeding season and migrating up to 2,500 kilometers during non-breeding. Movement patterns were influenced by local conspecific competition during both breeding and migration, such that birds from larger colonies moved longer distances year-round compared to those from smaller colonies. I also found a high degree of spatial, temporal, and individual variation in exposure to surface pollutants across the population. I recorded a high degree of individual variation in movement, which interacted with pollutant exposure to create a complex and varying distribution of risk throughout the northern Gulf metapopulation of brown pelicans. Understanding the factors driving this variation will inform future monitoring, conservation, and mitigation efforts for this species

Data handling methods and target detection results for multibeam and sidescan data collected as part of the search for SwissAir Flight 111

The crash of SwissAir Flight 111, off Nova Scotia in September 1998, triggered one of the largest seabed search surveys in Canadian history. The primary search tools used were sidescan sonars (both conventional and focussed types) and multibeam sonars. The processed search data needed to be distributed on a daily basis to other elements of the fleet for precise location of divers and other optical seabed search instruments (including laser linescan and ROV video). As a result of the glacial history of the region, many natural targets, similar in gross nature to aircraft debris were present. These included widespread linear bedrock outcrop patterns together with near ubiquitous glacial erratic boulders. Because of the severely broken-up nature of the remaining aircraft debris, sidescan imaging alone was often insufficient to unambiguously identify targets. The complementary attributes of higher resolution, but poorly located, sidescan imagery together with slightly lower resolution, but excellently navigated multibeam sonar proved to be one of critical factors in the success of the search. It proved necessary to rely heavily on the regional context of the seabed (provided by the multibeam sonar bathymetry and backscatter imagery) to separate natural geomorphic targets from anomalous anthropogenic debris. In order to confidently prove or disprove a potential target, the interpreter required simultaneous access to the full resolution sidescan data in the geographic context of the multibeam framework. Specific software tools had to be adapted or developed shipboard to provide this capability. Whilst developed specifically for this application, these survey tools can provide improved processing speed and confidence as part of more general mine hunting, hydrographic, engineering or scientific surveys

The role of sand lances (Ammodytes sp.) in the Northwest Atlantic ecosystem: a synthesis of current knowledge with implications for conservation and management

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Staudinger, M. D., Goyert, H., Suca, J. J., Coleman, K., Welch, L., Llopiz, J. K., Wiley, D., Altman, I., Applegate, A., Auster, P., Baumann, H., Beaty, J., Boelke, D., Kaufman, L., Loring, P., Moxley, J., Paton, S., Powers, K., Richardson, D., Robbins, J., Runge, J., Smith, B., Spiegel, C., & Steinmetz, H. The role of sand lances (Ammodytes sp.) in the Northwest Atlantic ecosystem: a synthesis of current knowledge with implications for conservation and management. Fish and Fisheries, 00, (2020): 1-34, doi:10.1111/faf.12445.The American sand lance (Ammodytes americanus, Ammodytidae) and the Northern sand lance (A. dubius, Ammodytidae) are small forage fishes that play an important functional role in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean (NWA). The NWA is a highly dynamic ecosystem currently facing increased risks from climate change, fishing and energy development. We need a better understanding of the biology, population dynamics and ecosystem role of Ammodytes to inform relevant management, climate adaptation and conservation efforts. To meet this need, we synthesized available data on the (a) life history, behaviour and distribution; (b) trophic ecology; (c) threats and vulnerabilities; and (d) ecosystem services role of Ammodytes in the NWA. Overall, 72 regional predators including 45 species of fishes, two squids, 16 seabirds and nine marine mammals were found to consume Ammodytes. Priority research needs identified during this effort include basic information on the patterns and drivers in abundance and distribution of Ammodytes, improved assessments of reproductive biology schedules and investigations of regional sensitivity and resilience to climate change, fishing and habitat disturbance. Food web studies are also needed to evaluate trophic linkages and to assess the consequences of inconsistent zooplankton prey and predator fields on energy flow within the NWA ecosystem. Synthesis results represent the first comprehensive assessment of Ammodytes in the NWA and are intended to inform new research and support regional ecosystem‐based management approaches.This manuscript is the result of follow‐up work stemming from a working group formed at a two‐day multidisciplinary and international workshop held at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Massachusetts in May 2017, which convened 55 experts scientists, natural resource managers and conservation practitioners from 15 state, federal, academic and non‐governmental organizations with interest and expertise in Ammodytes ecology. Support for this effort was provided by USFWS, NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (Award # G16AC00237), an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to J.J.S., a CINAR Fellow Award to J.K.L. under Cooperative Agreement NA14OAR4320158, NSF award OCE‐1325451 to J.K.L., NSF award OCE‐1459087 to J.A.R, a Regional Sea Grant award to H.B. (RNE16‐CTHCE‐l), a National Marine Sanctuary Foundation award to P.J.A. (18‐08‐B‐196) and grants from the Mudge Foundation. The contents of this paper are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New England Fishery Management Council and Mid‐Atlantic Fishery Management Council. This manuscript is submitted for publication with the understanding that the United States Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes. Any use of trade, firm or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government

Onshore to near-shore outsourcing transitions: unpacking tensions

This study is directed towards highlighting tensions of incoming and outgoing vendors during outsourcing in a near-shore context. Incoming-and-outgoing of vendors generate a complex form of relationship in which the participating organizations cooperate and compete simultaneously. It is of great importance to develop knowledge about this kind of relationship typically in the current GSE-related multi-sourcing environment. We carried out a longitudinal case study and utilized data from the 'Novo pay' project, which is available in the public domain. This project involved an outgoing New Zealand based vendor and incoming Australian based vendor. The results show that the demand for the same human resources, dependency upon cooperation and collaboration between vendors, reliance on each other system's configurations and utilizing similar strategies by the client, which worked for the previous vendor, generated a set of tensions which needed to be continuously managed throughout the project

Regional and seasonal patterns of epipelagic fish assemblages from the central California Current

The coastal Pacific Ocean off northern and central California encompasses the strongest seasonal upwelling zone in the California Current ecosystem. Headlands and bays here generate complex circulation features and confer unusual oceanographic complexity. We sampled the coastal epipelagic fish community of this region with a surface trawl in the summer and fall of 2000–05 to assess patterns of spatial and temporal community structure. Fifty-three species of fish were captured in 218 hauls at 34 fixed stations, with clupeiform species dominating. To examine spatial patterns, samples were grouped by location relative to a prominent headland at Point Reyes and the resulting two regions, north coast and Gulf of the Farallones, were plotted by using nonmetric multidimensional scaling. Seasonal and interannual patterns were also examined, and representative species were identified for each distinct community. Seven oceanographic variables measured concurrently with trawling were plotted by principal components analysis and tested for correlation with biotic patterns. We found significant differences in community structure by region, year, and season, but no interaction among main effects. Significant differences in oceanographic conditions mirrored the biotic patterns, and a match between biotic and hydrographic structure was detected. Dissimilarity between assemblages was mostly the result of differences in abundance and frequency of occurrence of about twelve common species. Community patterns were best described by a subset of hydrographic variables, including water depth, distance from shore, and any one of several correlated variables associated with upwelling intensity. Rather than discrete communities with clear borders and distinct member species, we found gradients in community structure and identified stations with similar fish communities by region and by proximity to features such as the San Francisco Bay