2017 Texas Bays and Estuaries Meeting

Program for the 2017 Texas Bays and Estuaries Meeting held in Port Aransas, Texas, April 12-13, 2017.Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, Coastal Bend Bays Foundation, The University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Sea Grant Texas at Texas A&M University, Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, and Mission Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve.Marine Scienc

Ocean Industries and Marine Planning

Marine planning (marine spatial planning/MSP) is under development as a viable tool to address potential user conflicts in the oceans and allow for better management of ocean uses and resources. With marine planning developing in many parts of the world, especially the E.U., U.S. and Australia, it is important for industry to be part of the creation of a shared vision for a marine area, the discussion regarding whether or not to pursue a planning or other improved management effort, and the necessary elements (e.g., outreach, funding, boundaries) of such an effort. World Ocean Council, with funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, undertook a project to inform and, as appropriate, engage a diverse range of ocean industries on marine planning and encourage the use of credible science and risk assessment. With information gathered through literature reviews, case studies, interviews, and outreach, this paper presents potential benefits of and concerns regarding marine planning from the ocean business perspective. It also offers considerations for industry to consider its role in marine planning and for planners on how and why to engage the private sector

Freshwater Macroinvertebrates

The purpose of this resource is to sample, identify, and count macroinvertebrates at a Hydrology Site. Students collect, sort, identify, and count macroinvertebrates from habitats at their site. Educational levels: Middle school, High school, Intermediate elementary, Primary elementary

Perceptions of the Maltese public towards local Marine Protected Areas

The marine environment represents a central component of Malta's local environment, and its ecosystem services play a vital role in supporting the economy as well as human well-being. Plans have been made to protect the unique ecology found within Maltese waters through the institution of five marine protected areas (MPAs). This quantitative study assessed the environmental knowledge and attitudes of the Maltese public towards the local marine environment, MPAs and education for sustainable development (ESD). A questionnaire was administered to members of the public (n = 200) at three different locations. The study found that although the Maltese public strongly appreciates the beauty of Malta's marine environment, the level of knowledge surrounding the marine environment is low. Furthermore, the research indicates that while the public agrees that the marine environment should be protected, there is a notable lack of awareness of the five local MPAs. Based on the research findings, a model linking ESD to MPAs and aiming to foster a sense of ownership among the public by encouraging their involvement in the management of local MPAs is proposed.peer-reviewe

Identifying Semantic Divergences in Parallel Text without Annotations

Recognizing that even correct translations are not always semantically equivalent, we automatically detect meaning divergences in parallel sentence pairs with a deep neural model of bilingual semantic similarity which can be trained for any parallel corpus without any manual annotation. We show that our semantic model detects divergences more accurately than models based on surface features derived from word alignments, and that these divergences matter for neural machine translation.Comment: Accepted as a full paper to NAACL 201

Coyote (Canis latrans) use of marine resources in coastal California: A new behavior relative to their recent ancestors

Coyotes ( Canis latrans) are known to consume marine foods, but the importance and persistence of marine subsidies to coyotes is unknown. Recent access to a marine subsidy, especially if gained following apex predator loss, may facilitate coyote expansion along coastal routes and amplify the effects of mesopredator release. Our goal was to quantify and contextualize past and present marine resource use by coyotes on the central coast of California via stable isotope analysis. We measured δ13C and δ15N values in coyotes, their competitors, and their food resources at two modern sites, seven archaeological sites spanning in age from ~3000 to 750 BP, and from historical (AD 1893–1992) coyote and grizzly bear hair and bone sourced from coastal counties. We found evidence for marine resource use by modern coastal California coyotes at one site, Año Nuevo, which hosts a mainland northern elephant seal ( Mirounga angustirostris) breeding colony. Seals and sea lions account for ~20% of Año Nuevo coyote diet throughout the year and this marine subsidy likely positively impacts coyote population size. Isotopic data suggest that neither historic nor prehistoric coyotes consumed marine-derived foods, even at sites near ancient mainland seal rookeries. Marine resource use by some contemporary California coyotes is a novel behavior relative to their recent ancestors. We hypothesize that human alteration of the environment through extirpation of the California grizzly bear and the more recent protection of marine mammals likely enabled this behavioral shift

The Pitcairn Islands The world's Largest Fully Protected Marine Reserve

In March 2015, the United Kingdom declared the world's largest fully protected marine reserve in the remote waters surrounding the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The designation marks the first time any government has combined creation of a fully protected marine area with detailed plans for surveillance and enforcement that include use of the most up-to-date technology available. This approach sets a new standard for the comprehensive monitoring of protected areas. In 2013, The Pew Charitable Trusts and The National Geographic Society joined the local government, the Pitcairn Island Council, in submitting a proposal calling for creation of a marine reserve to protect these spectacular waters. The Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve spans 834,334 square kilometres (322,138 square miles). Together with the Chagos Marine Reserve in the Indian Ocean, designated in 2010, the United Kingdom has created the world's two biggest fully protected marine areas, totalling 1,474,334 square kilometres (569,243 square miles). Through these actions, the United Kingdom—caretaker of the fifth-greatest amount of marine habitat of any country in the world—has established its place as a global leader in ocean conservation

Definition, Measurement and Determinants of the Consumer's Willingness to Pay: a Critical Synthesis and Directions for Further Research

Differentiated prices, bundling, Web auctions : firms' pricing practices are evolving. When there is no market or for customised pricing, the willingness-to-pay concept seems to be interesting. This article aims at presenting a synthesis of the marketing research stream relative to willingness to pay. First, a definition of the concept is given and compared to other similar concepts, notably reference price and acceptable price. Then the methods of measurement are presented, compared to those used to measure elasticity and criticized. Furthermore, the research on external determinants of willingness to pay is commented. Finally, numerous directions for further research are proposed.willingness to pay, price elasticity, reference price, acceptable price, conjoint analysis, contingent valuation, Vickrey auctions, BDM lottery, prices

Economics and Hawaii's Marine Fisheries

This paper reviews economic research conducted on Hawaii's marine fisheries over the past ten years. The fisheries development and fisheries management context for this research is also considered. The paper finds that new approaches are required for marine fisheries research in Hawaii: A wider scope to include other marine resource and coastal zone issues, and increased and closer collaboration between researchers and the fishing community