Economic considerations in the design of ocean observing systems

Author Posting. © Oceanography Society, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 22 no. 2 (2009): 44-49.Recent work on the potential economic value of improved coastal ocean observing capabilities suggests that aggregate values of better ocean observing system information for all US waters could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year. This aggregate value derives from specific information delivered to particular user groups in particular regions; the scale of benefits depends on the economic importance of the user sectors and on their ability to make use of better information about local and regional marine conditions. As we continue to refine these estimates of economic value, information on benefits is becoming sufficiently specific to be useful in the observing system design process. This paper describes a National Oceanographic Partnership Program study on the economics of ocean observing system information, presents a framework for incorporating economic information into observing system design, and sketches the beginning of an application of this process to the northeast region of the United States.This work was supported by NOPP, NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System Program, and the Marine Policy Center of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

THE OPTIMAL ALLOCATION OF OCEAN SPACE: AQUACULTURE AND WILD-HARVEST FISHERIES

A significant problem hindering the emergence or the continued growth of aquaculture in many marine areas is the conflict that arises among it and other ocean uses. We develop a framework to clarify the choice of the optimal scale of aquaculture when that use impacts a commercial fishery. We identify a range of potential impacts, both positive and negative, and analyze how one or more might affect the carrying capacity of a fish stock. We conduct a numerical simulation to illustrate a case where aquaculture and fishery uses interact in the ocean and compete in the product market, and we find that an ocean area could be devoted exclusively to aquaculture. This result depends strongly upon assumptions about the nature of the interaction, the geographic distribution of fish, and the aquaculture production technology. We also investigate the behavior of the model when both uses are able to coexist.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Meeting protein and energy needs for 10 billion people while restoring oceans

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Lindell, S., & Kite-Powell, H. Meeting protein and energy needs for 10 billion people while restoring oceans. Marine Technology Society Journal, 55(3), (2021): 124–124, https://doi.org/10.4031/MTSJ.55.3.49.Shellfish and seaweed farming provide resources, opportunities, and solutions to address a wide range of seemingly intractable global problems. Installed and managed properly, aquaculture operations can be restorative to ocean environments, counter climate change, and relieve pressure to farm sensitive terrestrial environments. For these reasons, there is growing social acceptance and political pressure for marine aquaculture expansion, and State, Federal, and International, as well as eNGO-led initiatives are underway. Now is the time to invest in multi-disciplinary science-based teams that can signpost the sustainable pathway for marine aquaculture by developing monitoring and modeling tools and protocols for measuring associated ecosystem impacts and beneficial services. The yield on that investment will be healthy food and more carbon-neutral bio-fuels grown in ways that help heal our oceans. A sustained commitment by the United States now to develop the science and technology for future ocean farms will find an enthusiastic audience in young researchers and technologist around the world, who seek better ways to improve people's lives through their science and problem solving

A broad-scale profile of the marine advanced technology industry

Within the maritime sector of the United States economy, in which many industries are largely moribund (shipbuilding), flagging (international shipping), or often in disarray (fisheries), electronic marine instrumentation stands out as a field showing outstanding growth performance and potential. Marine instrumentation may well be an area of international competition in which United States companies can achieve sustained growth. While U.S. companies have been playing a dominant role in this market in the past, virtually no systematic study has been devoted to the sources or durability of their competitive advantage, or to the steps that might be taken to promote their future competitiveness. A Marine Policy Center project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the Massachusetts Centers of Excellence Corporation (MCEC) is now beginning to provide some of this information. The Marine Policy Center project is attempting to describe and analyze the industry structure and competitive position of U.S. marine electronics companies. The first cut at a definition of the marine advanced technology industry detailed in this technical report represents part of the background research for this project. Complementary studies by researchers at Florida State University and Hawaii's Oceanic Institute will project areas of future market potential for marine electronic instrumentation. By building on and refining the industry profile presented in this technical report,the NOAA/MCEC project will provide greater insight into the important features of the "high technology" sector of the U.S. marine industry, and into the factors that determine its competitive position in the American and international markets. The resulting understanding of the industry will enable industry and government to make better informed policy decisions to nurture the continuing viability and competitiveness of U.S. marine electronics firms in the years to come.Funding was provided by the Massachusetts Centers of Excellence Corporation and the Marine Policy Center of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Business planning handbook for the ocean aquaculture of blue mussels

For prospective growers of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) in New England marine waters, this handbook is designed to be useful for assessing the structure of the market (including industrial organization and regulation), for making informed choices about organizational form, and for planning aquaculture business development. Importantly, we discuss methods for evaluating environmental and market risks. Where possible, we identify web-based and other sources of information to aid in business planning and in the design and operation of an ocean aquaculture business specializing in the production of blue mussels.Sponsored by the CINEMar Program at the University of New Hampshire, Agreement No. 03- 671 to NOAA Grant Nos. NA06RP0454 and NA16RP1718

Determining the structure of the United States marine instrumentation industry and its position in the world industry

This report is a general, but comprehensive, description and analysis of industrial organization in the field of marine electronic instrumentation (MEl), a broadly defined "industry," which until now has received little systematic, scholarly attention. The report reviews the current literature on international trade and competitiveness, as well as trade and scientific journals relevant to the industry. The resul ts of a series of interviews with representatives of the industry and responsible government agencies are presented and industry and government data on R&D and output have been collected and analyzed together with other indicators of industrial performance. On the basis of these sources, the structure of the industry and its markets is characterized and the importance of marine electronic instrumenation in international high technology trade is established. Over 350 firms in the U.S. industry are identified, which annually earn total estimated gross revenues of approximately $5 billion. These firms fall into three largely distinct industry groups: (1) defense systems contractors; (2) commercial marine electronics; and (3) scientific instrumentation. The first group is by far the largest in sales volume and is oligopolistic in structure, consisting of a few large rivals for infrequent and complex defense systems contracts. The other groups are more purely competitive. Four major customer groups are distinguished: (1) military; (2) commercial and recreational shipping and boating; (3) offshore oil and gas; and (4) oceanographic/environmental. Most of the firms in the industry face international competititon. The importance of marine electronic instrumentation to technological advance and economic activity in the world's oceans is strongly apparent. Parameters affecting the international competitiveness of firms in this industry, including those relating to industry structure and behavior and governmental practices and institutions such as sponsored research, procurement, intellectual property rights, tax allowances, antitrust enforcement, small business encouragements, export controls, import restrictions, exchange rates, and technology transfer are summarized. A number of issues relating to international competititon, economic analysis, and government policy that are fruitful areas for further research also are identified.Funding was provided by the Department of Commerce, NOAA, National Ocean Service, Office of Marine Operations through a grant to the Massachusetts Centers of Excellence Corporation, grant Number NA87-AA-D-M0037

Marine area governance and management in the Gulf of Maine : a case study

This case study provides a description and evaluation of marine area governance and management in the Gulf of Maine. On the advice of the Oversight Committee, we began the study at a broad level by identifying marine resources, uses of the resources, existing management regimes, and conflicts among users of the resources. The results of these initial reviews are collected in the tables in Appendix A. The Oversight Committee also suggested that we develop a chronology of important events relating to marine area governance and management in the Gulf of Maine, which is included as Appendix B. As is clear from even a quick scan of the material in Appendix A, almost every conceivable use of the marine environment occurs in the Gulf of Maine at some scale. However, some of these uses are more problematic than others in terms of the governance and management problems they engender. Rather than take a broadbrush approach that might not have done justice to any of the region's many ocean resources and uses, we decided to focus the case study on one or more of its most difficult and consequential governance and management issues. The initial survey enabled us to focus in on a subset of resources, use conflicts, and governance issues, namely those associated mainly with marine fisheries governance and management. Several considerations support the argument for a focus on fisheries governance and management. The marine fisheries are a regional-scale resource and industry, due to the mobility of the fish stocks, the geographic distribution of the users of the resource, and the fact that governance institutions have been designed to have regionwide authority. Thus fisheries mismanagement has the potential to inflict widespread social detriment and significant economic losses. Indeed, the net cost of depleted groundfish stocks under the current management structure, relative to the condition of stocks in an optimally managed fishery, has been estimated at about $139 million annually, or just under one-fifth the landed value of the entire Gulf of Maine commercial catch. Other ocean resources with potentially regional impacts, such as offshore energy, are not being pursued in the Gulf of Maine region at levels that pose significant concerns. Consequently, non-fishery resource management problems in the Gulf of Maine are, for the most part, local in scale, of comparatively minor economic significance, and not unique to the region. There is no evidence, for example, of "system-wide degradation of marine environmental quality in the Gulf of Maine. . . . The Gulf as a whole remains relatively clean, although the deep central basins appear to be accumulating several pollutants, including PAHs and PCBs" (GOMCME 1994; see also Dow and Braasch 1996 and Gould, Clark, and Thurberg 1994). Given that most pollutants of concern are concentrated in inshore waters near urban areas and in the mouths of industrialized rivers, it is not at all clear that they could be dealt with more effectively or efficiently at the regional level. In sum, our focus on fisheries reflects our judgment that the greatest net benefits might be obtained from improvements in the governance and management of these marine resources within the Gulf of Maine region.This case study was produced for the purposes of the Committee on Marine Area Governance and Management of the National Research Council (NRC), Agreement No. DOT -3830-96-002

Dynamic Economic Analysis of Marine Pollution Prevention Technologies: An Application to Double Hulls and Electronic Charts

Marine pollution associated with shipping accidents has resulted in a Congressional mandate for double hulls on tankers in U.S. waters. In this paper, we formulate a social planner's problem using optimal control theory to examine the relative cost-effectiveness of double hulls and alternative pollution retention technologies, and the optimal installation strategy for such technologies. The model encompasses the costs and benefits associated with shipping operations, damage to the marine environment, and investment in each technology. A computer simulation of the model is used to evaluate investment strategies for two technological options: double hulls and electronic chart systems. Results indicate that electronic charts may be a far more cost-effective approach to marine pollution control

Ocean acidification’s potential to alter global marine ecosystem services

Author Posting. © Oceanography Society, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 22 no. 4 (2009): 172-181.Ocean acidification lowers the oceanic saturation states of carbonate minerals and decreases the calcification rates of some marine organisms that provide a range of ecosystem services such as wild fishery and aquaculture harvests, coastal protection, tourism, cultural identity, and ecosystem support. Damage to marine ecosystem services by ocean acidification is likely to disproportionately affect developing nations and coastal regions, which often rely more heavily on a variety of marine-related economic and cultural activities. Losses of calcifying organisms or changes in marine food webs could significantly alter global marine harvests, which provided 110 million metric tons of food for humans and were valued at US$160 billion in 2006. Some of the countries most dependent on seafood for dietary protein include developing island nations with few agricultural alternatives. Aquaculture, especially of mollusks, may meet some of the future protein demand of economically developing, growing populations, but ocean acidification may complicate aquaculture of some species. By 2050, both population increases and changes in carbonate mineral saturation state will be greatest in low-latitude regions, multiplying the stresses on tropical marine ecosystems and societies. Identifying costeffective adaptive strategies to mitigate the costs associated with ocean acidification requires development of transferable management strategies that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of regional human and marine communities.S. Doney and S. Cooley were supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF ATM-0628582). H. Kite- Powell’s participation in this work was supported in part by the WHOI Marine Policy Center