Many Points of View: Visibility Mapping for Marine Spatial Planning

In order to manage and facilitate economic growth while safeguarding environmental objectives in the marine environment, new European legislation mandating the development of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) using an ecosystem approach has been introduced. One critical component of the ecosystem approach is the inclusion of ecosystem services into management decisions. In order to contribute to the planning process a map of the visibility of the entire Scottish national Exclusive Economic Zone was produced using cumulative viewshed analysis and displayed using a novel dynamic web display system. The layer maps the spatial distribution of one aspect of cultural ecosystem services, the visual amenity of coastal areas and is being used in the Scottish Marine Spatial Planning process

Is youth unemployment really the major worry? (AOM)

Youth unemployment is neither the only nor the basic problem of the European labour market. The comparative analysis of unemployment data demonstrates that the unemployment of older people is even more serious. The article proves that the weight of young people in total unemployment has as a tendency been declining in the “inner periphery” of the EU, among them in Central and Eastern European member states (CEECs). The trend is just the opposite in the developed or “core” countries of the Union where youngsters took a higher share in total unemployment in 2012 than 10-12 years ago. In Europe there are millions of young people beyond the active unemployed who do not want to work or think they cannot find a job that fulfils their expectations and refuse to take part in any kind of education or training (NEETs-“Not in Employment, Education or Training”). By estimating the rate of NEETs in the adult population the article claims that the NEETs-phenomenon is not the differentia specifica of the youth. At the end the article details two suggestions for the mitigation of the problem. It concludes that the joblessness in Europe is an old and tendencially worsening problem that cannot be solved by particular policies

Estimating the Irish public's willingness to pay for more sustainable salmon produced by integrated multi-trophic aquaculture

Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) has been put forward as a potential sustainable alternative to single fin fish species aquaculture. In IMTA, several species are combined in the production process. Integrating species has a conceivable dual advantage; the environmental impact can be lowered through nutrient cycling and from an economic perspective there is potential for increased efficiency, product diversification and a higher willingness to pay for more environmentally friendly produced salmon. This paper presents the results from a choice experiment which examines whether the Irish public is willing to pay a premium for “sustainably produced” farmed salmon from an IMTA process. Uniquely, an ecolabel was used in the design, based on familiar energy rating labels, to communicate the environmental pressure of fish farming to respondents. The experiment demonstrates that the Irish public has a willingness to pay a price premium for sustainability in salmon farming and for locally produced salmon.PostprintPeer reviewe

A multidisciplinary Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Mediterranean to support implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) adopted in 2008 aims to protect the marine environment through the holistic Ecosystem Approach (EA). The MSFD requires Member States to develop and implement cost-effective measures to achieve and/or maintain “Good Environmental Status” (GEnS). To this end, interested parties require a large amount of data and this data should be appropriately managed. This is particularly true for EA applications, where data can come from diverse sources, in diverse formats, and from several disciplines. Preliminary steps for supporting reliable multi-disciplinary analysis include data collection, data management, and the implementation of an interoperable sharing system. In an effort to implement this type of multidisciplinary analysis, a working group from the KnowSeas project (www.knowseas.com) created a Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Mediterranean Sea, designed to define and analyze the GEnS concept across various geographical scales. This article describes the implementation of this SDI, demonstrating how an interoperable system can provide strong support in implementing the MSFD under the EA, and how marine spatial planning can assist policymakers in the decision making process

Application of a risk-based approach to continuous underwater noise at local and subregional scales for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

International audienc

Steps toward a shared governance response for achieving Good Environmental Status in the Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean region is of fundamental importance to Europe given its strategic position. The responsibility for its overall ecosystem integrity is shared by European Union Member States (EU-MS) and other Mediterranean countries. A juxtaposition of overlapping governance instruments occurred recently in the region, with the implementation of both the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) for EU-MS and the Ecosystem Approach Strategy (ECAP) for all Mediterranean countries, including EU-MS. Both MSFD and ECAP are structured around vision-driven processes to achieve Good Environmental Status and a Healthy Environment, respectively. These processes have clear ecosystem-based, integrated policy objectives to guarantee the preservation and integrity of Mediterranean marine ecosystem goods and services. However, adoption of these instruments, especially those related to the new EUMS directives on marine policy, could result in a governance gap in addition to the well-known economic gap between the EU and the non-EU political blocs. We identify two complementary requirements for effective implementation of both MSFD and ECAP that could work together to reduce this gap, to ensure a better alignment between MSFD and ECAP and better planning for stakeholder engagement. These are key issues for the future success of these instruments in a Mediterranean region where discrepancies between societal and ecological objectives may pose a challenge to these processes

The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe

The earliest anatomically modern humans in Europe are thought to have appeared around 43,000–42,000 calendar years before present (43–42 kyr cal BP), by association with Aurignacian sites and lithic assemblages assumed to have been made by modern humans rather than by Neanderthals. However, the actual physical evidence for modern humans is extremely rare, and direct dates reach no farther back than about 41–39 kyr cal BP, leaving a gap. Here we show, using stratigraphic, chronological and archaeological data, that a fragment of human maxilla from the Kent’s Cavern site, UK, dates to the earlier period. The maxilla (KC4), which was excavated in 1927, was initially diagnosed as Upper Palaeolithic modern human1. In 1989, it was directly radiocarbon dated by accelerator mass spectrometry to 36.4–34.7 kyr cal BP2. Using a Bayesian analysis of new ultrafiltered bone collagen dates in an ordered stratigraphic sequence at the site, we show that this date is a considerable underestimate. Instead, KC4 dates to 44.2–41.5 kyr cal BP. This makes it older than any other equivalently dated modern human specimen and directly contemporary with the latest European Neanderthals, thus making its taxonomic attribution crucial. We also show that in 13 dental traits KC4 possesses modern human rather than Neanderthal characteristics; three other traits show Neanderthal affinities and a further seven are ambiguous. KC4 therefore represents the oldest known anatomically modern human fossil in northwestern Europe, fills a key gap between the earliest dated Aurignacian remains and the earliest human skeletal remains, and demonstrates the wide and rapid dispersal of early modern humans across Europe more than 40 kyr ago