Borrador Del II WOA - Completo-479-851 PDF

Second World Ocean Assessment | first draft | 27 April 2020
1 PART 5: TRENDS IN PRESSURES ON THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

2
3 Chapter 9
4
5 Pressures from Changes in Climate and Atmosphere
6
7 Convenor: Carlos Garcia-Soto (Lead Member); Contributors: Denise Breitburg, Monica
8 Campillos, Patricia Castillo-Briceno, Sanae Chiba (Co-Lead Member), Matthew Collins,
9 Ganix Esnaola, Karen Evans (Co-Lead Member), Louise B. Firth, Thomas Frölicher, Jason
10 M. Hall-Spencer, David Halpern, Karen L. Hunter, Gabriel Ibarra, Sung-Yong Kim, Roxy M.
11 Koll, Kathleen McInnes, Jon Saenz, Ca Thanh Vu (Co-Lead Member), Bess Ward, Tymon
12 Zielinski (Co-Lead Member)
13
14 Keynote points
15
16 • Extreme climate events. Marine heatwaves and tropical cyclones are shown to be
17 increasing in severity due to human activities and are having an impact on natural and
18 human systems. Extreme El Niño events have been observed but, because they occur
19 infrequently, a human influence has not been detected. All three phenomena are
20 projected to increase in the future with the severity of impacts also increasing, but
21 such increases can be reduced by climate change mitigation efforts.
22 • Sea level rise. The alarming observed pace of sea level rise, combined with
23 increasing storminess and coastal urbanization, has resulted in amplified susceptibility
24 of coastal cities to erosion, flooding and increased the need for substantial hard
25 infrastructure investments and the incidence of proposals for relocation. The result is
26 a diminished capacity of human use and enjoyment of natural coastal areas.
27 • Ocean acidification and deoxygenation. Under more acidic or deoxygenated
28 conditions, both in nature and in the laboratory, marine organisms that support
29 ecosystems and human livelihoods and nutrition typically respond poorly. Marine
30 habitats become simplified, many long-lived organisms die, and a few resilient
31 species proliferate. Less serious damage to life supporting ecosystems would be
32 possible under lower emissions scenarios.
33 • Other physical and chemical properties. Changes in ocean temperature and
34 salinity induced by climate change and human activities are affecting marine
35 ecosystems by changing marine primary production, decreasing the ecological value
36 of coastal ecosystems and changing the distribution of marine species. Human well-
37 being and economy are consequently affected.
38
39 1. Introduction
40
41 The first part of the present Chapter builds on three topics in the context of extreme climate
42 events related to the ocean, namely, marine heatwaves, extreme El Niño Southern Oscillation
43 (ENSO) events and tropical cyclones, and looks at both physical aspects of the impact of
44 climate change on the phenomena and potential impacts on natural and human systems. The
45 conclusions are based on a much more detailed assessment that can be found in chapter 6 of
46 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Oceans and
47 Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (IPCC, 2019).
48
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1 An extreme event is an event that is rare at a particular place and time of year. Definitions of
2 “rare” vary, but an extreme event is normally as rare as, or rarer, than the 10th or 90th
3 percentile of a probability density function estimated from observations. By definition, the
4 characteristics of what is called an extreme event may vary from place to place in an absolute
5 sense. When a pattern of extreme weather persists for some time, such as a season, it may be
6 classed as an extreme climate event, especially if it yields an average or total that is itself
7 extreme (e.g. high temperature, drought or total rainfall over a season).
8
9 The second part of the Chapter expands upon pressures from changes in ocean physical and
10 chemical properties, analysing first the impacts of sea level rise. By 2050, more than 570
11 low-lying coastal cities will face projected sea level rise of 0.5m or more, putting >800
12 million people at risk from the impacts of rising seas and storm surges (C40 cities, 2019).
13 Many large coastal cities are located in deltaic settings and vulnerable to floods because of
14 their proximity to rivers and the sea, general low elevations and land subsidence (Nicholls
15 and others, 2008).
16
17 Carbon dioxide emissions and global warming are also causing ocean acidification and
18 deoxygenation. These changes have consequences for the people who use marine ecosystems
19 worldwide. At the time of the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations,
20 2017), the chemistry of ocean acidification was well understood yet the consequences for
21 ecosystems and society were poorly known. The effects of declining oxygen on nutrient
22 cycles and fisheries were predicted to worsen, especially when climate change-driven oxygen
23 depletion combines with coastal eutrophication. Reduced biodiversity and declines in fish
24 populations were linked to falling oxygen levels across the world’s ocean. New information
25 is provided on marine organism and ecosystem responses to ocean acidification and
26 deoxygenation and related capacity building.
27
28 The present Chapter, in conjunction with Chapter 5, develops the climate change aspects of
29 the present Assessment. Chapter 9 expands on the pressures on marine ecosystems and
30 human populations of some of the physical and chemical changes caused by climate change.
31 Some related aspects are also covered in Chapter 7M and Chapter 15.
32
33 2. Climate pressures: extreme climate events and pressures from
34 changes in ocean physical and chemical properties
35
36 2.1. Extreme climate events
37
38 Marine heatwaves (MHW) are periods of extremely high ocean temperatures that persist for
39 days to months, that can extend up to thousands of kilometres and can penetrate multiple
40 hundreds of metres into the deep ocean (Hobday and others, 2016). Over the last two
41 decades, MHW have negatively impacted marine organisms and ecosystems in all ocean
42 basins, including critical foundation species such as corals, seagrasses and kelps (Hughes and
43 others, 2018; Smale and others, 2019). Satellite observations reveal that MHW doubled in
44 frequency between 1982 and 2016, and that they have also become longer lasting, more
45 intense and extensive (Frölicher and others, 2018; Oliver and others, 2018). Between 2006
46 and 2015, 84 to 90 per cent of all globally occurring MHW were attributable to the
47 temperature increase since 1850–1900 (Frölicher and others, 2018).
48
49 MHW will further increase in frequency, duration, spatial extent and intensity under future
50 global warming (Frölicher and others, 2018; Darmaraki and others, 2019), pushing some
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1 marine organisms, fisheries and ecosystems beyond the limits of their resilience, with
2 cascading impacts on economies and societies (Smale and others, 2019). Globally, the
3 frequency of MHW is very likely to increase by a factor of around 50 times by 2081–2100
4 under the high-emissions RCP8.5 scenario and by a factor of around 20 times under the low-
5 emissions RCP2.6 scenario (van Vurren and others, 2011), relative to the 1850–1900
6 reference period. These future trends in MHW frequency can largely be explained by
7 increases in mean ocean temperature. The largest changes in the frequency of MHW are
8 projected for the Arctic Ocean and the tropical ocean (Figure 1; IPCC, 2019, chapter 6, figure
9 6.4).
10
Cyclone Extreme Drought Marine Tidal Wave-induced

rainfall heatwave Flooding flooding
Cold or Sea-ice Compound Compound Compound

Snowstorm minimum Event: Event: Event:
Multiple drought, drought, low
cyclones rainfall, sea levels
MHW
11
12 Figure 1. Locations of extreme events with an identified link to climate change caused by human activities (figure based
13 on IPCC, 2019, Chapter 6, figure 6.2).
14
15 Limiting global warming would reduce the risk of impacts of marine heatwaves, but critical
16 thresholds for some ecosystems (e.g. kelp forests and coral reefs) will be reached even at
17 relatively low levels of future global warming (King and others, 2017). Early warning
18 systems, producing skilful forecasts of MHW, can further help to reduce vulnerabilities in
19 fisheries, tourism and conservation, but are yet unproven on a large scale (Payne and others,
20 2017; Tommasi and others, 2017).
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1
2 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a coupled atmosphere-ocean phenomenon,
3 identified by an oscillation between warm and cold ocean temperatures in the tropical central-
4 east Pacific Ocean, and an associated fluctuation in the global-scale tropical and subtropical
5 surface pressure patterns. Typically, ENSO has a preferred timescale of about two to seven
6 years. It is often measured by the surface pressure anomaly difference between Tahiti, French
7 Polynesia, and Darwin, Australia, and/or the sea surface temperatures in the central and
8 eastern equatorial Pacific. It has climatic effects throughout the Pacific region and in many
9 other parts of the world, through global teleconnections. The warm phase of ENSO is called
10 El Niño and the cold phase is called La Niña.
11
12 The strongest El Niño and La Niña events since the pre-industrial era have occurred during
13 the last 50 years, and that variability is unusually high when compared with average
14 variability during the last millennium (Cobb and others, 2013; Santoso and others, 2017).
15 There have been three occurrences of extreme El Niño events during the modern
16 observational period (1982–83, 1997–98, 2015–16), all characterized by pronounced rainfall
17 in the normally dry equatorial east Pacific. There have been two occurrences of extreme La
18 Niña (1988–89, 1998–99).
19
20 Extreme El Niño and La Niña events are likely to occur more frequently with global warming
21 and are likely to intensify existing impacts, with drier or wetter responses in several regions
22 across the globe, even at relatively low levels of future global warming (Cai and others, 2014;
23 Cai and others, 2015; Power and Delage, 2018).
24
25 Sustained long-term monitoring and improved forecasts can be used in managing the risks of
26 extreme El Niño and La Niña events associated with human health, agriculture, fisheries,
27 coral reefs, aquaculture, wildfire, drought and flood management (L’Heureux and others,
28 2017).
29
30 Tropical cyclones. A tropical cyclone is the general term for a strong, cyclonic-scale
31 disturbance that originates over the tropical ocean. Based on 1-minute maximum sustained
32 wind speed, these cyclonic disturbances are categorized into tropical depressions (≤ 17 m
33 s−1), tropical storms (18–32 m s−1) and tropical cyclones (≥ 33 m s−1, category 1 to category
34 5). A tropical cyclone is called a hurricane, typhoon or cyclone, depending on geographic
35 location.
36
37 Anthropogenic climate change has increased precipitation, winds and extreme sea level
38 events associated with a number of observed tropical cyclones. For example, studies have
39 shown that the rainfall intensity of tropical cyclone Harvey increased by at least 8 per cent
40 due to climate change (Risser and Wehner, 2017). Anthropogenic climate change may have
41 contributed to a poleward migration of maximum tropical cyclone intensity in the western
42 North Pacific in recent decades related to anthropogenically forced tropical expansion
43 (Sharmila and Walsh, 2018). There is emerging evidence for a number of regional changes in
44 tropical cyclone behaviour, such as an increase in the annual global proportion of Category 4
45 or 5 tropical cyclones in recent decades, extremely severe tropical cyclones occurring in the
46 Arabian Sea, cyclones making landfall in East and Southeast Asia, an increase in frequency
47 of moderately large storm surge events in the United States of America since 1923, and a
48 decrease in frequency of severe tropical cyclones making landfall in eastern Australia since
49 the late 1800s. There is low confidence that these represent detectable anthropogenic signals.
50 Extreme wave heights, which contribute to extreme sea level events, coastal erosion and
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1 flooding, have increased in the Southern and North Atlantic Oceans by around 1.0 cm per
2 year and 0.8 cm per year over the period 1985–2018 (Young and Ribal, 2019).
3
4 An increase in the average intensity of tropical cyclones, and the associated average
5 precipitation rates, is projected for a 2°C global temperature rise, although there is low
6 confidence in future frequency changes at the global scale (Yamada and others, 2017). Rising
7 sea levels will contribute to higher extreme sea levels associated with tropical cyclones in the
8 future (Garner and others, 2017). Projections suggest that the proportion of Category 4 and 5
9 tropical cyclones will increase (Knutson and others, 2015; Park and others, 2017). Such
10 changes will affect storm surge frequency and intensity, and impact coastal infrastructure and
11 mortality.
12
13 Investment in disaster risk reduction, flood management (ecosystem and engineered) and
14 early warning systems decreases economic loss from tropical cyclones that occur near coasts
15 and islands. However, such investments may be hindered by limited local capacities which,
16 for example, can cause increased losses and mortality from extreme winds and storm surges
17 in developing countries despite adaptation efforts. There is emerging evidence of increasing
18 risks for locations impacted by unprecedented storm trajectories. Management of risk from
19 such changing storm trajectories and intensity proves challenging because of the difficulties
20 of early warning and its receptivity by affected populations.
21
22 2.2. Sea level rise and cities
23
24 Coastal cities are becoming increasingly susceptible to erosion and sea level rise (De
25 Sherbinin and others, 2007; Hanson and others, 2011; Takagi and others, 2016). Many
26 comprise large areas of reclaimed land (the gain of land from the sea, wetlands or other water
27 bodies), which is retained and protected from erosion by hard engineered structures such as
28 seawalls and rock armouring (Sengupta and others, 2018). It is likely that many of these
29 engineered coastlines will need to be adapted and upgraded to keep pace with rising sea
30 levels. In highly urbanized environments that are often already heavily degraded, hard
31 engineered structures are often the only option available and are considered to be successful
32 options (Hallegatte and others, 2013; Hinkel and others, 2014), but there are a wide range of
33 wider impacts of these structures on the surrounding environment (Dafforn and others, 2015).
34 Globally, many regions (especially cities) are claiming that >50 per cent of their coastlines
35 are armoured (e.g. Chapman, 2003; Burt and others, 2013), and this number will likely rise in
36 the future in response to burgeoning economies, coastal populations and urbanization (e.g.
37 see plans for reclamation of entire coastlines of two Malaysian states in Chee and others,
38 2017).
39
40 As hard engineered coastal defences may be considered an effective short-term solution to
41 coastal flooding, more investment will be needed due to observed increasing storminess and
42 sea level rise (Mendelsohn and others, 2012; Vitousek and others, 2017). By 2010, the global
43 average sea level was calculated to be 52.4 mm above the 1993 level and, by 2018, this had
44 risen to 89.9 mm above the 1993 level (NOAA, 2019). The rate of change is also increasing.
45 For the period from 1993 to 2018, the rate of increase was calculated at 3.2 mm/yr, and for
46 the period from 2010 to 2018 it was calculated to be much faster, at 4.7 mm/yr. Despite
47 significant uncertainties remaining, IPCC predicts that sea level rise will continue for
48 centuries, even if mitigation measures are put in place. The potential widespread collapse of
49 ice shelves could lead to a larger twenty-first century sea level rise of up to several tenths of a
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1 metre (Church, 2013), which will have drastic consequences for coastal cities, particularly
2 those in low-lying areas.
3
4 Urbanization could, however, also provide opportunities for risk reduction, given that cities
5 are engines of economic growth and centres of innovation, political attention and private
6 sector investments (Garschagen and Romero-Lankao, 2015). Hallegatte and others (2013)
7 conducted a global analysis of present and future losses in the 136 largest coastal cities. They
8 predicted that global flood losses would increase from an average of six billion United States
9 dollars per year in 2005 to one trillion US dollars by 2050, with projected socioeconomic
10 change, climate change and subsidence. Even if adaptation investments maintain constant,
11 flood probability, subsidence and sea level rise will increase global flood losses to 60–63
12 billion US dollars per year in 2050. The same study found that developing countries are
13 particularly vulnerable to flood risk, with much lower investment in flood protection
14 measures (Hallegatte and others, 2013).
15
16 Case study: Jakarta versus Rotterdam
17 Jakarta, located on a deltaic plain, is the fastest subsiding city in the world (Erkens and
18 others, 2015) and suffers regular flooding, with major events happening in 2007, 2008, 2013
19 and 2014 (Abidin and others, 2015). Much of this subsidence is human-induced extraction of
20 groundwater, with subsidence rates reaching centimetres to even tens of centimetres per year
21 (Erkens and others, 2015). Despite clear susceptibility to flooding, Jakarta has inadequate
22 flood defence infrastructure (Steinberg, 2007). In April 2019, during the writing of this
23 report, the President of Indonesia suggested relocating the capital from Jakarta to elsewhere
24 (Lamb, 2019), due to myriad problems in the city, including extreme subsidence and
25 flooding. In contrast, low-lying cities in the Netherlands, a country which has long been a
26 pioneer in both land reclamation and climate change adaptation, are taking a multi-pronged
27 approach to the problem of sea level rise. For instance, Rotterdam’s adaptation system is
28 based on a flood and sea level rise defence system (C40 Cities, 2019) consisting of the
29 Maeslantkering flexible storm surge barrier, permanent sand dunes along the coast and dykes
30 along the rivers and a tailored “inner-dyke/outer-dyke” approach. The inner-dyke city (mostly
31 below sea level) is formed by a system of polders drained by water outlets and pumps and
32 protected by smaller secondary dykes. The outer-dyke city area (3–5.5 m above sea level), of
33 40,000 inhabitants, is vulnerable to rising sea levels or smaller temporary floods. It is being
34 adapted through use of innovative technologies (e.g. floating buildings) and more traditional
35 approaches (e.g. insulation of building facades and raising of electrical installations).
36
37 2.3. Pressures from changes in temperature
38
39 Ocean warming caused by anthropogenic climate change will continue for centuries after the
40 anthropogenic forcing is stabilized (IPCC, 2019). It will affect marine ecosystems through
41 increasing cumulative pressures due to the changing climate and the intensity of human
42 activities and is also interfering with other ocean properties, such as salinity and nutrient or
43 carbon cycles, due to the interconnection of all such processes.
44
45 Temperature dependent biological sensitivity varies between species and it is affected by
46 other ocean properties. For example, for pelagic species, analysis of long-term trends in
47 primary production has revealed that a rise in ocean temperatures, leading to enhanced
48 stratification, nutrient limitation and shifts towards small phytoplankton, will have the
49 greatest influence on decreasing the flux of particulate organic carbon (POC) to the deep
481
1 ocean (Boyd and others, 2016; Fu and others, 2016). Reductions in POC flux are predicted at
2 low and mid-latitudes but increases are possible at high latitudes, associated with reduction in
3 sea-ice cover (Sweetman and others, 2017; Yool and others, 2017; FAO, 2018).
4
5 The IPCC Special Report (2018) indicates that ocean ecosystems are already experiencing
6 large-scale changes, and critical thresholds are expected to be reached at 1.5°C and higher
7 levels of global warming. The changes to water temperatures are expected to drive some
8 species (e.g. plankton and fish) to relocate to higher latitudes and cause novel ecosystems to
9 assemble.
10
11 The increase in temperatures directly impacts coastal communities, not only in terms of the
12 effects on coastal marine ecosystems, but also on the ecosystem goods and services they
13 deliver (Worm and others, 2006; Pendleton and others, 2016). These include, for example,
14 the number of viable fisheries, the provision of nursery functions and the filtering services
15 provided by coastal wetlands (Cochard and others, 2008).
16
17 The tourism sector is one of the most important sectors of the global economy, with coastal
18 tourism a significant part of the income derived from the tourism sector. Coastal zones are
19 also affected by ocean warming, including climatic parameters (air temperature, precipitation,
20 wind speed, etc.), underwater parameters (sea surface temperature, invasive species such as
21 jellyfishes, etc.) and coastal hazards (erosion, marine flooding, etc.) (Hilmi and others, 2012).
22
23 Changes in temperature and salinity also have an impact on human well-being (food and
24 health). In respect of food security, fish is one of the most consumed foods in the world and a
25 major contributor to a healthy diet, due to its proteins, acids, vitamins and other elements
26 essential for health (Hilmi and others, 2014). Climate change could decrease seafood
27 availability (Golden and others, 2016) and, in consequence, reduce protein supply to coastal
28 communities in general (Blanchard and others, 2017). This would have an impact, in
29 particular, on communities with a high seafood dependence, particularly indigenous and other
30 coastal communities.
31
32 In respect of human health, an increased prevalence and transmission of diseases is also
33 likely to occur with warmer ocean temperatures. Ocean warming could raise the risk of
34 waterborne diseases, impacting the populations and economies of affected areas. For
35 example, the bacterial pathogen Vibrio cholerae is expected to grow faster (Semenza and
36 others, 2017) due to the increase in ocean temperatures.
37
38 2.4. Pressures from changes in ocean chemistry
39
40 Ocean acidification. Ocean uptake of carbon dioxide emissions is rapidly changing seawater
41 chemistry in a process known as ocean acidification (see Chapter 5). Most coral reefs
42 (shallow and deep) are vulnerable to rising CO2 (Lam and others, 2019) and ocean
43 acidification. Ocean acidification is causing the depth at which seawater is corrosive to
44 carbonate to shoal, threatening deep-water coral reefs worldwide through dissolution and
45 intensified bio-erosion (Gómez and others 2018). Ocean acidification and warming, the rising
46 sea level and more severe storms impact reef resilience on a global scale and augment reef
47 destruction. In the Arctic, the area where surface seawater is corrosive to aragonite is
48 expanding rapidly because these cold waters already have naturally low levels of aragonite
49 (Brodie and others 2014). Acidification can impair the nutritional value of seafood
50 (Lemasson and others, 2019). Between 2005 and 2009, ocean acidification jeopardized a 270
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1 million US dollar, 3,200 jobs per year, shellfish aquaculture industry in Washington State,
2 United States of America. Billions of oysters were dying at hatcheries because seawater had
3 become corrosive to larval shells (Ekstrom and others, 2015). As the partial pressure of
4 carbon dioxide (pCO2) in seawater increases, it causes the carbonate saturation state to fall
5 below levels suitable for globally important reef-forming taxa (Albright and others, 2018).
6
7 Laboratory experiments show that ocean acidification may affect all marine life, for example
8 though changes in gene expression, physiology, reproduction and behaviour (IPCC, 2019).
9 However, it has been difficult to scale up from these experiments to the ecosystem scale
10 (Riebesell and Gattuso, 2015). In the past ten years, work using mesocosms and natural
11 gradients in pCO2 has shown the effects of ocean acidification on ecosystem properties,
12 functions and services.
13
14 Marine CO2 seeps (vents) show responses to moderate increases in pCO2 that retain natural
15 pH variability (Foo and others, 2018). Some groups of organisms do well in these acidified
16 conditions, but many taxa do not (Agostini and others, 2018). Most macroalgae are resilient
17 to levels of ocean acidification projected under the IPCC RCP8.5, yet shifts in algal
18 community composition greatly alter habitats (Brodie and others 2014; Enochs and others,
19 2015). Increased carbon availability stimulates primary production and can increase the
20 standing stock of kelps and seagrasses (Russell and others, 2013; Linares and others, 2015;
21 Cornwall and others, 2017), although microalgae and turf algae dominate acidified waters in
22 exposed conditions (Agostini and others, 2018; Connell and others, 2018).
23
24 There is around a 30 per cent fall in macrofaunal biodiversity as average pH declines from
25 8.1 to 7.8 at CO2 seeps (Agostini and others, 2018; Foo and others, 2018). This is due to
26 direct effects such as increased metabolic costs of coping with hypercapnia, or indirectly as
27 increased susceptibility to predation (Sunday and others, 2017). Many invertebrates build
28 reefs (e.g. corals, oysters, bryozoans) that are easily degraded by ocean acidification due to
29 increased metabolic costs of calcification, chemical dissolution and enhanced bioerosion. In
30 acidified conditions there is a shift to less diverse coastal ecosystems.
31
32 Some corals grow well in seawater with elevated CO2 but the habitats they form lack
33 complexity and the reef is eroded. The dual effects of increased CO2 and decreased carbonate
34 alter trophic interactions. Reductions in the abundance and size of calcareous herbivores
35 contributes to the overgrowth of weedy turf algae and a simplification of food webs, with
36 losses in functional diversity (Vizzini and others, 2017; Teixidó and others, 2018).
37
38 The damage from ocean acidification results in less coastal protection and less habitat for
39 biodiversity and fisheries (Figure 2). Live coral cover on tropical reefs has nearly halved in
40 the past 150 years, the decline accelerating over the past two decades due to increased water
41 temperature and ocean acidification exacerbating other drivers of coral loss. When combined
42 with rising temperatures, sea level rise and increasing extreme climate events, ocean
43 acidification further threatens the goods and services provided by coastal ecosystems. This is
44 particularly important for those people that are heavily reliant on marine resources for
45 protection, nutrition, employment and tourism (Lam and others, 2019).
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1
2 Figure 2. Conceptual diagram depicting the ecosystem properties, functions and services provided on coasts under
3 present-day conditions, and their reduction at pCO2 950 µatm (RCP8.5, year 2100). Observations at CO2 seeps
4 worldwide show that ocean acidification results in reductions in habitat complexity, species richness and habitat
5 coverage. The damage that ocean acidification does to these properties impairs ecosystem function and the goods and
6 services available to society, such as coastal protection, recreation, food and materials (Hall-Spencer and Harvey, 2019).
7
8 Proposed actions to lessen the impacts of ocean acidification include: reduction of pollution
9 and other stressors (to strengthen resilience); seaweed cultivation and seagrass restoration;
10 water treatment, (e.g. for high-value aquaculture); adaptation of human activities such as
11 fishing; and damage repair (Cooley and others, 2016). The societal costs of ocean
12 acidification will likely be greatest in regions that have limited options for alternative
13 employment or nutrition.
14
15 Deoxygenation. Since the middle of the twentieth century, the ocean (including coastal
16 waters such as estuaries and semi-enclosed seas) has lost about 2 per cent, or over 150 billion
17 tons, of its total oxygen content (Schmidtko and others, 2017) and more than 600 coastal
18 water bodies have reported oxygen concentrations less than 2 mg l-1 (Diaz and Rosenberg,
19 2008; Breitburg and others, 2018). Climate change is projected to worsen oxygen decline in
20 many coastal systems where deoxygenation is currently driven primarily by an oversupply of
21 anthropogenic nutrients. This deoxygenation is of great concern because oxygen is
22 fundamental to life in the oceans (Figure 3; Laffoley and Baxter, 2019). It constrains
23 productivity and biodiversity, regulates global cycles of nutrients and carbon, and is required
24 for survival of individual organisms (Breitburg and others, 2018). When oxygen is sufficient,
25 it does not limit or negatively affect physiology, 484ehavior and ecological interactions of
26 organisms dependent on aerobic (oxygen utilizing) respiration. As the oxygen content of
27 water declines, an increasing fraction of production is diverted to microbes (Diaz and
28 Rosenberg, 2008; Wright and others, 2012). Food webs change because of altered encounter
29 rates and species-specific effects of low oxygen on feeding efficiencies of predators and
30 escape behaviours of prey. Energy transfer to tolerant animals such as gelatinous species can
31 increase (Keister and Tuttle, 2013). The roles of vision (McCormick and Levin, 2017) and
32 carnivory (Sperling and others, 2016) can decline within low oxygen areas because these
33 activities are energy intensive. In contrast, predation can intensify above low oxygen zones as
34 visual feeders are forced into shallower waters with higher light levels (Koslow and others,
35 2011).
484
1 Figure 3. Oxygen exerts a strong control over biological and biogeochemical processes in the open ocean and coastal
2 waters. Whether oxygen patterns change over space, as with depth, or over time, as effects of nutrients and warming
3 become more pronounced, biological diversity, biomass, and productivity decline with decreasing levels of oxygen.
4 (Top) Well-oxygenated coral reef with abundant fish and invertebrate assemblages. (Middle) Low oxygen event in
5 Mobile Bay, the United States of America, in which crabs and fish crowd into extreme shallows where oxygen levels are
6 highest. (Bottom) Anoxic mud devoid of macrofauna. Figure modified from Breitburg and others (2018).
7
8 Declining ocean oxygen is expected to negatively affect a wide range of biological and
9 ecological processes. The magnitude of the effects will vary among species and processes,
10 however, and whether the magnitude of responses will be directly proportional to the
11 magnitude of oxygen decline is uncertain. Some effects of oxygen decline are dependent on
12 direct exposure within low oxygen waters, while others involve the movement of organisms
13 and material (nutrients, organic matter, greenhouse gases) among locations that vary in
14 oxygen content, and still other effects are primarily dependent on oxygen levels at particular
15 locations that are critical for a species or life stage. Many responses involve threshold oxygen
16 levels at which biological functions can no longer be maintained.
17
18 Biomass and diversity of eukaryotic organisms tend to decline and species composition
19 changes as oxygen declines (Gallo and Levin, 2016). As low oxygen waters expand, tolerant
20 species can expand their depth range, while ranges of species that are more sensitive contract
21 (Sato and others, 2017). The relative abundance of species within systems reflects variation
22 in species tolerances to low oxygen and other co-stressors (Koslow and others, 2018).
23 Organisms, including crustaceans and fish adapted to low oxygen environments, can reach
24 very high densities in low oxygen areas (Pineda and others, 2016; Gallo and others, 2019).
25 However, in naturally low oxygen habitats like oxygen minimum zones, even very small
26 changes (representing <1% of the oxygen content of well-oxygenated surface waters) can
27 result in exclusion of species that would otherwise be abundant (Wishner and others, 2018).
28
29 Chronic exposure to suboptimal oxygen conditions can reduce growth (Thomas and others,
30 2019) and reproduction (Thomas and others, 2015). Numerical models indicate these chronic
31 effects can lead to population declines over time (Rose and others 2018) even in the absence
32 of direct low oxygen-induced mortality. Increased acquisition or progression of infections
33 and decreased host immune responses resulting from exposure to low oxygen have been
34 reported for a range of vertebrate and invertebrate hosts (Breitburg and others, 2019) and may
485
1 increase transmission of pathogens to humans through consumption of immunosuppressed

2 hosts (Hernroth and Baden, 2018).
3
4 Microbes have evolved and adapted to exploit even the most extreme habitats on earth,
5 including those that contain no oxygen. Biogeochemical cycling of elements by microbes in
6 the absence of oxygen leads to production of greenhouse gases (GHG), including nitrous
7 oxide and methane (Buitenhuis and others, 2018). Expansion of anoxic habitats could,
8 therefore, lead to increased GHG release to the atmosphere, further increasing warming and
9 stratification. This outcome is uncertain, however, because warming and stratification, both
10 of which might increase GHG production, will also affect the rates and distribution of
11 primary production upon which all other biological processes depend (Battaglia and Joos,
12 2018).
13
14 Ocean deoxygenation does not occur in isolation from other human-caused ocean stressors.
15 Elevated ocean temperatures increase oxygen requirements and utilization by microbes
16 dependent on aerobic respiration, as well as by the vast majority of marine animals (Vaquer-
17 Sunyer and Duarte, 2011; Pörtner, 2012), restricting suitable habitat and accelerating the rate
18 of oxygen decline. A 3oC increase in temperature, for example, decreases survival times of
19 benthic invertebrates and demersal fishes exposed to lethal oxygen saturation by about 30 per
20 cent and increases the oxygen threshold leading to high mortality by 20 per cent (Vaquer-
21 Sunyer and Duarte, 2011). Predicted shifts in distribution poleward and into deeper, cooler
22 waters, local extinctions and decreased maximum size of many fish species are attributed, at
23 least in part, to increased oxygen requirements at warmer temperatures (Deutsch and others,
24 2015; Pauly and Cheung, 2018). Combined effects of ocean climate-change stressors,
25 namely, deoxygenation, warming and acidification, may also result in spatial, temporal and
26 evolutionary mismatches between zooplankton and fish larvae that lead to altered larval fish
27 growth and survival, and ultimately negative effects on fisheries (Dam and Baumann, 2017).
28 More generally, the role of oxygen in converting food to energy means that oxygen supply
29 can determine energy available to respond to other stressors (Sokolova, 2013).
30
31 Fisheries catches are often low within oxygen-depleted waters as a result of avoidance
32 behaviour of highly mobile species, as well as mortality and recruitment failure of species
33 that are sessile or have limited mobility (Breitburg and others, 2009; Rose and others, 2019).
34 There is concern that low oxygen areas and their expansion make fish and mobile shellfish
35 more susceptible to overfishing (Craig, 2012; Purcell and others, 2017) by leading to high-
36 density aggregations above and at the edge of low oxygen waters (Craig, 2012; Stramma and
37 others, 2012). For example, spatial shifts in fishing effort have been well-documented in both
38 the brown shrimp fishery in the Gulf of Mexico, and Dungeness crab fishery in Hood Canal,
39 United States of America, whereby the spatial overlap between fishing fleets and target
40 species increases as hypoxia increases on a seasonal basis or among years that vary in the
41 spatial extent of hypoxia (Purcell and others, 2017; Froehlich and others, 2017). Fishing
42 mortality may increase where these refuge locations are targeted and where shallower
43 distributions increase catch rates (Purcell and others, 2017). Low oxygen events have also
44 been an important source of mortality in both finfish and shellfish aquaculture, causing
45 substantial losses to local economies with consequences to both human health and food
46 security (Cayabyab and others, 2002; Rice, 2014).
486
1 3. Capacity building: Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network

2 (GOA-ON) and Global Ocean Oxygen Network (GO2NE)
3
4 United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14) addresses the need to “conserve
5 and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”,
6 including by meeting target 14.3, to “minimize and address the impacts of ocean
7 acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels”.151 Concern
8 about the problem of deoxygenation was also noted in the Our ocean, our future: call for
9 action declaration, the outcome of the United Nations Conference to Support the
10 Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14.152
11
12 The ability to attribute ecosystem impacts to changing ocean chemistry requires continued
13 advances in ocean observation systems. Global initiatives in ocean research such as
14 Biogeochemical Argo, and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-
15 UNESCO) Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) and Global Ocean
16 Oxygen Network (GO2NE) are reducing barriers and building capacity in support of
17 improved global understanding of ocean acidification and deoxygenation. GOA-ON and
18 GO2NE provide access to collaboration and mentoring in support of improving ocean
19 observations of pH and oxygen through training sessions, partnerships and supporting
20 regional hubs creation. Currently, ocean acidification and deoxygenation observation and
21 research efforts are concentrated in a relatively small number of countries, leaving large
22 knowledge and capacity gaps around the world, especially in the southern hemisphere and
23 small island developing States and least developed countries (GOA-ON, 2019). Higher
24 capacity to collect complex data and deliver better observations across the globe means that
25 the predictive power of experiments and ecosystem models may improve as they replicate
26 real world scenarios more effectively to meet SDG 14.
27
28 Marine ecosystem services depend on what basic biotic functions are maintained (Connell
29 and others, 2018), which ecosystem engineers and keystone species are retained (Sunday
30 and others, 2017), and whether the spread of nuisance species is avoided (Hall-Spencer
31 and Allen, 2015). Knowledge gaps for ecosystem responses to changes in ocean chemistry
32 remain large. However, multi-stressor experiments and ecosystem models that incorporate
33 advances in ecophysiology and genomics may better describe the scope of impact and reduce
34 uncertainty about its extent. How deoxygenation is altering microbial pathways and rates of
35 processes within the water column and the deep ocean needs to be better understood
36 (Breitburg and others, 2018). The call by Riebesell and Gattuso (2015) for a shift towards
37 multi-stressor and multispecies experiments to understand more specifically the ecological
38 impacts of ocean acidification on marine communities has been taken up (Munday, 2017).
39 Further advances will result from deepening and broadening the understanding of
40 relationships of ocean acidification and oxygen with other environmental drivers, how
41 ecological process and species interactions change under conditions that matter to them, and
42 how individual variation, plasticity and adaptation in response to ocean chemistry change
43 shape impacts on marine ecosystems. The impacts of ocean acidification and deoxygenation
44 will have less serious consequences for the millions of people who are dependent on coastal
45 protection, fisheries and aquaculture in lower emissions scenarios.
151
See United Nations General Assembly resolution 70/1.
152
See United Nations General Assembly resolution 71/312, annex; see also
https://oceanconference.un.org/callforaction.
487
1 4. Summary
2
3 Marine heatwaves are shown to be increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate
4 change caused by human activities and are having a mostly negative impact on marine
5 ecosystems. Marine heatwaves and their impacts are projected to increase in the future but
6 those increases can be strongly limited by efforts to mitigate climate change. Forecasting
7 systems may be employed in adapting to the effects of marine heatwaves.
8
9 Extreme El Niño and La Niña events have been observed but, because they occur
10 infrequently, a human influence has not been detected. Nevertheless, models indicate an
11 increase in frequency of both phases of the oscillation under future scenarios of global
12 warming. As in the case of marine heatwaves, forecasting systems, which already exist, may
13 be employed in risk management and adaptation.
14
15 While changes in the frequency and spatial distribution of tropical cyclones are hard to detect
16 in the observational record, studies of individual cyclones have shown a human influence on
17 their intensity, in particular, the associated rainfall. Changes in intensity are projected to
18 increase in the future with associated impacts on storm surges and coastal infrastructure.
19
20 Although all coastal cities are already facing increased sea levels, low-lying cities and
21 developing countries lacking the ability to invest in coastal defence measures will suffer
22 damage and losses to a higher degree. Changes in populations across the globe currently
23 suggest that more people will locate to such places, thereby putting more people at risk
24 economically and socially. Although cities are typically centres for innovation and
25 investment, key examples demonstrate the difficulty in solving such complex problems in
26 vulnerable locations.
27
28 The complex interactions between temperature and salinity with nutrients and chemical
29 cycles of the ocean imply that variations in these variables due to climate change and
30 anthropogenic impact thus affect marine ecosystems, population, coastal communities and the
31 related economy. Ocean warming is causing significant damage to marine ecosystems and
32 species are losing their habitats, adapting to new temperatures or looking for new feeding,
33 spawning or nursery areas.
34
35 Ocean acidity and the availability of sufficient oxygen both underpin the provision of marine
36 ecosystems services to human society. We are now, however, observing rapid changes in
37 ocean acidity and falling oxygen levels caused by climate change and anthropogenic
38 CO2 emissions, which is changing marine habitats and ecosystems worldwide. Warming is
39 causing oxygen levels to fall and acidification is rapidly changing the carbonate chemistry of
40 surface ocean waters - together these reduce the growth and survival of many organisms and
41 degrade ecosystem resilience.
42
43 Closing knowledge gaps in ocean science by supporting capacity-building efforts that
44 increase our understanding of how the ocean and its ecosystems are responding to changes in
45 ocean physical and chemical properties is an important pathway to reducing impacts of such
46 changes and achieving Sustainable Development Goal 14.
488
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495
Chapter 10
Changes in Inputs to the Marine Environment of Nutrients
Convenor: Thomas C. Malone; Contributors: Contributors: Archis Ambulker, Maria João
Bebianno (Co-Lead Member), Paula Bontempi, Michael Krom, Harri Kuosa, Joseph
Montoya, Alice Newton, Yapo Ossey, João Sarkis Yunes, Walker Smith, Lars Sonesten,
Georgios Sylaios, C. Taylor Armstrong, Juying Wang (Lead Member), Kedong Yin
1 Keynote points
2
3 • During the course of the twentieth century, inputs of Nitrogen and Phosphorus to
4 coastal ecosystems via river runoff and atmospheric deposition increased due to
5 anthropogenic inputs derived primarily from the use of synthetic fertilizer,
6 combustion of fossil fuels, and municipal wastes.
7 • Ecological responses to increases in anthropogenic nutrient inputs to the coastal ocean
8 include increases the severity and extent of coastal hypoxia, acidification and toxic
9 algal events. The process is a serious threat to the health of coastal ecosystems and
10 their capacity to provide services valued by society.
11 • It is projected that anthropogenic N production will increase by nearly a factor of two
12 during the first half of the twenty-first century. Aggressive actions to reduce
13 anthropogenic inputs of N and P to the coastal ocean will be needed to reduce the
14 extent and risk of coastal eutrophication during the course of the 21st century.
15
16 1. Introduction
17
18 During the twentieth century, anthropogenic production of biologically reactive Nitrogen (N)
19 and Phosphorus (P) increased so rapidly that they now exceed inputs from natural sources
20 (Beusen and others, 2016; Ngatia and others, 2019). Therefore, globally, the coastal ocean is
21 becoming increasingly eutrophic (Nixon, 1995; Diaz and Rosenberg, 2008; Breitburg and
22 others, 2018).
23
24 Since net phytoplankton production (NPP) in coastal ecosystems is primarily limited by the
25 availability of N (Howarth and Marino, 2006; Elser and others, 2007), phytoplankton
26 biomass in the coastal ocean has increased accordingly (Howarth and others, 2011).
27 Combined with additional anthropogenic inputs of organic nutrients from land-based sources,
28 the resulting accumulation of organic matter has led to cultural eutrophication153 of many
29 coastal ecosystems worldwide (Figure 1), a process that is arguably the most serious global
30 threat to the health of coastal ecosystems (Howarth and others, 2000; Bachmann and others,
31 2006). This is of great concern, in part, because on a global scale, ecosystem services (e.g.
32 provision of habitat for biodiversity, oxygen production, fisheries and sequestration of
33 atmospheric CO2) are concentrated in the coastal zone, and coastal eutrophication threatens
34 their capacity to provide these services (Martínez and others, 2007; Costanza and others,
35 2017).
153
Eutrophication driven by anthropogenic inputs of nutrients and organic matter that lead to undesirable
changes in ecosystem health (Smith and others, 2006; Rabalais and others, 2009a, b).
496
1 Our focus here is on anthropogenic inputs of biologically active fixed N (dissolved inorganic
2 nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, urea and free amino acids) and P (PO4-3 as orthophosphate,
3 polyphosphate, and organically bound phosphates) to the coastal ocean as defined by the
4 global network of Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs).154 In this context, the objectives of the
5 present Chapter are to: (1) document changes in anthropogenic inputs of these nutrients
6 (inorganic and organic) to coastal marine ecosystems; (2) assess the impacts of cultural
7 eutrophication on coastal ecosystems; (3) project how these changes will likely impact the
8 capacity of coastal ecosystem to support ecosystem services during the course of this century
9 in the context of global climate change; and (4) identify gaps in current knowledge.
10 Figure 1. Global distribution of eutrophic coastal marine ecosystems (Breitburg and others, 2018). Recent
11 coastal surveys of the United States and Europe found that a staggering 78 per cent of the assessed continental
12 United States coastal area and approximately 65 per cent of Europe’s Atlantic coast exhibit symptoms of
13 eutrophication.
14
15 The information presented herein is relevant to a number of Chapters in the present
16 Assessment (Chapters 4–9, 11–15, 25, and 31). Chapter 5, on trends in the physical and
17 chemical state of the ocean, and Chapter 6A, on plankton, as related to trends in the
18 biodiversity of main taxa of marine biota, are of particular relevance. The former is addressed
19 here to the extent that changes in nutrient inputs and eutrophication are related trends in
20 physical and chemical environment conditions (emphasis on climate-driven changes). With
21 respect to Chapter 6A, changes in phytoplankton production and diversity are clearly relevant
22 to the problem of coastal eutrophication.
23
24 2. The First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I)
25
26 Chapter 20 of WOA I (United Nations, 2017) reviewed coastal, riverine and airborne inputs
27 of contaminants from land-based sources, with an emphasis on hazardous substances,
154
The global network of large marine ecosystems (LMEs) includes coastal watersheds and the coastal ocean
(estuaries and the open waters of the continental shelves (available at http://lme.edc.uri.edu/). LMEs vary in size
from ~ 200,000 km-2 to > 1,000,000 km-2 and encompass areas of the coastal ocean where primary productivity
is generally higher than in the open ocean.
497
1 endocrine disruptors, nutrients and waterborne pathogens, and radioactive substances. Our
2 focus here is on aspects related to anthropogenic nutrient (inorganic and organic) inputs to the
3 ocean in general and coastal ecosystems in particular. In addition to the global view
4 summarized below, Chapter 20 also included a summary of inputs and impacts of nutrients
5 on different regions of the global ocean (Arctic Ocean and regions of the Atlantic, Indian and
6 Pacific Oceans).
7
8 Major sources of anthropogenic nutrients include municipal wastewater, fertilizers used for
9 agriculture, combustion of fossil fuels, and food-related industries. Major transport routes to
10 the ocean from these land-based sources include river runoff and atmospheric deposition.
11 Controlling nutrient inputs from municipal wastes remains a challenge in the developing
12 world. In regard to agriculture, the use of fertilizers has grown rapidly in recent decades,
13 resulting in a 42 per cent increase between 2002 and 2012 globally. However, fertilizer use in
14 Latin America, southern Asia, eastern Asia and Oceania has more than doubled during the
15 same period. Airborne inputs of nitrogen from the combustion of fossil fuels have also
16 increased. In north-western Europe, over 25 per cent of nitrogen emissions to the atmosphere
17 are from these sources. The precise consequences of excess nutrient loading depend on local
18 environmental conditions, including the rate at which semi-enclosed bodies of water are
19 flushed by currents and the strength of density stratification of the water column.
20
21 Land-based inputs of nutrients are not, in themselves, harmful but can cause problems when
22 they are excessive. Inputs of anthropogenic nitrogen and phosphorus, which have more than
23 doubled in the last century, have impacted the health of marine ecosystems worldwide.
24 Increased inputs stimulate the growth of phytoplankton resulting in excessive net
25 phytoplankton production which often leads to accumulations of phytoplankton biomass and
26 eutrophication. This has led to the development of oxygen-depleted “dead zones”, loss of sea
27 grass beds and increased occurrence of toxic phytoplankton blooms. The number of low-
28 oxygen zones in coastal waters has increased exponentially to over 400 systems since the
29 1960s and has reached an area of about 245,000 km2 worldwide.
30
31 3. Global-scale patterns and trends
32
33 3.1. Anthropogenic inputs of biologically reactive nitrogen (N) and
34 phosphorus (P)
35
36 3.1.1. Sources
37
38 During the twentieth century, the global supply of biologically reactive N and P doubled due
39 to anthropogenic activities (Beusen and others, 2016; Seitzinger and Mayorga, 2016). Over
40 half of new N and P loads to most coastal ecosystems (73 per cent of LMEs) are related to
41 anthropogenic sources, current inputs of which have been estimated to be in the range of 210-
42 223 x 109 kg N yr-1 (Lee and others, 2016) and ~34 x 109 kg P yr-1 (Harrison and others, 2005).
43 Inputs of these nutrients to LMEs are derived from agricultural practices,155 combustion of
44 fossil fuels and municipal wastes (Galloway and others, 2004; Howarth, 2008) as follows:
155
Agricultural practices include the use of synthetic fertilizers, animal husbandry, and the culture of legumes
(biological N2-fixation).
498
1 • The single largest source of anthropogenic N and P is synthetic fertilizers156 (Vitousek

2 and others 1997; Mosier and others, 2004). The amount of synthetic fertilizer used for
3 agriculture has grown exponentially from near zero in 1910 to ~118 x 109 kg N yr-1 and
4 17.5 x109 kg P yr-1 in 2013 (Penuelas and others, 2013; Lu and Tian, 2017). Hotspots of
5 fertilizer use shifted from the United States of America and Western Europe in the 1960s
6 to eastern Asia in the early twenty-first century. In 2013, East Asia, South Asia and
7 Southeast Asia accounted for 71 per cent of global fertilizer use, followed by North
8 America (11 per cent), Europe (7 per cent), and South America (6 per cent) (Lu and Tian,
9 2017). Of the N loading, volatilization of ammonia from agricultural fields emits an
10 estimated 10 x 109 kg N yr-1into the atmosphere (Vitousek and others, 1997; Bouwman
12 • Livestock production of manure has increased rapidly over the last century. Current loads
13 of manure N and P are estimated to be ~ 18 x 109 kg N yr−1 and ~ 2.5 x 109 kg P yr-1, with
14 hotspots in Western Europe, India, north-eastern China and south-eastern Australia
15 (Penuelas and others, 2013; Zhang and others, 2017).
16 • It is estimated that nutrients released into the coastal ocean annually by finfish
17 aquaculture operations worldwide increased from ~ 0.43 x 109 kg N and 0.07 x 109 kg P
18 in 1985 to 2.60 x 109 kg N and 0.43 x 109 kg P in 2005 (Hargrave, 2005).
19 • As large areas of natural vegetation have been replaced with monocultures of legumes
20 that support symbiotic N2-fixing bacteria, anthropogenic input from biological N2-fixation
21 to coastal watersheds is estimated to be 33 x 109 kg yr-1 (Boyer and Howarth, 2008).
22 • Combustion of fossil fuels releases fixed N from long-term storage in geological
23 formations back into the atmosphere in the form of nitric oxides (NOX). Altogether,
24 emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants, automobiles, and other combustion
25 processes release an estimated 25-40 x 109 kg N yr-1 (Penuelas and others, 2013). The
26 global distribution of NOX emissions is not uniform with Asia, Europe, North America
27 and Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 30, 20, 17 and 12 per cent of emissions,
28 respectively (Lamsal and others, 2011).
29 • Globally, 80 per cent of municipal wastewater is released into the environment untreated
30 (WWAP, 2017). Thus, the most prevalent urban source of nutrient pollution is human
31 sewage, which is estimated to have released ~ 9 x109 kg N yr-1 and ~ 1.4 x 109 kg P yr-1
32 into the environment in 2018 (extrapolated from Van Drecht and others, 2009). The
33 percentage of treated sewage varies regionally from 90 per cent in North America, 66 per
34 cent in Europe, 35 per cent in Asia and 14 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean,
35 to < 1 per cent in Africa (Selman and others, 2010).
36
37 Nonpoint (diffuse) source inputs (1-5 above > 200 x 109 kg N yr-1) far exceed point source
38 inputs from wastewater (6 above < 10 x109 kg N yr-1) and are more difficult to control.
39 Ultimately, most of these inputs are transported to the coastal ocean via river runoff and
40 atmospheric deposition (Howarth, 2008; Spokes and Jickells, 2005; Jickells and others,
41 2017).157 Both transport pathways are major routes of input for N while atmospheric
42 deposition of reactive P is negligible relative to riverine inputs. Thus, climate-driven
43 acceleration of the global water cycle and associated increases in the magnitude and
44 frequency of major rainfall events (Sinha and others, 2017) will accelerate nutrient inputs
156
Synthetic fertilizers include ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphate, and superphosphate.
157
Ground water discharge accounts for < 4 percent of nutrient inputs to coastal waters globally. (Beusen and
others, 2013). Given this, and challenges of quantifying ground water inputs on regional to global scales (NRC,
2004), this pathway is not considered here.
499
1 from diffuse sources (e.g. agriculture) to coastal waters (Howarth and others, 2012). In this
2 context, it should be noted that reductions in N and P loads have come primarily via
3 advanced wastewater treatment in developed countries, while efforts to reduce diffuse inputs
4 from agricultural sources have, for the most part, been unsuccessful (Boesch, 2019).
5
6 3.1.2. Transport of anthropogenic nutrients to the coastal ocean
7
8 Anthropogenic inputs to the coastal ocean via river runoff are driven by anthropogenic
9 supplies to coastal watersheds, wet precipitation within watersheds and riverine transport
10 from watersheds (Howarth and others, 1996; Green and others, 2004). Globally, there is a
11 significant linear correlation between net anthropogenic N supplies to coastal watersheds and
12 total river-borne nitrogen export to the coastal ocean (Boyer and Howarth, 2008). During the
13 twentieth century, total riverine inputs of N and P to the coastal ocean increased from ~ 27 x
14 109 kg N yr-1 to ~ 48 x 109 kg N yr-1 and from ~ 2 x 109 kg P yr-1 to ~ 4 x 109 kg P yr-1
15 (Galloway and others, 2004; Beusen and others, 2016). Boyer and Howarth (2008) estimated
16 riverine inputs of N to the ocean basins as follows: Atlantic (primarily from eastern North
17 America and western Europe) 15-25 x 109 kg N yr-1; Pacific (primarily from East Asia) 10-14
18 x 109 kg N yr-1; Indian 7-8 x 109 kg N yr-1; and Arctic 2-4 x 109 kg N yr-1.
19
20 Atmospheric N compounds are derived from both agricultural sources (volatilization of
21 ammonia) and fossil fuels (emission of NOx). In contrast to river-borne nutrient loading, N
22 inputs delivered via atmospheric deposition are driven by anthropogenic supplies to and
23 emissions from coastal airsheds (which are generally much larger than watersheds),
24 atmospheric transport from airsheds and wet precipitation directly over the coastal ocean
25 (Valigura and others, 2001). As for river-borne N inputs, atmospheric deposition of N to the
26 global ocean increased rapidly during the twentieth century from a pre-industrial rate of ~ 22
27 x 109 kg N yr-1 to > 45 x 109 kg N yr-1 today (Dentener and others, 2006; Duce and others,
28 2008). Of this, it is estimated that atmospheric deposition to the coastal ocean is currently in
29 the order of 8 x 109 kg N yr-1 and 0.4 x 109 kg P yr-1 (Seitzinger and others, 2010; Ngatia and
30 others, 2019). Direct atmospheric deposition to coastal ecosystems can equal, or exceed,
31 river-borne inputs in some locations (Paerl and others, 2002; Spokes and Jickells, 2005).
32 However, on regional and global scales, atmospheric deposition of N accounts for 10–17 per
33 cent of anthropogenic inputs to the coastal ocean.
34
35 3.2. Documented impacts of anthropogenic nutrient inputs
36
37 3.2.1. Oxygen depletion and acidification
38
39 Since 1950, the number of coastal ecosystems experiencing hypoxia (dissolved O2 ≤ 2 mg
40 litre−1 or 63 mmol litre−1) has increased from ~ 50 in 1950 to > 500 in 2015 as a consequence
41 of anthropogenic nutrient loading and ocean warming (Diaz and Rosenberg, 2008; Kemp and
42 others, 2009; Breitburg and others, 2018). In 2019, a further estimate suggested that the
43 number was even higher, around 700 (Diaz and others, 2019).The spread of coastal hypoxia
44 has not only resulted in the loss of oxygenated habitats for aerobic organisms, it threatens the
45 survival of coral reefs (Fabricius, 2011; Altieri and others, 2019). In addition, the global
46 spread of hypoxia is amplifying ocean acidification as increases in biological oxygen demand
47 associated with eutrophication produces CO2 as a by-product of aerobic respiration (Wallace
500
1 3.2.2. Toxic algal events

2
3 The production of toxins can cause mass mortalities of fish and shellfish and cause harm to
4 the health of people who consume contaminated fish and shellfish or are exposed to toxins
5 via direct contact (Glibert and others, 2005). Globally, there have been more toxic algal
6 events in coastal waters during the past decade than in previous decades (Heisler and others,
7 2008) as a consequence of anthropogenic nutrient inputs and changing N:P ratios (Glibert and
8 Bouwman, 2012; Glibert and others, 2018), introductions of non-native toxic species and
9 climate-driven ocean acidification (Riebesell and others, 2018) and increases in water
10 temperature and vertical stratification of the water column (Glibert and others, 2014).
11
12 3.2.3. Loss of critical, biologically structured habitats
13
14 Coral reefs and seagrass meadows support a wide range of ecosystem services, including
15 coastal protection, erosion control and the maintenance of biodiversity and fisheries (Barbier
16 and others, 2011). At the same time, warm water coral reefs and seagrass meadows are
17 threatened by multiple anthropogenic stresses (e.g. ocean warming and acidification,
18 eutrophication, overfishing and destructive fishing practices). Ocean warming has been
19 impacting coral reefs for more than three decades through the bleaching and mortality of
20 corals due to heat stress (Heron and others, 2017), and the risk of bleaching has increased
21 globally at a rate of 4 per cent per year, with 8 per cent of reefs being affected by bleaching
22 per year in the 1980s and 31 per cent affected in 2016 (Hughes and others 2018), a trend that
23 is expected to be exacerbated by coastal eutrophication (Wear and Thurber, 2015). The
24 biomass of seagrass beds has been shown to be negatively impacted by increases in nutrient
25 loading and water temperature, while growth rate is impacted primarily by nutrient loading
26 (Waycott and others, 2009; Mvungi and Pillay, 2019). Thus, seagrass meadows have declined
27 in area by about 29 per cent since the beginning of the twentieth century at an annual rate of
28 about 1.5 per cent (Fourqurean and others, 2012).
29
30 3.2.4. The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt
31
32 Pelagic sargassum is abundant in the Sargasso Sea, but a band began developing in the
33 equatorial Atlantic between the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa in 2011. By 2018, this
34 floating biomass of seaweed had become the largest seaweed bloom in the world (20 million
35 tonnes) as it extended 8,850 km across the Atlantic (Wang and others, 2019). Nutrient inputs
36 fuelling the bloom are believed to have come from the Amazon River (Coles and others,
37 2013) and coastal upwelling off West Africa (Wang and others, 2019).
38
39 4. Patterns and trends within regions
40
41 Many LMEs are currently hotspots of anthropogenic nutrient loading in both developed and
42 developing countries. In order to provide regional and global perspectives on changing
43 nutrient inputs to coastal systems throughout the world, an international workgroup158
44 developed a global watershed model that relates human activities and natural processes in
45 watersheds to nutrient inputs to coastal systems globally (Seitzinger and others, 2005; Lee
46 and others, 2016). Based on the contribution of anthropogenic sources of dissolved inorganic
158
Available at http://www.marine.rutgers.edu/globalnews
501
1 N to the total dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) load to LMEs (Lee and others, 2016), nine
2 LMEs are highlighted below that represent coastal ecosystems in both northern and southern
3 hemispheres as well as a range of anthropogenic contributions (30 per cent to 100 per cent)
4 and spatial extent (400,000 – 6,000,000 km2).
5
6 4.1. North Sea (LME 22, 100 per cent; 690,000 km2)
7
8 The North Sea consists of two subregions: shallow, eutrophic coastal waters along the
9 southeast boarder of the Sea and deeper, oligotrophic waters of the open Sea. Nutrient
10 budgets of the latter are dominated by exchanges with the northeast Atlantic Ocean. In
11 contrast, fluxes to coastal waters during the eutrophication period (1965–1985) were
12 dominated by inputs from benthic sediments (49 per cent), followed by exchange with the
13 open sea (21 per cent), and anthropogenic inputs (19 per cent) (Vermaat and others, 2008).
14
15 River-borne inputs of N and P to the coastal subregion account for most anthropogenic
16 loading, 75 per cent of which occurs via the Rhine and Elbe Rivers to continental coastal
17 waters of the southeast North Sea (Radach and Pätsch, 2007; Paramor and others, 2009). The
18 discharge of N and P to these coastal waters increased rapidly during 1965–1985 as
19 illustrated by the Rhine River where N and P increased fivefold and tenfold, respectively. As
20 a result, the frequency and magnitude of blooms of Phaeocystis pouchetii159 increased during
21 this period (Lancelot and others, 1987; Lancelot, 1995). While summer hypoxia (< 2 mg O2
22 litre-1) occurs in some locations, this is limited to parts of the stratified open sea (Greenwood
23 and others, 2010). From 1990 to 2000, the P load decreased to the pre-eutrophication levels
24 of the 1950s (Vermaat and others, 2008). The anthropogenic portion of the annual nutrient
25 budget of the coastal North Sea is currently declining and is less than the contribution from
26 the sediment or the open sea.
27
28 4.2. Baltic Sea (LME 23, 90 per cent; 400,000 km2)
29
30 By virtue of its bathymetry and circulation regime, the Baltic Sea is particularly vulnerable to
31 nutrient pollution. Thus, the Baltic is host to the largest anthropogenically induced hypoxic
32 zone in the world (Carstensen and others, 2014). The change from a healthy state without
33 eutrophication problems began in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Following introduction of
34 the first nutrient abatement measures, recovery began in some basins in the late 1990s, whilst
35 in others it commenced at the beginning of the twenty-first century (Murray and others,
36 2019).
37
38 Riverine inputs of N and P account for most inputs to the Baltic Sea from 1995–2015
39 (Sonesten and others, 2018). Inputs of N and P were generally higher during 1995–2002 (650
40 – 900 x 106 kg N yr-1 and 33 – 43 x 106 kg P yr-1) compared to 2003–2015 (500 – 775 x 106
41 kg N yr-1 and (22 – 35 x 106 kg P yr-1). Natural background loads of N and P made up ~33 per
42 cent of these inputs during the latter period (Sonesten and others, 2018). Atmospheric
43 deposition also declined during this period from ~300 x 106 kg N yr-1 in 1995 to 210 x 106 kg
44 N yr-1 in 2011. Low inputs during 2003–2015 were due, in part, to dry periods with low river
45 flows (2003, 2014, 2015).
159
Phaeocystis can produce large amounts of foam (which often impacts coastlines and beaches) and can also
produce dimethylsulphide (DMS), an aerosol that contributes to cloud formation and acid rain.
502
1 Over roughly the same period (1993–2016), the spatial extent of hypoxia-anoxia increased
2 from ~5,000 km-2 (1.3 per cent of the Baltic) to > 60,000 km-2 (> 16 per cent of the Baltic)
3 (Limburg and Casini, 2018), in part because reoxygenation episodes have been less frequent
4 and of shorter duration during the past two decades (Carstensen and others, 2014; Schmale
5 and others, 2016). Consequently, as warming continues, Baltic hypoxia is likely to continue
6 and intensify, with increased areas of hypoxic, anoxic and sulfidic waters (Cloern and others,
7 2016).
8
9 Seasonal hypoxia not only impacts aerobic benthic life, it may also promote development of
10 more blooms of cyanobacteria. Massive surface accumulations of nitrogen fixing
11 cyanobacteria (largely Nodularia spp.) during summer have intensified since 1982, a trend
12 that is correlated with increases in the spatial extent of hypoxia and anthropogenic P loading
13 (Pliński and others, 2007; Funkey and others, 2014). The enhanced downward flux of
14 degradable organic matter from these blooms elevate oxygen demand and the regeneration of
15 P in bottom waters, creating a positive feedback between anthropogenic nutrient enrichment,
16 cyanobacteria blooms and oxygen depletion. In addition, some species produce toxins that
17 impact recreation and fisheries. Thus, although ocean warming and shifts in circulation
18 patterns are important factors modulating the extent of hypoxia, further nutrient reductions in
19 the Baltic Sea will be necessary to reduce the ecosystems impacts of deoxygenation.
20
21 Abatement of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea has received more concerted effort and
22 sustained research than any other coastal region in the world (Boesch, 2019). Since the mid-
23 1990s, statistically significant reductions in anthropogenic loads of N and P have been
24 achieved (HELCOM, 2018; Sonesten and others 2018). Relative to the reference period
25 (1997–2003), flow-normalized riverine inputs of N and P have declined by 12 per cent and 25
26 per cent, respectively, and, compared to 1995, precipitation-normalized atmospheric
27 deposition of N declined by 29 per cent. However, given the maximum allowable inputs
28 specified in the Baltic Sea Action Plan,160 inputs of N and P need to be reduced by 12 per
29 cent and 25per cent, respectively, to ensure a healthy Baltic Sea.
30
31 4.3. Gulf of Mexico (LME 5, 90 per cent; 1,530,400 km2)
32
33 Impacts of anthropogenic nutrient loading are greatest in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Inter-
34 annual variations in nutrient loading are directly related to variations in the flow of the
35 Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers (Rabalais and others 2007). During 1980–2017, annual
36 DIN inputs fluctuated around 1,000 x 106 kg yr-1 with a minimum of ~ 600 x 106 kg yr-1 in
37 2000 and a maximum of ~ 1,800 x 106 kg yr-1 in 1993.161 As a consequence, during the
38 summer, the northern Gulf has the second largest coastal hypoxic zone in the world, the
39 spatial extent of which has varied between < 5,000 km2 in 2000 to 22,720 km2 in 2017, with a
40 mean of 13,700 km2 (Rabalais and others, 2007).
41
42 In addition to bottom water hypoxia, increases in nutrient loading appears to be promoting
43 toxic phytoplankton blooms. The abundance of Pseudo-nitzschia spp. has increased over the
44 shelf since the 1950s, a trend that may be related to the long-term increase in nutrient loading
45 (Dortch and others, 1997; Parsons and others, 2002). Seasonal blooms develop when surface
160
Available at
http://www.helcom.fi/Documents/Balticpercent20seapercent20actionpercent20plan/BSAP_Final.pdf
161
Available at https://nrtwq.usgs.gov/mississippi_loads/#/GULF
503
1 waters begin to warm in spring and river discharge is increasing, but before seasonal peaks in
2 flow and phytoplankton biomass occur (Bargu and others, 2016). Peaks in the abundance of
3 potentially toxin-producing dinoflagellates (Dinophysis spp. and Prorocentrum spp.) have
4 been observed to coincide with the seasonal peak in river flow (Bargu and others, 2016).
5
6 4.4. North Brazil Shelf (LME 17, 30 per cent; 1,034,600 km2)
7
8 With mean freshwater discharge of 120,000 m3 s-1 (seasonal maximum ~ 240,000 m3 s-1 in
9 May, and minimum 80,000 m3 s-1 in November), the Amazon River forms an extensive and
10 dynamic surface plume of low salinity, relatively nutrient-rich water that extends well
11 offshore over the northern Brazil shelf. The river is the primary source of silicate (83–91 per
12 cent), nitrate (62–76 per cent), and phosphate (48–65 per cent) to this LME (Demaster and
13 Pope, 1996). The annual supply of river-borne N (mean ~ 1,050 x 106 kg N yr-1) supports a
14 eutrophic ecosystem (730 g C m−2 yr−1) in the mesohaline (salinity 30-35) waters of the
15 coastal plume (Dagg and others, 2004; Santos and others, 2008; Coles and others, 2013).
16
17 Phytoplankton production is nitrate limited, and extensive blooms of diatom-diazotroph
18 associations162 have been observed in the mesohaline plume during both spring and autumn
19 (Gomes and others, 2018). Given the spread of plume water into the Caribbean and equatorial
20 Atlantic (Coles and others, 2013), these blooms may be a significant source of new N to
21 support primary production and the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (Wang and others, 2019)
22 in nutrient‐poor, tropical waters (Subramaniam and others, 2008; Yeung and others, 2012).
23
24 4.5. Guinea Current (LME 28, 40 per cent; 1,958,800 km2)
25
26 Lying within the Guinea Current LME (Heileman, 2008), the Gulf of Guinea receives
27 freshwater discharges from 15 rivers, including the Congo (the second largest river on Earth)
28 with an annual mean discharge of ~ 40,000 m3 s−1 (Hopkins and others, 2013). It is also the
29 world’s second largest exporter of terrestrial organic carbon into the oceans (Spencer and
30 others, 2012). The outflow of such a large volume of water into the southeast Atlantic
31 produces a vast low salinity plume with a signature of high chlorophyll that can be detected
32 as far as 700–800 km to the west and north from the river’s mouth (Hopkins and others,
33 2013).
34
35 Most of the coastal cities bordering the Gulf lack basic infrastructure for sewage treatment,
36 and substantial quantities of N and P from municipal and agricultural sources are transported
37 to the Gulf via river runoff.163 The current anthropogenic river-borne N loading is estimated
38 to be between 600 and 1,000 x 106 kg yr-1, which places the region in the high-risk category
39 for eutrophication (Seitzinger and Mayorga, 2016).
40
41 Consequently, the Gulf is characterized by high phytoplankton NPP (356 - 438 g C m-2 yr-1,
42 2003–2013) supported by nutrient input from both river runoff and coastal upwelling.164
43 Nutrient pollution in coastal lagoon systems, particularly near urban centres, has caused
44 increases in phytoplankton biomass and oxygen depletion, resulting in decreases in fisheries
162
The diatoms Hemiaulus hauckii and Rhizosolenia clevei containing the symbiotic cyanobacteria Richelia sp.
formed ~28 per cent of the biomass in mesohaline waters of the plume.
163
Available at https://some.grida.no/media/23569/state-of-the-coastal-and-marine-ecosystems-in-gclme.pdf.
164
Available at http://onesharedocean.org/public_store/lmes_factsheets/factsheet_28_Guinea_Current.pdf.
504
1 and increases in waterborne diseases (Scheren and others, 2002). In addition, while the
2 phytoplankton community of coastal waters beyond the lagoons has been shown to be
3 dominated by diatoms and cyanobacteria, potentially toxic dinoflagellate species (Dinophysis
4 caudata, Lingulodinium polyedrum and Prorocentrum spp.) have been detected (Zendong
6
7 4.6. Bay of Bengal (LME 34, 90 per cent; 3,657,500 km2)
8
9 Freshwater inputs to the Bay of Bengal are high as a consequence of monsoonal rainfall and
10 river runoff (Yaremchuk and others, 2005). Five of the world’s 50 largest rivers flow into the
11 Bay (Sengupta and others, 2006). Salinity is lowest in the northern Bay, off the Ganges-
12 Brahmaputra River delta and off the Irrawaddy River delta in the in the Gulf of Martaban,
13 especially during the June–October monsoon season (Akhil and others, 2016). Rivers
14 exported 35–45 per cent more N and P to the Bay of Bengal in 2000 than in 1970, largely as a
15 consequence of increases in fertilizer use (Sattar and others, 2014). In 2000, rivers exported
16 7,100 x 106 kg N yr-1 and 1,500 x 106 kg P yr-1 to the Bay. Three rivers (Ganges, Godavari
17 and Irrawaddy) account for 75–80 per cent of the total river input of N and P (Pedde and
18 others, 2017). Atmospheric deposition has been estimated to be in the range of 100 – 3,100 x
19 106 kg N yr-1, with most estimates near the upper end of the range (Srinivas and Sarin, 2013).
20 Thus, atmospheric deposition may be a major source of N in addition to riverine inputs.
21 Ratios of N and P to silicon (Si) have also been increasing, indicating an increasing risk for
22 blooms of non-diatom species that may produce toxins and otherwise disrupt coastal
23 ecosystems (Pedde and others, 2017).
24
25 A strong halocline limits nutrient enrichment from deep water so the central Bay is
26 oligotrophic (Kay and others, 2018). Coastal waters are much more productive165 (> 300 g C
27 m-2 yr-1) as a consequence of riverine N and P inputs. Hotspots of coastal eutrophication
28 occur off the Ganges-Brahmaputra River delta (Bangladesh) of the northern Bay and in the
29 Gulf of Martaban off the Irrawaddy River delta (Myanmar) of the eastern Bay (Kay and
30 others, 2018; Monolisha and others, 2018). Phytoplankton biomass from these fertile areas
31 that is not consumed in the euphotic zone sinks and decays at depth (150–600 m), leading to
32 one of the largest hypoxic zones (60,000 km2) in the global ocean (Bristow and others, 2017;
33 Kay and others, 2018). In addition, potentially toxic species have been observed along the
34 east coast of India (Mohanty and others, 2007; Sahu and others, 2014).
35
36 4.7. South China Sea (LME 36, 80 per cent; 5,661,000 km2)
37
38 The South China Sea as a whole is considered to be moderately productive166 (150-300 g C
39 m2 yr-1) but has the “highest” risk of eutrophication (Seitzinger and Mayorga, 2016). Riverine
40 inputs of freshwater and nutrients to coastal waters of the Sea are dominated by the rivers that
41 flow into the Pearl River estuary (Harrison and others 2008; Chen and others, 2009). During
42 the wet season (April–September) when 80 per cent of river discharge occurs (Yin and
43 others, 2001), the two-layered estuarine circulation extends onto the inner shelf as the
44 surface, nutrient-rich plume is transported along the coast and spreads at least 250 km into the
45 interior of the Sea (Jilan, 2004; Chen and others, 2017).
165
Available at http://lme.edc.uri.edu/LME/images/Content/LME_Briefs/lme_34.pdf.
166
Available at http://lme.edc.uri.edu/images/Content/LME_Briefs/lme_36.pdf.
505
1 In the late 1970s, the fertile river delta to the north of Hong Kong’s territory was primarily
2 used for agriculture. Since then, the Pearl River Delta has been transformed from farmland
3 into a large megalopolis. As a consequence, dissolved N and P inputs via the Pearl River
4 Delta increased by a factor of 2–5 during the 1980s and 1990s, largely due to increases in
5 urban waste discharges and nutrients released from aquaculture operations (Yin and Harrison,
6 2008). Inputs plateaued during 2006–2012 when concentrations remained in the range of
7 500-1,000 x 106 kg N yr-1 and 20-40 x 106 kg P yr-1 with no inter-annual trend (Tong and
8 others, 2015). Although atmospheric deposition of N over the South China Sea as a whole is
9 estimated to be nearly an order of magnitude higher (~ 9,200 x 106 kg N yr-1) than the
10 riverine input (Luo and others, 2014), deposition is dispersed over the entire Sea with little
11 impact on coastal eutrophication relative to river-borne inputs.
12
13 Overall, the impact of anthropogenic nutrient loading appears to be limited to the coastal
14 margins of the Sea (Sun, 2017) with hotspots of seasonal hypoxia and toxic algal events
15 located in the vicinity of major river deltas with substantial urban development (UNEP and
16 others, 2005; Qian and others, 2018). The areas with the most severe eutrophication are
17 associated with estuaries of the main rivers. Among the most severely impacted is the lower
18 Pearl River estuary which has experienced annual summer hypoxia in bottom waters. Oxygen
19 depletion in bottom waters of the lower Pear River estuary has occurred every summer for at
20 least the last 25 years (Qian and others, 2018). During this period, the annual minimum
21 dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in bottom water decreased at a rate of ~2 ± 0.9 mmol
22 litre-1 yr-1 as a consequence of DIN loading which increased as a rate of ~1.4 ± 0.3 mmol N
23 litre-1 yr-1 (Qian and others, 2018).
24
25 The frequency of toxic algal events in Chinese coastal waters increased from no reports
26 during the 1950s and 60s, to 10 in the 1970s, 25 in the 1980s and > 100 in the 1990s (Yan
27 and others, 2002). From 1980–2003, the area affected expanded to include estuaries of the
28 Pearl River, Manila Bay, and the Masinloc River Bay (Wang and others, 2008). Toxic species
29 include potentially toxic Noctiluca scintillans (Pearl River estuary) and Pyrodinium
30 bahamense (Philippine estuaries). N. scintillans has also been associated with hypoxia and
31 the clogging of fish gills, and may act as a vector of algal toxins to higher trophic levels
32 (Escalera and others, 2007; Turkoglu, 2013).
33
34 4.8. Great Barrier Reef (LME 40, 60 per cent; 1,300,000 km2)
35
36 River-borne inputs of dissolved inorganic P (P-PO4) have promoted the growth of
37 Trichodesmium spp. and increases in phytoplankton biomass to levels that are comparable to
38 those that are considered to be eutrophic in some regions of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)
39 lagoon (Bell, 1992). The nitrogen-fixing ability of Trichodesmium suggests that increasing
40 levels of P-PO4 alone may be driving increases in phytoplankton biomass, and there is
41 evidence that these trends are a significant factor in the demise of fringing reefs in the inner
42 GBR lagoon. The record levels of nanophytoplankton growth in river-affected regions of the
43 lagoon appear to be promoting the growth of Acanthaster planci (crown-of-thorns starfish)
44 larvae and crown-of-thorns outbreaks (Bell, 1992). Long-term monitoring now shows that
45 hard coral cover on the GBR has decreased by more than 70 per cent over the past century
46 (Bell and others, 2014). The decline has been attributed mainly to storm damage, coral
47 bleaching events, the widespread growth of A. planci and coral skeletal diseases. However,
48 there is growing evidence that A. planci predation events and coral bleaching are promoted
49 by eutrophication and that this is the main reason why the reefs have not recovered (Bell and
50 others, 2014).
506
1 4.9. East China Sea167 (LME 47, 100 per cent; 1,008,100 km2)
2
3 The East China Sea is considered to be a highly productive system (> 300 g C m-2 yr-1) and is
4 in the “highest” risk category for eutrophication (Seitzinger and Mayorga, 2016). The flow of
5 the Changjiang (Yangtze) River (annual mean = 30,200 m3 s-1) accounts for > 90 per cent of
6 nutrient inputs to the Sea (Yuan and others, 2007; Tong and others, 2015). From 1968 to
7 1997, it is estimated that the anthropogenic nutrient load (e.g. nitrates) exported from the
8 Changjiang River into the Sea increased more than tenfold (Yan and others, 2003). A
9 comparison of nutrient concentrations in the Yangtze River Estuary and the receiving waters
10 of the Sea before (2002) and after (2006) impoundment of the Three Gorges Dam (Chai and
11 others, 2009) showed increases in the concentrations of total N (41.8 to 82.2 µM), dissolved
12 inorganic N (24.4 to 37.5 µM) and soluble reactive P (0.9 to 1.3 µM), and from 2006–2012,
13 total N load increased from 1,350 x 106 kg yr-1 to 2,040 x 106 kg yr-1, while total P load
14 increased from 122 x 106 kg yr-1 to 240 x 106 kg yr-1 (Tong and others, 2015). Atmospheric
15 deposition of N was estimated to be ~ 1,750 x 106 kg yr-1 which is in the range of riverine
16 inputs during this period (Tong and others, 2015).
17
18 While the atmospheric input is generally distributed over the entire East China Sea, during
19 the summer monsoons, the impact of river-borne nutrients targets coastal waters. Thus, the
20 concentration of sea surface chlorophyll-a in the Sea is highest nearshore within the plume (>
21 10 mg m-3) and decreases rapidly with distance to low concentrations (< 0.5 mg m-3) in open
22 waters beyond the continental shelf (Yuan and others, 2007). Inter-annual increase in nutrient
23 loading has also led to increases in phytoplankton biomass over the years (Zhou and others,
24 2019).
25
26 Sinking organic matter produced by phytoplankton in the lower estuary and coastal plume
27 fuel oxygen consumption and summer development of bottom water hypoxia. The
28 occurrence, frequency and spatial extent of hypoxia have been increasing since the late 1990s
29 (Li and others, 2011; Wei and others, 2015). Today, the area of the Sea influenced by the
30 coastal plume of the Changjiang River is regarded as one of the largest coastal hypoxic zones
31 (> 12,000 km2) in the world (Chen and others, 2007; Wang and others, 2016; Zhu and others,
32 2017).
33
34 As nutrient input from the Changjiang River increased, reported toxic algal bloom events
35 along the coast of the Sea increased from zero in the 1950s and 60s to 10 in the 1970s, 25 in
36 the 1980s and > 100 in the 1990s (Yan and others, 2002). In particular, large-scale blooms
37 (covering an area of more than 1,000 km2) have been recorded every year since 1998, and
38 Prorocentrum donghaiense has become the recurrent bloom species for more than ten years
39 (Li and others, 2009; Lu and others, 2014). Blooms of potentially toxic Karodinium
40 veneficum, Karenia mikimotoi, Alexandrium tamarense, Alexandrium. catenella, and
41 Heterosigma akashiwo have also been observed (Lu and others, 2014; Zhou and others, 2015;
42 Wang and others, 2018).
167
Available at http://lme.edc.uri.edu/LME/images/Content/LME_Briefs/lme_47.pdf.
507
1 5. Outlook
2
3 It is projected that anthropogenic N production will increase by nearly a factor of two during
4 the first half of the twenty-first century and, based on projected increases of 40–45 per cent in
5 DIN loading by 2050, the risk of coastal eutrophication will increase in 21 per cent of LMEs,
6 most of which are in Africa, South America, South Asia and Oceania. The impacts of
7 continued increases in N loading are likely to be exacerbated by climate-driven increases in
8 ocean temperatures, vertical stratification, rainfall and the flux of atmospheric CO2 into the
9 ocean (Guinder and Molinero, 2013). Thus, it is likely that the severity and extent of coastal
10 hypoxia, acidification and toxic algal events, will also continue to increase in the absence of
11 aggressive actions to reduce anthropogenic inputs of N and P (Townhill and others, 2018).
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Chapter 11
Changes in Liquid and Atmospheric Inputs to the Marine Environment
from Land (including through Groundwater), Ships and Offshore
Installations
Convenor, atmospheric inputs: Lars Sonesten; Convenor, hydrocarbons: Bjørn Einar Grøsvik;
Convenor, metals: Penny Vlahos; Convenor, POPs: Colin F. Moffat; Convenor, PPCPs: Ralf
Ebinghaus; Convenor, radioactivity: Alan Simcock (Co-Lead Member); Convenor, ships:
Ida-Maja Hassellöv; Contributors: Eric P. Achterberg, Babajido Alo, Carlos Andrade, Maria
João Bebianno (Lead Member), Miguel Caetano, Peter Croot, Kissao Gnandi, Gi Hoon Hong,
Suk Hyun Kim, Rainer Lohmann, Monika Stankiewicz, Christos Tsabaris, Juying Wang (Co-
Lead Member)
1 Keynote points
2
3 Persistent organic pollutants
4
5 • Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) continue to be a global issue, persisting at
6 concentrations likely to cause biological effects.
7 • POPs are detected in remote locations far from their source of production - this
8 includes the deepest parts of the ocean and the polar regions.
9 • The number of POPs continues to increase and thus the mixtures to which biota are
10 exposed become more complex, making determination of the likelihood of individual
11 or population effects ever more challenging.
12
13 Metals
14
15 • There is a critical need to develop and expand coastal metal time series globally.
16 • Trends in metal concentrations vary regionally, though most show levelling of
17 dissolved metals and a slight increase in metals in higher trophic organisms.
18
19 Radioactivity
20
21 • There have been no significant nuclear accidents affecting the ocean since the First
22 World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017c).
23 • Generation of electricity from nuclear power plants continues to increase - by about 5
24 per cent globally between 2013 and 2018. Improved technology may be reducing
25 discharges of many radionuclides, but those of tritium are probably increasing in line
26 with electricity generation. Tritium is, however, only weakly radioactive.
27 • Published information on recent discharges of radioactive substances to the ocean
28 from nuclear power plants and nuclear reprocessing plants is not available except for
29 the North-East Atlantic and its adjacent seas. In that area, discharges to the ocean of
30 radioactive substances from nuclear power plants and nuclear reprocessing plants
31 continue to decline.
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1 • On the basis of information available, there is no reason to think that adverse impacts
2 of radioactivity on the ocean have become significantly worse since the situation
3 reported in WOA I.
4
5 Pharmaceuticals and personal care products
6
7 • Hundreds of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have been detected
8 in the ocean, including in the Arctic and Antarctic.
9 • Novel analytical techniques have been developed for non-target analysis of PPCPs
10 and their transformation products in the marine environment.
11 • A “watch list” of PPCPs should be formulated and implemented into long-term
12 international, national and regional monitoring programmes to serve as a scientific
13 data basis for assessing the status of PPCPs in the ocean.
14
15 Shipping
16
17 • There is a global decreasing trend regarding shipping accidents leading to oil spills
18 (over 7 tonnes).
19
20 Hydrocarbons
21
22 • Knowledge gaps exist on the long-term impact of discharged produced water from oil
23 and gas exploration.
24 • An increased rate of offshore platform decommissioning poses a challenge for the
25 marine environment.
26
27 1. Introduction
28
29 Chemical production has continued to increase and change since 2003. The potential
30 geographic impact of the chemical industry has continued to change from the Atlantic to the
31 Pacific Ocean, where almost 70 per cent of the industry is expected to operate by 2030, while
32 new products are continually being developed, thus adding to the mixture of chemicals to
33 which biota in the ocean are being exposed.
34
35 Different lists of hazardous substances have been identified by international organizations,
36 although there is still no agreed single global list of substances that are of concern. The
37 present Chapter will assess changes, since WOA I, in water and airborne inputs to the marine
38 environment from land (including groundwater), ships and offshore installations. In addition,
39 it builds upon the assessment of the list of hazardous substances used in WOA I, namely,
40 POPs, metals, hydrocarbons and radioactive substances. It includes new information on rare
41 earth elements (REEs), PPCPs and airborne inputs of nitrous oxides and sulphur oxides that
42 were not included in WOA I.
43
44 2. Situation recorded in the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I)
45
46 Chapter 20 of WOA I (United Nations, 2017b) identified the sources, main uses, production
47 and related development, movements and impact of different hazardous substances included
48 in the so-called black or grey lists of substances of concern that had been identified at the
49 national level and by international organizations. These lists evolved into a list of “priority
517
1 substances” based on their toxicity, tendency to bioaccumulate and persistence in the ocean.
2 Therefore, the hazardous substances included in WOA I were selected based on those where
3 action was taken in all or some parts of the world ocean and included: metals (mercury, lead,
4 cadmium), organometallic compounds (tributyltin), POPs (for example, halogenated
5 hydrocarbons), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and radioactive substances. Other
6 substances, including pharmaceutical compounds (both human and veterinary) and cosmetic
7 ingredients (e.g. musk xylene), were identified as emerging contaminants of concern and are
8 included in the present evaluation. Land-based point sources (wastewater treatment plants
9 (WWTPs) or industrial plants discharging into the ocean directly or via rivers), diffuse
10 sources (run-off from land, seepage of ground water directly to the ocean, accidental land-
11 based or sea-based emissions of discharges) and atmospheric deposition (wet and dry
12 deposition and emissions from sewage and from several industrial processes) that can reach
13 and affect the ocean and their impact in several areas were identified.
14
15 The international commitment at the United Nations, and the obligation at the regional level,
16 to take measures to reduce the impact of recognized emerging substances was also
17 highlighted. From the data available at that time, it was difficult to make meaningful
18 comparisons between areas and set priorities, not least because the data on hazardous
19 substances in water, biota or sediments were expressed in different units. Methodological
20 differences further complicated the picture, and the need carefully to control sampling
21 procedures and analytical methods was highlighted. For this reason, no detailed figures on
22 concentrations of contaminants were included in WOA I. The selected hazardous substances
23 were found in all parts of the ocean and those from waterborne origins were concentrated in
24 coastal areas, whereas contaminants were transported much further out to the ocean. WOA I
25 was not able to develop a general assessment of the relative impacts of those hazardous
26 substances but was able to identify the slow progress made to reduce concentrations in some
27 parts of the world ocean. It also pointed out that there was increasing evidence of the
28 significance of airborne inputs of metals and other hazardous substances to the ocean.
29
30 3. Persistent organic pollutants (including run-off from the use of
31 agricultural pesticides)
32
33 3.1. Introduction
34
35 Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) represent a complex group of (often halogenated)
36 substances and, as their name suggests, endure in the environment. Although the production
37 of compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is no longer allowed under the
38 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants,168 the convention allows for
39 equipment containing PCBs to continue to be used until 2025, thereby providing for a
40 possible small, but new, source of PCBs. Movement through trophic levels and
41 environmental recirculation of PCBs means that they continue to be present in marine
42 systems at concentrations likely to affect marine biota. As other halogenated hydrocarbons
43 have been developed, these have added to the mixture of POPs to which marine biota are
44 exposed. The mixtures, and their respective components, have very different physicochemical
45 characteristics. The consequence of this is that they exhibit different distributions in
46 environmental compartments distribution equilibria and analytical requirements.
168
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2256, No. 40214.
518
1 Once in the environment, POPs recirculate and, through both atmospheric transport and
2 transport by ocean currents, are translocated to locations far from their source. It is for this
3 reason that POPs remain of concern in both the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as throughout
4 the ocean.
5
6 3.2. Situation recorded in the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I)
7
8 New substances are constantly being developed, and international organizations have
9 prepared lists of chemicals presenting hazardous characteristics, including organohalogens
10 and pesticides/biocides. Many of these are covered under the Stockholm Convention but
11 others are not. Knowledge of the extent of the presence of these hazardous substances in the
12 marine environment was patchy. The main observations in WOA I were:
13
14 • POPs are a global issue, however, concentrations in the open ocean were generally
15 low, but detectable, with polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) identified in
16 tissues.
17 • Concentrations of POPs are often associated with urbanization and densely populated
18 regions, such as densely populated coastal areas around the Mediterranean, in Africa,
19 South America and the South Pacific, where there was also significant industrial
20 activity.
21 • Some coastal areas were being impacted by pesticides.
22 • POPs were found in the Arctic and concentrations, although decreasing, were likely to
23 cause biological effects in some seabirds and polar bears.
24 • Biological effects of POPs were likely to be detected in coastal areas of the North-
25 East Atlantic.
26 • Concentrations of POPs in the North-West Atlantic and North-East Pacific were quite
27 low, with a decreasing trend in concentration.
28 • A reduction in the concentrations of POPs had been observed, but these tended to be
29 localized.
30 • POPs were measurably present in most coastal areas of the East Asian Seas.
31 • An area of concern was the exposure of the Great Barrier Reef to pesticides associated
32 with intensive agriculture in north-west Australia.
33 • There was a dominance of comprehensive studies or time series in the northern
34 Atlantic/Arctic/Baltic/northern Mediterranean areas.
35
36 3.3. Description of the environmental changes (between 2010 and 2020)
37
38 POPs continue to be a cause for concern in the marine environment. In addition to the
39 “legacy POPs”, new POPs that represent a threat to the marine environment, including
40 pesticides, industrial chemicals and by-products, have been regularly added to the Stockholm
41 Convention (Stockholm Convention, 2018).169
42
43 Many studies continue to focus on the legacy chemicals, including PCBs and
44 dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) (and its metabolites DDD and DDE). PBDEs, were
45 not, however, among the initial 12 POPs covered by the Stockholm Convention and are still
169
Twelve POPs, namely aldrin, chlordane, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor,
hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) hexachlorobenzene; polychlorinated dibenzo-
p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDF) are recognized as causing adverse effects.
519
1 grouped with the emerging contaminants, despite being monitored in marine systems for
2 many years. PBDEs are among the 16 “new” POPs to have been incorporated in the
3 convention since 2009. They include pentachlorobenzene, polychlorinated naphthalenes,
4 short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts and
5 perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF).170 Chemicals recommended for listing include
6 dicofol and pentadecafluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, perfluorooctanoic acid), its salts and
7 PFOA-related compounds. Chemicals under review by the POPs Review Committee171 are
8 perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and PFHxS-related compounds. The
9 inclusion of additional chlorinated molecules, as well as both brominated and fluorinated
10 compounds, means that the breadth of contaminants covered by the term “‘POPs” has greatly
11 increased, resulting in new challenges for environmental analytical laboratories. Short-chain
12 chlorinated paraffins were detected in the Firth of Clyde but the concentrations were method
13 specific (Hussy and others, 2012). This was most likely due to the presence of significant
14 concentrations of medium- and long-chain chlorinated paraffins.
15
16 In the recent draft report on progress towards the elimination of polychlorinated biphenyls
17 (Stockholm Convention, 2018), it was highlighted that, for many countries, little, if any,
18 relevant quantitative information was available. Extensive analytical work continues to be
19 undertaken in some regions of the world, and shows evidence of high concentrations of PCBs
20 in some top predators with the possibility of population consequences (Desforges, and others,
21 2018) or altered adipose function in seal pups (Robinson, and others, 2018). Both these
22 examples come from the North-East Atlantic. Recent data for the Arctic, based on long-term
23 time series of PCBs in Arctic marine mammals and fish, show that concentrations are
24 generally decreasing (Carlsson and others, 2018), although the rate of decrease has slowed in
25 recent years (AMAP, 2016; Boitsov and others, 2019). Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) in fish
26 liver showed least decrease with time compared with PCBs, sumDDT, TNCs and PBDEs
27 (Boitsov and others, 2019). Exceptions exist, however, which are associated with changes in
28 diet or change in environmental processes that impact run-off and re-emissions (AMAP,
29 2016). For example, significant increasing trends for the concentration of a group of 10 PCBs
30 have been observed in blue mussels from Iceland and juvenile polar bears from the east of
31 Greenland.
32
33 There is some evidence that the presence of POPs, such as PCBs, peaked in ocean water in
34 the 1970s and has been declining since (Wagner and others, 2019). In line with declining
35 atmospheric concentrations, the Arctic Ocean has started to export these legacy POPs back
36 into the atmosphere and via currents into the Atlantic Ocean (Ma and others, 2018).
37
38 The concentration of PCBs in fish and shellfish in the North-East Atlantic has decreased,
39 although local problems continue. Of the 7 PCBs identified by the International Council for
40 the Exploration of the Sea (ICES),172 only PCB118 is found at a concentration in fish and
41 shellfish likely to cause biological effects (OSPAR, 2017b). The other 6 PCBs are generally
42 above Background Assessment Concentrations (BAC) although in 4 of the 11 OSPAR
43 contaminant assessment areas, PCB28 is at the BAC level. Furthermore, in 9 of 10
44 contaminant assessment areas where a temporal trend could be determined, the trend is
45 downward. A similar state was described for PBDEs in fish, mussels and oysters in the
170
See http://chm.pops.int/TheConvention/ThePOPs/TheNewPOPs/tabid/2511/Default.aspx (Accessed 18 June 2019).
171
The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) is a subsidiary body under the Stockholm
Convention established for reviewing chemicals proposed for listing in the annexes to the Convention.
172 PCB28, PCB52, PCB101, PCB118, PCB138, PCB153 and PCB180.
520
1 majority of assessment areas of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment
2 of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR),173 with declining concentrations being noted in all but
3 the Skagerrak and Kattegat, where no change in concentration has been observed (OSPAR,
4 2017b).
5
6 PCBs were detected in fish from depths of between 600 m and 1,800 m on the European
7 continental slope to the west of Scotland (Webster and others, 2014). Concentrations of the
8 ICES 7 PCBs in the liver of three fish species were highly variable, ranging from 58.7 ng/g
9 lipid weight in black scabbard to 3,587 ng/g lipid weight in roundnose grenadier.
10 Concentrations were mainly <500 ng/g lipid weight (or <1,250 ng/g lipid weight for the sum
11 of 28 PCBs), a value used by some researchers as an indicator of concern. Twenty-three of
12 the 95 fish livers collected between 2009 and 2012, inclusive, gave PCB concentrations for
13 the ICES 7 PCBs of >500 ng/g lipid weight. PCB118 was at a concentration at which
14 biological effects are likely to be observed for all three fish species. Although there were
15 species differences with respect to concentration, there were no temporal trends between
16 2006–2012, nor were there any differences detected with depth. Concentrations of PCBs were
17 also examined in prey species and were significantly lower (including lanternfish and bean’s
18 bigscale) compared to predators. PBDEs were also detected in the predators, but at much
19 lower concentrations than the PCBs.
20
21 PCBs mean concentrations in sediments in the Greater North Sea and the Celtic Seas are
22 generally significantly above the congener’s BAC, but below the Environmental Assessment
23 Criteria (EAC) (OSPAR, 2017b). Sediments in both the northern North Sea and the Irish Sea
24 were found to contain PBDEs, although most of the measured concentrations of PBDEs in
25 sediments are low and often below detection levels. However, the lack of assessment criteria
26 for PBDEs in sediments means that it is not possible to determine the environmental
27 significance of the observed PBDE concentrations (OSPAR, 2017b).
28
29 Inputs of hazardous substances to the Baltic Sea are defined, on the basis of the Baltic Sea
30 Impact Index (HELCOM, 2018a), as the second most widely distributed pressure (HELCOM,
31 2018a, 2018b). In terms of POPs, PCBs dioxins and furans do not appear to be a major driver
32 of the integrated assessment status 2011–2016. Atmospheric deposition of PCBs
33 and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) shows a steady
34 decrease due to increased efficiency of various combustion and chlorination processes
35 (HELCOM, 2018b). Hexachlorocyclohexane (γ-HCH, lindane), and DDT and its metabolites
36 (DDD, DDE) are no longer considered of significant concern in the Baltic. The improved
37 breeding success in the white-tailed sea eagle is attributed to such reductions (HELCOM
38 Indicators, 2018c). However, elevated concentrations of PBDEs in fish is a major contributor
39 to the current impeded overall status of the Baltic Sea. Similarly, undue inputs of PCBs
40 contaminating the food web in the Lagos Lagoon in Nigeria had been reported from activities
41 on land (Alo and others, 2014).
42
43 Even if the PCDD/Fs deposition on the Baltic Sea is reducing, atmospheric deposition has
44 been found to be the major external source and there is still noticeable elevated deposition in
45 coastal areas of the North-East Atlantic, and the Baltic, Mediterranean and Caspian seas
46 (Wiberg and others, 2013). The atmospheric deposition of PCDD/Fs and HCB is quite high in
47 coastal areas to the North-East Atlantic, and the Baltic, Mediterranean and Caspian seas,
173
521
1 although there has been no intentional global production of HCB for decades (e.g. Wang and
2 others, 2010) and emissions of PCDD/Fs are supposed to cease in 2018 (Josefsson and Apler,
3 2019).
4
5 It is clear that various POPs continue to be present in the atmosphere (Figure 1), with a
6 hotspot for PCB-153 over Western Europe (Figure 1b). High atmospheric concentrations of
7 PCDD/Fs have also been detected over Europe (Figure 1a).
8 Figure 1. Spatial distribution of global scale annual mean air concentrations of a) PCDD/Fs (fg TEQ/m3), b) PCB-153,
9 pg/m3, and c) HCB (pg/m3) simulated for 2016. Source: European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP)
10 homepage, 3 March 2019.
11
12 PBDEs have been used as flame retardants for many years and have become widespread
13 across marine systems. As with other POP mixtures (e.g. PCBs), concentrations are based on
14 a small number of the possible congeners. The lipophilic nature of PBDEs means that they, in
15 the same way as PCBs, can be trapped in sediments. A study published in 2016 reviewed
16 PBDE concentrations on a worldwide basis (Zhang and others, 2016). Many of the samples
17 were collected prior to 2010. However, the conclusion was that, in more open ocean
18 sediments, concentrations do not vary that much and are approximately 1 ng/g. This contrasts
19 with close to source sediment concentration which has been noted in excess of 7,000 ng/g.
20 However, PBDEs were detected in amphipods from both the Mariana and Kermadec
21 Trenches, with the deepest sample collected at 10,250 m. The concentration for the sum of
22 seven congeners ranged from 9.33 ng/g lipid weight to 318.71 ng/g lipid weight. PCBs were
23 also detected in these samples with concentrations, again for the sum of seven congeners,
24 ranging from 62.02 ng/g lipid weight to 1,866.25 ng/g lipid weight (Jamieson and others,
25 2017). Although there is a scarcity of POPs data from the open ocean, the data that are
26 available strongly indicate that these chemicals have reached, and continue to be universally
27 present in, marine components far from their source. Concentrations of PBDE47 and
28 PBDE99 in water to the west of Los Angeles were found to be in excess of 12,500 pg/l in
29 2012. In subsequent water samples, collected from progressively more westerly sites
30 (towards Honolulu), concentrations were very much lower (< 20 pg/l) but PBDEs were
31 evident at all sites (Sun, 2015). Further studies show the presence of organophosphate flame
32 retardants (OPFRs) and PBDEs in the atmosphere, sediments, surface and deeper waters of
33 the Arctic and North Atlantic Ocean (Li and others, 2017; Ma and others, 2017; McDonough
522
1 and others, 2018) At present, atmospheric transport is presumed to be dominating over other
2 modes of long-range transport for OPFRs and PBDEs (Sühring and others, 2016; Vorkamp
3 and others, 2019). Therefore, monitoring of these compounds needs to continue.
4
5 Fish from around the South China Sea were found to contain PBDEs, PCBs and DDTs, but
6 concentrations in muscle (PBDEs, sum of 8 congeners, and PCBs, sum of 19 congeners, <
7 200 ng/g lipid weight) were at the lower end of the global range and related to feeding habits
8 amongst the various fish species (Sun and others, 2014). Staying in the South China Sea,
9 more recent data from a range of species (xanthid crab, whiparm octopus, striated cone,
10 bower’s parrotfish, bigeye scad and pike conger) from the Xuande Atoll illustrated that
11 PCBs, PBDEs and DDTs occur in these various components of that marine ecosystem; the
12 PCB (17 congeners) concentrations ranged from 8.8 ng/g lipid weight in the whiparm octopus
13 to 117.9 ng/g lipid weight in pike conger (Sun and others, 2017).
14
15 Sediments from the Bering Sea via the Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, Canada Basin and
16 Amundsen Basin to the Iceland Stations (central Arctic Ocean) contained organochlorine
17 pesticides, PCBs and PBDEs. In depths below 500 m, the top 5 cm of sediments contained
18 286 ± 265 pg/g dw PCBs (47 congeners). This was greater than concentrations from deeper
19 sediments (149 ± 102 pg/g dw). There is also some evidence of increasing sediment
20 concentrations of HCB, at least in the Baltic Sea (Josefsson, 2018), and in some
21 environmental compartments in China (Wang and others, 2010). The lack of reducing or even
22 increasing HCB levels might be due to unintentional production as a by-product in various
23 combustion and chlorination processes (Josefsson and Apler, 2019).
24
25 There is no doubt that, in addition to widespread contamination of the marine environment by
26 POPs, there are localized hotspots associated with urban proliferation and industrial
27 establishments. A complex mix of POPs has been discharged into the Lagos lagoon on a daily
28 basis. As well as direct discharges, sawdust and other inland domestic waste are ready
29 sources of contaminants. POPs of interest were organochlorine pesticides (OCs) since, in
30 Nigeria and other developing countries, OCs, including DDT and lindane, are still used for
31 pest control and as insecticides.
32
33 The Mediterranean Sea has also been described as a hotspot area for POPs (Marsili and
34 others, 2018). The mean concentrations of PCBs in blubber from bottlenose dolphins in the
35 Gulf of Ambracia in 2013 were low (26,770 ng/g lipid weight) relative to the mean for the
36 same species from the North Adriatic Sea in 2011 (110,460 g/g lipid weight). However, the
37 mean concentration for the North Adriatic Sea was ~40,000 g/g lipid weight higher than the
38 mean obtained for bottlenose dolphins from Scotland that had been sampled over the period
39 2004–2012. Values for the Gulf of Mexico (Texas), Hawaii and Reunion Island were 47,700,
40 11,800 and 5,200 g/g lipid weight, respectively, with the animals all sampled around 2009–
41 2012. Mean sperm whale blubber PCB concentration in animals from the Corso-Ligurian
42 Basin of the Mediterranean between 2006–2013, was 24,240 ng/g lipid weight and 16,880 g/g
43 lipid weight for males and females, respectively. This was not as high as in the Ligurian
44 Sea/Gulf of Lion (107,810 ng/g lipid weight) sampled between 2006–2009, but was very
45 much greater than the means obtained from the Galapagos (1,320 g/g lipid weight) and Papua
46 New Guinea (1,140 g/g lipid weight) in 2000 and 2001, respectively.
47
48 Although decreasing, the change in concentration of dieldrin in Arctic biota is slow, which is
49 consistent with the air observations, where the change was very small over the period
50 between 1993 and 2016. Chlordane compounds were also shown to be decreasing in
523
1 concentration in Arctic biota (AMAP, 2016). The story for other “legacy” POPs tends to be
2 similar for Arctic biota.
3
4 As highlighted earlier, there are a range of fluorinated compounds that are of increasing
5 interest. At coastal sites in the eastern North Sea, concentrations of 3.8 ng/l were observed
6 for PFOA, and 1.8 ng/l for PFOS. These reduced further, to 0.13 ng/l and 0.09 ng/l for
7 PFOA and PFOS, respectively, towards the open sea (Theobald, and others, 2011).
8 Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have been found in seabirds in the Baltic (Rubarth and
9 others, 2011), fish caught around Charleston, South Carolina (Fair and others, 2019), a range
10 of seafood in the Republic of Korea (Jeong, and others, 2019), the marine food web of the
11 Arctic (Butt, and others, 2010), as well as in biota from the Antarctic. This illustrates that
12 these POPs are as ubiquitous in the global environment as the original 12 POPs detailed in
13 the Stockholm Convention.168
14
15 Numerous studies have documented the presence of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances
16 (PFASs) in the Arctic and global ocean over the last decade (Ahrens and others, 2010;
17 Benskin and others, 2012; Yeung and others, 2017). The phase-out of PFOA and PFOS from
18 production in the United States of America and Europe will result in declining concentrations
19 in the surface ocean (Zhang, and others, 2017) while replacement PFAS are likely to
20 increase. Observed high concentrations of PFOS in the South Atlantic could be due to the use
21 of a precursor chemical as a pesticide in Brazil (González-Gaya and others, 2014).
22
23 The ultimate challenge remains insofar as human ingenuity has resulted in the production of
24 a wide range of halogenated hydrocarbons which have had significant benefit to humankind
25 but have been identified in the abiotic and biotic environment at a global scale. The full
26 impact of these compounds on marine biota, especially when there is biomagnification,
27 remains unclear, particularly as monitoring programmes tend to focus on a sub-set of
28 compounds rather than the full spectrum of fluorinated, chlorinated and brominated
29 compounds that are known to be present in the marine environment and which contribute to
30 the total contaminant loading of individual animals. A detailed study of each sub-group is
31 necessary due to the toxicity and bioavailability of each compound.
32
33 3.4. Economic and social consequences and/or other economic or social
34 changes
35
36 Highly toxic compounds, such as gamma-HCH and p,p'-DDT, pose potentially unacceptable
37 risks to aquatic organisms. More widely, there are risks to animals at the pinnacle of the food
38 web, including humans. The pesticide residues gamma-HCH and p,p'-DDE were shown to be
39 the most persistent of all the POPs assessed and extrapolated for the Gulf of Guinea. Gamma-
40 HCH was also found to have high potential for long-range transport. The fact that such
41 compounds can exert dioxin-like toxicity on lagoon biota is an indication of likely health
42 risks to biota and to humans (Rose and others, 2017).
43
44 As the climate changes on a global basis, marine plants and animals will be subjected to
45 additional stress from increasing temperatures and ocean deoxygenation. A reduction in pH
46 has the potential to cause further stress. The marine plants and animals that are already
47 experiencing some form of stress due to their contaminant loading may be more vulnerable.
48 Research is required to provide an understanding of the implications of multiple stressors, not
49 only from the perspective of biodiversity, but also in the context of the shellfish and finfish
50 industries, should there be population-level impacts.
524
1
2 POP concentrations alone could cause adverse biological effects which might impact beyond
3 the level of the individual marine plant or animal. Localized population effects, or where
4 contaminant concentrations exceed compliance concentrations, have the potential to impact
5 local industries. In 2018, the European Food Safety Authority Panel on Contaminants in the
6 Food Chain reduced the tolerable weekly intake for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in food to 2
7 pg/kg body weight, a figure that is seven times lower than the previous European Union
8 tolerable intake.174 The consequence of this is that we need to continue to follow POP
9 concentrations both to understand the impact of the increasingly complex mixture on our
10 marine systems and to assess the concentrations in seafood, thereby avoiding any risk from
11 the consumption of what is a highly valuable and nutritious source of protein.
12
13 4. Metals
14
16
17 Metals continue to be transported at elevated concentrations around the globe, with the
18 potential to affect human life and the environment even in remote locations. Although metals
19 occur naturally and are released into the environment from natural sources, anthropogenic
20 emissions make important contributions to metal fluxes and even dominate fluxes for a
21 number of metals. Highly toxic metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead along with
22 tributyltin (TBT) assessed in WOA I and rare earth elements (REEs) are included in the
23 present Chapter.
24
26
27 In WOA I, the sources, main uses, production and impact of metals (mercury, cadmium and
28 lead) and TBT, an endocrine disruptor compound, were discussed but, due to the different
29 analytical methods used and that data was expressed in different units, the comparison was
30 cumbersome.
31
32 The main sectors contributing to mercury emissions to the air were found to be combustion
33 plants, mainly burning coal, and artisanal, small-scale gold mining. The share of these
34 sources was estimated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to be
35 approximately 50 per cent of total anthropogenic mercury emissions, based on 2010 data
36 (UNEP, 2019).
37
39
40 Observations of metal concentrations in the global ocean have improved over the past ten
41 years, primarily due to integrated efforts such as the international GEOTRACES programme.
42 Coastal observations and assessments of trends are lacking for most regions, with the
43 exception of HELCOM,175 OSPAR176 and AMAP177 regions, and are thus focused on the
174
See https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/dioxins-and-related-pcbs-tolerable-intake-level-updated
(accessed on 23 December 2019).
175
Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission.
176
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic.
177
Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme.
525
1 European coasts and North Atlantic and Arctic regions. The currently established trends vary
2 across regions and for the different metals. Generally, there appears a levelling off in water
3 column concentrations in the cases of lead and cadmium. However, mercury concentrations
4 in fish and other biota appear to be increasing in the Arctic regions. Efforts to address the
5 lack of time series data in key regions, including the South Atlantic and South Pacific, should
6 be prioritized, particularly in the midst of changing global temperatures and increased
7 projected mobility of metals. This is of particular importance in regions of decreasing
8 permafrost that will mobilize metals and increase exposure across food chains. Global fish
9 catch178 shows that all regions yield at least some higher trophic level species that exceed
10 recommended levels and, therefore, all ocean regions are impacted. In summary, cadmium,
11 mercury and lead can still be found at concentrations in biota above background levels, with
12 both temporal and spatial differences. Top predators continue to be under pressure, with
13 heavy metal concentrations as a contributing factor.
14
15 According to the World Mineral Statistics Archive (Brown and others, 2019), the annual
16 world production of cadmium has been fairly constant at about 21,000–26,000 tonnes over
17 the last decade, although production was at the higher end from 2014–2017. The mine
18 production of lead has decreased almost ten per cent since the peak production of 5,300, 000
19 tonnes per year in 2013–2014. The production of refined lead has been fairly constant at
20 around 11,000,000 tonnes during the same period. China alone is responsible for about half
21 the annual lead production. Annual mercury production doubled from 2010–2012 and
22 reached 4,000,000 tonnes in 2017. Also, during this period, the main producer, China,
23 increased its share of production from about 75 per cent to almost 90 per cent.
24
25 Presently, based on 2015 data, UNEP estimates that atmospheric mercury emissions account
26 for 60 per cent of total anthropogenic mercury emissions (UNEP, 2019). However, it is not
27 clear if the difference is based on methodological improvements or actual changes in
28 emissions. In addition, total anthropogenic emissions constitute about 30 per cent of the total
29 mercury emissions to the air, whereas natural processes like evaporation from soils and water
30 are estimated to constitute 60 per cent, with the final 10 per cent from natural emissions from
31 volcanoes (UNEP, 2019).
32
33 The global spatial distribution of mercury emissions to the air and atmospheric deposition
34 reveals large hotspots in eastern and southern Asia, Central Africa, South America, as well as
35 Central America and south-eastern North America (figure 2). In WOA I, the main
36 contributors to mercury emissions to the air were found to be combustion plants, mainly
37 burning coal, and artisanal small-scale gold mining, especially in Central Africa and South
38 America. In addition, industrial sources are cited as a major emission source in eastern and
39 southern Asia (Ilyin and others, 2016).
178
See http://www.fao.org/state-of-fisheries-aquaculture.
526
1 Figure 2. Global distribution of model ensemble median Hg0 concentration in surface air (a) total (wet and dry)
2 deposition flux (b) in 2015. Source: EMEP homepage, 3 March 2019, and UNEP (2019).
3
4 4.4. Key region-specific changes and consequences
5
6 4.4.1. Arctic Ocean
7
8 The Arctic is changing rapidly and is the subject of increased research and monitoring efforts.
9 Permafrost thawing is projected to increase the transfer of terrestrial mercury and other
10 metals to Arctic coastal environments (Fisher and others, 2012). Heavy metals do not
11 disappear over time but can be trapped in sediments. However, data on heavy metals in
12 sediments in the Arctic are limited. The mean cadmium concentration in biota from the
13 Barents Sea (north-west coast of Norway) was above the OSPAR background assessment
14 concentrations (BAC) but significantly below the European Commission maximum level for
15 food (OSPAR, 2017d). The mean concentrations for both mercury and lead were at the BAC.
16 None of the heavy metals showed upward trends in concentrations in the water column.
17
18 A review of mercury in the marine environment of the Canadian Arctic has shown that our
19 understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of this metal has improved but needs further
20 characterization. Total mercury concentration in sediments from the Hudson Bay are lower (8
21 – 58 ng/g d.w.) than in other marine regions of the circumpolar Arctic Ocean (e.g. up to
22 approximately 290 ng g-1 d.w., Greenland Coast, 2000) (Fisher and others, 2012).
23
24 The mercury reservoir in permafrost is poorly quantified, and surface soils in the Arctic likely
25 contain some portion of legacy mercury. Current estimates of riverine mercury export to the
26 coastal Arctic stem from limited data and models and vary widely, ranging
27 from 13–80 Mg/y (Dastoor and Dunford, 2014), while mercury export through coastal
28 erosion is estimated at 15–30 Mg/y (Soerensen and others, 2016). Riverine mercury
29 concentrations can increase up to six-fold in coastal areas following scenarios projecting up
30 to 30 per cent increased terrestrial run-off (Jonsson and others, 2017). Riverine transport also
31 exports a significant amount of toxic mercury, i.e. methylmercury. Present flux estimates
32 cannot close the mercury budget in the Arctic, and thus hypothesized major mercury
33 processing occurs in coastal zones with evasion of gaseous mercury species to the
34 atmosphere (Heimbürger and others, 2015).
35
36 There remains significant spatial variation in the total mercury concentration in Arctic biota,
37 including with respect to marine mammals and birds. In the latter (thick-billed murres), the
38 total mercury concentration increased in birds breeding at a higher latitude. There was an
39 increase in total mercury concentrations in the eggs of seabirds (various species) over the
40 period 1975–2012. The reasons for this remain unclear but are likely to be multifactorial.
527
1 Greenland sharks have been found to contain high total mercury concentrations in their
2 muscle (1.62 ± 0.52 μ/μg g w.w.). This is consistent with their high trophic position in the
3 Arctic marine food web.
4
5 The fourth Global Mercury Assessment (2018) joint venture between UNEP and AMAP
6 highlights that:
7
8 • Loss of sea ice in the Arctic due to climate change allows greater exchange of
9 mercury between the ocean and atmosphere.
10 • Coastal Arctic sites in Norway have slightly elevated levels of atmospheric mercury
11 compared to those in Greenland. This is associated with direct transportation from
12 continental Europe, especially during winter and spring.
13 • The Arctic is predominantly influenced by long-range transport of atmospheric
14 mercury.
15 • Dry deposition of mercury may be important in inland Arctic tundra.
16 • The deposition of mercury to the Arctic will not diminish by 2035 under current
17 policies.
18 • The impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems in the Arctic are occurring
19 rapidly. This amplifies its significance for a global understanding of mercury trends.
20 • Arctic birds tend to be at moderate or low risk with respect to mercury.
21 • Some Arctic marine mammals are in a high-risk category as a result of uptake of
22 methylmercury through their diet, with the mercury concentration in the muscle of
23 pilot whales at the higher end of the concentration spectrum for toothed whales.
24 • Mercury in ringed seals from the North American Arctic has increased.
25 • Changes in mercury concentration in marine mammals and seabirds are a result of
26 changes in feeding patterns, in environmental conditions and climate change. This
27 means that the reasons for the observed changes in mercury concentration in marine
28 mammals and seabirds are not necessarily identifiable.
29 • The consumption of fish and marine mammals by Arctic people continues to put them
30 at high risk from mercury. However, exposures have dropped over the last two
31 decades.
32
33 In summary, cadmium, mercury and lead can still be found at concentrations in biota above
34 background levels, with both temporal and spatial differences. Top predators continue to be
35 under pressure, with heavy metal concentrations as a contributing factor.
36
37 4.4.2. North Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean and
38 North Sea
39
40 North Atlantic (including the OSPAR maritime area)
41
42 The Greater North Sea is the only OSPAR sea area that has sufficient waterborne metal input
43 data to be used in an assessment. Mercury inputs via continental run-off have approximately
44 halved between 1990–1995 and 2010–2014 (and atmospheric inputs have been reduced by
45 approximately one-third). Cadmium inputs via the atmosphere and run-off have both been
46 reduced by two-thirds. Advances in analytical methods resulting in improved (lowered)
47 detection limits and higher precision mean that, while there is a downward trend in riverine
48 inputs, the change is likely overestimated. However, it will require longer-term observation to
49 establish the significance of this change (OSPAR, 2017a). Lead inputs through continental
528
1 run-off have more than halved, while atmospheric lead deposition is less than a third of the
2 level it was in 1990. Secondary atmospheric pollution from re-suspended material and from
3 sources outside the OSPAR maritime area are now the major sources of airborne pollution.
4
5 Cooperation is needed beyond the OSPAR area to manage these in addition to the waterborne
6 inputs. Analyses of lead isotopes in the tropical North Atlantic show that up to 30–50 per cent
7 of natural lead detected came from North African mineral dust. This indicates successful
8 global efforts to reduce anthropogenic lead emissions (Bridgestock and others, 2016).
9 Concentrations of dissolved lead in surface waters of the Celtic Seas in the North-East
10 Atlantic decreased fourfold over the last four decades to 8 ng/l (Rusiecka and others, 2018),
11 which is still one or two orders of magnitude higher than background concentrations.
12 Atmospheric lead inputs have been reduced, and benthic dissolved lead fluxes (5.6 – 8.5 µg
13 lead /(m2d) now exceed the atmospheric lead fluxes (0.006 – 2.5 µg lead /(m2d) in the Celtic
14 Sea, indicating the significance of sediments as a contemporary lead source (Rusiecka and
15 others, 2018).
16
17 Mean concentrations of mercury, cadmium and lead in marine sediments are either
18 decreasing or show no significant change in the majority of areas assessed. Nevertheless,
19 concentrations in all areas are above natural background levels, and four of the six areas
20 assessed are above levels where adverse ecological effects cannot be ruled out (OSPAR,
21 2017c). Following bans on tributyltin (TBT) in antifouling paints there has been a marked
22 improvement in the reproductive condition of marine snails in the North-East Atlantic over
23 the assessment period 2010–2015. Compared to an assessment in 2010, levels of imposex
24 have markedly improved. In most assessment areas, imposex induced by TBT is at or below
25 the level at which harmful effects are expected to occur and there is also evidence of
26 downward temporal trends in the severity of imposex in all areas assessed. Nevertheless,
27 some areas are still subject to high imposex levels. Although levels of imposex are reducing,
28 imposex remain above background levels in all of the areas assessed (OSPAR, 2017d).
29
30 Following the ban on TBT, mean concentrations in sediments have measurably reduced in the
31 southern part of the Greater North Sea and are very low or undetectable elsewhere in the
32 North-East Atlantic. Most countries in the area have stopped monitoring organotins in
33 sediments, especially at offshore locations, because concentrations are now often so low that
34 they are below the limit of detection. This means that a reliable assessment of organotins in
35 sediments could only be carried out in the southern North Sea (OSPAR, 2017e).
36
37 In most areas assessed in WOA I, concentrations of mercury, cadmium and lead in mussels
38 and fish are higher than the estimated background levels (Figure 3). Nevertheless, all
39 concentrations are below European Commission (EC) limits for foodstuff. Concentrations are
40 decreasing or show no significant change in all areas assessed except for cadmium in a few
41 Greater North Sea and Irish Sea locations (OSPAR, 2017b). EC maximum levels for heavy
42 metal concentrations in fish and shellfish are at least five times greater than background
43 concentrations. In all OSPAR regions assessed since 2009, the average heavy metal
44 concentrations are below EC maximum levels.
529
1 Figure 3. Mean concentrations of mercury, cadmium and lead in fish and shellfish in each assessment area
2 relative BAC. Source: OSPAR, 2017b.
3
4 Baltic Sea
5
6 There are quite large differences in the estimated total amounts of metals that enter the Baltic
7 Sea every year, and their main route of entry is quite variable (HELCOM, 2018a). It is
8 estimated that the inputs of cadmium, mercury and lead to the Baltic Sea between 2012–2014
9 were in the range of 23–45, 4.8–5.6 and 443–565 tonnes per year, respectively (HELCOM,
10 2018a).
11
12 Mercury entering the Baltic Sea via atmospheric deposition constitutes around 70 per cent of
13 the total but the levels have decreased by 15 per cent in the period since the 1990s up to 2014.
14
15 Mercury concentrations in fish muscle (the most common species measured are herring and
16 cod in open sea areas and flounder and perch in coastal areas) exceeded the established
17 threshold level (20 µg/kg w.w.) in almost all monitored open sea sub-basins, indicating “not
18 good” environmental status during the period 2011–2016 (HELCOM, 2018a). The threshold
19 was also exceeded in some coastal areas and “good” status was achieved only in the Arkona
20 Basin and in Danish and Swedish areas. There is no one general trend for mercury in fish
21 muscle for the investigated time series.
22
23 Riverine inputs of cadmium are dominant and make up 79 per cent of cadmium inputs to the
24 Baltic Sea. Inputs via rivers with existing time series show quite large inter-annual variability
25 that makes it hard to reveal any trend. Atmospheric cadmium deposition decreased by 60 per
26 cent from the 1990s up to 2014.
27
28 For cadmium concentrations in seawater, biota (mussels) and sediments assessed by applying
29 the “one-out-all-out” method, “good” status was achieved in only 35 per cent of open sea
30 sub-basins assessed (HELCOM, 2018a) but no significant trends were observed in 89 per
31 cent of the 38 trends evaluated, while there was a decreasing trend in four of 33 trends and
32 only 1 showed an increasing trend. Threshold concentrations were 0.2 µg/l in water, 960
33 µg/kg d.w. (137.3 µg/kg w.w.) in mussel tissues and 2.3 mg/kg d.w. in sediments.
34
35 Riverine inputs of lead make up 64 per cent of the total input of lead to the Baltic Sea. The
36 lead inputs of the existing time series show quite large inter-annual variability that makes it
530
1 hard to reveal any tendencies. Atmospheric lead deposition has decreased by 80 per cent
2 since the 1990s up to 2014.
3
4 Lead concentrations in biota (fish and mussels) and sediments using the “one-out-all-out”
5 approach indicate that “good” status was achieved only in four open sea sub-basins and in
6 some coastal areas (HELCOM, 2018a). Furthermore, lead generally fails the established
7 threshold value in biota (26 µg kg-1 w.w. for fish liver, and 1,300 µg/kg d.w. and 185.9 µg/kg
8 w.w. in mussels). No consistent trend was observed.
9
10 In most areas, TBT is still a problem in water, sediments and biota (HELCOM, 2018b). For
11 sediments, most of the sites failed the threshold level (1.6 µg/kg w.w.), and even after two to
12 three years of monitoring no temporal trends could be assessed.
13
14 Levels of imposex measured for six or more years were found to be below the threshold value
15 in the southern Kattegat and Skagerrak. In eight other sites, declining effects were observed.
16 This is consistent with the findings in the North Sea area, where 48 per cent of the imposex
17 sites showed decreasing trends.179
18
19 While the TBT situation is improving, levels of TBT in sediments and causal effects in
20 marine gastropods indicate that historic pollution continues to impact the Baltic Sea. Uses of
21 organotins other than in antifouling paints, and release from previously contaminated
22 sediments, should be investigated to ensure that decreasing trends continue.
23
24 4.4.3. South Atlantic Ocean and Wider Caribbean
25
26 GEOTRACES cruises in the South Atlantic are providing new assessments of dissolved lead
27 inputs. A major flux (0.9 to 1.5 x 106 kg/y) to the South Atlantic is the Indian Ocean via the
28 Agulhas Leakage, which supplies waters with elevated lead concentrations (annual mean ca.
29 5.8 µg/kg) which is equivalent to that provided by global atmospheric mineral dust deposition
30 (1.6 x 109 g/y assuming 8 per cent of lead released from dust to seawater) (Paul and others,
31 2015). Nowadays dissolved Pb concentrations in the South Atlantic remain higher than
32 preindustrial levels, with 58 per cent of the dissolved Pb in these waters originating from
33 anthropogenic sources (Schlosser and others, 2019). It is expected that GEOTRACES data
34 will continue to develop and contribute to the next WOA.
35
36 Phosphorus Mining
37
38 Phosphate deposits are found across the world both in sedimentary and igneous minerals.
39 Currently China mines the largest volume of phosphate, but Morocco is the largest exporter.
40 Phosphorite mining and processing is a main source of metal input of mercury, cadmium
41 and lead, as well as chromium, nickel, copper, arsenic, thorium and uranium in coastal
42 waters (Gnandi and others, 2011). For example, in Togo, severe sediment, water and biota
43 impact by metals has been documented, though other mining regions likely exhibit similar
44 impacts. The phosphorite deposits of Togo, extracted since 1960 in the phosphate mines at
45 Hahatoé-Kpogamé in southern Togo, are naturally enriched with heavy metals and rare earth
46 elements (Tanouayi and others, 2016). The ore processing allows the separation of the
179
See https://oap.ospar.org/en/ospar-assessments/intermediate-assessment-2017/pressures-
humanactivities/contaminants/imposex-gastropods/.
531
1 phosphorus rich industrial fraction, and the fraction greater than 1 mm as in sea water once
2 phosphorite tailings are dumped into the ocean. Coastal sediments are highly enriched in
3 trace metals and the calculated enrichment factors relative to the Earth’s crust are high.
4 Such high loads of trace metals were also found in the biota (fish and mussels). The ratio
5 of measured trace metal concentrations in biota to threshold limits set by the World
6 Health Organization herein defined as relative health factor (RHF) was high in fish and
7 decreased according to the following order: selenium> arsenic> silver> nickel> manganese>
8 iron> lead> cadmium> chromium> copper> zinc, while cadmium and aluminium were not
9 accumulated. In mussels, RHF decreased according to the trend: iron> arsenic> lead>
10 selenium> manganese> nickel> silver> cadmium> copper (Gnandi and others, 2011).
11
12 4.4.4. Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden
13 and Persian Gulf
14
15 Fish continues to be an important food product and the potential for fish to be contaminated
16 with a range of metals remains. In the Persian Gulf, the metals most regularly exceeded
17 maximum allowable levels in fish muscle, but cadmium and mercury concentrations
18 exceeded only by 10 per cent (Cunningham and others, 2019).
19
20 Recent studies of a fish off Qatar (Al-Ansari and others, 2017) in the Persian Gulf have
21 helped improved resolution in this region. Total mercury was highest in the liver (602 ± 192
22 µg/kg w.w.) and lowest in the gonad (71 ± 31 µg/kg w.w.), with muscle falling between the
23 two. There is an increasing trend compared to the levels detected 20 years earlier but the
24 levels were more in line with those reported in 2007. Concentration of mercury in sediments
25 was in the range of 8 μg/kg – 34.3 μg/kg for total mercury (Hassan and others, 2019).
26
27 Stable isotope studies showed that in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, lead concentrations
28 have been largely impacted by anthropogenic inputs (Lee and others, 2015). These data serve
29 as a baseline but will require future sampling to establish trends. In the Western Indian
30 Ocean, lead and cadmium levels were below levels of concern, although mercury in higher
31 trophic species (swordfish, wahoo and blue marlin) often surpassed (1 mg/kg w.w.) (Bodin
32 and others, 2017). Over 13 per cent of swordfish sampled in the Indian Ocean had mercury
33 levels that surpassed 1 mg/kg w.w. and in a global catch for comparison mercury levels,
34 Indian Ocean swordfish levels had the most frequent and highest average mercury
35 concentrations (Esposito and others, 2018).
36
37
38 4.4.5. North Pacific Ocean
39
40 Inputs from the Asian continent to the East China Sea and North Pacific exhibit large
41 episodic and seasonal pulses related to biomass burning and fossil fuel combustion (Qin and
42 others, 2016). Total mercury levels in the North Pacific deep waters are elevated relative to
43 surface and intermediate waters but comparisons with historical data suggest that
44 concentrations have not increased over the past 20 years (Munson and others, 2015).
45
46 4.4.6. South Pacific Ocean
47
48 Detailed mercury distribution in the South Pacific showed elevated concentrations in the
49 Peruvian upwelling region and significant methylmercury, as high as 20 per cent of total
532
1 mercury (Bowman and others, 2016). Data in the region are not adequate to ascertain trends
2 since WOA I but values appear stable. The tropical South Pacific is a net source for mercury
3 to the atmosphere but the exchange flux is lower than that of the North Atlantic (Mason and
4 others, 2017).
5
6 4.4.7. Southern Ocean
7
8 Total mercury concentrations in the Southern Ocean are comparable to the Southern Pacific
9 and the Atlantic Ocean. However, there are distinct regional features that include net mercury
10 deposition along the ice edge of Antarctica sea ice, mercury enrichment in brine during sea-
11 ice formation and methylmercury formation south of the southern polar front (Cossa and
12 others, 2011). Lead concentrations in water (6.2 µg/L) compare to those measured in more
13 industrialized regions such as the Baltic Sea despite its remote location (Schlosser and others,
14 2016). Metal data in this region are too sparse to detect any trends since WOA I.
15
16 Rare earth elements
17
18 The contamination due to “technology-critical elements” that are widely used in cost-
19 effective low carbon technologies, such as nuclear, solar, wind and bioenergy and carbon
20 capture and storage technologies and electricity grids, and in medical products, has been
21 observed since the beginning of the millennium (Bau and Dulski, 1996). Rare earth elements
22 (REEs) have been considered as critical for the development and establishment of high-
23 technology products. As a result of their application, an unavoidable release of these
24 elements into the environment has been recently observed, thus increasing the number of
25 trace elements acting as contaminants in the ocean. One of these elements, gadolinium, is
26 used as a tracer of anthropogenic input by studying positive anomalies (increased values
27 relatively to natural concentrations). The input of these elements to the marine environment
28 has been identified mainly through domestic sewage systems. In the last decade, positive
29 anthropogenic gadolinium anomalies were found in marine waters globally as a result of
30 draining from densely populated areas, such as the North Sea (Northeast Atlantic; Kulaksiz
31 and Bau, 2007), San Francisco Bay and adjacent Pacific waters (Hatje and others, 2014),
32 Indian Ocean (Zhu and others, 2004; Ogata and Terakado, 2006; Akagi and Edanami, 2017)
33 and the South Atlantic (Pedreira and others, 2018). Besides gadolinium, other rare earth
34 elements have been detected in raw phosphorite and mine tailings from phosphate mining at
35 Hahatoé-Kpogamé (southern Togo) (Gnandi and others, 2011). However, scarce information
36 exists on the environmental behaviour of these elements and on their impact on biota in
37 marine systems. Although concentrations of anthropogenic gadolinium are rather low in
38 marine waters, potential concerns regarding the effects on aquatic organisms and human
39 health from continuous exposure to low levels of gadolinium have been arising (Hatje and
40 others, 2018). The anthropogenic gadolinium complexes, originally considered to be safe for
41 humans, have been shown to accumulate in humans and aquatic organisms.
42
44 changes
45
46 Metals of concern here are non-essential trace elements that transfer through the trophic
47 chain, which ultimately bioaccumulate in the upper trophic levels of the oceans. The main
48 social impact is that, despite some decreases in emissions, there are observed increases in
49 metals concentrations in higher trophic level fish species. This has a direct impact on
533
1 ecosystems, leading to apparent changes in food chains and has a subsequent impact on
2 human health risks (see Chapter 8B of the present Assessment) through ingestion. This is of
3 particular concern for indigenous communities who rely on specific food sources. A second
4 impact is the potential decrease in fish stock and the subsequent hardship of fishers who are
5 constrained to go further from the coast, often with poor equipment, to catch fish. In certain
6 regions, inputs and mining activities lead to regional deterioration that impacts tourism and
7 local economies.
8
9 5. Radioactive Substances
10
12
13 The waters, biota and sediments of the ocean all contain radioactivity. Much of this is from
14 natural sources. Since the 1940s, however, there have been significant inputs from human
15 activities. It is important to distinguish between the occurrence of ionizing radiation, emitted
16 through the decay of radionuclides, and the impact of such radiation on biota, which varies
17 according to the nature of the radiation (in particular, whether the radiation is of α (alpha) or
18 β (beta) particles) and the part of the biota concerned. Studies of radioactive impacts on biota
19 have concentrated on humans, but in the period since 2000 the International Commission on
20 Radiation Protection (ICRP), the international body of experts that agrees standards of
21 radiation protection, has developed approaches for considering how to protect non-human
22 biota.
23
25
26 WOA I noted the ranges of levels of naturally occurring radioactivity in the ocean, ranging
27 from the lowest levels in the South-West Atlantic to the highest levels in the North-East
28 Atlantic, and levels of a typical anthropogenic radionuclide, ranging from the lowest in the
29 Southern Ocean to the highest in, again, the North-East Atlantic. The most significant
30 anthropogenic input has been from the testing of nuclear weapons, but this is now purely
31 historic. Nuclear reprocessing plants were the second most significant anthropogenic source:
32 such plants existed in 2014 in China, France, India, Japan and the Russian Federation, and
33 further plants were under construction or planned in China, India, Japan and the Russian
34 Federation. The nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima caused significant increases
35 in ocean radioactivity but were of limited concern by 2014. At the end of 2013, there were
36 434 nuclear power reactors in 30 countries, resulting in radioactive discharges to the ocean in
37 orders of magnitude less than those from weapons testing, reprocessing plants and major
38 accidents, and such discharges tend to decrease over time with improved technology, except
39 for discharges of tritium, which have low radiotoxicity. Also noted was an anthropogenic
40 concentration of naturally occurring radionuclides, particularly from scale cleaned from
41 offshore oil and gas pipelines and phosphogypsum.
42
44
45 General
534
1 The WOA I assessment of global levels of natural and anthropogenic radioactivity in the
2 ocean was based on studies carried out in 1995 (MARDOS)180 and 2005 (WOMARS)181 by
3 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). No similar studies have since been
4 undertaken, and the picture given by WOA I thus remains the best available. However, the
5 IAEA is planning new studies of this kind in the early 2020s (IAEA personal communication,
6 5 July 2019).
7
8 For radioisotopes with long half-lives, carriage by ocean currents can be significant, unlike
9 terrestrial radioactive contamination. In the same way as airborne transport of radionuclides,
10 transport by ocean currents means that radioactive substances introduced into the marine
11 environment can be transported to areas thousands of kilometres away from the point of
12 introduction. For example, the ratio of 240Plutonium to 239Plutonium in the Kuroshio current
13 zone in the North-West Pacific provides evidence that these radionuclides are being
14 transported to that zone from the former atomic-bomb and nuclear-bomb Pacific Proving
15 Grounds in Micronesia (Hong and others, 2011; Wu and others, 2019).
16
17 Although there have been no global surveys of the level of radioactivity in the ocean, there
18 have been major advances over the last decade in the ability to measure low levels of the
19 long-lived radioisotope 129I (half-life 15.7 million years), a product of nuclear fuel
20 reprocessing plants. Studies have now revealed its global distribution throughout the ocean
21 and its application as a circulation tracer (He and others, 2013).
22
23 In addition, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). under the International
24 Council for Science, has instituted the international GEOTRACES programme for
25 determining the distribution of trace elements and their isotopes (TEIs) throughout the ocean.
26 The programme also includes anthropogenic radionuclides. As part of GEOTRACES,
27 intercalibration efforts have demonstrated the ability to identify 239 Pu, 240 Pu and caesium-
28 137 from relatively small samples (Kenna and others 2012). Radioisotope data collected
29 during GEOTRACES have also contributed substantially to understanding of movements of
30 material in the ocean (Malakoff, 2014).
31
32 In 2015, SCOR also set up Working Group 146, Radioactivity in the Ocean, 5 decades later
33 (RiO5), reverting to the theme of the first SCOR Working Group in 1959. This working
34 group has been tasked, amongst other things, with improving online resources for data on
35 natural and anthropogenic radioisotopes in the ocean within the framework of the IAEA
36 Marine Radioactivity Information System (MARIS) database, which contains measurements
37 of radioactivity data in the marine environment found in seawater, biota, sediment and
38 suspended matter (SCOR – WG 146, 2020).
39
40 Sources of radioactivity in the ocean
41
42 Developments with regard to the main sources of radioactive inputs to the ocean since 2014
43 (the base date for the relevant section of WOA I) have been as follows.
180
Sources of Radioactivity in the Marine Environment and their Relative Contributions to Overall dose
Assessment from Marine Radioactivity (MARDOS).
181
Worldwide marine radioactivity studies (WOMARS).
535
1 Nuclear weapon testing

2
3 The absence of atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons since 1980 has continued, and this
4 source of radioactivity inputs to the ocean therefore remains purely historic.
5
6 Nuclear reprocessing plants
7
8 The nuclear reprocessing plants mentioned in WOA I as functioning in 2014 (Gansu, China;
9 Cap de la Hague, France; Kalpakkam, Tarapur and Trombay, India; Tokai, Japan; Mayak,
10 Russian Federation; and Sellafield, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
11 remain in operation.
12
13 In respect of the nuclear reprocessing plants at Cap de la Hague and Sellafield, these continue
14 to represent the dominant source of anthropogenic radioactive inputs to the North-East
15 Atlantic, and contributed approximately 90 per cent of the total alpha discharges and
16 approximately 80 per cent of the total beta (excluding tritium) discharges over the period
17 2007–2013. Nevertheless, there had been substantial reductions by 2016 in average
18 discharges from the reprocessing plants in that period over the average levels in 1995–2001 –
19 a reduction of about 40 per cent in total alpha discharges and about 85 per cent in total beta
20 discharges (OSPAR, 2017b).
21
22 In China, planning of a further nuclear reprocessing plant in Gansu is continuing. In India,
23 work started on a nuclear reprocessing plant at Kalpakkam in 2017. In Japan, a new nuclear
24 reprocessing plant at Rokkasho is now expected to come into operation in 2021. In the
25 Russian Federation, a new nuclear reprocessing plant at Zheleznogorsk is expected to be
26 operational as of 2022 (WNA, 2020).
27
28 Nuclear power plants
29
30 There were 450 commercial nuclear power reactors in 30 countries in operation at the end of
31 2018 (as compared with 434 in the same 30 countries at the end of 2013). The plants
32 containing them have a total capacity of over 395,000 megawatts (MW). A little over
33 300,000 MW of this capacity is in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
34 and Development (OECD). About 55 more reactors are under construction. These plants
35 produce over 15 per cent of the world’s electricity: the proportion ranges from about 70 per
36 cent of the national supply in France to 2 per cent in the Islamic Republic of Iran (see
37 Table 1). This is a global average increase since 2013 of about 5 per cent. Other States which
38 do not have nuclear power plants, such as Denmark and Italy, import substantial amounts of
39 their electricity from neighbouring States which rely substantially on nuclear power (IAEA,
40 2019).
41
42 Table 1. Proportion of electricity generated from nuclear power 2018 (figures for 2013 in brackets for
43 comparison) (IAEA, 2019)
44
State Per cent of State Per cent of State Per cent of
electricity electricity electricity
from from from
nuclear nuclear nuclear
power power power
France 71.7 (73.3) Bulgaria 34.7 (30.7) Pakistan 6.8 (4.4)
536
Slovakia 55.0 (51.7) Armenia 25.6 (29.2) Japan 6.2 (1.7)

Ukraine 53.0 (43.6) Korea, 23.7 (27.6) Mexico 5.3 (4.6)
Republic of
Hungary 50.6 (50.7) Spain 20.4 (19.7) South Africa 4.7 (5.7)
Sweden 40.3 (42.7) United States 19.3 (19.4) Argentina 4.7 (4.4)
of America
Belgium 39.0 (52.1) Russia 17.9 (17.5) China 4.2 (2.1)
Switzerland 37.8 (36.4) United 17.8 (18.3) Netherlands 3.1 (2.8)
Kingdom
Slovenia 35.9 (33.6) Romania 17.2 (19.8) India 3.1 (3.5)
Czech 34.5 (35.9) Canada 14.5 (16.0) Brazil 2.7 (2.8)
Republic
Finland 32.5 (33.3) Germany 11.8 (15.4) Iran, Islamic 2.1 (1.5)
Republic of
1
2 For the nuclear power plants in the catchments of the Baltic and North-East Atlantic, the
3 latest assessments show continuing reductions in the discharges of the various radionuclides
4 which are monitored (other than tritium) (HELCOM, 2013; OSPAR, 2017b).
5
6 Detailed figures are not available for discharges in other global regions: the IAEA DIRATA
7 database on discharges of radionuclides to the atmosphere and the aquatic environment
8 (information provided by national authorities on a voluntary basis) has not been updated
9 since 2012, and much of the data in it are substantially older than that. As recorded in WOA
10 I, tritium discharges from nuclear power plants are generally related to the level of electricity
11 generation, and there is no accepted abatement technology.
12
13 Non-nuclear sources of radioactive discharges to the ocean
14
15 A number of human activities other than nuclear installations result in discharges to the ocean
16 both of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) and of artificial radionuclides
17 produced other than for nuclear-energy purposes. The main activities of this kind are offshore
18 hydrocarbon installations and pipelines, nuclear medicine and the production of agricultural
19 fertilizer from phosphate rock. Except for the North-East Atlantic and its adjacent seas,
20 published data on such discharges are not available.
21
22 The collection of information on discharges of NORM and other non-nuclear discharges to
23 the North-East Atlantic and its adjacent seas started in 2005. For the oil and gas industry,
24 there is enough data to set a baseline (2005–2011) but it is not possible yet to identify trends
25 in such discharges to the marine environment (OSPAR, 2017b). Recent studies by the
26 OSPAR Commission conclude that the major source of NORM reaching the North-East
27 Atlantic is the offshore oil and gas industry, where produced water (water coming from the
28 reservoir with the oil and gas) and the scale that it deposits in pipelines (which has to be
29 cleared periodically) contain low levels of radionuclides (mainly 210Pb, 210Po, and 226/8Ra).
30 The total alpha and total beta discharges from the oil and gas sector are 97 per cent and
31 10 per cent of the discharges from all sectors, respectively (OSPAR, 2018c). Of the non-
32 nuclear total beta discharges, the largest contribution is 131I from the medical sub-sector.
33 Tritium discharges from the non-nuclear sector are insignificant compared to the nuclear
34 sector (OSPAR, 2018c).
35
537
1 The production of agricultural fertilizers from phosphate rock results in the production of
2 phosphogypsum (which is mainly a compound of calcium, but also contains NORM). It has
3 often been discharged as slurry to the sea, but this now seems generally to have been phased
4 out. Such discharge continues in Morocco but is under review (Hermann and others, 2018).
5
6 Nuclear incidents
7
8 The two major nuclear accidents at Chernobyl (1986, Ukraine) and Fukushima (2011, Japan)
9 resulted in large inputs of radioactive material to the ocean. There have been no significant
10 accidents of this type since 2011.
11
12 In relation to the Fukushima incident, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects
13 of Atomic Radiation has reviewed the scientific work carried out on the maritime transport of
14 radionuclides from the Fukushima plant since its 2013 report (which had concluded that
15 effects on marine biota would only be local), and concluded that there were no reasons to
16 change its conclusions.182
17
18 Activities to track the plume of low-level radioactivity in the North Pacific resulting from the
19 Fukushima incident are ongoing (Men and others, 2015; Buesseler and others, 2017) and the
20 plume has now been tracked into North American continental waters (Smith and others,
21 2015). Most notably, measurements of the long-lived 129I (Hou and others, 2013; Otosaka and
22 others, 2018; Suzuki and others, 2018) have provided critical information about ocean
23 circulation and iodine biogeochemistry in the waters receiving radionuclides from
24 Fukushima. Five years after the Fukushima accident, measurements of 137Cs found highest
25 activities in brackish groundwater underneath sand beaches (Sanial and others, 2017),
26 suggesting a previously undocumented submarine groundwater pathway for the storage and
27 release of radionuclides to the ocean.
28
29 A study of Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) caught off the Californian coast around
30 four months after the Fukushima accident showed a tenfold increase in radio-caesium
31 concentrations (derived from Fukushima) compared with pre-Fukushima specimens.
32 However, such radioactivity was approximately thirty times less than that emanating from
33 concentrations of the naturally occurring radionuclide 40K in both pre- and post-Fukushima
34 fish (Madigan and others, 2012).
35
36 The IAEA maintains databases on dumping of radioactive waste at sea (which occurred
37 between 1947 and 1993) and inputs from accidents and losses at sea. The last compilation of
38 an inventory from these databases was published in 2015 (IAEA, 2015). The only incident
39 that it records since 2010 is the entry into the ocean in 2015 of a Russian satellite with a small
40 nuclear power pack.
41
43 changes
44
45 The importance of increasing the proportion of the world’s supply of electricity that is not
46 derived from fossil fuels means that there continues to be significant interest in the generation
182
See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-second Session, Supplement No. 46 (A/72/46),
Chap. II, sect. B, para.1.
538
1 of electricity from nuclear power plants. As noted above, there has been a 5 per cent increase
2 in the generation of such electricity in the period 2013–2018.
3
4 A new development is the construction of the world’s first floating nuclear power plant by
5 the Russian Federation. The Akademik Lomonosov completed initial testing in April 2019, to
6 be ready to enter into service in December 2019 in the sea off the Russian port of Pevek, to
7 replace an existing nuclear power plant and a combined heat and power plant (PEI, 2019).
8 The Russian nuclear industry has also suggested collaboration with India over the
9 development of floating nuclear power plants (Times of India, 2019). China is also reported
10 to be considering the construction of floating nuclear power plants (Asia Times, 2019).
11
12 5.5 Regional aspects
13
14 There have been no significant studies of the global distribution of natural or anthropogenic
15 radionuclides since WOA I, but, as noted above, IAEA is proposing to carry out some new
16 assessments. As recorded in WOA I, the naturally occurring radioactivity in the ocean is
17 significantly concentrated in the northern hemisphere, particularly in the North Atlantic and
18 adjacent seas. Likewise, the nuclear activities from which the anthropogenic inputs of
19 radioactive material derive are also mainly in the northern hemisphere - only Argentina,
20 Brazil and South Africa in the southern hemisphere have nuclear power plants.
21
22 5.6. Outlook
23
24 The pressures to reduce reliance on electricity generated from fossil fuels are likely to
25 increase the number and scale of nuclear power plants. Linked with such increases is a likely
26 increase in the scale of reprocessing of nuclear fuel. However, experience over recent
27 decades suggests that there will be some offsetting reductions in the levels of radioactivity in
28 discharges from such plants. As recorded in WOA I, the estimated highest current levels of
29 committed effective doses to humans of radioactivity from food from the sea are less than a
30 quarter of the IAEA recommended annual limit for the exposure of the general public to
31 ionizing radiation. There is no evidence to suggest any recent significant change. Provided
32 that adequate monitoring is maintained, therefore, such developments are not likely to be of
33 concern.
34
35 6. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs)
36
38
39 As the population in the coastal regions grows, the size and number of cities grows with
40 them. In particular, as megacities grow near the coast, river mouths and deltas, the
41 anthropogenic pressure on coastal and marine ecosystems is increasing. The urbanization of
42 coasts has direct implications for the input of PPCPs. An increasing number of people will
43 need an increasing amount and number of pharmaceuticals and will apply an increasing
44 amount and number of personal care products. At the same time, food production such as
45 aquaculture will be of increased importance and will also lead to the input of pharmaceuticals
46 for veterinary purposes. The picture is even more complicated when looking at demographic
47 change and ageing populations, in particular in the western world. This will result in an
48 increasing application of certain pharmaceuticals per capita.
49
539
1 PPCPs include all chemicals used for health care, cosmetics and medical purposes. More than
2 3,000 PPCPs are currently marketed and new compounds enter the market yearly (Arpin-Pont
3 and others, 2016). It is clear that the development of pharmaceuticals and their use in
4 medicine is of considerable value to human society. Nevertheless, their fate is an
5 environmental issue. PPCPs are often analyzed together because their input pathways to the
6 environment are similar. PPCPs reach the environment mainly indirectly with wastewater
7 from households or agriculture (livestock farming). They are mostly washed off or excreted
8 unchanged and released directly in the wastewater systems. As processes to remove PPCPs
9 from wastewater are not efficient, and most of the compounds are not degraded or only
10 slowly degraded, these products reach the aquatic environment via the wastewater effluents.
11 (Heberer, 2002; Verlicchi and others, 2012; Caldwell, 2016). Some PPCPs, such as UV-
12 filters in sunscreens, can also enter the environment directly during recreational activities.
13 They are often considered “pseudo-persistent” as their degradation is slow in relation to the
14 large quantities input/discharged into the environment (Rivera-Utrilla and others, 2013; Bu
16
17 However, it has been shown that several PPCPs may also be degraded to transformation
18 products that could be more toxic (Kallenborn and others, 2018). Until now, most studies on
19 PPCPs were conducted in relation to the occurrence of PPCPs in influents and effluents of
20 wastewater treatment plants (Fang and others, 2012; Rodil and others, 2012; Tamura and
21 others, 2017), lakes and rivers (Sköld, 2000; Loos and others, 2010; Gothwal and Shashidar,
22 2015; Molins-Delgado and others, 2017). Many PPCPs have been detected in freshwater
23 systems and, consequently, may end up in marine ecosystems. However, the available data
24 are very limited. Consequently, PPCPs were not discussed or evaluated in WOA I.
25
26 The broad range of medicinal products available for human or veterinary use that can reach
27 the marine environment may lead to a global environmental problem (Klatte and others,
28 2017). Due to the continuous presence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment through
29 different entry pathways, they are regarded as a class of pseudo-persistent contaminants (Bu
30 and others, 2016). Pharmaceuticals reach production volumes of up to 100,000 tons per year
31 (aus der Beek and others, 2016) representing nearly 1.5 trillion United States dollars in the
32 global pharmaceutical market by 2021, with further expansion of this sector predicted. The
33 main drivers for this development are market expansion and demographic changes, including
34 an ageing population (IFPMA, 2017; Roig, 2010; Arnold and others, 2014). Pharmaceuticals
35 go through a strict approval procedure in order to ensure effectiveness and patient safety
36 (Taylor, 2016). However, long-term ecotoxicological studies for risk assessment to prevent
37 undesirable environmental effects have been only rarely considered (Sanderson and others,
38 2003; Fent and others, 2006; Boxall and others, 2012). Since only limited data on the
39 occurrence of a variety of pharmaceuticals in the coastal environment are available,
40 pharmaceuticals with environmental relevance need to be monitored (Gaw and others, 2014;
41 Richardson and Ternes, 2014; Arpin-Pont and others, 2016; Pazdro and others, 2016).
42
44
45 Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) were included in section 2 of Chapter
46 20 on hazardous substances (United Nations, 2017b), alongside classical POPs and heavy
47 metals. They were not considered or evaluated in their own right.
48
540
1 To date, there are few studies on the occurrence of PPCPs in marine ecosystems. However,
2 there is increased interest in the occurrence of PPCPs in the ocean, not least because marine
3 ecosystems are assumed to be affected by PPCP contamination and increasingly sensitive
4 analytical capabilities are available (Picot-Groz and others, 2014). Available data based on
5 the occurrence of PPCPs in seawater, sediment, and marine organisms have recently been
6 collected and published by Bebianno and Gonzalez-Rey (2015) and Arpin-Pont and others
7 (2016). The most frequently investigated and detected compounds were antibiotics
8 (erythromycin, sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim; see Figure 4), antiepileptics
9 (carbamazepine), caffeine, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen, ketoprofen) and
10 analgesics (acetaminophen). Among cardiovascular drugs, atenolol and gemfibrozil are most
11 frequently detected or exhibited the highest relative concentrations (Arpin-Pont and others,
12 2016).
13
14 Limited amounts of data were available for personal care products (Bebianno and Gonzalez-
15 Rey, 2015; Arpin-Pont and others, 2016). Available data cover musk fragrances, disinfectants
16 (triclosan) and some UV filters, the most relevant of which are benzophenone 3 (BP-3) and
17 octocrylene (OC). Triclosan was detected at concentrations up to 99.3 ng/L in water in
18 Victoria Harbour (China). Concentrations of BP-3 up to 2013 ng/L were detected in water at
19 Folly Beach, South Carolina. OC that are used not only in sunscreens but also in food
20 additives enter coastal areas either directly or indirectly through wastewater. Concentrations
21 of OC were up to 1409 ng/L in water and up to 3992 ng/g d.w. in mussel tissues (Arpin-Pont
22 and others, 2016; Picot-Groz and others, 2014).
23
24
25 Figure 4. Geographical distribution of antibiotics (ng/L) in the world’s oceans.
26
27 The majority of the measurements of PPCPs in marine waters have been conducted in the
28 North Atlantic, North Sea, Baltic Sea and Mediterranean Sea, and the Asian Pacific (Table 2).
29 In Asia, particular China, a number of different PPCPs were measured in seawater, sediments
30 and biota in estuaries and in the Chinese marginal seas. These showed that PPCPs are present
31 in all areas of the ocean, with higher levels in areas directly impacted by anthropogenic
32 activities. Recently, a number of studies have been carried out at coastal sites in the Arctic
33 and Antarctic. In contrast, however, very few PPCP measurements have been taken in the
34 marine environment of the Southern Hemisphere and very little information exists for PPCP
35 levels in sediments (Arpin-Pont and others, 2016).
36
37 In addition to the occurrence of antibiotics and their transformation products in the marine
38 environment, antibiotic resistant (AR) genes have also been found in bacteria, and soil in the
39 Pacific and Arctic Oceans (McCann and others, 2019; Hatosy and Martiny, 2015). The
40 occurrence of AR genes in the marine environment can be linked to the coastal run-off of AR
541
1 bacteria from terrestrial sources, anthropogenic antibiotic run-off and selection for resistance
2 in response to antibiotics introduced in the marine environment (Allen and others, 2010;
3 Hatosy and Martiny, 2015).
4 The availability of data on PPCPs in the Arctic environment has been even more limited than
5 for temperate marine systems. Nevertheless, Kallenborn and others (2018) concluded that this
6 group of compounds are relevant pollutants, even in remote regions, including the Arctic.
7 Based on recent studies, the character of local PPCP sources, such as sewage treatment, in
8 combination with the low-temperature Arctic climate and limited technological standards for
9 waste treatment facilities in Arctic settlements all contribute to extending the environmental
10 stability of these residues compared to conditions found in lower latitude regions (Kallenborn
11 and others, 2018, and references therein). More than 100 PPCP-related compounds have been
12 identified in virtually all Arctic environmental matrices, from coastal seawater to high trophic
13 level biota. Twenty-two of a total of 110 compounds were identified in seawater (Kallenborn
14 and others, 2018), with the highest concentrations registered for citalopram (antidepressant),
15 carbamazepine (anti-epileptic) and caffeine (stimulant). Relatively high levels of certain
16 PPCPs in the Arctic environment are not necessarily linked to higher consumption rates but
17 may be more likely explained by higher environmental stability in the low-temperature Arctic
18 climate. This is considered to be of critical relevance when significant amounts of
19 antibiotics/antimicrobial agents are released, thus enhancing the potential for the
20 development of resistance (Gullberg and others, 2011; Kallenborn and others, 2018).
21
22 Although PPCPs have been suggested for inclusion in the list of hazardous substances for
23 decision making on control measures, and there is clear evidence that PPCPs are present in all
24 ocean areas and are present in marine organisms, the data are still insufficient for most PPCPs
25 detected to assess the trend levels in water and the exposure effects on marine organisms.
26
27 Table 2. Concentrations of major PPCPs measured in coastal waters (ng/L).
28
Location Ery Clarit Sulfa Sulfa Rox Io Iopr Dicl Carb Beza Ibupr Reference
thro hrom metho meth ithr me omi ofen amaz fibra ofen
myc ycin xazole azine omy pro de ac epine te
in cin l
Arctic, Tromsø n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Kallenborn
and others,
2018
Arctic, n.a. n.a. n.d. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 1.0 n.a. n.a. 0.4-1 Kallenborn
4.0
Longyearbyen and others,
2018
Arctic, Tromsø n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.d. - Weigel and
0.7
others, 2004
Baltic Sea n.d. - 0.03 - 0.74 - n.d. n.d. - 1.05 0.42 - n.d. - 1.98 - n.d. - n.a. Kötke and
0.14 0.42 3.29 0.48 - 3.34 0.84 10.6 0.64
others, 2019
34.5
North Sea 0.13 0.4 - 1.78 - n.d. n.d. - 7.66 7.27 - n.d. - 4.78 - n.d - n.a. Kötke and
- 1.66 13.0 2.86 - 207 34.1 4.82 29.7 2.06
others, 2019
0.94
Himmerfjärden n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 4.0 - n.a. n.a. Magnér and
12.0
others, 2010
Baltic Sea n.d. 14 21 n.a. n.a. 98 45 9.2 22 n.a. n.a. Nödler and
others, 2014
Baltic Sea, Oslo n.a. n.a. n.d. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.d. n.a. n.a. n.d.-52 Kallenborn
48.0
and others,
2018
Aegean Sea n.d. 16 3.8 n.a. n.a. 83 109 4.6 2.9 3.5 n.a. Nödler and
others, 2014
Adriatic Sea 5.8 n.d. 3.6 n.a. n.a. 29 n.a. n.d. 3.1 n.a. n.a. Nödler and
542
others, 2014
Adriatic Sea n.a. n.a. 0.02 - n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 0.11 - 0.02 - n.a. Loos and
1.02 0.36 0.14
others, 2013
Mediterranean 9 5 14 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.d. n.a. n.a. Moreno-
González, and
others, 2015
Santos Bay n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.d. n.a. n.a. 326.1 - Pereira and
2094
others, 2016
Red Sea n.a. n.a. 63 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 1402 110 n.a. 508 Ali and
0
others, 2017
Bohai and 0.69 0.07 1 0.01 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Zhang and
Yellow Seas others, 2013b
Jiaozhou Bay 4.5 0.58 9.6 0.04 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Zhang and
others, 2013a
Yantai Bay 0.82 0.03 1.4 0.02 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Zhang and
others, 2013a
Southern 0.5 3 7.7 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Du and
Yellow Sea others, 2017
East China Sea n.a. n.a. 0.5 - 3.5 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Fisch, and
others, 2017
Pearl River n.d. - n.a. n.d. - n.a. n.d. - n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Xu and
126 40.6 12.0
Delta others, 2013
South China Sea 21 n.a. 11.4 7.03 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Liang and
others, 2013
Boulder Basin, <1.0 n.a. 5.4 ± 11 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. <1.0 3.9 ± 5 n.a. n.a. Vanderford
USA and others,
2003
Sydney Estuary n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 3.0 - n.a. n.d - n.a. n.a. Birch and
12.5 2.7
others, 2015
Antarctic n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. Hernández
and others,
2019
1 n.d. – not detected; n.a. – not available.
2
3 7. Atmospheric pollutants (nitrous oxides and sulphur oxides)
4
5 7.1. Introduction
6
7 Combustion is a major source for air emissions of nitrous oxides (NOx) and sulphur oxides
8 (SOx). Of particular interest for the marine environment are the emissions from shipping that
9 contribute to air pollution. The local and regional environmental issues connected to shipping
10 emissions are to a large degree coupled to shipping intensity, but the emissions also
11 contribute to global pollution.
12
14
15 Chapter 17 of WOA I (United Nations, 2017a) discussed emissions of NOx and SOx in areas
16 from heavy traffic as well as the possible contribution of these compounds to acid rain and to
17 human health.
18
20
21 Total annual N2O emissions from shipping have been estimated at about 45 kilotonnes
22 (2013 – 2015), of which about 80 per cent derives from international shipping, and the rest
543
1 from domestic shipping and fishing vessels (approximately 6 per cent and 4 per cent,
2 respectively) (Olmer and others, 2017). Total annual nitrogen emissions by international
3 shipping on the Baltic Sea is approximately 80 tonnes, which is about 5 per cent of the total
4 N emissions in the Baltic Sea catchment area (Gauss and others, 2018).
5
6 The adverse effects of air pollution caused by shipping are on a global scale and an issue of
7 interest to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) which, on the basis of the
8 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL
9 Convention),183 endeavours to reduce emissions through international agreements. The
10 MARPOL Convention aims progressively to restrict emissions by reducing the sulphur
11 content in fuel, as well as to regulate emissions by cleaning exhaust gases (by, for example,
12 the use of scrubbers), and sailing at reduced speed. Installations of scrubber systems are
13 increasing at an exponential rate and there is concern as to how the discharge of large
14 volumes (typically 500 m3h-1 from a 12 MW ship) of heavily polluted and acidic water may
15 affect the marine environment. For this reason, some ports and countries have already
16 prohibited such discharges in their waters (Turner and others, 2017). Many European ports,
17 such as Rotterdam, and ports in California and Singapore have already prohibited discharge
18 of open loop scrubber wash water into their waters. Recently, China also proposed such a ban
19 in Chinese waters.
20
21 The progressive restrictions are the result of more restrictive limits over time, but also
22 application of different restrictions depending on the age and size of a particular vessel, with
23 the highest restrictions on large new or remade ships (IMO, 2019). In addition, as of 1
24 January 2020, the global limit for sulphur content in the fuel oils used by shipping has been
25 reduced from 3.5 per cent (m/m) to 0.5 per cent. In the so-called Emission Control Areas
26 (ECA) the restrictions are more stringent, and since 2015 have been limited to 0.1 per cent.
27 Presently there are four ECAs, in the Baltic Sea and North Sea areas (SOx only), and the
28 North America and United States Caribbean Sea areas (SOx, NOx and PM). As of 2021, the
29 Baltic Sea and the North Sea will be what are known as NECAs, with stricter NOx emissions,
30 following a successful joint application by OSPAR and HELCOM. The implementation of
31 the Baltic Sea NECA is estimated to reduce nitrogen deposition in the sea by about 40 per
32 cent (Karl and others, 2019). Similarly, the IMO Polar Code184 promotes identification of
33 these compounds on the basis of routine operations and navigational and shipping accident
34 reports.
35
36 8. Hydrocarbons from terrestrial sources, ships and offshore
37 installations, (including arrangements for response to spills and
38 discharges)
39
41
42 As described in WOA I, the impact of hydrocarbons, for example, from oil spills can affect
43 the marine ecosystem both physically through oiling of birds, mammals and beaches, and
44 chemically through toxic components such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
45 Depending on concentration and exposure, the effects may be acute or chronic (Lindgren and
46 others, 2012). Hydrocarbons enter the marine environment through many pathways. Land-
183
184
See International Maritime Organization, document MEPC 68/21/Add.1, annex 10.
544
1 based sources include urban run-off and coastal refineries, while shipping-related sources
2 include operational discharges and accidents, and, for offshore oil and gas facilities, include
3 operational discharges, accidents and blow-outs. Additionally, atmospheric fallout and
4 natural seeps are substantial sources. It was posited in 2003 that the total range from all
5 sources may have reached 470,000 tons to 8.4 million tons a year (NRC, 2003), which can be
6 compared with world crude oil production for example in 1999, which was about 3,500
7 million tons. The levels of PAHs are expected to decrease due to tighter regulations of
8 combustion plants, vehicles and so forth. In 2017, crude oil production had increased by
9 almost 25 per cent and was approaching 4,400 million tons (Global Energy Statistics
10 Yearbook, 2018).
11
13
14 The atmospheric deposition of Benzo(a)pyrene (B[a]P), one of the PAH compounds, is
15 notably higher at some hotspots in the North-East Atlantic, and the Baltic, Mediterranean and
16 Caspian seas. Especially high levels are found on the Adriatic and Aegean seas in the
17 Mediterranean, coastal areas of the North Sea in the North-East Atlantic, and in the south-
18 eastern part of the Baltic Sea, as well as in the northern Caspian Sea (Figure 5a). However, on
19 a global scale, the major emissions and deposition of B[a]P are to be found in the eastern and
20 southern parts of Asia, where the atmospheric deposition is a magnitude higher or even more,
21 compared to the levels illustrated in Figure 5 (Gusev and others, 2018). The deposition of
22 B[a]P on the Baltic Sea increased up to 2000, after which time the deposition rate seems to
23 have levelled off.
24
25
26 Figure. 5. Spatial distribution of global scale annual mean modelled air concentrations, ng/m3 (a), and
27 deposition fluxes, g/km2/y (b) of B[a]P for 2016. Source: EMEP homepage, 3 March 2019.
28
29 Other important sources of hydrocarbons entering the ocean are shipping accidents,
30 operational losses and illegal discharges from shipping. The global trend regarding shipping
31 accidents leading to oil spills above 7 tons is, however, decreasing. According to ITOPF
32 (2019), the annual average number of spills 2009–2018 was 6.4, compared with 35.8 for
33 1990–1999. The decrease of tanker spills is likely a result of improved safety measures in
34 terms of the phase-out of single-hull tankers, which came into effect in 2003 (IMO, 2019),
35 through an accelerated process following the disastrous accident involving the Erika tanker
36 in1999. The Erika and Prestige (2003) accidents also marked the starting point for maritime
37 vetting inspections as a possible measure for cargo owners to demand higher safety standards
38 of primarily chemical and oil tankers (Powers, 2008). The declining trend in the number of
39 tanker spills is even more pronounced taking into account the steady growth - close to an 80
40 per cent increase from 1990 to 2017 - in loaded crude, petroleum and gas shipping
41 (UNCTAD, 2018).
545
1 During the last ten years, offshore oil production has remained at the same level, around 26–
2 27 million barrels per day (mb day-1) (IEA, 2018a), but its market share has shrunk as global
3 oil production increased to approximately 95 mb day-1 in 2017 (IEA, 2018b). Beside oil
4 spills, the main impact from offshore production of oil and gas is associated with the
5 discharge of produced water, with global volume estimated to be up to 39.5 Mm3 day-
1
6 (Jiménez and others, 2018), and disposal of drilling waste (Bakke and others, 2013).
7 Although several studies (e.g. Moodley and others, 2018) indicate sublethal effects from
8 produced water on marine species, there is a general understanding that there is a low risk of
9 long-term, widespread impact from produced water and disposal of drilling waste, but this
10 cannot be verified from published literature (Bakke and others, 2013). However, the observed
11 levels of DNA adducts in the liver of wild caught fish from regions with oil production in the
12 North Sea above Environmental Assessment Criteria (EAC) raise concern regarding the
13 effects of oil compounds on early life stages (Balk and others, 2011; Pampanin and others,
14 2017). There is a need for further studies on community and population level to advance the
15 current knowledge based on single species toxicity data (Camus and others, 2015). This is
16 also relevant for environmental risk assessment prior to new offshore exploration. If based on
17 worst-case scenarios that are limited in their holistic validity, the risk assessment may be
18 biased in the handling of associated uncertainties (Hauge and others, 2014). From the marine
19 environment perspective, an increasing area of concern is the decommissioning of offshore
20 platforms. In IEA (2018a), it is estimated that 2,500–3,000 offshore projects will probably
21 need to be decommissioned, while today the annual average rate is 120 platforms per year.
22 The costliest part of platform decommissioning is plugging and abandoning wells. In the
23 North Sea, the removal of all topsides and substructures has been required since 1998, under
24 the OSPAR Convention.173 However, the Rig-to-Reef approach has been adopted in the
25 United States of America and South-East Asia, and allows for parts of the subsea structures to
26 be left and converted to artificial reefs. In the Gulf of Mexico, there are already more than
27 500 such permanently converted decommissioned rigs (IEA, 2018a).
28
29 9. Other substances used on, and discharged from, offshore installations
30
31 Beyond environmental impact from hydrocarbons, produced water also contains elevated
32 concentrations of metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, copper, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel,
33 silver and zinc - some in the range of 102-105 times higher than background concentrations
34 (Jiménez and others, 2018).185 Naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) originating
35 from geological formations may also be present as dissolved solids in produced water. The
36 most common NORM compounds are 226Ra and 228Ra and barium (Bou-Rabee and others,
37 2009).186 To minimize negative environmental impact from produced water, efforts are being
38 made (i) to use a small volume of water for the oil extraction process; (ii) to reuse the water;
39 and (iii) to dispose of it at sea (Jiménez and others, 2018).
40
41 As concluded in WOA I, there are still knowledge gaps with respect to an assessment of
42 large-scale impact from produced water (OSPAR, 2018a). In the North Sea region, the
43 OSPAR Commission has worked hard to achieve phase-out of the most toxic chemicals used
44 in the offshore production industry until 2017. Although the target was not entirely reached,
45 at least the chemicals on the OSPAR List of Chemicals for Priority Action (LCPA) were not
46 used at all on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) from 2014–2016. The total use and
185
The potentially negative effects from metals are described in section 4 of the present Chapter.
186
The potentially negative effects from NORM are described in section 5 of the present Chapter.
546
1 discharge quantity of chemicals on the NCS peaked in 2013, and there was a similar trend
2 regarding discharge in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (OSPAR, 2018b). The total
3 quantity of chemicals used offshore was 398,158 tons in 2016. Seventy-one per cent (wt.) of
4 the used chemicals were on the PLONOR list,187 28 per cent (wt.) were other non-substitution
5 chemicals, and 1 per cent comprised substitution chemicals (i.e. chemicals that contain one or
6 more substances which are candidates for substitution). In addition to the work on phasing
7 out toxic chemicals, new technologies, for example advanced oxidation processes for
8 remediation of produced water, have also been proposed (Jiménez and others, 2018).
9
10 10. Relationship to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
11
12 The atmospheric deposition of various pollutants on water (or land) is directly related to SDG
13 14 but is also relevant to most if not all SDGs,188 as one of the prerequisites for life on earth
14 is the supply of clean and healthy water (for example SDGs 2 and 6, or SDGs that might have
15 an impact on air emissions, including SDGs 1 and 8).
16
17 The presence of POPs at concentrations likely to cause deleterious effects means that it is
18 unlikely that SDG 14.1 will have been achieved by 2025. For many of the legacy POPs, such
19 as the PCBs, emissions, discharges and losses are very low; the issue is re-emergence from
20 the sediments due to the resistance of POPs to biodegradation. There also remains a clear
21 need to increase scientific knowledge (SDG 14.a and other SDGs) around the cumulative
22 impacts of the growing mixture of chemicals to which marine biota are being exposed.
23
24 SDG 3.9 will be hard to achieve in respect of POPs, metals, PPCPs and hydrocarbons
25 specifically with respect to achieving a substantial reduction in water pollution. The impacts
26 of POPs, metals, PPCPs and hydrocarbons on human health have not been evaluated in the
27 present Chapter but it has been recognized that marine mammals are being impacted by
28 POPs, with concentrations for some POPs and metals decreasing only slowly and increasing
29 concentrations affecting top predators.
30
31 Achievement of SDG 2.1 will require more concerted monitoring programmes covering the
32 edible portion of marine plants and animals to ensure the quality of marine food sources.
33
34 The available information on the impact of ionizing radiation from anthropogenic sources on
35 the marine environment suggests that there is probably no significant problem from this
36 quarter for achieving SDG 14.1. However, there are significant gaps in the information
37 available on discharges of radionuclides in much of the world.
38
39 Relevant PPCPs should be included in already established long-term international, national
40 and regional monitoring programmes to serve as a scientific basis for region specific “watch
41 lists” for PPCPs, in particular in coastal waters. There should be no segregation of
42 environmental regulation and legislation between terrestrial and marine ecosystems on
43 national and international levels, with coastal areas treated as a transition zone in the
44 “catchment-to-sea-continuum” and as the link between SDGs 6 and 14.
187
OSPAR List of Substances Used and Discharged Offshore which are Considered to Pose Little or No Risk to
the Environment.
188
547
1 As the impacts of increased anthropogenically produced carbon dioxide become more

2 significant, it becomes more evident that marine biota are being exposed to yet another
3 stressor. As temperatures increase, the ocean loses oxygen and the pH decreases (see Chapter
4 9 of the present Assessment), and there is a risk that biota already made vulnerable by their
5 contaminant loading will succumb to the multiple stressors (see also Chapter 28) they are
6 experiencing. It would be a good idea to include reduction of the presence of multiple
7 stressors in the ocean as part of the climate action envisaged in SDG 13.
8
9 11. Key remaining knowledge gaps
10
11 In WOA I, the need to work through a number of different organizations was highlighted as
12 limiting the possibility of making clear comparison between the environmental quality of
13 different ocean areas because of the use of different measuring techniques and the very
14 different ranges of the varieties of chemicals being observed. This situation remains.
15
16 The atmospheric deposition of various pollutants is heavily dependent on modelling
17 approaches to increase the spatial coverage. To be able to model the deposition, there is a
18 significant need for high quality data on emissions and deposition. These data need to be
19 collected and used in regional and/or global modelling to facilitate the production of high
20 resolution spatial and temporal deposition estimates. However, the availability of this kind of
21 fundamental data is limited, especially for some ocean areas, which is quite evident from the
22 present Assessment for which there is a lack of information for a large part of the ocean.
23
24 Changes in industrial production will result in changes in compartmental patterns as well as
25 the point sources and substance mixtures. With the broadening of the Stockholm
26 Convention,168 there is a need for information on the concentrations of the compounds
27 detailed in that convention that are found in the environment to permit the consideration of
28 cumulative impacts (see Chapter 28 of the present Assessment) and the effectiveness of the
29 processes aimed at eliminating the emissions and use of these compounds.
30
31 Critically, the biological effects and cumulative impacts of the chemicals detailed in the
32 Stockholm Convention require considerable research to allow appropriate status assessments
33 to be prepared, especially in cases where changes are due to the impact of increased
34 atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations (e.g. ocean warming, ocean deoxygenation, ocean
35 acidification and changing rates of respiration).
36
37 Current GEOTRACERS efforts and ongoing time series will improve both global and
38 regional resolution. However, significantly higher resolution is needed to improve estimates
39 of trends with respect to trace elements and their isotopes. Time series in the South Atlantic
40 and across the South Pacific are currently lacking for hazardous substances, as are data for
41 the Southern Ocean. The extent of transboundary marine pollution is yet to be properly
42 investigated. The mapping of contamination of coastal waters and sediments requires a more
43 integrated effort, together with more globally targeted studies of biota such that effects can be
44 determined on a larger (oceanic) basis.
45
46 It is necessary to coordinate spatial and temporal sampling for metals such that the data
47 reflect a global strategy. This will require integrated efforts, possibly including the UNEP
48 Regional Sea Conventions, with both coastal and open ocean sampling. As sampling
49 resolution is optimized, such that changes in concentration can be detected with a known
548
1 confidence, quality control/assurance guidelines, including inter-calibrations, will be

2 required.
3
4 Very limited detailed information is published, outside the North-East Atlantic and its
5 adjacent seas, of the levels of discharges of radioactive substances to the marine environment.
6 It is known that substantial monitoring is carried out. There is, therefore, a case for restarting
7 and extending the IAEA DIRATA database as a means to provide much wider publication of
8 this information.
9
10 The quite large number of PPCPs identified in marine ecosystems is primarily indicative of
11 the capability of today’s analytical method for the identification and quantification of these
12 substances and their metabolites. This does not necessarily reflect the full range of PPCPs
13 present in the marine environment. The ultra-trace concentrations of PPCPs in seawater,
14 sediments and biota are still a significant challenge for existing analytical methods. However,
15 technological developments and novel applications will further decrease limits of
16 quantification and additionally lead to the identification of new and presently unidentified
17 PPCPs (Kallenborn and others, 2018).
18
19 Both active and passive sampling strategies and analytical methodologies for analysis of
20 PPCPs and their metabolites in the marine environment need to be harmonized. This will
21 ensure common data quality and allow more effective data comparison between laboratories
22 and geographic regions (Arpin-Pont and others, 2016).
23
24 Because PPCPs are mostly excreted unchanged or as metabolites, it is not appropriate to
25 target only the parent compounds, but the major transformation products must be included in
26 both the analytical procedures and the risk assessments (Rivera-Utrilla and others, 2013).
27
28 To date, there is no comprehensive data set available covering the worldwide occurrence of
29 PPCPs in the coastal regions and the open ocean. This means that it has not been possible to
30 conduct any potential assessment on the impacts of PPCPs on marine organisms. It would be
31 desirable to create a database to support the risk assessment and modelling and provide
32 information for the international management of PPCPs. Due to the lack of adequate data,
33 especially for the different trophic levels in marine webs, a safety factor of 10,000 needs to be
34 applied, which results in a high uncertainty of the risk characterization of these compounds
35 (EMEA, 2018).
36
37 To further evaluate the ecotoxicity of the investigated PPCPs and to estimate whether the
38 observed concentrations may have an effect on marine ecosystems, it will be important to
39 improve the data on marine test organisms. This should focus on the impacts of chronic
40 toxicity characterized by low dose exposure in long-term studies. This should include the
41 behaviour of mixtures of chemicals (Deruytter and others, 2017).
42
43 Likewise, the IAEA intention to repeat the studies carried out by the Agency in 1995
44 (MARDOS) and 2005 (WOMARS) on the levels of natural and anthropogenic radioactivity
45 in fish and seawater in the different major fishing areas is welcomed. This would be an
46 appropriate contribution to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable
47 Development (2021–2030).
48
49 A review of the studies of the impact of ionizing radiation on crustaceans concludes that there
50 is poor coverage of data, particularly in the field, on this subject, and suggests that similar
549
1 problems may exist with other phyla (Fuller and others, 2019). This implies that there is a
2 need for further research on this subject.
3
4 12. Key remaining capacity-building gaps
5
6 The complex nature of the mixtures that comprise POPs and PPCPs, coupled with the fact
7 that even at very low concentrations these compounds can be toxic, means that there is a need
8 to develop the necessary analytical capabilities on a global scale.
9
10 Sampling, and subsequent analyses, in the open ocean and in coastal and shelf seas, need to
11 be undertaken in a systematic, quality assured manner on a global basis, covering both the
12 original and new POPs as detailed in the Stockholm Convention as well as metals, PPCPs,
13 radioactive substances, NOx, SOx and hydrocarbons. Although significant analytical
14 challenges are expected, this will permit precise spatial and temporal assessments to be made
15 which will ultimately inform better management decisions with respect to utilization of
16 POPs, PPCPs and other materials that may be deleterious to the marine environment.
17
18 POPs continue to accumulate in the polar regions and in top predators but neither present
19 straightforward sampling opportunities. This requires that greater efforts be put into more
20 harmonized monitoring plans such that the collection of samples for the determination of
21 POP concentrations is integral to as many programmes as practicable, especially in regions
22 known to be impacted by POPs. Furthermore, there needs to be a greater awareness and
23 understanding of the movement of POPs through food webs. Development of trophic
24 magnification factors should allow concentrations across food webs to be modelled,
25 providing an indication of the probable concentrations of POPs in species that are difficult to
26 sample.
27
28 Re-emergence is a significant source of POPs. This is contributing to the sustained elevated
29 concentrations of, for example, PCBs. However, establishing a clear understanding of the
30 routes and pathways through which contaminants enter our seas will enable better evaluation
31 and targeting of measures, inform on issues of potential re-emergence, and potentially offer
32 the possibility to predict recovery times. In addition, a major consideration for future
33 assessments should be determination of the environmental realities due to multiple mixed
34 effects, particularly, the impact on the environment not just by single substances or substance
35 groups but the complex and potentially magnifying effects of numerous contemporary
36 hazardous substances.
37
38 Over the many decades of analyses, the instrumentation has improved as has sampling
39 methodology and sample preservation. However, in determining temporal trends, it is often
40 the determined concentration that is given most attention, with less consideration given to the
41 relevant limit of detection of the instrument for that sample. In this context, there is a need to
42 consider the more technical and specific aspects of the analysis (Mangano and others, 2017).
43 In addition, to support future assessments, it will be necessary to review and harmonize the
44 threshold values utilized in the individual indicators, in order to ensure their relevance and
45 application. Furthermore, gaining a comprehensive overview of novel sources of
46 contaminants, particularly emerging from offshore activities, such as wind farms, will also be
47 beneficial.
48
49 There is a need to develop laboratory facilities that can improve our knowledge of the
50 toxicity of POPs and PPCPs in marine systems. Furthermore, it is essential that an
550
1 infrastructure be put in place that will permit assessments of the contribution of POPs and
2 PPCPs to the wider cumulative impacts of the multiple stressors to which marine species and
3 habitats are being exposed, especially a changing climate and ocean acidification.
4
5 As with other monitoring of hazardous substances, there are major gaps in the capacities of
6 most developing countries to monitor concentrations of POPs, metals, PPCPs and
7 radionuclides in the marine environment.
8
9 The Minamata Convention on Mercury189 entered into force on 16 August 2017 and includes
10 articles to support parties thereto, including with respect to capacity-building and technical
11 assistance, as well as health aspects, public awareness, education and monitoring. Signatories
12 and parties include: Canada, Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland (accession, May 2018),
13 Norway, Russian Federation (signature, September 2014), Sweden and the United States of
14 America.
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Chapter 12
Changes in Inputs and Distribution of Solid Waste in the Marine
Environment (other than Dredged Material)
Convenor (dumping): Aleke Stöfen-O’Brien; Convenor (marine debris): François Galgani;
Contributors: Archis Ambulkar, Maurizio Azzaro, Maria João Bebianno (Lead Member) Joan
Bondareff, Huw Griffiths, Martin Hassellov, Christos Ioakeimidis, Jenna Jambeck, Paula
Keener, Fernanda Lana, Iryna Makarenko, Chelsea Rochman, Qamar Schuyler, Paula Sobral,
Ca Thanh Vu (Co-Lead Member), Konstantinos Topouzelis, Dick Vethaak, Penny Vlahos,
Juying Wang (Co-Lead Member), Judith Weis
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Plastics now represent up to 80 per cent of marine litter or marine debris.
4 • A large part of marine litter is from land-based sources, and results from poor
5 waste management practices, especially in some rural and developing regions.
6 • Marine debris is present in all marine habitats and affects the environment, and
7 marine organisms through entanglement in, ingestion of and rafting through
8 marine litter.
9 • Increasing trends, mainly in remote and unpopulated areas that are receiving
10 marine litter.
11 • Time series data are needed to assess and monitor the impact of marine litter and
12 of micro- and nanoplastics.
13 • Although a decreasing trend is observed, there is a need to harmonize reporting on
14 dumping at sea.
15
16 1. Activities resulting in marine debris, including plastics, abandoned
17 fishing gear, microparticles and nanoparticles, and estimates of the
18 sources from land, ships and offshore installations
19
21
22 The term “marine litter” means any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material
23 discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment (GESAMP, 2019)
24 and covers an extremely wide variety of materials, ranging in size from ocean-going boat
25 hulls many metres in length to particles a few nanometers in diameter. They are classified by
26 the nature of the materials (plastic, metal, glass, rubber, wood, etc.) or by sources or uses
27 (fishing gear, industrial pellets, sanitary items, single-use plastics, etc.). Plastic, defined as
28 polymers synthesized from hydrocarbon molecules, or biomass with thermo-plastic or
29 thermo-set properties, comprises the main part of marine litter and covers a very wide range
30 of properties, shapes and compositions (GESAMP, 2016). In 2018, about 348 million metric
31 tonnes (MT) of plastic waste had been generated worldwide (PlasticsEurope, 2019), with
32 annual amounts entering the ocean in the range of 4.8 to 12.7 million MT (Jambeck and
33 others, 2015).
34 Litter is most obvious on shorelines, where it accumulates due to current, wave and wind
35 actions and river outflows, and by direct littering at the coast. However, litter, mainly plastic,
562
1 also occurs on the ocean surface in convergent zones (ocean gyres), on the seabed and in
2 association with biota, where it can cause harm (Barnes and others, 2009).
3 Concern about the quantity of marine litter, especially plastic, microplastic and nanoplastic
4 debris in the ocean, has grown rapidly in recent years.
5 This section provides a robust description of changes in the state of marine litter, including
6 key region-specific features, and describes the consequences of these changes to human
7 communities, economies and well-being and support development.
9
10 The First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017b) contained only limited
11 understanding of the sources, fate, transport, degradation and impacts of marine litter.
12 Economic impacts and reduction measures were not considered in depth, due to a lack of
13 information and knowledge on marine litter, including the spatial and temporal extent of this
14 pollution. A consideration of remote or ultra-deep areas, specific sources and fluxes for
15 specific types of litter (riverine inputs, wastewaters, atmospheric inputs of microplastics, etc.)
16 was not included, so impacts were not discussed. More recently, however, discussions have
17 begun, as a result of the increased numbers of surveys and extensive studies that highlight
18 that, for example, more than 1,400 species had been affected by marine litter by 2019 (Claro
20
21 Similarly, there was little discussion on microplastics, which are polymer particles of less
22 than 5 mm, as defined by GESAMP (2019), with reference only to the fact that bigger pieces
23 of plastic break up into smaller pieces (secondary microplastics).
24
26
27 Marine litter is present in all marine habitats, from densely populated regions to remote
28 points (Barnes and others, 2009), from beaches and shallow waters to deep-ocean trenches
29 (Pierdomenico and others, 2019). Most of it originates from land-based sources (GESAMP,
30 2016), wastewaters, combined sewer overflows, onshore recreational uses, solid waste
31 disposal, inappropriate or illegal discharges and dumping, mismanaged waste dumps and
32 runoffs (Figure 1). It is estimated that between 1.15 and 2.41 million tonnes of plastic waste
33 enter the ocean every year from rivers, with the top 20 polluting rivers, mostly located in
34 Asia, accounting for 67 per cent of the global total (Lebreton and others, 2017). Microplastics
35 from wastewater treatment plants may reach up to 10 million particles/m3 (SAPEA, 2019).
36 Inputs from extreme events and natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and
37 tsunamis, along with accidents, may reach millions of tons every year and match the
38 magnitude of regular inputs from land (Murray and others, 2018).
39
40
563
1
2 Figure 1. Plastics: production, use by sectors, end use by citizens, and flows back into the economy or into the
3 environment (UNEP, 2017b).
4
5 Single-use items are the biggest contributors to marine litter (European Commission, 2018).
6 It is estimated that 1 to 5 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year (UNEP,
7 2018). The remaining sources of marine litter can be attributed to maritime transport,
8 industrial exploration and offshore oil platforms, fishing and aquaculture (GESAMP, 2016),
9 as well as loss and purposeful disposal of, for example, containers, ballast weights and
10 cargoes. In some fishing grounds, large marine litter is 100 per cent composed of abandoned,
11 lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) (Pham and others, 2014). The amount of
12 ALDFG is not well known, although some estimates are available (e.g. 640,000 tons per year,
13 according to Macfadyen and others, 2009), and about 70 per cent (by weight) of floating
14 macroplastics in the open ocean is fishing related (Eriksen and others, 2014). It is also
15 estimated that 5.7per cent of all fishing nets, 8.6 per cent of all traps, and 29 per cent of all
16 lines are lost around the world each year (Richardson and others, 2019)
17
18 Primary microplastics such as microbeads or industrial granulated pellets (crafted as
19 microplastics) enter the marine environment directly, while secondary microplastics are
20 derived from weathering, abrasion and fragmentation of single-use plastics (cutlery, trays,
21 straws, cigarette butts, caps/lids, plastic bottles and shopping bags, etc.), synthetic textiles and
22 clothing, coatings and paints, and tyres. The weathering and fragmentation of single-use
23 plastics at sea is the most important source of secondary microplastics throughout the world
24 ocean (Sanchez-Vidal and others, 2018). Recent studies suggest that atmospheric transport
25 and deposition of microplastics may also be an important pathway (Rochman, 2018).
564
2
3
4 Figure 2. Sources of plastic entering via rivers (green), coastlines (orange) and direct inputs (blue), and through
5 the atmosphere (red) to the marine environment. Adapted from GESAMP (2016).
6
7 The most common impacts of marine litter on marine life include entanglement in and
8 ingestion of plastic debris (GESAMP, 2016). Entanglement poses a threat mainly to larger
9 marine animals, such as sea turtles, seabirds, marine mammals and large fish. Ingestion is
10 common in a wider range of marine organisms, including fish and invertebrate species, as
11 plastics occur in various sizes. Other impacts of plastic debris include changes to marine
12 communities, with structures acting as new habitats (Reisser and others, 2014) or by
13 infestation of the marine environment by non-indigenous species dispersed via anthropogenic
14 flotsam (Carlton and others, 2017). Marine litter can transport invasive species or species that
15 cause risk, including harmful algal blooms and pathogens (Viršek and others, 2017), and act
16 as a vector for both indigenous and non-indigenous species, possibly invasive. As a result, it
17 can increase genetic exchange of bacteria and the spread of antibiotic resistance (Arias-
18 Andres and others, 2018).
19
20 Plastic debris also smothers and damages benthic organisms. The potential impact is not only
21 at the level of organisms, but also at population and ecosystem levels (Rochman and others,
22 2016). The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem
23 Services (IPBES, 2019) also confirmed the negative impact of plastics on biodiversity, with
24 possible imbalances/disruptions in ecosystem diversity. After the 2011 tsunami in Japan,
565
1 289 species of macrofauna and macroflora were rafted to northern America in just six years
2 (Carlton and others, 2017). It is not common for so many species to be transported from one
3 continent to another, and information on possible associated risks and potential long-term
4 changes are unknown (Murray and others, 2018).
5
6 Aside from being a physical contaminant, plastics and microplastics often contain chemical
7 additives, such as phthalates and brominated flame retardants (see Chapter 11 of the present
8 Assessment) and capture other contaminants. Laboratory studies demonstrate that
9 microplastics can harm organisms and populations at higher concentrations than those found
10 in nature. If microplastics reach a concentration that can harm marine organisms at various
11 biological levels, this would alter marine communities and fisheries (GESAMP, 2019).
12 However, the best available evidence suggests that microplastics do not as yet pose a
13 widespread ecological risk (as opposed to a risk to individual organisms), except in some
14 coastal waters and sediments (SAPEA, 2019).
15
16 Human health is a main concern, despite a rather limited knowledge of impacts such as
17 injuries and accidents or through possible contamination after a potential release of chemicals
18 (SAPEA, 2019) or due to the presence of microplastics in seafood, and there are few
19 appropriate risk assessment studies. These concerns may cause people to change their
20 behaviour (tourism habits, reduction in the consumption of seafood, and so forth).
21
22 Since WOA I, more data are available and, as a consequence, modelling studies, assessments
23 of riverine inputs, new technologies such as automated sensors, including aerials and
24 satellites, and new ecosystem approaches like risk assessment for marine species and
25 communities (Everaert and others, 2018) are improving understanding of how litter, plastics
26 and microplastics can cause harm.
27
28 To better support assessments and monitoring, new technical approaches, using tools such as
29 drones, remote systems or automated sensors (Maximenko and others, 2019), and new
30 indicators, may support implementation of harmonized monitoring of marine litter trends, and
31 improve the efficiency of global approaches and measures (GESAMP, 2019). Remote-
32 sensing technology is the only approach that can be used to monitor large coastal or open sea
33 areas in several spatial resolutions, and thus help in meeting the requirements of indicator
34 14.1.1 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).190 Space agencies are
35 considering both optical and remote-sensing methods for testing and possible application in
36 regular monitoring (Topouzelis and others, 2019; Martínez-Vicente and others, 2019). In
37 terms of understanding the effects of plastics on wildlife and the environment, risk
38 assessment is also a promising tool, by helping to model the interaction between animal
39 species and plastic. This approach is becoming more widely used, though more work needs to
40 be done on quantifying the effect of the interaction, particularly in terms of lethality of
41 ingested plastics (Schuyler and others, 2016; Wilcox and others, 2018)
42
43 1.4. Key region-specific changes and consequences
44
45 Many Regional Seas Programmes have developed thematic strategies or plans for marine
46 litter. The Regional Seas Indicator Working Group has been established under the United
47 Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Seas Conventions, Protocols and Action
190
See United Nations General Assembly resolutions 70/1 and 71/313, annex.
566
1 Plans, and has developed a core set of 22 regional seas indicators on marine litter. Work is
2 ongoing to develop common methodologies for these indicators, building upon monitoring
3 programmes in each of the regions (GESAMP, 2019). Some Regional Seas Conventions
4 instruments or bodies (for example, the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia, the Oslo
5 and Paris conventions and the UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan) have updated or are
6 considering updates to their action plans to include port reception facilities in order to better
7 manage administrative and legal matters, and to enforce, control and monitor systems,
8 infrastructure and alternatives for collecting and treating ship-generated waste. Table 1 below
9 provides an overview of the state of knowledge in the different basins of the world ocean.
10
11 Table 1. Overview of the state of knowledge of marine litter in the different basins of the world ocean.
Sources/ Importance Circulation Impacts
distribution
Arctic Ocean Plastic and Low quantities of Debris Low
microplastics in marine debris; transported to concentrations of
sea ice, surface microplastics several the north via the microplastics in
and deep orders of magnitude surface branch of polar cod
waters, deep-sea higher in sea ice the thermohaline (Boreogadus
sediments and (Cózar and others, circulation. saida), bigeye
biota (Kanhai 2017; Barrows and sculpin (Triglops
and others, others, 2018). nybelini) (Kühn
2018; Peeken and others, 2018;
and others, Morgana and
2018). others, 2018) and
in 11 species of
benthic
invertebrates
(Fang and others,
2018). Plastic
accumulated by
Greenland shark
(Somniosus
microcephalus)
(Leclerc and
others, 2012;
Nielsen and
others, 2014).
North Atlantic, Litter and Beaches in OSPAR191 Surface litter Many species with
Baltic Sea and microparticles area have litter in the from the ingested litter or
North Sea in all range of hundreds of populated areas microplastics;
components of items per 100 m of North East 94% of birds in
the marine (maximum at 6,090). Atlantic the North Sea have
environment; Litter is also transported to pieces of plastic in
monitoring data widespread on the sea the Arctic. Litter their stomach;
since 1988 in floor (Maes and from South- Entanglement
the North-East others, 2018); Eastern Atlantic (seals, sea turtles,
Atlantic abandoned and lost travel through birds,
(OSPAR, 2017) fishing gear is the the equatorial invertebrates, etc.)
and since 2005 most important type of current to the is a common
along the coast litter in the Baltic sea. Western Atlantic pattern in the
191
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic; United Nations, Treaty
Series, vol. 2354, No. 42279.
567
of the United and from North- North Atlantic.

States of West Atlantic to
America. the North
Atlantic gyre
(Van Sebille and
others, 2015).
Mediterranean Amount of Mediterranean Sea is Mediterranean All types of

Sea and Black municipal solid one of the most and Black Seas impacts described
Sea waste from 208 affected areas are closed in the
to 760 worldwide basins, with Mediterranean
kg/capita/year; (Ioakeimidis and important large Sea, including
250 billion others, 2017); five rivers (Nile, Po, ingestion by many
particles are types of single-use Danube) species,
afloat plastics (Lechner and entanglement,
(Collignon and (cutlery/trays/straws, others, 2014; release of
others, 2012); cigarette butts, Lebreton and chemicals, rafting
highest caps/lids, plastic others, 2017); of various species.
concentration bottles and shopping touristic
worldwide for bags), more than 60% destinations,
floating of total type of marine with high
microplastics litter. volume of
(64 million maritime traffic.
items/km2, (Van
der Hall and
others, 2017))
and sea floor
debris
(1,3 million
items/km2
(Pierdomenico
and others,
2019); Black
Sea beaches and
seabed largely
affected by
abandoned or
lost fishing
gear.
568
South Atlantic All types of Litter at very high Besides general Despite a lack of
Ocean litter in South concentrations, locally, circulation data from eastern
Atlantic due to but basin not the most scheme, linked part, all types of
highly affected area. In the to geostrophic impacts described
populated areas islands of the currents and the in South Atlantic,
and large rivers; Caribbean Sea, higher presence of the including
pelagic plastics densities of South Atlantic ingestion by many
restricted to macroplastics as gyre, transport to species,
Tropical compared to other remote islands is entanglement,
Atlantic Ocean islands in the Atlantic an important release of
(Eriksen and Basin; sources more driver (Monteiro chemicals, rafting
others, 2014); related to human and others, of various species.
in all islands occupation than to 2018).
(Ivar do Sul and fisheries (Ivar do Sul
others, 2014) and others, 2014).
hard plastic
fragments,
plastic films,
paint chips,
fibres, and
strands; deep
sea floor litter
with high
densities in
south-east
(Woodall and
others, 2015),
dominated by
single-use items
and
microplastics.
Indian Ocean South-East Asia Indian Ocean has Because of Data limited;
and India are greater surface particle nature of impacts described
main sources of count and weight of currents, marine include ingestion
marine debris plastic, a large part of litter dumped by many species
(Jambecke and which is in Gulf of anywhere is (fish,
others, 2015, Bengal and central part transported to invertebrates, sea
Lebreton and of the basin, than southern Indian turtles, etc.),
others, 2017). South Atlantic and ocean gyre (Van entanglement (sea
Available data South Pacific Sebille and turtles, birds),
very recent or combined (Eriksen and others, 2015), release of
from South others, 2014); deep-sea but also to chemicals, rafting
Africa and floor litter at high western part by of various species.
India. densities far from the residual
coasts (Woodall and circulation
others, 2015), (Veerasingham
dominated by fishing and others
gear, but with patchy 2016), thus
distribution in South- reaching remote
Eastern part (Woodall and unpopulated
and others, 2014); islands; West
plastic and Indian Ocean
microplastics also in and Arabian Sea
adjacent seas of Indian heavily
Ocean, including Red trafficked by
569
Sea (Arossa and commercial

others, 2019); in shipping and
Persian Gulf, low fishing vessels,
density polyethylene loss of fishing
and polypropylene, in gear and
seawater and dumping of
sediments (Abayomi garbage
and others, 2017). prevalent
(Woodall and
others, 2015).
North Pacific Besides the North Pacific Beside the All types of
Mediterranean disproportionately general impacts, including
Sea, the North- affected by plastic circulation entanglement and
West Pacific is (Eriksen and others, scheme, linked ingestion by
the most 2014) from land-based to geostrophic marine organisms
affected region sources and often sea- currents and from all
(Chiba and based sources in presence of compartments,
others, 2018); highly populated North Atlantic including birds,
shores of islands (Filho and gyres, natural sea turtles and
Pacific Ocean others, 2019). ALDFG disasters, like mammals,
and East Asian represents 46% of tsunamis or detected in the
marginal seas mass of debris larger earthquakes act deepest
are surrounded than 5 cm, which as drivers in the invertebrates of
by countries accounted for one third generation of the Mariana
with rapid of total mass of litter. Trench (Jamieson
economic floating litter and others, 2019).
expansion; (Lebreton and others, In some regions,
highest inputs 2018). Densities of because of
mainly from marine debris reach fisheries (Alaska)
countries such millions of items/km2 or drifting litter
as China (Eriksen and others, (Hawaii),
(world’s largest 2014; van Sebille and entanglement
producer and others, 2015), with seriously affects
consumer), plastic as predominant marine
Indonesia, the material - 90 % of ecosystems, such
Philippines, and small pieces. as coral reefs or
Vietnam (UNEP animal forests, or
and GRID- untargeted
Arendal, 2016). populations, such
as pinnipeds
(Claro and others,
2019).
570
South Pacific Compared to Highest concentrations Different Ninety-seven

other ocean of debris on beaches oceanographic different species
basins, there is (239.4 ± 347.3 models and of animals,
relatively little items/m2, max empirical data including turtles,
new information 671.6 items per m2) on sets suggest that fish, seabirds,
on plastic Henderson Island marine debris mammals, and
concentrations (Lavers and Bond, counts and corallimorphs,
data are mainly 2017); in Isla Salaz y concentrations in either ingested or
from Chile and Gómez, close to the SPSG are lower became entangled
Australia. centre of the South than other in plastics (Thiel
Pacific Subtropical subtropical gyres and others, 2018;
Gyre (SPSG) debris in the Northern Markic and others,
levels are significantly Hemisphere 2018); evidence of
lower (<1 item/km2) (Van Sebille and ingestion rates
(Miranda-Urbina and others, 2015). closer to
others, 2015); highest subtropical gyres
recorded floating (Thiel and others,
plastics in SPSG - 2018);
more than 390,000 microplastics
items/km2 (at a ingested in ultra-
maximum of 50,000 deep amphipods
items/km2) (Miranda- (Jamieson and
Urbina and others, others, 2019).
2015; Eriksen and
others, 2018).
Southern Lowest Microplastics in Transfer of litter Macroplastic and
Ocean densities of intertidal sediments from northern fishing debris on
plastic litter in from a sub-Antarctic waters to beaches and in
the world, due island (Barnes and Antarctica is seabird colonies at
to small-scale others, 2009) in deep common. Bird Island
human activity; sea sediments in the Research Station
marine debris Weddell Sea (Van since austral
on a very local Cauwenberghe and summer 1992/93
scale; potential others, 2013), in (Barnes and
input of surface waters of the others, 2009);
approximately Pacific sector (Waller plastic particles
44–500 kg of and others 2017; Isobe ingested by 12
microplastics and others, 2015 & species of
per decade 2017) and in shallow seabirds, the
(Waller and sediments and majority in
others, 2017); macroalgae at sites on association with
microplastics King George Island wandering and
generated from near scientific research grey-headed
macroplastic stations (Waller and albatrosses and
degradation or others 2017); recently in
transferred concentrations of penguins (Bessa
across the limit 0.100–0.514 g/km2 in and others, 2019);
of the Polar South Polar Front and encounters
region (Polar ranging from 46,000– between marine
Front). 99,000 particles/km2 mammals and
south of latitude 60ºS, marine debris -
with higher mainly Antarctic
concentrations in fur seals entangled
coastal regions of the in plastic
Ross Sea (Cincinelli packaging bands,
571
and others, 2017; synthetic line and

Cózar and others, fishing nets;
2014; Isobe and incidents have
others, 2017); plastics significantly
in sediments from reduced since
Terra Nova Bay, total introduction of
of 1,661 items (3.14 g) legislation in the
with fibres the most late 1980s
frequent type (Munari prohibiting
and others, 2017); in disposal of plastics
surface trawls in the overboard, and
Antarctic peninsula, improvements in
debris estimated at disposal of
1,794 items/ km2, an packaging bands
average weight of (Barnes and
27.8 g/km2, not others, 2009).
originated from
latitudes lower than
58°S; paint fragments
30 times more
abundant than plastics
(Lacerda and others,
2019).
1 1.5. Trends
2
3 Understanding the factors associated with changes and the magnitude of such changes in
4 marine litter remains difficult because of the lack of standardization of methods for collection
5 and analysis and thus it is difficult to be able accurately to compare counts or levels from
6 different locations or over time. Moreover, reports often address a specific component of the
7 marine environment, such as types of litter and impacts, without attention to natural
8 environmental variability (GESAMP, 2019), which impairs any complete understanding of
9 the state of and possible changes in marine litter densities and impacts.
10
11 Table 2 summarizes the available information on beach, sea floor, floating and ingested
12 marine litter worldwide. Additional information can also be obtained from the online portal
13 for marine litter.192 While several modelling studies predict increasing trends (Kako and
14 others, 2104; Everaert and others, 2018; Lebreton and others, 2018), that may be potentially
15 balanced by reduction measures, most of the work based on regular surveys did not
16 demonstrate any trend, other than in some specific cases like remote islands in the Antarctic
17 (Barnes and others, 2009), ingested plastic in south Atlantic petrels (Petry and Benemann,
18 2017), or specific features like converging currents above the Arctic Circle (Tekman and
19 others, 2017. This increase in remote areas could be interpreted as a long-term transfer from
20 affected areas to regions where human activity is either extremely reduced or non-existent.
21 Decreasing trends were demonstrated in certain cases, like ingestion of debris, especially in
22 respect of industrial granules. Brandon and others (2019) and Wilcox and others (2019) also
23 suggested an increase in sediment microplastics in California and floating microplastics in the
24 North Atlantic, in relation to plastic production worldwide. The challenge now is better to
192
Available at https://litterbase.awi.de/litter.
572
1 understand how plastic is cycled through marine ecosystems, where it goes and how it
2 degrades.
3
4 Table 2. Marine litter trends in various locations and components of the marine environment (compilation of
5 data from reports and scientific literature)
Location Compartment/ Period Methods Trends Observation Reference
species (duration)
East Greenland Ingested 2005 and Collected No evident Amélineau
microplastics 2014 from live temporal and others,
(little auks, Alle birds in nests trend 2016
alle)
East Greenland Subsurface 2005 and WP-2 net, Significant Amélineau

microplastics 2014 vertical tows - increase and others,
50m to 2016
surface
North Atlantic/ Deep sea floor, 2002–2014 Towed Clear Possible Tekman and
Arctic Circle, two stations at camera increase in spreading from others, 2017
Fram Strait #2500m, 79– litter Europe to
79°35’ North densities North and
and small- Arctic Basin
sized
plastics
abundance
North-East 78 beaches 2001–2011 OSPAR/ No large- Hydrodynamics Schultz and

Atlantic MSFD* scale trends /climate- others, 2013
protocol related drivers
for local short -
term changes
North-East microplastics 1976–2015 Epibenthic No trends 2 species Courtene-

Atlantic ingestion in sled/ between Jones and
(Rockall deep-sea benthic Agassiz trawl overall others, 2019
Trough) invertebrates abundance
(> 2000m) or polymer
types
North Atlantic Floating/ 1957–2016 Debris Increase 6.5 million Ostle and
subsurface trapped in since 1957, nautical miles others, 2019
towed no trend
CPR,** since 2000,
16,725 tows no change
in Arctic
waters
North Sea, UK Seabed, 17–150 1992–2017 MSFD* No Unit: presence Maes and
waters stations/year classification detectable of plastic others, 2018
system trend
North Sea/ Birds (fulmars, 1979–2012 OSPAR Increase to Van

Netherlands 973 samples regular mid-1990s; Franeker and
stranded) protocol stable in the Lavender
(mass and last decade; Law, 2015
number) significant
decrease of
573
pellets
Cetaceans 1990–2015 Stomach No trend Lusher and

Irish waters (stranded and content for others, 2018
bycatches) ingestion of
litter and
entanglement
Baltic Sea 2377 hauls/53 2012–2017 MSFD/BITS Last 2 Plastic - 35% Zablotski
cruises years, of litter and Kraak,
increase in 2019
plastics; no
trend for
litter from
fishing
Baltic Sea 245 stations; 1987–2015 Plankton No change Beer and

floating/ingested samples and in floating others, 2018
microplastics - trawling, or ingested
Atlantic herring stomach microplastics
and sprat (814 content
samples)
North Atlantic Floating 1986–2008 6,136 surface No trend Sea Education Lavender
Subtropical microplastics Neuston nets, Association, Law and
Gyre 335-µm mesh rchived others, 2010
plankton
samples
North Atlantic Floating plastics 1987–2012 Surface No Extension of Van

Subtropical (2,624 tows) Neuston nets, significant the work from Franeker and
Gyre 335-µm mesh change in Lavender Law Lavender
user and others Law, 2015
plastics, (2010)
highly
significant
decrease of
industrial
plastics
North-East Seabed, 2011–2016 Otter trawl Decrease in 50% of plastic Strafella and
Adriatic Sea 67 stations total litter; is from fishing/ others, 2019
no trend for aquaculture
plastic
France, Sea floor/shelves 1994–2017 Trawling, No regular Plastic is up to Gerigny and

Mediterranean and canyons 1,902 hauls, increase but 62% others, 2019
Sea MSFD* higher
classification levels in
system 1999-2001
and since
2012
Spain/ Seabed Shelves, 2007–2017 Trawl, No Medits project García-

Mediterranean 1323 hauls MSFD* temporal Rivera and
classification trend, others, 2018
system decrease in
Alboran
574
Sea
Western Ingested debris/ 1995–2016 MSFD Slight 195 samples Domènech

Mediterranean sea turtles classification decrease and others,
system* 2019
Balearic Floating 2005–2015 Onshore/ No trend From cleaning Compa and

Islands offshore (all types of operations others, 2019
cleaning boats debris);
increase in
summer
Southern Birds (white- 1990–2014 Stomach Increase of Petry and

Brazil chinned petrels, content fragments Benemann,
122 samples, and pieces; 2017
stranded) decrease of
virgin
pellets
North Pacific Floating 2001–2012 2,500 surface No evident Confounded Lavender

Subtropical microplastics Neuston nets, temporal spatial and Law and
Gyre 335-µm mesh trend, temporal others, 2014
variability
Taiwan Beach litter, 541 2004–2016 Clean ups No Data from Walther and
Province of clean ups events temporal ocean coastal others, 2018
China trend cleanups
China National 2011–2018 State & No trend MEE/PRC,

monitoring, Oceanographi 2019
beaches and sea c
floor Adminsitratio
n (SOA)
protocols
China 23 sites (beaches 2007–2014 North West No clear Percentage of Zhou and
and adjacent pacific action trend plastic others, 2016
waters; floating Plan increasing in
and seabed) (NOWPAP)/S seabed litter
OA protocols
Chile Beaches (all 2006–2016 Participative No trend Three Hidalgo-Ruz

coasts); science, main sampling years and others,
3 surveys, categories 2018
69 beaches
1 *MSFD: Marine Strategy Framework Directive; **CPR: continuous plankton recorder .
2
3 1.6. Consequences of the change on human communities, economies and
4 well-being
5
6 The most significant impact of the use of plastic in products and packaging is marine
7 pollution, (UNEP, 2014). Based on 2011 figures, the economic costs of marine plastic, as
8 related to marine natural capital, are conservatively conjectured at between USD 3,300 and
9 USD 33,000 per ton per year (Beaumont and others, 2019). While the input of plastic to the
10 sea is limited in European coastal areas (Jambecke and others, 2015), the estimated costs of
575
1 cleaning up marine litter in coastal areas can amount to up to 630 million euros per year
2 (Crippa and others, 2019).
3
4 Beach litter is perhaps the most visible impact and directly affects the patrimonial value of
5 coastal areas that can be translated as the financial expenditure of cleaning up (UNEP, 2019).
6 Damage and costs to marine ecosystems and services have to be considered in the future
7 despite an actual limited understanding of the detrimental impacts on the marine ecosystem
8 structure and functioning.
9
10 Marine litter can also result in increased costs for the shipping sector and recreation activities,
11 including yachting (fouled motors, entangled propellers, lost output and repair costs) (Hong
12 and others, 2017), but the damage and associated social costs also extend to other sectors
13 such as aquaculture and fisheries. The removal of 10 per cent of derelict fishing pots alone
14 would provide estimated additional revenues of 831 million dollars annually for the global
15 crustacean fishery industry (Scheld and others, 2016).
16
17 Most microplastics found in fish are in their digestive system, which people do not ordinarily
18 consume, with the exception of shellfish and small fish that are consumed whole. Beside
19 accidents and injuries, there is no evidence that microplastics concentrations have a negative
20 impact on fish and shellfish health or commercial stocks (Barboza and others, 2018). Links to
21 human health are not sufficiently addressed, and gaps in knowledge are even greater when it
22 comes to nanoplastics (very small particles, in the nanometre range), particularly their
23 absorption and behaviour (GESAMP, 2016) and how they may pass through biological
24 barriers via different mechanisms (Wright and Kelly, 2017). As relevant toxicity data are
25 absent, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that it is currently not
26 possible to evaluate the human health risk of nanoplastics and microplastics (EFSA
27 CONTAM, 2016). Moreover, there are indications that microplastic fibre ingestion by
28 humans via the consumption of contaminated seafood is only a minimal contribution to the
29 microplastic contamination of the total food basket (Catarino and others, 2018).
30
31 The socioeconomic impact of marine litter and the potential cost for key sectors and activities
32 in or depending on the marine and coastal environment have not been well assessed, resulting
33 in mispricing of ecosystem values and externalization of pollution costs. Approaches for
34 giving value to marine litter are not well known either. Efforts need to focus on assessing the
35 environmental and socioeconomic costs of the damage caused by marine litter and the
36 cost/benefit of marine litter prevention/reduction measures (Table 3).
576
1 Table 3. Marine litter in relation to: economic sectors; sources, amounts and impacts; colour shading increases
2 with the importance of impact (UNEP, 2019).
3
4
5 1.7. Relevance to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
6 (SDGs)193
7
8 Global commitments on marine litter have been made in the context of the United Nations
9 General Assembly and Environment Assembly, as well as the Convention on Biological
10 Diversity,194 and in recent Group of Seven (G7) and Group of 20 (G20) declarations (UNEA-
11 4, 2019). In 2016, the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted resolution 2/11 to
12 combat marine plastic litter and microplastics195 and, in 2019, published the Guidelines for
13 the Monitoring and Assessment of Plastic Litter in the Ocean.196
14
15 Marine debris is directly linked with SDG 14 on conserving and sustainably using the oceans,
16 seas and marine resources for sustainable development. SDG Target 14.1 is currently
17 classified as a Tier III indicator, on which no internationally established met hodology
18 or standards are available (UNEA-4, 2019). To advance measurements of SDG
19 indicator 14.1.1,197 more harmonized methods are proposed to encourage development and
20 implementation of regional or global monitoring programmes and facilitate exchange of
21 results. These will help to move SDG Indicator 14.1.1 from Tier III to Tier II (for which
22 conceptually clear, established methodology and standards exist, but data are not regularly
23 produced). Plastic pollution is a gateway to effective environmental education. The challenge
24 is to change people’s perception and understanding of this issue, so that people can see plastic
25 pollution as a vector of education, awareness and literacy, as well as to find potential
26 strategies to overcome political, economic and cultural barriers. Within the context of marine
27 litter science, the objectives may be related to policy-relevant goals and thus increase the
28 stimulus to citizens (GESAMP, 2019).
193
194
195
See United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme, document
UNEP/EA.2/Res.11.
196
Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), Report
and Studies No. 99.
197
See United Nations General Assembly resolution 71/313, annex.
577
1 Microplastics also relate to SDG 12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and production

2 patterns, since plastics are far from sustainable in their production or consumption, as well as
3 to SDG 13 on taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Lastly,
4 microplastic pollution relates to SDG 6 on ensuring availability and sustainable management
5 of water and sanitation for all, as microplastics have also been found in drinking water.
6
7 In 2019, the G7 reviewed the ongoing activities within the Regional Sea Conventions and set
8 priorities for further actions, including: a harmonized approach to monitoring and assessment
9 of the marine and coastal environment, not only regarding the presence and impact of marine
10 litter, but also the socioeconomic impacts and consequences on human health and biota; a
11 wider identification of accumulation hotspots for litter from fishing; the involvement of
12 industry in developing and implementing responses on management of waste and prevention;
13 and ensuring effective coordination and multi-regional participation, through United Nations
14 bodies. Also, in the framework of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary
15 Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal,198 the parties adopted amendments to
16 the annexes thereto, to bring certain plastic wastes within the scope of that Convention, inter
17 alia, to address the impacts of plastic on the marine environment.199
18
19 European policies, such as the European Union Plastic Strategy (2018) and various legally
20 binding instruments such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, directive
21 2008/56/EC), the newly revised Directive on Port Reception Facilities (PRF, Directive,
22 2019/883/EU) and the Directive on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on
23 the environment (Single-Use Plastics Directive, 2019/904/EU)200 have changed the European
24 approach to circular economy principles to help to address marine litter. Measures are now
25 being implemented to support research and development (e.g. new materials to facilitate
26 reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycling), investment (wastewater treatment), regulation
27 (e.g. bans, extended producer responsibility), market-based instruments (e.g. deposit-refund
28 schemes or charges), limitation of costs of inaction, awareness-raising tools (e.g. information
29 campaigns) and clean ups.
30
31 Many initiatives have been launched to include scientific, political, social and economic
32 action in projects, from both the individual and the global system perspective. As an example,
33 the online, free Massive Open Online Course on Marine Litter201 aims to form a global
34 network of actors actively involved in addressing marine litter challenges. New tools such as
35 mobile applications also enable citizens to log data on the location and type of debris found
36 on coastlines and waterways into scientific databases. Other effective tools, such as the
37 publically available European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet),202 include
38 digital maps of litter, thus providing a comprehensive tool for marine policy and society as a
39 whole.
40
41 More than 60 countries have introduced bans and levies to curb single-use plastic waste
42 (UNEP, 2018), often without data/metrics or monitoring in place to evaluate the effectiveness
43 and consequences of these actions. Measures include a ban on certain items (such as plastic
198
199
See United Nations Environment Programme, document UNEP-CHW.14-28. Also available at
http://www.basel.int/TheConvention/ConferenceoftheParties/Meetings/COP14/tabid/7520/Default.aspx.
200
Available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019L0904.
201
Available at https://sustainablehighereducation.com/2019/03/22/mooc2019/.
202
Available at http://www.emodnet-bathymetry.eu/approach.
578
1 bags), the introduction of levies or deposit systems and voluntary agreements at the industry
2 level.
3
4 A variety of existing measures have been implemented already (FAO, 2016), including gear
5 marking; port-state measures; onshore collection; payment for retrieved gear; better location
6 and reporting of lost gear; disposal and recycling; alternatives to single-use plastics,
7 especially polystyrene fish boxes; and awareness-raising schemes.
8
9 Pursuant to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
10 (MARPOL),203 efforts to address marine litter include the development of a port reception
11 facility database as a module of the International Maritime Organization Global Integrated
12 Shipping Information System.
13
14 1.8. Outlook
15
16 Management of marine litter pollution is exceptionally complex and requires an integrated
17 approach, encompassing science, legislation, economics, education, social participation,
18 capacity building and support on multiple levels, from global to regional to local due to the
19 diversity of the actors, sources, materials, socioeconomic aspects and regulatory frameworks
20 involved. Without improved international policies and mobilization, plastic pollution will
21 only worsen (Jambecke and others, 2015). It is estimated that, if current consumption patterns
22 and waste management practices do not improve, there will be about 12 billion tons of plastic
23 litter in landfills and the natural environment by 2050 (Geyer and others, 2017). The
24 consequences will not be purely economic, and the environmental impact will be huge.
25
26 The most urgent actions to deal with the critical levels of litter include: reduction of plastic
27 consumption; support for eco-design/innovation; resource efficiency and better management
28 of waste and water; long-term efficient and viable recycling targets for municipal waste and
29 packaging/plastic waste; greater use of policy instruments and control measures, including
30 bans, incentives and taxes, for example; extended producer responsibility schemes; and the
31 adoption of remanufacturing initiatives and coordination of policy investments in the waste
32 sector (Ten Brink and others, 2018).
33
34 1.9. Key remaining knowledge and capacity-building gaps
35
36 For microplastics, major gaps in knowledge include accurate counting of microplastics in the
37 marine environment using standardized methods and information on how plastic degrades in
38 various components of the marine environment and on the presence and impact of
39 nanoplastics. More biological studies are needed using realistic concentrations and types of
40 microplastics to ascertain to what degree plastic or associated contaminants cause deleterious
41 effects in organisms. In addition, more research is needed into the role of plastic debris as a
42 transport vector of pathogens, antibiotic resistance and biotoxins and the potential for
43 dispersing diseases among marine life and human populations.
44
45 Recent programmes (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation,
46 CSIRO, University of Baltimore and MSFD) have been designed to answer some of the
47 scientific questions around the factors governing the distribution of land-based litter and the
203
579
1 quantity of litter that flows from land to sea. Outputs of these initiatives are expected to
2 include data-driven estimates of leakage rates to the sea, but also to help countries to
3 understand where best to target effective interventions to stop debris from entering the ocean.
4
5 There are insufficient infrastructures and policies regarding recycling, wastewater and solid
6 waste management (UNEP, 2017b). In addition, legislation is weak and there are huge
7 disparities between countries with informal sectors that are limiting the implementation of
8 reduction measures in use, waste management and prevention (UNEP, 2019). There is,
9 however, general agreement and a raft of initiatives from all stakeholders on implementing a
10 circular economy, which is aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources, by
11 promoting reuse, sharing, repair, remanufacturing and recycling to create a close-loop
12 system. The recent actions taken at the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-4,
13 2019) largely support this approach with resolutions on sustainable consumption, production
14 and business practices, waste management and single-use plastic products.
15
16 Additional gaps include weak enforcement, separate collection, strong regional disparities
17 between urban and rural areas, and poor storm-water management. Essential measures
18 include those aimed at securing landfills, developing port waste management, promoting best
19 practices for the fishing industry and improving maritime transport to limit container losses
20 or primary microplastics spills. The problem of informal recycling networks, illegal
21 manufacturing and black markets is a reality in some countries and jeopardizes solutions to
22 marine litter and further underlines the fact that waste management schemes at the national
23 level need to be more effective and efficient.
24
25 Barriers in tackling marine litter and microplastics are also mainly related to unsustainable
26 patterns of consumption and production. Collaboration with the private sector and industry is
27 needed to promote a shift towards sustainable solutions. Insufficient economic incentives
28 may be an underlying reason for challenges related to changing behaviours. Finally, the
29 design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of
30 hazardous substances, known as green chemistry, is of particular interest for both producers
31 and users of plastic.
32
33 Table 4. Summary of knowledge and capacity-building gaps.
34
Knowledge gaps
Incomplete knowledge about root causes of marine litter. Research is not focusing on the sources and fate of
plastic pollution
Microplastics: accurate accounting methods and analytical tools related to throughput, detection limits,
precision and quality are limited
Submicro- and nanoplastics: lack of sampling and analytical methods
Polymer identification is complex and time consuming for micrometre range particles
Fragmented scientific knowledge (scale of plastic pollution, microplastics, scientific/technical basis for
monitoring, coordination on data)
Lack of consistent toxicity impacts of plastic; lack of risk assessment for plastics
Little understanding of the fate of marine litter and where it accumulates
Unknown effects on human health of ingestion of plastic-contaminated seafood
580
Little knowledge of the contribution and impacts of ALDFG and aquaculture-related marine litter
Knowledge of the degradation of plastics and the leaching of additives or other chemical classes in different
environments remains limited
Scope and granularity of computational models are insufficiently developed

Knowledge gaps regarding economic impacts of plastics on fisheries, tourism, maritime transportation
Links between marine litter fluxes and regional economy poorly understood
Capacity-building gaps
Monitoring not in place in many parts of the world
Technical difficulties in locating accumulation areas and specific types of litter (ALDFG)
Technological shortcomings
Economic evaluation methodologies need to incorporate costs of plastic in the environment
Lack of integrated decision-making on different levels and coordination in the establishment and
implementation of programmes including measures targeting regional priorities
Weak enforcement of measures
Insufficient/inefficient waste treatment infrastructures and policies; inexistent waste management in many
parts of the world
Strong regional disparities between urban and rural areas
Poor storm-water management
Inadequate infrastructures for waste collection, management, recycling, port reception
Recyclability must be improved
Awareness, information and education must be improved
1
2 2. Dumping at sea (including garbage from ships and sewage sludge)
3
4 2.1. Introduction
5
6 Dumping is any deliberate disposal into the sea of wastes or other matter from vessels,
7 aircraft, platforms or other human-made structures, according to Article 1, para. 5 (a), of the
8 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),204 the Convention on the
9 Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1972 (the London
10 Convention, LC), and the 1996 London Protocol (LP) thereto. Dumping, for the purpose of
11 the present Chapter, is operational discharges from vessels or offshore installations, pipeline
12 discharges from industry, coasts or cities, wastes discharged into rivers and out to sea, as well
13 as placement of matter for a purpose other than disposal, provided that such placement is not
14 contrary to the aims of the London Convention.
204
Ibid., vol. 1833, No. 31363.
581
1
2 Dumping of substances such as dredged material, sewage sludge, industrial waste, fish waste,
3 discharges from vessels and human-made structures, organic and inorganic chemicals,
4 radioactive material, war explosives and military chemicals has impacted the marine
5 ecosystems and created environmental challenges (OSPAR, 2010b, IMO, 2018). In addition
6 to UNCLOS, the London Convention and London Protocol provide provisions for controlling
7 dumping and incineration of wastes at sea in order to counter the environmental challenges
8 resulting therefrom (IMO, 2018). Additionally, many countries have developed regional
9 initiatives and approaches to control and assess waste dumping. Initiatives have also been
10 taken under the framework of the Stockholm205 and Basel206 Conventions to address the
11 control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal, as well as to
12 protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants.
13
14 2.2. Situation recorded in WOA I
15
16 Chapter 24 of WOA I on solid waste disposal (United Nations, 2017a) outlined the regulatory
17 system relating to dumping and important international milestones, such as the adoption of
18 the London Convention and London Protocol. An overview of the regulatory techniques and
19 the waste streams covered under both instruments was provided, as well as efforts made to
20 understand the quantity and nature of waste and other matter being dumped. WOA I (United
21 Nations, 2017b) also identified concerns about under-reporting by many Contracting Parties
22 to the London Convention and London Protocol, leading to difficulties in deriving a clear
23 picture for assessing regime implementation and understanding waste dumping status.
24
25 2.3. Changes in the state of dumping at sea
26 The LP prohibited all dumping of waste, except for a limited number of categories such as:
27 (a) dredged material; (b) sewage sludge; (c) fish waste, or material resulting from industrial
28 fish processing operations; (d) vessels and platforms or other human-made structures at sea;
29 (e) inert, inorganic geological material; (f) organic material of natural origin; and (g) bulky
30 items primarily comprising iron, steel, concrete and similar non-harmful materials for which
31 the concern is physical impact (IMO, 2018).
32
33 To counter the environmental challenges resulting from waste dumping, the London
34 Convention and London Protocol provided much needed provisions for controlling
35 unregulated dumping and incineration of wastes at sea. These regulatory requirements have
36 been amended on several occasions (IMO, 2018). Additionally, many countries have
37 developed regional initiatives and approaches to control and assess waste dumping activities.
38
39 Changes in the overall waste dumping status can be understood by reviewing waste dumping
40 data published and permits issued under the London Convention and London Protocol (IMO,
41 2019). The following sections provide an overview for each of the solid waste dumping
42 categories.
43
205
Ibid., vol. 2256, No. 40214.
206
Ibid., vol. 1673, No. 28911.
582
1 2.3.1. Sewage sludge dumping

2
3 Sewage sludge dumping impacts sediment quality, benthic assemblages, aquatic flora and
4 fauna and, in general, the whole marine ecosystem. Excessive nutrient loads from sewage
5 discharges can lower oxygen contents in water, cause marine life mortality and destroy entire
6 habitats and ecosystems (see Chapter 10 of the present Assessment). A total of 13
7 Contracting Parties reported disposal of sewage sludge for the period from 1976–2016, with a
8 total amount of 393 x 106 tonnes (IMO, 2019). Figure 3 shows that dumping has declined
9 dramatically to the point that many Contracting Parties prohibit the activity and very few
10 report disposal operations. In 2011, a total of 0.6 million tonnes were dumped while, in 2016,
11 the amount was only 0.00041 million tonnes.
12
25
Sewage sludge
(million tons)
20
15
10
5
0
1975 1995 2015
Year
13
14 Figure 3. Amount of sewage sludge dumped (IMO, 2019).
15
16 In 2016, the International Maritime Organization published a report of the current state of
17 knowledge regarding marine litter in wastes dumped at sea under the London Convention and
18 London Protocol. It aimed to review whether sewage sludge or dredged material contained
19 marine litter, according to litter types, properties and quantities. The review concluded that
20 such an assessment was currently difficult due to an overall shortage of data, differences in
21 methodology and reporting and the lack of systematic sampling in space and time (IMO,
22 2016a).
23
24 2.3.2. Discharge from vessels and human-made structures at sea
25
26 Vessels have been disposed of to create reefs (Hess and others, 2001). It is estimated that
27 approximately 22 Contracting Parties to LC and LP reported disposing of 758 vessels from
28 1976–2010 (IMO, 2016a). Other disposal vectors from vessels include material for scientific
29 experiments (IMO, 2016b).
30
31 2.3.3. Dumping of organic and inorganic wastes
32
33 Organic and inorganic wastes have long been disposed of in the sea, primarily into rivers and
34 estuaries that empty into the ocean. Many nations continue to use the ocean as an ongoing
35 depository for certain wastes generated within their borders. A total of 15 Contracting Parties
36 to the London Convention and London Protocol reported disposing of inert, inorganic
37 geological material at sea for the period from 1983–2010, with a total amount of 315,227 x
38 106 tonnes (Figure 4) (IMO, 2016a). In 2011, 3.82248 million tons were dumped, with 1.453,
39 725 million tons in 2013 and 1.229620 million tons in 2016 (Figure 4).
583
160
140
Inert inorganic geological

material (million tons)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2013
Year
1
2 Figure 4. Amount of inert, inorganic geological material licensed (IMO, 2019).
3
4 Also, a total of 17 Contracting Parties to the London Convention and London Protocol
5 reported disposing of organic material of natural origin at sea for the period from 1977–2010,
6 with a total amount, including spoilt cargo (consisting of organic material of natural origin),
7 of 37,628 x 106 tonnes (IMO, 2016a). Spoilt cargo was reported as disposed of at sea (total
8 amount of 31,833 x 106 tonnes) by seven Contracting Parties from 2003 to 2010 (IMO,
9 2016a).
10
11 2.3.4. Dumping of industrial wastes and war chemicals
12
13 Twenty-three contracting parties reported disposal of industrial wastes at sea from 1976 to
14 1995 (232 x 106 tonnes). These wastes included scrapped vessels, waste explosives in
15 concrete, sludge, waste acids or alkali, cattle industry waste, glass dust, industrial dust,
16 ceramics, ammunition, concrete pipes, demolition rubble, sodium hydrosulphite, sludge
17 containing heavy metals and fluorides, titanium oxide production waste, chlorophenol
18 production waste, chromate production waste, gunpowder, fly ash, fermentation waste and
19 potassium mining waste (IMO, 2019).
20
21 War explosives and military chemicals dumped at sea also present significant risk to the
22 marine ecosystem and for various users of the sea (Figure 5). Environmental samples
23 typically show low concentrations of munitions compounds in water and sediments (in the
24 order of ng/L and μg/kg, respectively), and ecological risk appears generally low (HELCOM,
25 2013, OSPAR, 2010a). Nonetheless, recent work demonstrates the possibility of sub-lethal
26 genetic and metabolic effects in aquatic organisms (Beck and others, 2018).
27
584
1
2
3 Figure 5. Global distribution of documented marine sites with munitions present (figure modified by Beck and
4 others, 2018). Letters refer to literature references cited in Beck and others, 2018.
5
6 Moreover, the catching of munitions in fisher nets, the interaction of explosives with
7 submarine infrastructure or offshore installations, as well as related material floating to the
8 surface, can lead to accidental burning or explosions (OSPAR, 2010a).
9
10 2.3.5. Incineration at sea
11
12 Incineration at sea is the disposal of waste at sea, by specially designed incinerator ships, by
13 burning organochlorine compounds and other toxic wastes that are difficult to dispose of.
14 Amendments to the London Convention which entered into force in 1994 banned the
15 incineration at sea of industrial wastes but incineration did not end until 2000 (IMO, 2016a).
16
17 2.4. Factors associated with changes
18
19 The present section looks at various factors that led to changes in dumping practices, namely,
20 (i) factors that triggered increased dumping activities in the past, and (ii) sustained actions
21 taken to mitigate this grave environmental issue. For centuries, communities have disposed of
22 wastes in the ocean and seas, assuming that they are convenient and safe dumping grounds
23 for diverting land-based pollution. Factors such as ignorance, negligence and a lack of proper
24 waste disposal systems played an important role in these harmful waste dumping practices, as
25 did the lack of strict regulations and monitoring.
26
27 Improved scientific understanding, awareness amongst scientific communities and increased
28 government participation, along with growing global concerns, increased the need for
29 international instruments to regulate the dumping of waste in the ocean (IMO, 2018). In
30 addition to UNCLOS, the regulatory measures undertaken within the London Convention and
31 London Protocol were important factors in improving the dumping situation.
32
33 Generic and comprehensive guidelines have been developed for all wastes that may be
34 considered for dumping at sea (OSPAR, 2016b; IMO, 2018). Also, guidance on the national
35 implementation of the London Protocol has been developed and updated and provides an
36 outline of the types of action that States should consider at the national level. Based on the
37 under-reporting issues highlighted in WOA I, Contracting Parties to the London Protocol and
585
1 London Convention took further action to address the situation, including the adoption a
2 strategic plan (IMO, 2019).
3
4 2.5. Impacts of changes on/interactions with other components of the
5 marine system
6
7 The impacts of discharged materials on the marine ecosystem are the crux of the global solid
8 waste dumping issue. Due to the dynamic nature of the ocean, determining the fate of various
9 dumped materials is a challenging task. Also, the existence of different pollution sources and
10 the complexity associated with tracking down specific contaminants, make it difficult to
11 establish the extent to which ocean dumping contributes to observed ecological effects and
12 impacts. In general, dumping effects depend upon the type, quantity and quality of waste
13 materials as well as the characteristics of impacted areas of the ocean. In addition, the
14 duration of the extended time period of dumping practices contributes to these ecological
15 effects. To comprehend the dynamics, it is necessary to understand the possible impacts of
16 major waste categories on marine components, as well as how changes in dumping practices
17 are alleviating these problems (IMO, 2018).
18
19 Solid waste dumping in the ocean and seas can have varied impacts on the marine ecosystem,
20 flora and fauna, as well as human beings relying on saline water sources. These may include,
21 inter alia, chemical pollution (see Chapter 11 of the present Assessment), nutrients pollution
22 and eutrophication (see Chapter 10), water quality degradation, depletion of water oxygen
23 levels, suffocation of marine creatures, decreased submerged vegetation, poisoning and death
24 of oceanic plants and animals and human health hazards. While different pollution pathways
25 and associated sources exist, solid waste dumping actions carry their share of responsibility
26 for the burden on the ocean and seas (IMO, 2018).
27
28 2.6. Ecosystem and socioeconomic consequences of continued changes in
29 the system
30
31 In the ocean, undesired shifts between ecosystem states are caused by the combination of
32 external forces impacting on and the internal resilience of the system. As resilience declines,
33 the ecosystem becomes vulnerable and, as a consequence, progressively smaller external
34 events can cause shifts. Thus, anthropogenic actions leading to perturbation increase the
35 likelihood of undesired regime shifts (Scheffer and others, 2001).
36
37 Just as there is limited knowledge of socioeconomic consequences, the same holds true when
38 assessing the consequences of continued change in the system. Ecosystem state shifts can
39 cause large losses in terms of ecological and economic resources. Restoring a desired state
40 may require drastic and expensive intervention. One estimate suggests that removing litter
41 from South Africa’s wastewater streams would cost about 279 million United States dollars
42 per year (Lane and others, 2007). With regard to other waste streams, there are significant
43 gaps in knowledge of socioeconomic consequences and in knowledge of market-based
44 instruments.
586
1 2.7. Relevance to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

2 (SDGs)193
3
4 The issue of waste dumping is closely connected to SDG 14, in particular, Targets 14.1 and
5 14.c. In the context of the present Chapter, the relevant objectives of SDG 14 are also linked
6 with SDG 12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, as well as SDG
7 11 on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. There
8 has been a considerable amount of work undertaken to further support integration of the
9 SDGs among sectors, which might have a spill-over effect on dumping at sea. Most notably,
10 the Global Partnership on Waste Management (UNEP, 2010) is an important convergence
11 and integration nexus, particularly as its six thematic areas include integrated waste
12 management, marine litter and waste minimization.
13
14 2.8. Outlook
15
16 Drivers for change in reference to dumping are associated with modifications to production
17 and consumption patterns of the materials that are currently dumped in the ocean. Whereas
18 different and distinct waste streams are covered under the London Convention and London
19 Protocol, each stream is associated with separate industries and drivers that might lead to
20 change. Therefore, changing production and consumption patterns need to be inclusive of
21 different stakeholders from a diverse set of industries.
22
23 The Strategic Plan, adopted in 2016 at the thirty-eighth Consultative Meeting of Contracting
24 Parties to the London Convention and eleventh Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London
25 Protocol, provides some indication of near- to medium-term development with regard to
26 dumping (IMO, 2018). The plan outlines four strategic directions. Strategic Direction (SD) 1
27 aims to promote ratification of or accession to the London Protocol and outlines a target
28 substantially to increase the rate per year of new ratifications or accessions thereto. SD 2 aims
29 to enhance effective implementation of the London Protocol and London Convention through
30 provision of technical assistance and support to Contracting Parties, the development of
31 guidance and measures to support implementation by addressing regulatory, scientific and
32 technical barriers, encourage and facilitate improved compliance, including reporting, as well
33 as encourage and facilitate participation of Contracting Parties in the work of both
34 instruments. SD 3 aims to promote the work of the London Protocol and London Convention
35 externally, and SD 4 aims to identify and address emerging issues in the marine environment
36 within the scope of both instruments. To that end, several graded targets have been
37 formulated, whereby, by 2030, 100 per cent of Contracting Parties should be meeting their
38 reporting obligations and should have a national authority in place and appropriate legislative
39 or regulatory authority to implement LC and LP.
40
41 Future goals under both LC and LP are the regulation of ocean fertilization and
42 geoengineering and a review of the impacts of new marine “geoengineering” technologies.
43 Further work is envisaged on the basis of IMO-LP/UN/GESAMP collaboration on mine
44 tailings, habitat destruction/restoration and marine litter, in order to address gaps in the
45 international legal framework. Also, easy online reporting will be introduced, a database will
46 be established, and monitoring activities will be reviewed. Lastly, the environmental effects
47 of chemical munitions dumped at sea will be addressed.
48
587
1 2.9. Key remaining knowledge and capacity-building gaps

2
3 Since the adoption of UNCLOS and LC and LP, regulations for solid waste disposal at sea
4 have been introduced by coastal States and significant progress has been made (IMO, 2018).
5 However, due to substantial under-reporting by many Contracting Parties and a lack of
6 published data, it is difficult to track implementation and understand the current extent of the
7 challenge before us.
8
9 Knowledge gaps include:
10
11 • Scale of impacts of dumped fibreglass reinforced plastic (FRP) vessels.
12 • Socioeconomic impacts of all waste streams that are allowed to be dumped,
13 including the legacy of dumping activities.
14 • Understanding of the impacts of relevant policies on dumping activities and
15 marine environmental impacts (such as waste policies).
16 • Understanding of the extent and impact of marine litter contained in dumped
17 sewage sludge.
18 • Cumulative impacts of current and dumping activities and prevailing pollution
19 from other sources.
20
21 Capacity-building gaps include:
22
23 • Monitoring (and reporting) of dumping activities.
24 • Understanding of the impacts of land-based activities on the amount of waste
25 streams dumped in the ocean.
26 • New techniques to manage the risks associated with dumped munitions, the
27 development of guidelines on encounters with munitions (such as individuals
28 working in the fishing industry, techniques for safe removal and the monitoring of
29 possible effects of dumped munitions.
30 • Development of sustainable alternatives to ocean-based dumping or prevention of
31 the need for dumping by changing production patterns.
32
33 While the dumping of most allowable waste streams has been significantly reduced, other
34 waste streams may increase. Distant areas of the world are also increasingly connected as
35 consumption, production and governance decisions influence materials, waste, energy and
36 information flows in other countries, which can generate aggregate economic gains while
37 shifting economic and environmental costs. With over 60 per cent of the urban infrastructure
38 expected to exist by 2050 yet to be built, understanding the role of dumping activities from
39 urban construction and development activities is crucial. The land-ocean impacts of these
40 activities on the marine environment need to be considered.
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Chapter 13
Changes in Erosion and Sedimentation
Convenor: Ca Thanh Vu (Lead Member); Contributors: Paulette Bynoe, Trang Duong, Matt
Eliot, Frank Hall, Roshanka Ranasinghe, Matthieu de Schipper, Joshua Tuhumwire (Co-Lead
Member)
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Coastal erosion can lead to coastal retreat, habitat destruction and loss of land
4 resulting in significant negative ecological and socioeconomic impacts on the global
5 coastal zone.
6 • Sediment supplies and transfers determine coastal morphology and dynamics, which
7 influence the nature and health of coastal ecosystems. Human activities affecting
8 sediment dynamics, both on the coast and on land, modify the naturally occurring
9 patterns of erosion and sedimentation.
10 • Globally, abstraction or interruption of sediment supplies to the coast has been
11 increasing, through upstream dams, as well as coastal and river sand mining. Reduced
12 sediment supply enhances shoreline retreat.
13 • Results of recent investigations reveal that, at approximately 15 per cent of all sandy
14 beaches worldwide, the shoreline has been retreating with an average trend of 1
15 m/year or more over the last 33 years, while almost half of the world’s sandy beaches
16 are stable.
17 • Many areas of observed historical shoreline advance are related to reclamation and
18 impoundment by coastal structures. These human activities modify coastal dynamics,
19 typically resulting in downdrift erosion.
20 • Climate change impacts, including sea level rise and potential increases in the
21 frequency and intensity of severe tropical and extra-tropical storms, can accelerate
22 coastal erosion. Human activities have focused impacts on deltas and adjacent coasts,
23 with potentially severe impacts on other coastal systems such as sand spits, barrier
24 islands and wave-dominated estuaries.
25
26 1. Introduction
27
28 Chapter 26 of the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017a) briefly
29 discusses coastal erosion and subsequent damage to coastal properties. In particular, section 5
30 of the chapter deals with the issue of reduced riverine sediment transport due to land-use
31 change, upstream dams, water abstraction and flood management activities, with consequent
32 coastal erosion, as well as increased sedimentation due to catchment disturbances, such as
33 land clearing and soil displacement. However, the chapter contains limited discussion of
34 wider causes, geographic distributions and impacts of coastal erosion and sedimentation,
35 effects of increased use of coastal protection structures, impacts of coastal erosion on coastal
36 ecological systems, and capacity for modelling and forecasting coastal erosion and
37 sedimentation.
38
39 The present Chapter addresses the above-mentioned gaps, with a particular focus on trends
40 and changes to coastal erosion and sedimentation patterns over the period 2010–2020,
41 following the baseline state described by WOA I (United Nations, 2017b). Aspects that have
596
1 been considered include changes in river management that alter the sediment supply to the
2 coasts; sand mining, dredging and disposal of dredged materials; changes in coastal
3 infrastructures affecting coastal sediment transport processes; coastal erosion and
4 sedimentation in respect of coastal and ocean ecological systems and social economics
5 (natural resources/capital, livelihood and well-being); management practices for coastal
6 erosion and sedimentation prevention; and advances in knowledge and capacity that have
7 contributed to the evaluation of the change in state.
8
9 2. Changes in state of coastal erosion and sedimentation
10
11 Factors that influence coastal erosion and sedimentation encompass characteristics of coastal
12 sediment, exchanges between the land, coast and shelf, and geomorphic responses to oceanic
13 forcing. Human activities may both substantially influence and be affected by coastal erosion
14 and sedimentation (Angamuthu and others, 2018; Mentaschi and others, 2018).
15
16 Modern evaluation of change to deltaic sediment supply was undertaken using satellite
17 imagery approaches with consideration of sediment trapping on the floodplain or estuaries
18 (Nyberg and others, 2018); relative distribution between shelf and coast; and fluvial sediment
19 mobility compared with in situ material on muddy, sandy or rocky coasts. Factors that
20 influence geographically variable shoreline responses to sediment availability include
21 underlying geological frameworks, wave action, tidal hydrodynamics, aeolian processes and
22 ecomorphodynamic feedbacks such as for dunes or mangroves (Moore and others, 2018).
23
24 Widespread impacts due to human activities can occur if alongshore sediment transport is
25 disrupted by installation of coastal structures or sand mining (ICES, 2016). Further, coastal
26 areas identified as sensitive to projected, rapid sea level rise include coastal wetlands, barrier
27 coasts, deltas and small islands (Nicholls and others, 1999).
28
29 Until recently, there has been no reliable global-scale assessment of the occurrence of sandy
30 beaches or their rates of shoreline morphologic change. Exploiting the increased availability
31 of satellite images, advanced image processing analysis techniques and computing resources,
32 Luijendijk and others (2018a) presented an up-to-date global assessment of the occurrence
33 and evolution of sandy shorelines using a fully automated analysis of 33 years (1984–2016)
34 of satellite imagery. Their analysis showed that 31 per cent of the ice-free world shoreline is
35 sandy, with the highest presence of sandy beaches reported in Africa (66 per cent).
36
37 2.1. Changes in drivers
38
39 Human civilizations originated and thrived in the flood plains and the deltaic coastal zones of
40 the world’s large rivers, which are now inhabited by about 2.7 billion people (Best, 2019).
41 The rapid increase in demand for water, food, land and power has led to human interventions,
42 such as the construction of large dams, deforestation, intensive agriculture expansion,
43 urbanization, infrastructural construction, sand mining, etc. that have placed these systems
44 under immense stress, leading to large-scale and irreversible changes.
45
46 According to the International Commission on Large Dams (2018), globally, there are
47 59,071 dams with heights of more than 15 m and related reservoirs of more than 3 million
48 cubic metres. The largest density of hydropower dams is found in South America, South Asia
49 and Northern Europe, with the largest dams built, under construction or planned for the
597
1 Mekong River Basin, the Amazon River Basin and the Congo River Basin (Kondolf and
2 others, 2014; Warner and others, 2019).
3
4 The construction of dams and reservoirs can reduce sediment supply to the coast by more
5 than 50 per cent (Besset and others, 2019), leading to erosion of deltas and adjacent coasts.
6 The reduction in sediment supply to the coasts is expected largely to increase in the twenty-
7 first century (Dunn and others, 2018) with the value of 50 to 100 per cent (Kondolf and
8 others, 2014; Besset and others, 2019). For example, in the Pearl River, China, the
9 construction of two mega dams (Yangtan and Longtan) has reduced the fluvial sediment
10 supply to the coast by 70 per cent over the period 1992–2013 (Ranasinghe and others, 2019).
11 Kondolf and others (2014) found that seven dams were being built by China in the
12 mainstream of the Upper Mekong River and another 133 dams were planned for the Lower
13 Mekong River or its tributaries. Under a “definite future”, if 38 of the dams that are planned
14 or under construction are actually completed, cumulative sediment reduction to the Mekong
15 Delta would be 51 per cent; and if all dams that are planned and under construction are
16 completed, there would be a cumulative sediment reduction to the Mekong Delta of 96 per
17 cent. This would lead to a serious decay of mangrove systems and, as a consequence, erosion
18 of the coast and irreversible changes in the surrounding ecosystem.
19
20 Sand mined from rivers, beaches and coastal seabeds is used for land reclamation, beach
21 nourishment and industry (Bendixen and others, 2019). This removes significant amounts of
22 sand that would otherwise contribute to littoral transport, consequently resulting in a coastal
23 sediment deficit (Montoi and others, 2017) and impacting coastal morphology (ICES, 2016;
24 Abam and Oba, 2018). Presently, coastal beach and seabed sand mining is common practice
25 and sometimes illegal in many countries. Sand mining in general is known to take place in
26 73 countries on 5 continents,207 although there is no reliable figure on the practice worldwide
27 (Peduzzi, 2014; Jayappa and Deepika, 2018).
28
29 2.2. Changes in pressure
30
31 Economics and population growth commonly drive human occupation of the coastal zone,
32 offset by socioeconomic costs of coastal management and adverse effects upon coastal
33 ecosystem services. The balance between these pressures is commonly challenged by
34 jurisdictional or economic divisions, with benefits and impacts often separated
35 geographically (e.g. updrift accretion and downdrift erosion affect different communities), or
36 occurring over different time scales (e.g. building a seawall may defer erosion pressure by a
37 generation, but may effectively commit a community to subsequent construction of additional
38 or larger works).
39
40 Secular changes to erosion and sedimentation may exceed the tolerance of coastal systems to
41 adjust. For natural systems, this can lead to a loss of ecosystem services (Xu and others,
42 2019). Human activities may be intolerant of coastal dynamics, such as infrastructure that
43 may be damaged or lose function due to changing shoreline or seabed position. The perceived
44 need to respond to erosion or sedimentation generally depends on the nature of human
45 activities in the coastal zone:
207
See https://maritimereview.ph/2018/03/23/the-impacts-of-global-sand-mining/.
598
1 • Port facilities, including harbour basins and navigable access channels, typically
2 extend across the bulk of the active coastal zone. Retention of port functions
3 frequently requires coastal sediment management using breakwaters and dredging
4 (see also Chapter 14 of the present Assessment).
5 • Substantial urban growth has occurred along coasts since the 1950s, with the number
6 of coastal cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants increasing from 472 in 1950 to
7 2,129 in 2012 (Barragán and Andrés, 2015) (see also Chapter 14).
8 • Coastal management responses vary substantially, depending upon economics,
9 legislation and social values, and are broadly classified into strategies of protection;
10 accommodation; managed retreat; and sacrifice (Williams and others, 2018).
11 • Rural sensitivity to erosion and sedimentation is typically determined by impacts to
12 drainage and flood mitigation structures (Hou and others 2016). As these are
13 commonly located in the supratidal zone, their sensitivity to coastal change is not
14 always apparent.
15
16 2.3. Changes in state
17
18 The assessment of global shoreline changes to estimate annual erosion and deposition rates
19 was mainly based on medium and high-resolution satellite images, a method is prone to
20 errors, mostly pixel error related to the resolution of the images analysed.
21
22 Besset and others (2019) examined the coastal area changes of 54 selected world deltas over
23 30 years based on literature and analysis of satellite imagery. They found that 29 deltas are in
24 overall retreat, 18 shorelines are advancing, and 7 do not show any significant change.
25
26 Luijendijk and others (2018a), using Landsat images and supervised classification algorithms
27 for shoreline detection, found that that 24 per cent of the world’s sandy beaches were
28 retreating at a rate greater than 0.5 m/year over the period 1984–2016, while 28 per cent are
29 advancing and 48 per cent are stable, and about 7 per cent are experiencing severe retreating
30 rates, with rates exceeding 5 m/year along 4 per cent of the sandy shoreline and rates greater
31 than 10 m/year along 2 per cent of global sandy shorelines (Figure 1). Most of the observed
32 shoreline displacement can be associated with sediment loss or gain and, thus, shoreline
33 change can be used as an erosion/accretion proxy. Moreover, Luijendijk and others (2018a)
34 also show that 16 per cent (18 per cent) of sandy beaches are experiencing erosion (accretion)
35 rates that are greater than 1 m/year over the period 1984–2016. However, around 8 per cent
36 of the world’s sandy beaches experience accretion rates exceeding 3 m/year, while 6 per cent
37 (3 per cent) are accreting more than 5 m/year (10 m/year). Continental Australia and Africa
38 are experiencing net erosion (0.20 m/year and -0.07 m/year, respectively), while all other
39 continents appear to be experiencing net accretion. Asia is the continent with the largest
40 advancing rate (1.27 m/year), which is probably due to large land reclamations in the last few
41 decades in China, Singapore, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Relatively high erosion
42 rates are also seen at latitudes just south of the equator associated with large-scale land losses
43 adjacent to the mouth of the Amazon River. Finally, about 7 per cent of the world’s sandy
44 beaches experience severe erosion.
599
1
2 Figure 1. Global hotspots of beach erosion and accretion; the red (green) circles indicate erosion (accretion) for
3 the four relevant shoreline dynamic classifications (see legend). The bar plots to the right and at the bottom
4 present the relative occurrence of eroding (accreting) sandy shorelines per degree latitude and longitude,
5 respectively. The numbers presented in the main plot represent the average change rate for all sandy shorelines
6 per continent. Figure taken from Luijendijk and others (2018a).
7
8 As a result of climate change, especially with the projected rise in sea level and increased
9 frequency and severity of extreme waves, changes in coastal erosion and sedimentation
10 patterns are likely to occur globally.
11
12 2.4. Changes in impacts
13
14 Coastal erosion and sedimentation pose severe risks to coastal infrastructure, property,
15 economic activities and ecological systems, and adaptation calls for significant investment.
16 There is a tendency towards increasing coastal erosion damage at specific areas which
17 severely impact coastal socioeconomic activities and properties (Gopalakrishnan and others,
18 2016; Nguyen and others, 2018). The projection is for coastal erosion and sedimentation
19 damage risks to multiply in the future with the increase in the number of upstream dams and
20 climate change (Dunn and others, 2019).
21
22 Ecosystem impacts from coastal erosion and sedimentation can be substantial, particularly if
23 there is a transformation from long-term accretion to erosion. Coastal wetlands are at
24 significant risk, as many of these developed during the relative mean sea level standstill of
25 the late Holocene (Jones and others, 2019). Other geomorphic features sensitive to changing
26 patterns of erosion and sedimentation include mangrove coasts, barrier coasts and small
27 islands. There is a high risk of ecological disturbance for organisms that exclusively use the
28 coastal zone for nesting or nurseries, with increased proliferation of human-occupied and
29 modified shorelines also reducing the overall bioproductivity of the coastal zone (Rangel-
30 Buitrago and others, 2018b).
31
32 Major socioeconomic impacts will occur at locations where erosion coincides with high
33 population density. Existing problems have been identified adjacent to the Ganges-
34 Brahmaputra, Mekong, Huang He, Yangtze, Volta and Mississippi deltas. For other parts of
35 the coast, management of erosion hazards by engineering interventions requires long-term
600
1 commitments to the maintenance and upgrading of coastal defensive works, with potential
2 risk to human safety and livelihoods if defences are subject to decline.
3
4 Local sea level rise and storminess may show significant differences between regions. Based
5 on long-term satellite data, wave height shows an overall global increase (Young and Ribal,
6 2019), but large regional differences are reported; from large changes in the Southern Ocean
7 to negligible effects in the North Sea (de Winter and others, 2012). These spatial variations
8 are likely to result in regional variations in erosion and sedimentation (Brown and others,
9 2016).
10
11 2.5. Changes in response
12
13 Coastal erosion and sediment management practices have progressively matured from being
14 almost wholly responsive to external changes and have gone beyond the limited concept of
15 coastal stabilization and arrived at recognition of the need for coastal resilience, using
16 adaptive management and assessing the coast with a more holistic, longer term perspective
17 (Rangel-Buitrago and others, 2018b).
18
19 With consideration of larger, coastal-scale studies, an initial change from local-scale
20 stabilization through to regional assessment of erosion and accretion has been followed by
21 recognition that conditions may be variable, with potential for complex interactions between
22 sedimentary coastal features (French and others, 2016; Psuty and others, 2018).
23 Interconnections between coastal sediment supply and transport have been demonstrated over
24 large scales and may occur over hundreds of kilometres and are likely to be further
25 complicated by the potential impacts of projected sea level rise and other climate change-
26 driven variations. This, therefore, requires consideration of changing modal conditions and
27 may introduce substantial uncertainty into future coastal change, leading to increased
28 consideration of coastal resilience and application of adaptive design (Wright and Thom,
29 2019).
30
31 A major outcome of bigger-picture understanding has been demonstrated by changes in the
32 applied scales of beach nourishment. This technique has expanded a further scale with the
33 Sand Engine concept, which involves both onshore and nearshore placement of sediment,
34 allowing natural hydrodynamics to redistribute sediment along the shore and over a sustained
35 period of time (Stive and others, 2013; de Schipper and others, 2016; Luijendijk and others,
36 2018b).
37
38 Recent developments in practice have involved supplementing structural engineering
39 approaches with “softer” or “greener” forms of coastal stabilization, which aim both to
40 increase ecological co-benefits and utilize resilient attributes of natural systems, such as
41 adaptive capacity displayed by coastal dunes or disturbance-recovery behaviour demonstrated
42 by coastal wetlands and mangrove forests (Narayan and others, 2016; Reguero and others,
43 2018).
44
45 There is also an emerging trend towards probabilistic analysis frameworks, instead of the
46 traditional deterministic approach, which take into account the uncertainties associated with
47 climate change impacts to facilitate risk-informed decision making (Wainwright and others,
48 2014; Jongejan and others, 2016).
601
1 3. Consequences of the changes on human communities, economies and

2 well-being
3
4 3.1. Currently observed consequences
5
6 Coastal erosion and sedimentation continue to pose severe threats to the livelihood and well-
7 being of coastal resource-dependent households, damaging ecosystems and causing
8 environmental stress. The closeness of human and ecological systems, and the risks created
9 by problems of accelerated erosion and sedimentation, are evident in many areas all over the
10 world (Jones and others, 2019). Further, erosion and sedimentation have physical and
11 chemical consequences for water quality and the health of fragile aquatic ecological systems
12 (Prosser and others, 2018).
13
14 Coastal erosion and sedimentation can have serious implications for achieving the integrated
15 set of global priorities and objectives set out under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
16 Development, especially Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 and SDG 15.208 These
17 processes may damage coastal infrastructure and habitats and increase risks to coastal
18 communities, forcing adaptation and/or reallocation of coastal communities. Substantial
19 investment is therefore needed to upgrade coastal infrastructure and develop other
20 ecologically friendly management strategies that enable coastal communities to preserve the
21 coastline, properties and ecological systems.
22
23 4. Key region-specific changes and consequences
24
25 The diversity of coastal settings, relative fluvial sediment delivery and human activities or
26 regulations results in substantial differences in the causes and consequences of coastal
27 change. The Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean are not considered in this study since there
28 are insufficient data.
29
30 4.1. North Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean and
31 North Sea
32
33 Coasts of the North Atlantic, Mediterranean and adjacent seas are densely populated and
34 highly developed. Areas highly sensitive to coastal change include the extensively reclaimed
35 Netherlands shore, the subsiding Venetian coast and the barrier islands along the United
36 States Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico coasts. The high economic value of the
37 hinterland and coastal zone results in a low tolerance for erosion, and human interventions
38 are common. Widespread erosion has been observed along the Gulf coast, associated with
39 substantially reduced sediment load from the Mississippi River. An extensive decline of
40 fluvial sediment inputs has also been identified for major European river systems draining
41 into the Mediterranean which support productive wetland areas.
42
43 4.2. South Atlantic Ocean and Wider Caribbean
44
45 The South Atlantic Ocean and Wider Caribbean regions have densely populated coastal
46 cities, such as João Pessoa City, Brazil, and important coastal ecological systems, such as
208
602
1 Amazon mangrove forest, and sparsely populated coastal areas, such as the coasts of many
2 states in Southeast Africa. The input of sediments transported by rivers is limited to areas
3 near large basins such as the Amazon and Plata rivers. Reduction in sediment supply to the
4 coasts by upstream dam construction and beach sand extraction have caused serious coastal
5 erosion at various places, such as the coast of Ghana and many other places on the southwest
6 coast of Africa and east coast of South America. Locally, many coastal sectors used and still
7 prefer to use hard structures for erosion control which, in many cases, has exacerbated the
8 problem, as in Colombia (Rangel-Buitrago and others, 2018b) and Brazil (Bonetti and others,
9 2018), for example.
10
11 4.3. Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden
12 and Persian Gulf
13
14 Indian Ocean coasts include the east coast of Africa, southern coasts of the Middle East,
15 south Asia, the Indonesian archipelago, the west coast of Australia and Indian Ocean islands,
16 including Madagascar and Sri Lanka. Deltas of major rivers include the Ganges-
17 Brahmaputra, Indus, Ayeyarwady, Chao Phraya, Shatt-al-Arab, Zambezi and Limpopo, many
18 of which are highly dynamic and adjacent to high population areas. Africa, Australia and the
19 Middle East have predominantly arid sandy coasts, with barrier lagoons, estuaries and
20 extensive salt-flat coasts characteristic of the late Holocene sea level highstand that limit the
21 transfer of fluvial sediments to the coast. Substantial coastal engineering projects, including
22 construction of artificial islands through dredging and reclamation, have been undertaken
23 along the west and south Gulf coasts, particularly along the coast of the United Arab Emirates
24 (Peduzzi, 2014).
25
26 4.4. North Pacific Ocean
27
28 North Pacific coasts include the west coast of North America, the east coast of Asia and north
29 Pacific islands, comprising the Philippines, Japan and Hawaii. Areas of high population
30 density are found on the east coast of Asia, and coincide with significant coastal interventions
31 and declining sediment yield from major river systems of the Pearl, Yellow and Red Rivers.
32 North Pacific islands are highly sensitive to potential coastal change and impacts of severe
33 events, including typhoons and tsunamis. Also, deforestation is resulting in increased fluvial
34 sediment delivery to the coast associated with the Fly River, Papua New Guinea.
35
36 4.5. South Pacific Ocean
37
38 South Pacific coasts include the east coast of Australia, the west coast of South America and
39 shores of Pacific islands, including New Zealand, New Caledonia and numerous island and
40 archipelagic States. The continental coasts are characterized by their geological structure and
41 generally low volumes of fluvial sediment reaching the ocean, resulting in compartmentalized
42 coasts, with intermittent exchange related to along-shelf sediment transport (Thom and
43 others, 2018). Changes to relative sediment supply are therefore most apparent at regional
44 coastal sediment sinks and sources, with potential susceptibility of estuarine settings, barrier
45 coasts and coastal wetlands to sea level rise. Coastal change impacts identified throughout the
46 South Pacific are typically episodic, associated with extreme storms and tropical cyclones,
47 with more widespread pressure during phases of elevated mean sea level.
48
603
1 Pacific island coasts include volcanic landmasses, seamounts, uplifted limestone and coral
2 atolls. Sediment productivity is low, resulting in limited capacity for coastal adjustment to
3 projected sea level rise (Nunn and others, 2015), particularly for low-lying reclaimed areas.
4
5 5. Outlook
6
7 Human activities affecting the incidence of coastal erosion and sedimentation include the
8 substantial growth in the number and scale of dams on major waterways, land-use changes
9 leading to catchment deforestation and increased human occupation of the coastal zone,
10 coincident with a proliferation of coastal structures (Rangel-Buitrago and others, 2018a,
11 2018c). Evaluation of global coastal change is not sufficiently mature to establish metrics for
12 human-induced change to secular trends. However, identified hotspots of shoreline
13 displacement, mostly associated with coastal erosion and accretion, are areas that are strongly
14 linked to human activity, producing estimated 33-year trends exceeding 5 m/year for
15 approximately 5 per cent of the world’s coasts (Luijendijk and others, 2018a). Compared to
16 our knowledge of preceding conditions, substantial coastal erosion has been observed for a
17 majority of deltas due to a significant reduction in riverine sediment loads from 1970–2014
18 (Besset and others, 2019). Overall decreases in riverine sediment supply to the coast are
19 expected to reduce the stability of adjacent, downdrift coasts and, for parts of the coast, will
20 reverse long-term accretive trends. This will exacerbate the demand for coastal management
21 works and reduce the effectiveness of existing works, particularly those which act to
22 redistribute sediment supply. Further, this will increase the proliferation of coastal works,
23 historically developed through increased coastal population levels and corresponding low
24 tolerance for coastal change. As demonstrated by shoreline monitoring, increased
25 manipulation of coastal dynamics provides opportunities for substantial secular change to
26 coastal trends, including both accretion and erosion.
27
28 Climate change with sea level rise, more frequent and stronger typhoons and extreme weather
29 events, as well as other potential climate change-driven variations in system forcing, will
30 accelerate the coastal erosion rate in many areas. Thus, “soft” and “green” adaptive solutions,
31 risk-based planning and the concept of not only protecting, “against”, but choosing to “live
32 with” changes would be the best path towards sustainable development.
33
34 6. Key remaining knowledge and capacity-building gaps
35
36 At present, significant knowledge has been accumulated on the interaction of coastal dynamic
37 processes and sediment transport. However, the accuracy of models for sediment transport
38 and coastal erosion/sedimentation is still limited, so more research is needed. Also, more
39 information is needed on the extent of coastal erosion and for identification of appropriate
40 management strategies for coastal erosion and sedimentation, including alteration of riverine
41 sediment supply and impacts of different management strategies such as protection,
42 accommodation and retreat.
43
44 Although there have been substantial advances in data sets, particularly through satellite
45 imagery, the available data remain immature for local and regional decision-making, with
46 many requiring substantial further interpretation and better worldwide spatial resolution.
47 Better understanding of how to attribute driving processes and determine responses is
48 required. Further, quantified erosion or sedimentation rates need to be placed in the context of
49 thresholds for coastal ecosystems or morphologic systems. Interpretation of impacts from
50 changing fluvial sediment supply or application of coastal defence strategies both require
604
1 improved understanding of the spatial dimensions associated with alongshore redistribution

2 of available sediment supply, particularly in situations where this occurs across international
3 boundaries.
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607
Chapter 14
Changes in Coastal and Marine Infrastructure
Convenor: Ca Thanh Vu (Lead Member); Contributors: Sam Bentley, Lionel Carter,
Catherine Creese, Robert Dapa, Regina Folorunsho, Alan Simcock (Co-Lead Member), Alix
Willemez
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Coastal and marine infrastructures realize human activities and materialize use
4 functions of the system of coastal and marine natural resources.
5 • Infrastructures can influence natural systems and their use, and create pressures and
6 conflicts or favourable conditions.
7 • The years 2010 to 2020 saw a continuing trend of more newly developed and a
8 renovation or upgrade of marine and coastal infrastructure.
9 • The most significant changes are coastal and offshore land reclamation, especially in
10 East Asian countries, for new coastal urban development, and roads, coastal defence
11 structures and port and harbour and touristic facilities.
12 • Depending on the case, coastal and marine infrastructures may cause substantial
13 damage or reduce damage to coastal and marine ecosystems.
14 • The new coastal infrastructure development approach, known as “blue infrastructure
15 development” can harmonize coastal protection/development and habitat/ecological
16 protection, thereby reducing ecological damage.
17 • Coastal and marine infrastructure development in general has created new
18 opportunities for coastal dwellers and supported sustainable socioeconomic coastal
19 development.
20
21 1. Introduction
22
23 1.1. Scope
24
25 The present Chapter covers changes in coastal and marine infrastructure during the period
26 2010–2020 from the baseline described in the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I)
27 (United Nations, 2017).
28
29 1.2. The First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I)
30
31 Chapters 17–19, 26–28 and 30 of WOA I cover coastal and marine infrastructures, including:
32 waste receiving facilities at ports and their operation and impacts on the local marine
33 environment worldwide and contribution to economic activity; knowledge gaps and capacity-
34 building at ports, including improvement of operational skills; waste reception facilities;
35 capacity to examine dredged material for safe re-deposition in the sea; the history,
36 development and present state of submarine communications and power cables; the impacts
37 of submarine communications and power cables on the marine environment; the threat to
38 cables from the marine environment; capacity building on safe routing for submarine cables
39 and resolving the conflicting demands of these locations with other parties; land reclamation,
40 including present state, trend and socioeconomic and environmental impacts; tourism and
608
1 recreation with relating infrastructures, such as roads, ports, harbours and airports, and other
2 coastal infrastructures; sustainable tourism and capacity-building for tourism management;
3 desalination and related coastal infrastructures; ocean and coastal scientific research facilities;
4 and impacts of the coastal built environment on wildlife.
5
6 It is clear from WOA I that issues relating to marine and coastal infrastructures need to be
7 more systematically addressed. The present Chapter will fill in the gaps and provide
8 additional data for evaluating the trends in marine and coastal infrastructures, particularly for
9 the 2010–2020 period.
10
11 2. Documented change in state of marine and coastal infrastructures
12
13 2.1. Changes in land reclaimed from the sea
14
15 Coastal and marine land reclamation is the creation of land from the ocean or seas, mainly for
16 coastal and island cities with dense urbanization and a need for more space. Sengupta and
17 others (2018) reviewed land reclamation from the mid-1980s to present day in 16 coastal
18 megacities using Landsat TM satellite imagery. The largest land reclamation was observed in
19 China, in Shanghai (587 km2), Tianjin (488.91 km2) and Shenzen (86.38 km2). The total land
20 reclamation area of these three megacities is 1,196.29 km2, or about 93 per cent of the total
21 land reclamation area of the 16 coastal megacities studied. Based on current trends, more land
22 reclamation is expected in the near future.
23
24 2.2. Extent of new land defences against the sea, and extent of abandoned
25 sea defences
26
27 Common strategies for adaptation to coastal erosion include hard/soft protection
28 (hold/advance the line), accommodation, managed retreat and sacrifice (Williams and others,
29 2018).
30
31 The most primitive method for coastal protection, using hard structures, has evolved from
32 line protection to surface protection and, in addition to preventing storm surges and high
33 tides, aims to protect sandy beaches where there is reduced sediment supply to the coasts.
34 Typical coastal hard structure defences include seawalls, revetments, groins of various types,
35 onshore and detached breakwaters and headlands, which protect beaches from wave attack or
36 modify nearshore wave field and related sediment transport processes to create a new
37 sediment balance at coasts that favours sedimentation instead of erosion.
38
39 Improperly designed or ageing coastal defence structures cannot function properly and may
40 be abandoned or repaired. Causes of coastal defence structure degradation include damage
41 due to corrosion; structure sinking due to foundation liquidation under wave action; toe
42 scouring; wave overtopping; wave forces on structures; and sea level rise due to climate
43 change. It is very difficult to make decisions about removing degraded coastal protection
44 structures because they may already host endemic habitats with habitat value and the effects
45 of removal are difficult to predict. Thus, in many cases, degraded coastal structures are just
46 abandoned.
609
1 Hard coastal defence structures can effectively prevent natural hazards while protecting the
2 environment and natural habitats when being used in combination with natural barriers or
3 natural systems, such as mangrove or coral reef. These structures are often called “blue
4 structures”.
5
6 2.3. Extent of coastal development, including development for tourism:
7 roads, town sites, tourism and recreation facilities, ports and
8 harbours, artificial beaches, and other coastal development
9 structures
10
11 Coastal developments along estuaries and coastlines have become hotspots for population
12 explosion and magnets for various industries as well as non-industrial activities such as
13 residential, tourism and recreational development. Most cities transform into megacities
14 within a few years as a result of socioeconomic activities.
15
16 The endless demand for seafront living globally and the need for more port construction
17 aided the transformation of ocean floors and wetlands to harbours and coastal cities, like in
18 Queensland, Australia, Lagos, Nigeria, for example. Over time, these areas develop into
19 densely populated cities with road networks and businesses. Wealthier populations with
20 coastal and marine tourism and recreation demands also lead to a rapid development of
21 coastal tourism and recreation cities, such as on Asia-Pacific coasts and islands. Coastal
22 tourism also demands the creation of many artificial beaches worldwide, such as Waikiki
23 Beach in Hawaii, United States of America, and beaches in Singapore.
24
25 2.4. Other adaptations affecting coastal populations as a result of sea
26 level rise
27
28 Climate change and sea level rise will increase the risks of natural hazards to coasts (IPCC,
29 2019). Adaptation strategies will have to determine risks and develop and implement
30 management approaches to reduce to an acceptable level the risks to individuals,
31 communities and society at the coast and on the sea. Among common adaptation strategies,
32 accommodation and protection require the building or upgrading of present infrastructures, in
33 many cases in combination with restoration of coastal habitats/ecological systems.
34
35 2.5. Changes in port, harbour and marina installations and their
36 management, including dredging
37
38 According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD, 2018),
39 container transport is rapidly expanding and, in 2017, at the rate of 6 per cent, or 42.3 million
40 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). Port competition also heightened, thus providing
41 opportunities for shipping lines to improve management skills and increase bargaining power
42 and influence.
43
44 World-leading regions in terms of container port volume are Asia (63 per cent) and America
45 (16 per cent). Measured by total tons of all cargo handled, of the world’s top 10 ports, 8 were
46 in Asia, mainly China. Profit levels vary considerably between ports but averages across
47 volumes suggest that only four United States dollars are earned for each tonne of cargo
48 (UNCTAD, 2018). Employees are categorized across traditional lines that have yet to reflect
610
1 the technological shift in working methods and skill sets. While few new large seaports are
2 being planned or constructed, it was suggested that beyond 2020, 80 per cent of world trade
3 will be conducted through seaports which will require additional facilities.
4
5 Increasing fishing effort worldwide is leading to an increase in the number of fishing ports;
6 but as world ocean fisheries resources are decreasing, this trend cannot continue.
7
8 The global recreational boating market is also increasing. In 2009, the industry’s total
9 revenue was 18.12 billion dollars, increasing to 40 billion dollars in 2017, with a 2 per cent
10 growth rate from 2015 to 2017, and with the highest increase rate in North America and the
11 Asia-Pacific region.
12
13 Dredging to maintain or create/increase navigation depth in existing (regular operations,
14 renovation/expansion) or newly constructed ports, harbours and marinas is increasing in line
15 with the global economic growth rate (IADC, 2018).
16
17 2.6. Changes in submarine cables and submarine pipelines
18
19 After a marked decline in production between 2006 and 2010, from 2010 to 2018, the number
20 of kilometres of communications cables installed in all oceans has increased, with an average
21 rate of over 70,00 km per year. As of early 2018, there were approximately 448 submarine
22 cables with a length of over 1,000,000 km in service around the world. There has been a
23 noticeable increase in Oceania and Southeast Asia. Also, the growth of cables between
24 African States, as well as from Africa to Asia, Europe and South America, continued. Before
25 2009, only 16 African countries were connected to a submarine cable system. Currently, only
26 three coastal countries - Eritrea, Guinea Bissau and Western Sahara - have yet to be
27 connected. Over 50 submarine projects have been proposed so far for the period 2019–2021,
28 worth a total investment of around US7.2 billion dollars. About 30 per cent of the expected
29 deployment will be in the Pacific region. This is followed by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans
30 which are projected to receive about 21 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, of investment
31 planned for the coming years.
32
33 A new industry has emerged for the recovery of old cables for their scrap value. In the past
34 ten years, some 62,000 km of cable has been recovered, with a projection of over 100,000 km
35 contracted for recovery by the end of 2020.
36
37 Transmission power cable installations have seen a much more modest growth. However,
38 large numbers of power cables have been installed in association with marine wind farms.
39
40 Cable deployment in ocean depths deeper than ~1500m is basically the laying of a physically
41 and chemically inert structure, the diameter of a domestic garden water hose, directly on the
42 seabed surface. Its inert state is attested by the pristine condition of recovered fibre-optic and
43 coaxial cables - some of the latter having resided on the seabed for over 50 years (Carter and
44 others, 2019). Cable faults in the deep ocean are few. For example, in the vast Areas Beyond
45 National Jurisdiction, an average of four cable breaks are recorded annually, of ~150–200
46 breaks worldwide. However, deep-ocean mining is a potential future threat and is subject to
47 ongoing discussions between the cable industry and the International Seabed Authority (ISA,
48 2018).
611
1 As discussed in WOA I, the seabed disturbance from cable installation is temporary, with
2 natural restoration occurring over weeks to years, depending upon the vigour of wave/current
3 action and the supply of sediment (Kraus and Carter, 2018). Because submarine landslides
4 and sediment flows can be triggered by storms, as well as earthquakes and tsunami, climate
5 change may influence the hazard risk to telecommunication cables by affecting storm
6 frequency and intensity (Gavey and others, 2017). New research (Gutscher and others, 2019)
7 suggests that natural hazards, too weak to break a cable, may still deform glass fibres to
8 produce a detectable signal, raising the possibility of using cables as environmental monitors
9 and early warning systems for hazards. Another aspect is the role played by cables in
10 reducing CO2 emissions by replacing travel intensive meetings with video conference calls.
11
12 3. Consequences of the change on human communities, economies and
13 well-being
14
15 In general, coastal infrastructure development increases the resilience of the coasts and leads
16 to sustainable economic growth.
17
18 Development or improvement of coastal infrastructures, especially blue infrastructures, can
19 bring huge benefits to coastal communities. In other words, coastal infrastructures have
20 critical roles in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)209 (Economist, 2019).
21 Coastal and marine infrastructures are very important for socioeconomic development,
22 livelihood improvement for coastal residents, disaster risk reduction and coastal and marine
23 science development. Coastal roads provide better access of coastal communities to markets.
24 Coastal defence structures can help to minimize damage due to coastal erosion, flooding,
25 high waves and storm surge, for example. Hotel and recreation infrastructures support
26 tourism and recreation and generate employment. New cable connectivity brings the benefits
27 of telemedicine and learning to otherwise isolated communities, and supports economic
28 development, ocean science development and management implementation.
29
30 The improvement of coastal and marine infrastructures contributes, in particular, to
31 implementation of SDGs 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14.210 With regard to SDG 14, in particular,
32 coastal and marine infrastructures may enable better observation, monitoring and surveys to
33 provide better data for better management of coastal and ocean environment, ecological
34 systems and biodiversity. On the other hand, however, the development of coastal and marine
35 infrastructure may damage habitats and ecological systems, including their extent, structures
36 and functions. Careful planning, with the aid of marine spatial planning and functional
37 analysis and use of blue infrastructures, can help to reduce negative effects.
38
40
42 North Sea
43
44 4.1.1. North Atlantic Ocean
209
210
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. See https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300.
612
1 The coasts of the North Atlantic Ocean extend to the western United States of America,
2 Canada and West European and West African countries. Levels of economic development of
3 nations in those regions vary markedly, as does coastal defence and other infrastructure
4 development. In Canada and the United States of America, coastal habitats are used as natural
5 defence infrastructures (Elkin, 2017). In West Europe, due to limited land area, coastal
6 defence and other marine infrastructures are developed for coastal protection. For Northwest
7 Africa, there are numerous interrelated issues including severe coastal erosion, flooding,
8 poverty and inadequate development of coastal infrastructures. In 2018, the Global
9 Environment Facility and World Bank Group funded the West Africa Coastal Areas
10 Resilience Investment Project with a budget of 210 million United States dollars to help to
11 build the resilience of coastal communities in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Sao Tome
12 and Principe, Senegal and Togo (WB, 2018).
13
14 4.1.2. Baltic Sea
15
16 The total length of coastline in the Baltic Sea is about 40,000 km and large flood-prone areas
17 exist in Denmark, Germany and Poland. Therefore, the coastal infrastructure, for example,
18 dikes, needs to be upgraded to better adapt to flooding. There is also considerable
19 development of tourist-related infrastructure as well as, inter alia, ports, harbours, marinas,
20 shipyards, wind farms, solar power stations, submarine power and communication cables.
21
22 4.1.3. Black Sea
23
24 The Black Sea coastline is 2,042 km long, with 1,228 beaches, and an area of 224 km2. Some
25 coastal parts are densely populated and are also popular for tourism, with many facilities,
26 such as hotels, resorts and marinas. There are also ports and harbours. Coastal defence
27 structures have been built to ameliorate severe coastal erosion and flooding.
28
29 4.1.4. Mediterranean Sea
30
31 The Mediterranean Sea has a 46,000 km coastline bordering 22 countries. As one of the
32 busiest maritime regions in the world, there are many important ports. The densely populated
33 Mediterranean coast also faces risks of erosion and flooding – a situation that will become
34 more serious in the future due to climate change and sea level rise, and coastal infrastructure
35 will need to be upgraded.
36
37 4.1.5. North Sea
38
39 The coastal and low-lying inland areas bordering the North Sea are at risk of flooding. As
40 with other areas, coastal flooding risks will increase in the future due to sea level rise and
41 more intense/frequent storms. Thus, new as well as upgraded coastal defence structures are
42 needed to meet this challenge.
43
45
46 The South Atlantic Ocean and the wider Caribbean coasts encompass South American and
47 Southwest African States. Southwest African coasts are generally in a natural condition. For
48 example, some parts are protected by coastal ecological systems such as mangrove forests.
49 Coastal infrastructures in the South Atlantic Ocean and the wider Caribbean coasts include
613
1 coastal defence structures; tourism facilities; ports and harbours, but newly developed or
2 upgraded structures are needed to adapt to climate change. Caribbean nations are also
3 exposed to pronounced earthquake and volcanic activity.
4
5 4.3. Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden
6 and the Persian Gulf
7
8 The Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal encompass many developing countries in Asia and
9 Africa. Coastal natural hazards for countries bordering the North Indian Ocean include storm
10 surge, global sea level rise, earthquakes and tsunami. However, coastal infrastructure and
11 degraded coastal habitats are far from providing adequate coastal protection, as this requires
12 huge investments and sustainable economies. Perhaps the most feasible way forward for
13 coastal States of the Indian Ocean is to restore degraded and damaged coastal habitats to
14 create coastal blue infrastructures.
15
16 Coastal and marine infrastructures of the Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and the Persian
17 Gulf, in general, are better developed than those in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal.
18
20
21 Like the coasts of the North Atlantic Ocean, developed countries such as the United States of
22 America, Canada, Japan and South Korea have high-quality coastal and marine
23 infrastructures that not only protect coasts and reduce hazard risks but also promote
24 protection and conservation of coastal and ocean environments, habitats and biodiversity
25 (Lombard and others, 2019). For many Pacific coastal States, there are the ever-present risks
26 of major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. However, the coastal and marine infrastructures
27 in developing countries in the region are not so advanced (PEMSEA, 2018; Connell, 2018).
28 To remediate the situation of underdeveloped coastal infrastructures in Asian developing
29 countries, the Asian Development Bank has launched an ambitious action plan with a
30 proposed investment of five billion United States dollars for healthy oceans, which includes
31 developing or improving coastal infrastructure (ADB, 2019).
32
34
35 South Pacific coasts include the east coast of Australia, west coast of South America and
36 shores of the Pacific Islands, including Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and New
37 Caledonia. Coastal infrastructure in these nations is mainly to support economic development
38 and prevent damage due to natural hazards, especially extreme storms and rising sea level,
39 and to adapt to climate change. Major earthquakes, tsunami and volcanic eruptions are also a
40 consideration.
41
42 4.6. The Arctic Ocean and Southern Ocean
43
44 The low population densities of these regions mean that coastal and ocean infrastructures are
45 less developed than those of highly populated regions such as the circum-Pacific and
46 Mediterranean.
47
614
1 4.6.1. Arctic Ocean

2
3 Coastal infrastructure development in the Arctic Ocean is faced with rapidly changing
4 weather and ice conditions due to climate change. Declining sea-ice cover is leading to
5 increased shipping and related infrastructure. Progress has been made with the installation of
6 a 2,250 km fibre-optic communications cable off north Alaska with branch lines into four
7 coastal communities (Submarine Cable Networks, 2017).
8
9 4.6.2. Southern Ocean
10
11 Much of the Southern Ocean comes under the aegis of the Antarctic Treaty System and the
12 Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (ATS, 2019;
13 CCAMLR, 2017, 2019). Nevertheless, there is a strong focus on scientific research into the
14 roles played by Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in influencing global climate and ocean.
15 Such research is supported by permanently occupied stations along Antarctica’s margins and
16 on some subantarctic islands. One of the larger stations, McMurdo, has a wharf for shipborne
17 supplies to support around 1,000 personnel during summer and 200 personnel in winter.
18 Besides shipborne fuel, McMurdo has access to renewable wind energy generated at nearby
19 Scott Base.
20
21 5. Outlook
22
23 5.1. Anticipated outlook for the state of the topic over the near to medium
24 term (~10–20 years)
25
26 In the next 10 to 20 years, more upstream hydropower dams will be constructed and river
27 sand mining will continue with increasing sediment deficit at coasts, leading to accelerated
28 coastal erosion (See also Chapter 13) and more coastal protection structures. Coastal and
29 offshore land reclamation, together with coastal erosion, will continue to damage or degrade
30 important coastal and offshore shallow water marine habitats. There is also an increase in
31 maritime tourism and associated infrastructure. At the same time and at many coastal places,
32 socioeconomic development will lead to an increase in coastal populations and requirements
33 for coastal and marine infrastructure. All these factors increase risks to the coasts of maritime
34 natural hazards. The problems will worsen due to climate change manifested in the rise of
35 seawater temperature and sea level. There is a need to develop new or upgrade existing
36 infrastructure to mitigate risks and ensure sustainable development of the coasts and maritime
37 economy.
38
39 Progress in knowledge and capacity anticipated in the future will contribute to evaluation of
40 the change in the state and promote development of more effective and environmentally
41 friendly marine and coastal infrastructures.
42
43 5.2. Ecosystem and socioeconomic consequences of continued change in
44 systems
45
46 In general, the development of marine and coastal infrastructures, especially coastal and
47 offshore land reclamation, will damage coastal and marine habitats and ecological systems
48 (Duan and others, 2016; McManus, 2017; Lin and Yu, 2018). Impacts of coastal structures on
49 the ecology of coastal systems include obstructing animal access routes, destroying coastal
615
1 habitats and ecological systems and changing the coastal environment (Hill, 2015). Coastal
2 defence structures can modify sediment budget at the coast and thus change coastal
3 morphology, with corresponding changes in coastal biotic communities but, on the other
4 hand, in certain cases, coastal defence structures can protect coastal habitats that otherwise
5 will be destroyed by coastal erosion (Schmitt and Albers, 2014). Coastal land reclamation
6 may also help to create and restore coastal habitats for hazard prevention (Khalil and Raynie,
7 2015).
8
9 Researchers (e.g., Taormina and others, 2018) failed to show conclusively any influence of
10 electromagnetic fields on the abundance and biodiversity of organisms, or confirm the low
11 environmental footprint of telecommunications cables, especially in the deep ocean (depths
12 >2000 m) (Burnett and others, 2013).
13 Studies of cable breaks caused by natural hazards identify the distribution and frequency of
14 hazards that include submarine landslides and sediment density flows (Pope and others,
15 2017). Such phenomena transfer heat, carbon and nutrients from continental margins to the
16 deep ocean and hence may affect marine ecosystems.
17
18 During the past 10 years, there is a clear tendency towards alleviating or mitigating damages
19 to coastal and ocean ecosystems from coastal and offshore development using a new
20 development approach: blue economy development (PEMSEA, 2018). Blue coastal
21 infrastructures can harmonize coastal protection and habitat/ecological protection (Sutton-
22 Grier and others, 2015; Wellman and others, 2017).
23
24 Coastal and marine infrastructures, in general, have a positive socioeconomic impact on
25 coastal communities. Good infrastructure is the most important condition for sustainable
26 socioeconomic development and poverty eradication. Coastal defence structures help to
27 mitigate coastal hazard risks.
28
30
31 In general, at the global level, not enough is known as to the extent of coastal infrastructures,
32 especially built coastal defence infrastructures, and their ecological and socioeconomic
33 impacts. Also, scientific understanding of the interactions between coastal dynamics,
34 sediment transport and the environment, and ecological processes with marine and coastal
35 infrastructures is still lacking. The problems are especially serious for developing countries
36 where little money is invested to undertake coastal and marine scientific research. A lack of
37 proper knowledge and data also hinders proper design and construction and increases the
38 environmental and ecological damage of coastal and marine infrastructures.
39
40 A science-policy interface is particularly important when considering decision-making
41 related to the sustainable development of blue and nature-based marine and coastal
42 infrastructures to optimize use of and minimum damage to coastal and marine infrastructures.
43
44 Acknowledgement: The authors would like to thank John Manock for his contribution to
45 section 2.6.
616
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618
Chapter 15
Changes in Capture Fisheries and Harvesting of Wild Marine
Invertebrates
Convenor: Porter Hoagland (Section Author); Contributors: Megan Bailey (Section Author),
Lena Bergstrom, Alida Bundy, Karen Evans, Manuel Hidalgo (Section Author), Andrew
Johnson, Melina Kourantidou (Section Author), Fernanda Lana, Enrique Marschoff (Lead
Member), Essam Mohammed (Co-Lead Member), Henn Ojaveer (Co-Lead Member),
Franklin Ormaza-Gonzalez, Monty Priede (Section Author), Ylenia Randrianisoa (Co-Lead
Member), Jörn Schmidt (Co-Lead Member), Zacharie Sohou, Burcu Bilgin Topçu, Chang-Ik
Zhang
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Worldwide, from 2012–2017, estimated landings in marine capture fisheries
4 increased by 3 per cent to 80.6 million metric tons (MT) and estimated gross landed
5 value increased by 1 per cent to 127 billion United States dollars (in 2017).
6 • Many of the world’s capture fisheries have continued to be plagued by
7 overexploitation, vessel subsidization, ineffective management, discards, habitat
8 degradation, abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG), and
9 illegal, unreported or unregulated (IUU) fishing.
10 • In 2017, the World Bank estimated annual net losses to global capture fisheries of
11 88.6 billion dollars for the year 2012 (expressed in 2017 dollars) due to overfishing.
12 If allowed to persist indefinitely, such annual losses would constitute a lost natural
13 capital asset worth trillions of dollars.
14 • The great majority of small-scale, artisanal or subsistence fishery (SSF) landings
15 were destined for local human consumption, thus contributing importantly to food
16 security and nutrition in developing States, but IUU fishing posed a threat to many
17 people who depended upon fisheries for protein, exacerbating poverty, augmenting
18 food insecurity and thwarting efforts to achieve SDG targets.
19 • Promisingly, scientific stock assessments and management have been shown to lead
20 to more sustainable outcomes, and management reforms have been predicted to lead
21 to rapid (decadal-scale) rebuilding of stocks. These are important lessons as the
22 world looks to unexploited and as-yet unregulated fisheries in the Polar regions and
23 the deep ocean (the mesopelagic zone).
24 • The adverse effects of climate change on the oceans were expected to hinder
25 sustainable outcomes, and fishery-dependent developing States, particularly their
26 SSFs, were highly vulnerable to climate-related changes.
27
28 1. Introduction
29
30 Global landings of marine capture fisheries expanded significantly as of the 1950s (FAO,
31 2016a, 2018, 2019a) but have plateaued since the late 1980s, with a rate of growth of less
32 than 1 per cent since 2010 (FAO, 2019a). Between 2012–2017, world marine capture
33 fisheries production (mainly harvests constituting landings) remained flat, ranging from 78.4
34 MT in 2012 to 80.6 MT in 2017. From 2010 to 2017, capture fishery yields (inland and
619
1 marine) increased slightly in both the developed world, from 24.1 to 24.8 MT (2.9 per cent),
2 and the developing world, from 63.0 to 67.6 MT (7.3 per cent) (FAO, 2019a).
3
4 In 2017, the world price averaged over all fisheries was 1.57 dollars/kg-1, which translated
5 into an estimated gross landed value for the world’s marine capture fisheries of 126.8 billion
6 dollars (FAO 2019a). Estimated annual net benefits from these landings were only 3 billion
7 dollars (2012 data inflated to 2017 dollars) (World Bank and others, 2012; Tai and others,
8 2017; World Bank, 2017). Excessive fishing effort, leading to lowered biomass, resulted in
9 estimated annual lost net benefits of 88.9 billion dollars. If allowed to persist, this would
10 constitute natural capital asset losses (that is, the discounted or “present” value of future
11 losses occurring annually at the same level as the 2012 estimate) in the range between 1.3 to
12 4.4 trillion dollars, when applying social rates of time preference of 7 to 2 per cent.
13
14 In the last decade, fish markets have exhibited fast-paced globalization, thus increasing the
15 vulnerability of SSFs to the depletion of locally important stocks (Crona and others, 2015;
16 Kramer and others, 2017). In 2017, about 38 per cent of global fish production entered
17 international trade, either for human consumption or for fishmeal and fish oil (FAO, 2018). In
18 2017, the export value of seafood was 156.5 billion dollars, of which 84.6 billion dollars (54
19 per cent) were attributed to exports from developing States.
20
21 Reported world landings and value suggest that little has changed since the publication of the
22 First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017), which relied upon data up to
23 2012. Governance has improved in some regions, however, including the rebuilding of some
24 fisheries as a result of prudent management (FAO, 2018; Hilborn and others 2020). Longer
25 term approaches to governance may require implementation of ecosystem approaches to
26 management (Long and others, 2015; Patrick and Link, 2015; Marshall and others, 2018; see
27 also Chapter 30 of the present Assessment).
28
29 There is extensive evidence that many of the world’s fisheries have not been managed
30 sustainably (Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 2019), which means that the
31 targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Goals (SDGs),211 particularly
32 the fisheries-related targets under Goal 14, as well as others relating to food security have not
33 been met. Some progress has been noted, however (United Nations Statistics Division, 2019).
34 During the period from 2012 to 2017, the most salient issues were as follows:
35
36 • Of the fisheries for which data exist, about 33 per cent, especially those at higher
37 trophic levels, were classified as being fished at biologically unsustainable levels
38 (FAO, 2018); close to 60 per cent were “maximally sustainably fished”, a biological
39 reference point that typically exceeds economically optimal yields, implying lower
40 biomass and dissipated resource rents but possibly higher employment (see Figure 1;
41 Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 2019; FAO, 2019b; see also World
42 Bank, 2017).
43 • Subsidization of fishing vessels continued (Sumaila and others, 2019a), thus
44 contributing to overcapacity, excessive fishing and stock depletion (Rousseau and
45 others, 2019). Sala and others (2018) estimated that 54 per cent of high seas fishing
46 grounds would be rendered unprofitable if subsidies were to be eliminated.
47 Negotiations under the auspices of the World Trade Organization on reducing harmful
211
620
1 fishery subsidies have continued at an accelerated pace, although no firm agreement

2 has yet been reached.
3 • IUU fishing persisted, thus weakening fisheries governance and leading to illicit trade
4 in seafood (Macfadyen and others, 2019; Sumaila and others, 2020).
5 • Bottom trawling continued to impact seafloor habitat negatively (Eigaard and others,
6 2017; Kroodsma and others, 2018).
7 • ALDFG continued to diminish ecosystem integrity, thus imposing costs for both
8 industry and national authorities (FAO, 2018).
9 • Many regional fisheries management organizations or arrangements (RFMO/As)
10 covering the high seas were not fully effective in assessing stocks, enforcing quotas,
11 or providing observer coverage to account for catches, bycatches or discards (Cullis-
12 Suzuki and Pauly, 2010; Crespo and Dunn, 2017; ICES, 2018a).
13 • Significant gaps remained in establishing and reaching consensus on management
14 practices for sustaining healthy fish stocks, including: disputed jurisdictions in the
15 Central Pacific and South-West Atlantic (Harrison, 2019); ineffective management of
16 high-seas fisheries on deep ocean shelves and seamounts (ICES, 2018b); limited
17 progress in the conservation of fish stocks in the Central Arctic Ocean (a temporary
18 16-year moratorium on unregulated fishing awaited entry into force); and absence of
19 management of prospective fisheries in the mesopelagic zone, where regulation was
20 either nascent or non-existent (Priede, 2017; Hidalgo and Browman, 2019; Remesan
21 and others 2019).
22
23
24 Figure 1. Proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels, SDG indicator 14.4.1.212 (FAO,
25 2019b).
26
27 Notwithstanding these concerns, recent research has suggested that, with appropriate
28 governance, the median time required to rebuild overfished stocks could be less than ten
29 years and, if reforms were to be implemented, 98 per cent of overfished stocks could be
30 considered healthy by the middle of the century (Sumaila and others, 2012; Costello and
31 others, 2016; Hilborn and Costello, 2018; Yimin and others, 2018). Little consensus existed,
32 however, on whether recovered ecosystems and populations could assume their original
33 functions (van Gemert and Andersen, 2018; Ingeman and others, 2019).
34
35 Scientific assessment and management of fish stocks has been shown to improve their
212
621
1 sustainability (Hilborn and others, 2020). Management reforms, such as rights-based

2 approaches, have the potential to yield significant increases in annual catches (2–16 MT) and
3 profits (31–53 billion dollars) (Costello and others, 2016). The resulting increases in biomass
4 and biodiversity arguably may facilitate easier adaptation of ocean ecosystems to global
5 climate change (Berkes and Ross, 2013; Armitage and others, 2017). Consequently, the
6 rebuilding of fish stocks has remained a high priority for States and international
7 organizations (Delpeuch and Hutniczak, 2019).
8
9 Even with appropriate governance leading to stock rebuilding, the adverse effects of global
10 climate change were expected to impede progress toward sustainability (see Chapter 5 of the
11 present Assessment; Lam and others, 2016; Pentz and others, 2018; Lotze and others, 2019).
12 Given the limited understanding of the extent to which changing conditions could contribute
13 to ecosystem shifts, dramatic alterations in the structures and functions of marine ecosystems
14 have now become more common than expected, and they may be hard to reverse (Selkoe and
15 others, 2015; Samhouri and others, 2017).
16
17 The impacts of climate change also were expected to include increases in the intensity of
18 natural hazards and their frequency, thus affecting local distributions and abundances of fish
19 populations (Barange and others, 2014; Bryndum-Buchholz and others, 2018). Fishery-
20 dependent developing States may be impacted the most severely and, due to expected
21 changes in species distributions and the consequent increase in transboundary migrations of
22 stocks, future international governance may need to account for such redistributions (Pinsky
23 and others, 2018; Sumaila and others, 2019b).
24
25 2. Catch-landing disparities, SDGs and SSFs
26
27 2.1. National jurisdictions
28
29 Between 2012 and 2017, global landings were stable, and the density of fishing effort
30 continued to be highly concentrated in coastal oceans (Tickler and others, 2018). Catches by
31 incoming distant water fleets were found to grow faster than catches by home States, and 78
32 per cent of trackable industrial fishing in the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of lower
33 income States was carried out by vessels flagged by high-income States (McCauley and
34 others, 2018). In 2016, landings in tropical areas continued to grow strongly to 23.8 MT, they
35 were flat in temperate areas at 38.9 MT, and in upwelling areas they exhibited high
36 variability, and a decline to 14.5 MT (FAO, 2018). Tables 1 and 2 depict national and regional
37 variations in average landings between 2005 and 2014 compared to 2015 and 2016 (FAO,
38 2018).
622
1 Table 1. Marine capture fisheries production by country. Source: FAO (2018)

.
623
1 Table 2. Fishing areas and capture production. Source: FAO (2018).

2
6 In 2018, new estimates of world fish catches, reconstructed (using 1950–2010 data) to
7 include catches (and discards) missing from official statistics, suggested that world annual
8 landings were underestimated by at least one third, and catches were declining faster than
9 previously thought (Pauly and Zeller, 2016; Zeller and others, 2018). Using this method, a
10 significant proportion of unreported fishing comprised discarded fish and catches by IUU
11 vessels, recreational fishers, or SSFs. Reconstructed catches for the Food and Agriculture
12 Organization of the United Nations (FAO) regions revealed especially large differences
13 compared to recorded landings in the Western Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Indian
14 Ocean (Palomares and Pauly, 2019).
15
16 With regional variations, global fisheries employment of 40.4 million persons in 2017
17 exhibited a small increase compared to 2012 (less than 3 per cent) (FAO, 2019a). With
18 respect to SDG Target 2.3, which promoted, inter alia, access by SSFs to productive resource
19 services and markets (SDG Indicator 2.3.1), progress was noted in the development of
20 targeted regulatory and institutional frameworks. More than 20 per cent of fishing States,
21 particularly those in Oceania and South Asia, exhibited only low to medium levels of
22 implementation of these frameworks, however (ECOSOC, 2019).
23
24 It was estimated that SSFs employed more than 90 per cent of the world’s 120 million people
25 involved in capture fisheries (about 50 per cent of whom were women) (World Bank and
26 others, 2012; FAO, 2015, 2019a). Despite their significant contribution to global catches,
27 SSFs were marginalized, with increasing pressure from both industrialized (and often
624
1 subsidized) fleets and other ocean uses (Schuhbauer and Sumaila, 2016; Bundy and others,
2 2017; Ding and others, 2017; Willmann and others, 2017; Cohen and others, 2019).
3
4 Capture fisheries remained a key source of nutrition and employment for millions, but it was
5 estimated that more than 820 million people were still undernourished (FAO, 2019c).
6 Between 90–95 per cent of SSF landings were destined for local human consumption, thus
7 making a sizable contribution to food security and nutrition (World Bank and others, 2012;
8 Golden and others, 2016; Basurto and others, 2017; Johnson and others, 2018).
9
10 The application of information technologies to help to expand SSF opportunities in areas
11 such as safety, the sharing of local knowledge, capacity building and governance were
12 outlined in the SSF Guidelines (FAO, 2015). Implementation will take time, but a growing
13 use of human rights approaches has provided opportunities for SSF empowerment (Song and
14 Soliman, 2019). Research efforts such as the “Too Big to Ignore” global partnership have
15 been organized to help to focus attention on SSFs (TBTI, 2020), and 2022 has been
16 proclaimed the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture by the United
17 Nations General Assembly.213
18
19 Subsidies have exacerbated problems of overcapacity and overfishing, although some, such
20 as investments in stock assessments, were beneficial. In 2018, annual world fishery subsidies
21 were estimated to be 35.4 billion dollars, compared with 41.4 billion dollars a decade earlier
22 (2009 data expressed in 2018 dollars) but the decline was not considered significant (Sumaila
23 and others, 2019a). Most subsidies supported vessels from developed States (Schuhbauer and
24 others, 2017). Capacity-enhancing (detrimental) subsidies increased in proportion to the total,
25 comprising 63 per cent of all subsidies (about 22 billion dollars) versus 57 per cent a decade
26 ago (Sumaila and others, 2019a).
27
28 Given the difficulties and limitations of using national income accounts such as gross
29 domestic product (GDP) to measure fisheries’ economic performance, FAO is planning to
30 introduce a methodology for an SDG indicator on the contribution of fisheries to GDP and a
31 more comprehensive indicator to include IUU fishing, resource rents and trade in fisheries
32 services. Recent progress has also been made in proposing guidelines for assessing fisheries
33 and accounting for their contributions in data-poor environments (Cai and others, 2019).
34
35 2.2. High-seas fisheries
36
37 Many of the world’s most valuable capture fisheries have been those that focused on highly
38 migratory apex predators which straddled adjacent EEZs or migrated among EEZs and the
39 high seas (Sumaila and others, 2015). Fisheries for species groups such as tunas, billfish and
40 sharks have been targeted by national fleets within their own EEZs, by international fleets
41 licensed to access foreign EEZs, or on the high seas. High seas capture fisheries landings
42 grew from about 0.5 MT to 4.3 MT between 1950 and 2014 (Cheung and others, 2019).
43
44 Since the 1950s, industrial fishing has expanded significantly, with increases in landings from
45 inshore waters, the high seas (especially the large pelagics) and Polar regions (United
46 Nations, 2017; Watson and Tidd, 2018). High seas yields peaked in 1989 at 5.2 MT but have
47 declined slightly in the past three decades. Although the high seas encompass 60 per cent of
213
625
1 the world’s ocean, capture fishery yields have comprised only about 5 per cent of world
2 marine yields of both fish and invertebrates. The contribution of high seas fisheries to global
3 seafood supply has therefore been of minor importance to food security during that time
4 (Schiller and others, 2018).
5
6 Vessels flagged to high-income States comprised 97 per cent of industrial fishing vessels on
7 the high seas (McCauley and others, 2018). Longline fishing was reported to account for 84–
8 87 per cent of hours fished on the high seas (Crespo and others, 2018). More than 80 per cent
9 of this effort was attributable to vessels from only five States. From 1950 to 2014, the
10 distance fished from port by industrial fishing vessels more than doubled, but at the same
11 time it exhibited a decline from 25 to 7 t·Mm-1 in catch per distance travelled (Tickler and
12 others, 2018).
13
14 Nearly 95 per cent of total ice-free ocean areas have been exploited by industrial fishing, but
15 since their peaks in 1996, the total industrial catch has declined by 18 per cent and the
16 industrial catch per unit of area fished has declined by 22 per cent (Tickler and others, 2018).
17 Fishing intensity (effort per month) by longline vessels has been found to increase in boreal
18 regions during the summer months, with intensity linked to environmental predictors (Crespo
20
21 3. Invertebrate landings
22
23 Marine invertebrate harvests grew from about 12.4 MT in 2012 to 12.5 MT in 2017,
24 representing a growth rate of only 0.1 per cent per year. Marine invertebrate landings
25 comprised a number of different types of organisms, including mollusks (squid, octopus,
26 shellfish), crustaceans (shrimps, prawns, crabs, lobsters, krill), echinoderms (sea urchins, sea
27 cucumbers) and tunicates, and yields of these groups represented about 15.5 per cent of world
28 marine capture fisheries landings in 2017 (FAO, 2019a).
29
30 4. Levels of bycatch and side effects
31
32 Due to regulatory restrictions or poor quality, non-target fish caught or damaged were often
33 discarded. There were few time series available to document trends in bycatch (ICES, 2018a).
34 In 2019, it was estimated that global discard levels accounted for 10.8 per cent of world
35 catches (2010–2014 data), which translated to 9.1 MT (ranging from 6.7 to 16.1 MT) (Pérez
36 Roda and others, 2019). Policies and management measures have been slowly catching up to
37 the need to manage not only impacts on target species but also to include effects on other
38 species (ICES, 2019).
39
40 5. Post-harvest fish losses
41
42 Post-harvest fish losses (PHFLs) are harvested fish that have lost part of their value due to
43 deterioration in quality, rendering them inedible or unmarketable (Diei-Ouadi and Mgawe,
44 2011). These losses have been an issue primarily for SSFs, where storage capacity,
45 processing and transportation modes are limited. The most recent global estimate of
46 non-discarded PHFLs was 10-12 MT·yr-1 (Manning, 2010). More recent studies of PHFLs
47 were limited only to local fisheries, especially in Africa and Asia, finding that losses were
48 reduced for older fishers and for those exhibiting higher levels of education and from larger
49 households (e.g. Adelaja and others, 2018).
626
1 6. Potential for fisheries enhancement

2
3 Fish stock propagation, more commonly known as fisheries enhancement, comprised a set of
4 management approaches involving the use of aquaculture technologies to restore fisheries.
5 The science was still in its infancy but showed some potential to increase fishery yields
6 beyond those achievable by the exploitation of wild stocks alone, although an understanding
7 of the ecological consequences was lacking (Taylor and others, 2017).
8
9 7. Marine protein and oils in agriculture and aquaculture
10
11 Fishmeal is used as a feed, and fish oil is used as a feed additive for aquaculture and
12 livestock. Whole fish as a raw material is “reduced” by cooking, pressing and heating to yield
13 ratios of whole fish to fishmeal (~22-23 per cent) and fish oil (~4-5 per cent). Worldwide
14 landings of whole fish for this purpose stood at 14.3 MT in 2016 (FAO, 2018). In 2016, world
15 production of fishmeal was 4.4 MT and fish oil was 0.9 MT. In 2016, 69 per cent of fishmeal
16 and 75 per cent of fish oil production was used in aquaculture. In agriculture, 23 per cent of
17 fishmeal was used for swine production, 5 per cent was used for poultry and 3 per cent was
18 for other end uses.
19
20 Aquafeed for shrimp or finfish culture (see Chapter 16 of the present Assessment) comprises
21 fishmeal and fish oil, oilseeds (especially soybeans) and by-products from the processing of
22 other fish products (Silva and others, 2018). Estimates of total aquafeed production were 40.1
23 MT in 2018 (Alltech, 2019), making the component attributed to fish reduction less than 15
24 per cent of the total. This proportion is expected to fall below 10 per cent by 2020 (Fry and
25 others, 2016). In 2016, 19 per cent of world fishmeal production was derived from fishery by-
26 products (IoA, 2016). This proportion is projected to increase to 38 per cent by 2025 (FAO,
27 2018).
28
29 Commercial harvests of krill were undertaken in the Southern Ocean and a few other regions
30 to supply fishmeal and fish oil (EUMOFA, 2018). Fisheries for mesopelagic fish were
31 explored for the same end uses, but the costs of harvesting these fish were considered steep
32 and the ecological consequences of exploiting them have not yet been fully evaluated
33 (Hidalgo and Browman, 2019).
34
35 8. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing
36
37 IUU fishing has undermined efforts to manage fisheries sustainably and posed a threat to 4.3
38 billion people who depend on fisheries for protein (FAO, 2016d), thus exacerbating poverty,
39 augmenting food insecurity and thwarting efforts to achieve SDG targets (FAO, 2016b). In
40 2016, IUU fishing was thought to be responsible for annual catches of up to 26 MT, with a
41 gross landed value of up to 23 billion dollars (FAO, 2016c).
42
43 Where IUU vessel catch led to illicit trade in seafood, significant economic and social
44 consequences have ensued. For example, the diversion of fish from legitimate trade has led to
45 estimated worldwide annual losses in economic contributions to States of 26–50 billion
46 dollars and tax revenue losses to States of 2–4 billion dollars (Sumaila and others, 2020).
47
48 Illegal fishing also has been linked to seafood fraud (Miller and Sumaila, 2016) and found to
49 be associated with both drug and human trafficking (United Nations, 2017; Tickler and
627
1 others, 2019). Although slavery in developed State fisheries was rare, consumers in
2 developed States were found to have purchased seafood from producers who utilized slave
3 labour (Tickler and others 2019).
4
5 Since the signing of the 2016 Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and
6 Eliminate IUU Fishing,214 less than 40 per cent of States have taken measures toward
7 implementing the agreement or been involved in global awareness-raising or capacity-
8 building efforts to support its implementation (Figure 2) (FAO, 2019b). These measures could
9 comprise potential indicators for SDG 14.6.1, where no such measures have yet been put
10 forward.
11
12
13 Figure 2. Two possible indicators for SDG 14.6.1 were the cumulative percentage over time of the world’s 195 States
14 that (i) have taken steps toward implementing the Port State Measures Agreement (black line) or (ii) have been a
15 recipient of the FAO global awareness-raising and capacity-building campaign to support implementation of the
16 Agreement (green line). Potential implementations were broadly defined to include ratification, acceptance, approval, or
17 accession. Source: FAO (2019b).
18
19 9. Outlook
20
21 Empirical evidence, along with modeling advances in fisheries science, has shown that
22 management can improve fish stocks, increasing yields and resource rents. The absence of
23 effective and enduring governance in many of the world’s fisheries, however, shows that they
24 continue to be affected adversely by overexploitation, ongoing subsidization, IUU fishing,
25 illicit trading, discarding, bottom-trawling, post-harvest fish losses, and gear abandonments.
26 Relying on the best available, but incomplete, evidence, the proportion of the world’s marine
27 capture fisheries characterized as within biologically sustainable levels continues to decline.
28 Thus the prognosis for achieving SDG Target 14.4.1 by 2030 is poor.
29
30 Significant efforts continue to be made to reduce the scale of fishing vessel subsidies,
31 including international negotiations under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, but
32 reaching final agreement on such terms has been a lengthy and difficult process. The Port
33 State Measures Agreement now is in place to help mitigate landings of IUU catches, but its
214
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, document C 2009/REP and Corr.1–3, appendix E.
628
1 implementation at the State level has been sluggish, thereby slowing achievement of SDG
2 Target 14.6.1.
3
4 Global climate change is leading already to shifts in distributions and abundances of fish
5 populations, and these are expected to continue or accelerate. Even with appropriate
6 governance leading to stock rebuilding, the adverse effects of climate change are expected to
7 impede progress toward sustainability in marine capture fisheries.
8
9 10. Key knowledge gaps
10
11 Alterations in the structures and functions of marine ecosystems now are becoming more
12 common as the consequence of anthropogenic forcings, including overfishing, nutrient
13 pollution, and climate change. Especially with respect to the latter, there exists a limited
14 understanding of the extent to which a changing climate contributes to the redistribution of
15 commercially important stocks or leads to potentially irreversible shifts in marine ecosystem
16 structures and processes. Developing States that depend upon fisheries for food security,
17 nutrition, and exports are likely to be impacted more severely than States with more
18 diversified economies, but this hypothesis needs closer study. A better understanding is
19 needed for the potential of commercial stocks migrating into the Central Arctic as well as for
20 the ecosystem value of other as-yet unexploited stocks in deep sea environments such as in
21 the mesopelagic. Improvements in fisheries governance could result in increases in biomass
22 and biodiversity, thereby allowing ocean ecosystems to adapt to global climate change, but
23 there is little scientific consensus yet on whether recovered ecosystems could assume their
24 former roles.
25
26 11. Key capacity-building gaps
27
28 The rebuilding of fish stocks remained a high priority for States and international
29 organizations, but resources for undertaking scientific stock assessments and administering
30 effective conservation and management measures need further support and reinforcement in
31 many fisheries, especially those of developing States. With appropriate governance, however,
32 the most sanguine studies have concluded that the median time required to rebuild overfished
33 stocks could be less than a decade, and, if reforms were to be implemented, a very large
34 proportion of overfished stocks could be considered healthy by midcentury.
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Zeller, Dirk and others (2018). Global marine fisheries discards: A synthesis of reconstructed data.
Fish and Fisheries, vol. 19, No.1, pp. 30–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12233.
634
Chapter 16
Changes in Aquaculture
Convenor: Rohana Subasinghe; Contributors: Pedro Baron, Malcolm Beveridge, Enrique
Marschoff (Lead Member), Doris Oliva
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Global aquaculture production in 2017 (animals and plants) was recorded as
4 111.9 million tonnes, with an estimated first sale value of 249.6 billion United States
5 dollars. Since 2000, world aquaculture no longer enjoys the high annual growth rates
6 of the 1980s and 1990s (10.8 and 9.5 per cent, respectively). Nevertheless,
7 aquaculture continues to grow faster than other major food production sectors. Annual
8 growth declined to a moderate 5.8 per cent during the period 2001–2016, although
9 double-digit growth still occurred in a small number of countries, particularly in
10 Africa, from 2006 to 2010. Fish produced by this rapidly growing sector are high
11 protein, and contain essential micronutrients, sometimes essential fatty acids, which
12 cannot easily be substituted by other food commodities.
13 • The United Nations predicts that the global population will reach 8.5 billion in 2030.
14 This will inevitably increase the pressure on food sectors to increase production and
15 reduce losses and waste. Production increases must be able to ensure sustainability,
16 given the context in which key resources, such as land and water, are likely to be
17 scarcer and in which the impact of climatic change will intensify. Aquaculture is no
18 exception. Success in achieving the long-term goal of economic, social and
19 environmental sustainability of the aquaculture sector, to ensure its continued
20 contribution of nutritious food to keep the world healthy, will depend primarily on
21 continued commitments by governments to provide and support a good governance
22 framework for the sector. As the sector further expands, intensifies and diversifies, it
23 should recognize relevant environmental and social concerns and make conscious
24 efforts to address them in a transparent manner, backed by scientific advice.
25
26 1. Current status and major improvements
27
28 The present section provides an assessment of major global changes and improvements in the
29 aquaculture sector over the past decade and outlines its current status.
30
31 1.1. Production and species
32
33 Aquaculture grows faster than other food production, although no longer at the growth rates
34 of the 1980s and 1990s (11.3 and 10.0 per cent, respectively, excluding aquatic plants).
35 Average growth declined to 5.8 per cent during the period 2000–2016, although higher
36 growth occurred in a number of countries, particularly in Africa, from 2006 to 2010 (FAO,
37 2018a). Global production in 2016 included 80 million tonnes of food fish, 30.1 million
38 tonnes of aquatic plants and 37,900 tonnes of non-food products. Food production included
39 54.1 million tonnes of finfish, 17.1 million tons of molluscs, 7.9 million tonnes of crustaceans
40 and 938,500 tonnes of other animals. China, the major producer in 2016, has produced more
41 than the rest of the world combined since 1991. The other major producers in 2016 were
42 India, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Bangladesh, Egypt and Norway. Aquatic plants (28 million
635
1 tonnes) included seaweeds and a much smaller volume of microalgae. China and Indonesia
2 were the major producers of aquatic plants in 2016 (FAO, 2018).
3
4 1.2. People and nutrition
5
6 Global official statistics indicate that 59.6 million people were engaged in the primary sector of
7 capture fisheries and aquaculture in 2016, with 19.3 million people in aquaculture and
8 40.3 million in fisheries (FAO, 2018b). In addition to the primary producers, many people are
9 engaged along the aquaculture value chain. The sector supports livelihoods, including family
10 members, of 540 million people, or 8 per cent of the world population (FAO, 2017a), of
11 which 19 per cent were women in 2014 (FAO, 2016).
12
13 Aquaculture’s contribution to human nutrition has been fully recognized (Chan and others,
14 2017; HLPE, 2014). Aquaculture improves nutrition of rural poor, especially mothers and
15 young children (Thilsted and others, 2016), although there are concerns that growth of the
16 sector and intensification of production methods may result in decreased availability of
17 certain fatty acids and micronutrients (Bogard and others, 2017). Considering the increasing
18 global population and the importance of a healthy diet, Béné and others (2016) stressed that
19 access to fish is a key issue in creating healthy populations, especially among the rural poor,
20 worldwide.
21
22 1.3. Inputs resources
23
24 Land and water are the most important resources for aquaculture development. Gentry and
25 others (2017) estimated that 11,400,000 km2 of the coastline are suitable for fish, and over
26 1,500,000 km2 could be developed for bivalves. The challenge is to secure suitable land and
27 water resources for the development of aquaculture at national levels.
28
29 Good quality seed and optimal feed are essential. Most animal species are cultured with
30 external feeds and feeding the ever-expanding aquaculture sector has been a concern. In
31 2016, about 55.6 million tonnes of farmed fish (including Indian carps) and crustaceans
32 depended on external feeds (fresh ingredients, farm-made or commercially manufactured
33 feeds) (FAO, 2018b).
34
35 In 2005, aquaculture consumed about 4.2 million tonnes of fishmeal (18.5 per cent of total
36 aquafeeds by weight). By 2015, this had been reduced to 3.35 million tonnes (7 per cent of
37 total aquafeeds by weight). Even with globally increasing production, the use of fishmeal for
38 aquafeeds will decrease further to 3.33 million tonnes by 2020 (5 per cent of total aquafeeds
39 by weight for that year). Nevertheless, for aquaculture to grow, aquafeed production is
40 expected to continue growing at a similar rate, to 69 million tonnes by 2020 (Hasan, 2017).
41 Considering past trends and predictions, aquaculture sustainability is more likely to be
42 closely linked with the sustained supply of terrestrial animal and plant proteins, oils and
43 carbohydrate sources for aquafeeds (Troell and others, 2014). The aquaculture sector should,
44 therefore, strive to ensure sustainable supplies of terrestrial and plant-based feed ingredients
45 that do not compete directly with use to feed people directly.
636
1 1.4. Biosecurity
2
3 Diseases continue to challenge global aquaculture and are one of the primary deterrents to
4 aquaculture development of many species. Thus, investment, and a focus on biosecurity and
5 health, have been on the increase worldwide (Subasinghe and others, 2019).
6
7 The long list of aquatic diseases/pathogens includes acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease
8 (AHPND), which recently devastated shrimp aquaculture in Asian countries (e.g. China,
9 Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand). The causative agent is a virulent strain of Vibrio
10 parahaemolyticus, a bacterium commonly found in coastal waters. Revenue loss due to
11 AHPND in South-East Asia has been estimated at over 4 billion dollars. Countries must
12 monitor other emerging diseases, such as Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei in shrimps and
13 tilapia, with the potential severely to impact the sector if not addressed in good time (FAO,
14 2017a). New molecular diagnostic tools are now being applied to the identification of disease
15 agents and their distribution patterns in hatchery, farmed and wild fish in North America. A
16 recently developed microarray has also been used to look at impacts of pathogen carrier status
17 (sea lice and the infectious haemopoietic necrosis virus) on wild salmon.
18
19 While research aimed at finding vaccines is progressing, the emerging issue that countries
20 face is the misuse and abuse of antimicrobials and other drugs because of residues and
21 resistant pathogens. Following the approval by the World Health Organization of the Global
22 Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR),215 countries are encouraged to develop
23 national action plans on aquatic AMR and to integrate them into the global action plan (FAO,
24 2017a).
25
26 1.5. Technology
27
28 Remarkable improvements have been made in genetics and breeding, both in finfish and
29 shrimp. Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) and Specific Pathogen Resistant (SPR) shrimp
30 (Penaeus monodon and P. vannamei), Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT), some
31 carp species with better growth performance, and commercial-scale production of various
32 species of grouper, pompano and cobia could be classed as success stories (FAO, 2017a).
33 Technological improvements in feeds, nutrition, health management and disease control are
34 contributing to intensification, expansion and sustainability (FAO, 2017a). Adoption of
35 genetic improvement programmes is very slow, even for some major aquaculture species.
36 Such programmes are expensive to initiate but there is evidence that public–private
37 partnerships can be effective in building and sustaining long-term programmes (FAO, 2019).
38
39 Over the past few years, SPF P. monodon and P. vannamei have been more available in Asia
40 and Latin America. However, the use and misuse of the term SPF has been and will continue to be a
41 concern among aquaculture stakeholders (Alday-Sanchez and others, 2018). Life cycles of
42 important crab and lobster species have been experimentally closed but commercial
43 production of their seed is still rudimentary.
44
45 Attempts have been made to use recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) for salmon, with
46 some positive outcomes. RAS is becoming the standard for smolt and post-smolt production
47 in Norway and Chile. The approximate investment cost is 60 million dollars for a complete
215
World Health Organization, document WHA68/2015/REC/1, annex 3.
637
1 system (FAO, 2017b). Other emerging technologies that help minimize disease and reduce
2 wastes are closed and semi-enclosed cage systems, currently being developed and deployed
3 for salmon farming in Norway (Nilssen and others, 2017).
4
5 The transgenic AquAdvantage Atlantic salmon has been under review by the United States
6 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for more than a decade. After an exhaustive and
7 rigorous review, the FDA has determined that AquAdvantage salmon is as safe to eat as any
8 non-genetically engineered Atlantic salmon, and as nutritious. Approval for production and
9 consumption was finally granted in November 2015 in the United States of America and for
10 sale in Canada by Health Canada in 2016.
11
12 2. Aquaculture and environment
13
14 Many countries emphasize environmental sustainability and social responsibility. In addition
15 to laws and regulations, and voluntary codes aimed at ensuring environmental integrity, some
16 of the means of achieving this goal include innovative, less-polluting techniques, proposed by
17 the ecosystem approach to aquaculture which emphasizes management for sustainability
18 (FAO, 2010), and provides a planning and management framework effectively to integrate
19 aquaculture into local planning (Brugère and others, 2018). Although efforts in intensification
20 have resulted in decreased use of land and fresh water per unit of fish produced (FAO,
21 2017a), they have also led to an increase in the use of energy, feed and pollution per unit of
22 farmed fish (Hall and others, 2011).
23
24 Although aquaculture has been accused of negative environmental and social impacts and
25 suffers from a biased perception from the public, aquaculture has, from an ecological
26 efficiency and environmental impact point of view, clear benefits over other forms of animal
27 food production for human consumption. Life-cycle assessment is useful to determine
28 environmental impacts and ensure environmentally sustainable development (Bohnes and
29 Laurent, 2019). Farmed finfish are similar in feed conversion efficiency to poultry, and much
30 more efficient than beef. Recent estimates indicate that demand for feed crops and land use
31 would be less than for alternative food production systems, even if over one third of protein
32 production comes from aquaculture, by 2050 (Froehlich and others, 2018). Filter-feeding carp
33 and molluscs are even more efficient producers of animal protein, as they require no human-
34 managed feeds and can improve water quality. Because aquaculture is relatively new, it
35 offers great scope for innovation to increase resource efficiency (Waite and others, 2014).
36 Where resources are stretched, the relative benefits of policies that promote aquaculture over
37 other forms of livestock production should be considered.
38
39 In general, the environmental performance of aquaculture has improved significantly over the
40 past decade. If aquaculture doubles its production by 2030, for growth to be sustainable, the
41 sector must improve its productivity and environmental performance (Waite and others,
42 2014). In order to achieve “sustainable intensification”, aquaculture must: (a) advance
43 socioeconomic development; (b) provide safe, affordable, nutritious food; (c) increase
44 production of fish relative to the amount of land, water, feed and energy used; and (d)
45 minimize environmental impacts, fish diseases and escapes (FAO, 2017a).
46
47 3. Aquaculture and society
48
49 The importance of fish and fishery-based activities to food security in less-developed
50 countries is particularly prominent. In 2016, 85.7 per cent of the global population engaged in
638
1 fisheries and aquaculture was in Asia (FAO, 2018a), a greater than one per cent increase
2 since 2014. More than 19 million people (32 per cent of all people employed in the sector)
3 were engaged in fish farming, and 95.9 per cent of all aquaculture engagement was in Asia.
4 The statistics clearly indicate the important and increasing contribution of aquaculture to
5 Asia’s regional food, nutrition security and socioeconomic development.
6
7 There are several major reviews on the subject (World Bank, 2007; Allison, 2011; Béné and
8 others, 2016). Fish provides more than 4.5 billion people with at least 15 per cent of their
9 animal protein intake. The nutritional properties of fish make it important to the health of
10 consumers in developed and developing countries. Fish are efficient converters of feed into
11 high quality food and its carbon footprint is lower than other animal production systems.
12 Fisheries and aquaculture value chains contribute substantially to the income and
13 employment and therefore to the indirect food security of more than 10 per cent of the world
14 population, essentially in developing countries and emerging economies (FAO, 2017a).
15
16 The 80 million tonnes of aquatic animals produced in 2016 contributed 46 per cent to total
17 aquatic animal production and a little over 54 per cent to total fish consumption in the same
18 year. Per capita food fish consumption was estimated as 20.3 kg in 2016, compared to 19.5 kg
19 in 2013 (FAO, 2018b). An estimated 18.7 million people were employed in aquaculture in
20 2015 (FAO, 2017a).
21
22 The culture and use of small indigenous fish species with high nutritional value in human
23 nutrition is increasing. However, with the intensification of aquaculture production methods,
24 and with the increasing use of plant-based feedstuffs, care must be taken to ensure that the
25 nutrient contents of farmed aquatic animal products are as high as possible (Beveridge and
26 others, 2013; Bogard and others, 2017).
27
29
30 The rapid growth of intensive aquaculture, in some cases not well planned, has caused
31 concern about environmental impact, human health and social issues. Although the lion’s
32 share of production originates from Asia, opposition to aquaculture development is strongest
33 in the Western world (Froehlich and others, 2017), where aquaculture is still a relatively new
34 industry competing with well-established activities. The increasing dependence of developed
35 countries on farmed seafood imports from developing countries and insecurity regarding
36 product environmental, social and safety credentials have attracted considerable negative
37 media attention. Moreover, scientific uncertainties and conflicting information on seafood
38 consumption have further confused the public. The establishment and application of third-
39 party certification systems, covering the environmental, social and food safety concerns of
40 seafood, have begun to ease this situation.
41
42 With a growing world population, annual supply from the aquaculture sector must surpass
43 supply from capture fisheries and reach 62 per cent in 2030 in order to maintain current
44 consumption levels. This presents tremendous challenges to the sector, to policy makers and
45 to the aquaculture community at large. Improving perceptions will be instrumental in
46 achieving this goal (Vannuccini and others, 2018). Better information and exchange thereof
47 would help in clearing concerns, myths and ambiguities. To improve public awareness of
48 aquaculture, the industry needs a more open, broader dialogue that will increase transparency.
49 To communicate the benefits of aquaculture more effectively, it must collaborate more with
50 stakeholder groups viewed as credible by the public. While important social and
639
1 environmental issues are still to be addressed, it is important to put aquaculture in a wider

2 perspective by comparing its costs and benefits with other animal production systems and
3 with its potential contribution to sustainable food security, given forecasted demographic
4 pressures. However, a holistic view, with a balanced evaluation of the risks and benefits of
5 aquaculture, has been lacking, thus impeding the development of policies that reflect
6 production realities (Bacher, 2015).
7
9
10 Capacity development is an integral part of aquaculture development. The Fisheries and
11 Aquaculture Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
12 (FAO) has been conducting training in many aspects of capacity development in member
13 countries for years. Sustainable development requires, inter alia, decent infrastructure,
14 technology, policies and training. While technology to improve the efficiency of production
15 systems is essential, the development of human resources, both in terms of quality and
16 quantity, is pivotal to sustaining the industry, all the more so in view of the changing
17 paradigms that are affecting the sector. Some of the key trends and challenges reflect an ever-
18 increasing global call for sustainable development that is socially and environmentally
19 acceptable, irrespective of the economic status of the nation.
20
21 To boost sustainable aquaculture development, countries must improve extension services.
22 The training of extension workers must be modified to incorporate and reinforce information
23 delivery methods and mechanisms, as well as practical farming techniques, which will help
24 them better to help farmers to improve their production systems and practices to improve
25 production and profit. New models and players are needed in the extension field as
26 information technology and media, farmer associations, development agencies, private sector
27 suppliers and others will probably enjoy greater prominence, thus broadening training
28 experience. The goal should be to improve extension services and ensure a more effective use
29 of resources.
30
31 Numerous donor and development agencies have helped to expand aquaculture capacity in
32 developing countries in the past five years. Many developing and developed countries have
33 allocated resources to improve national aquaculture capacity. Numerous governments have
34 provided basic aquaculture extension support and some limited research and development
35 services. However, the level of State support is inadequate in many countries. By contrast,
36 private sector engagement in capacity development in aquaculture has been improving, with
37 noticeable success in many countries.
38
39 6. Outlook
40
41 The major growth in aquatic production is expected to originate from aquaculture, and is
42 projected to reach 109 million tonnes in 2030, an increase of 37 per cent over 2016 levels.
43 However, it is estimated that the annual growth rate of aquaculture will slow down from 5.7
44 per cent in 2003–2016 to 2.1 per cent in 2017–2030, mainly because of a reduced rate of
45 growth in Chinese production, in part compensated by an increase in production in other
46 countries (FAO, 2018a). The share of farmed species in global fishery production (for food
47 and non-food uses), which was 47 per cent in 2016, is projected to exceed that of wild species
48 in 2020 and to grow to 54 per cent by 2030.
49
640
1 Over 87 per cent of the increase in aquaculture production in 2030 will originate from Asian
2 countries. Asia will continue to dominate world aquaculture production, with an 89 per cent
3 share in 2030. China will remain the world’s leading producer, but its share in total
4 production will decrease from 62 per cent in 2016 to 59 per cent in 2030. Production is
5 projected to continue to expand on all continents, with variations in the range of species and
6 products across countries and regions (World Bank, 2013).
7
8 Millions of people engaged in fisheries and aquaculture are struggling to maintain reasonable
9 livelihoods. These are the people who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change,
10 and particular attention needs to be paid to them when designing adaptation measures if the
11 sector is to continue to contribute to meeting global goals of poverty reduction and food
12 security (FAO, 2018a).
13
14 The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development216 emphasizes people, planet, prosperity,
15 peace and partnership. The 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are
16 highly relevant for policy making, planning and management for the sustainable development
17 of aquaculture. When developed appropriately, aquaculture will contribute to the achievement
18 of many SDGs, including SDG 14, and in particular, target 14.7, which aims, by 2030, to
19 increase the economic benefits to Small Island Developing States and Least Developed
20 Countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable
21 management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism.
22
23 A recent analysis shows that most of the available international guidance focusing on
24 aquaculture development broadly meets the expectations of the SDGs. Existing international
25 commitments and calls for sustainable aquaculture development, such as in the FAO Code of
26 Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and its associated Technical Guidelines, the 2000 Bangkok
27 Declaration and Strategy and the 2010 Phuket Consensus, and the FAO Blue Growth
28 Initiative for SIDS,217 which includes the ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture, are
29 generally well aligned with the 2030 Agenda and will support delivery of the SDGs (FAO,
30 2017a).
31
32 The FAO forecast of an apparent supply-demand gap in the early 2020s and the study by
33 Golden and others (2017) that suggests that aquaculture is unlikely to contribute substantially
34 to human nutrition in nutritionally vulnerable nations, together with the need for more
35 integrated efforts to develop policies addressing both fisheries and aquaculture for human
36 well-being, mean that we need to rethink and redesign our strategies towards future
37 aquaculture development worldwide.
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Chapter 17
Changes in Seaweed Harvesting and Use
Convenor: Hilconida Calumpong (Lead Member); Contributors: Noemí Solar-Bacho,
Franciane Pellizzari, Renison Ruwa (Co-Lead Member)
1 Keynote points
2
3 1. About 80 per cent of world seaweed production is for direct human consumption.
4 2. World production of seaweeds has steadily risen over the five-year period (2012–
5 2017) at a rate of about 2.6 per cent annually or about 1.8 million tonnes (wet weight)
6 per year due to demands mostly from farming or aquaculture with an estimated value
7 of about 12 billion United States dollars.
8 3. China remains the top supplier, followed by Indonesia. The Republic of Korea
9 replaced the Philippines as the third largest producer, due mostly to the series of
10 typhoons that have hit the latter’s farming areas.
11 4. Major species farmed are still the carrageenan-producing reds, Kappaphycus alvarezii
12 and Eucheuma spp., while the alginate-producing brown kelps are the major species
13 harvested.
14 5. Emerging applications of seaweeds in agriculture include the reduction of methane
15 production in farmed animals.
16 6. Production has been affected negatively in typhoon-vulnerable areas.
17
18 1. Introduction
19
20 The present Chapter deals only with seaweed harvesting and uses by human society. The
21 taxonomy and ecological role of seaweeds and how they are affected by other components of
22 the marine environment are covered in the present Assessment in Chapter 6G on marine
23 plants and macroalgae.
24
25 Seaweeds are macroalgae and belong to three main groups: red, brown and green. They are of
26 economic importance for many countries as food for direct human consumption or as food in
27 the aquaculture of commercial species, for the production of vegetable gums (e.g. agar,
28 carrageenan, alginates), and are used in the manufacture of different products of commercial
29 interest, mainly in the processed food and pharmaceutical industries (see Buschmann and
30 others, 2017, for a historical review).
31
32 According to the baseline review of status, as provided in Chapter 14 of the First World
33 Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017), red, brown and green seaweeds were
34 harvested in commercial quantities, from the wild, in about 37 countries and farmed in more
35 than 27 countries. About 96 per cent of the total production worldwide, amounting to around
36 26 million tonnes (wet weight) in 2012 and valued at about 6 billion US dollars, came from
37 mariculture. China was the top producer by volume, and supplied at least 50 per cent of the
38 total world production from 2003 to 2012, with the Philippines ranking second between 2003
39 and 2006 (9 to 10 per cent), and Indonesia ranking second between 2007 and 2012. Chile was
40 the top supplier from wild stock harvests, followed by China, Norway and Japan. As of 2012,
41 about 80 per cent of seaweeds (mostly red and brown) were used for food. The rest were for
42 phycocolloids such as agar, carrageenan, alginate and fucoidan, and used widely in industry,
644
1 including the cosmetic and medical industries. Seaweeds were also used as animal feed
2 additives, fertilizer, water purifiers and prebiotics in aquaculture. The top species farmed
3 were the red seaweeds, Kappaphycus alvarezii and Eucheuma spp. as sources of carrageenan,
4 accounting for 33 per cent of the production, while 20 per cent was contributed by alginate-
5 producing brown seaweeds called kelps. Seaweed harvests from wild stocks were reported to
6 be considerably affected by over-harvesting and climatic changes. The kelps were reported to
7 be most affected by global warming of surface seawater since reproduction will not occur
8 above 20°C. Kelp die-backs were reported in Norway and France and along other European
9 coasts. Seaweed farming has been seriously affected by the bacterial “ice-ice” disease, so
10 named because it causes the seaweed body to become translucent. It specifically targets
11 Kappaphycus alvarezii. The increase in diseases has been attributed to low genetic diversity
12 and mono-crops of cultured stocks. Reported environmental and ecological impacts of
13 commercial-scale seaweed harvesting include habitat destruction, damage to substrata and
14 changes in particle size distribution in sediments, disturbance to birds and wildlife, disruption
15 to food webs and localized faunal and floral changes in biodiversity, often affecting fishers’
16 harvests. Direct effects on seaweed populations include increased growth rates and the
17 covering of available substrata by algae other than kelps.
18
19 In terms of the socioeconomic impacts of seaweed farming, small-scale farmers appear to
20 benefit most as it offers substantial employment opportunities relative to other forms of
21 aquaculture. However, small -scale farmers were found to be disadvantaged as compared to
22 large-scale growers due to their lack of farm/financial management skills and their
23 dependence on processors for their materials.
24
25 2. Documented change in the state of seaweed production and uses
26 (2012–2017)
27
28 World production of seaweeds has steadily risen from the 2012 WOA I baseline (United
29 Nations, 2017), mostly as a result of farming or aquaculture (Figure 1). From more than
30 24.6 million tonnes (wet weight) in 2012, farmed seaweed production rose to close to
31 32 million tonnes (wet weight) in 2017 (FAO, 2019), thus accounting for 96.6 per cent of
32 total world production or an annual increase of about 1.8 million tonnes (wet weight). This is
33 now valued at 11.85 billion US dollars (FAO, 2019).
34
35 China remains the top supplier, with an increasing production of about one million tonnes per
36 year, now accounting for more than 54 per cent of world production. This represents a steady
37 1 per cent increase every year since 2012.Indonesia ranked second and, although its
38 production jumped 66 per cent in 2013, it remained more or less steady through 2017.The
39 Philippines slid to number four, after the Republic of Korea, due mostly to a series of
40 typhoons which hit its farming areas.
41
42 The carrageenan-producing Kappaphycus alvarezii and Eucheuma spp. continued to be the
43 major species farmed, with an increase in production from 8.3 million tonnes (wet weight) in
44 2012 to 12.3 million tonnes (wet weight) in 2016. Kelp production also increased from
45 5.7 million tonnes (wet weight) in 2012 to 8.4 million tonnes (wet weight) in 2016 (Figure 2).
645
1 35000
2 30000
3
25000
4
Production in tonnes (wet weight)

5 20000
Thousands
6 15000
7 10000
8
5000
9
0
10 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
11 China Indonesia Philippines Korea, Republic of
12 Korea, Dem. People's Rep Japan Malaysia Viet Nam
13 Solomon Islands Kiribati Cambodia Tanzania, United Rep. of

India Chile Zanzibar Denmark
14 Taiwan POC South Africa Russian Federation Timor-Leste
15 Madagascar Brazil Fiji, Republic of Kenya

Myanmar Greece Norway France
16 Tonga Peru Namibia Sri Lanka
17 Saint Lucia Ireland Belize Papua New Guinea
18 Others
19
20 Figure 1. World seaweed production from aquaculture, 2003–2017 by country/territory in tonnes (wet weight). Data
21 from 2003–2012 are from FAO, 2014. Data from 2013–2017 are from the FAO, 2019.
22
23
30000 20000
18000
25000
Tonnes( wet weight)
16000
Thousands
Thousands
20000 14000
12000
US$
15000 10000
8000
10000 6000
5000 4000
2000
0 0
2013
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2014
2015
2016
Axis Title
BROWN SEAWEEDS RED SEAWEEDS

GREEN SEAWEEDS Value in USD
24
25
26 Figure 2. Total world seaweed production, by major grouping for the period 2003–2017 in tonnes (wet weight) and
27 valued in US dollars. Data from 2003–2012 are from FAO, 2014. Data from 2013–2016 are from FAO, 2018. Monetary
28 values for 2013–2016 are from FAO, 2019.
29
30 Papua has increased production over the last seven years, from 100 tonnes (wet weight) in
31 2010 to 4,300 tonnes (wet weight) in 2017. New producers include Cambodia, which posted
32 production of 2,000–2,200 tonnes (wet weight) in 2015–2017, and Norway, which recorded
33 51–149 tonnes (wet weight) in 2015–2017.
34
35 The trend in production from harvesting of wild stocks has been more or less the same over
36 the five-year period since the 2012 baseline (Figure 3), with Chile, China, Norway and Japan
646
1 still the top four producers, in that order. Indonesia replaced France in fifth place with an
2 increased harvest that was six times that of 2012 (from 7,600 tonnes to about 50,000 tonnes).
3
1500
Tonnes wet weight
in Thousands
1000
500
2010
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Australia Canada Chile China China,Taiwan
Estonia Fiji France Iceland Indonesia
Ireland Italy Japan Korea Rep Madagascar
Mexico Morocco New Zealand Norway Peru
4 Philippines Portugal Russian Fed South Africa Spain
5
6 Figure 3. World seaweed production from wild stocks 2003–2017, by country/territory in tonnes (wet weight). Data from
7 2003–2012 are from FAO, 2014, while production data from 2013–2017 are from FAO, 2019.
8
9 3. Consequences of the changes on human communities, economies and
10 well-being
11
12 Buschmann and others (2017) have predicted that seaweed (and microalgal) production could
13 provide 18 per cent of the global alternative protein market share or 56 million tonnes of
14 protein by 2054.
15
16 There is increasing domestic consumption of seaweed and seaweed-based products
17 worldwide, thus augmenting local incomes. This is due to new innovations in dining such as
18 gourmet restaurants and bakeries featuring seaweed-enhanced dishes, new health trends for
19 people with different food needs, such as vegans, diabetics and athletes looking for foods
20 high in vegetable protein, soluble fibre and a high amount of minerals, essential amino acids
21 and vitamins (Bradford, 2014; Ibáñez and Herrero, 2017).
22
23 In areas where capitalization is a main factor in large-scale production, such as Brazil, as well
24 in the southern Atlantic coast, the increase in seaweed production partly depends on
25 associations and cooperativism. Nearshore seaweed farms, however, can often be beset with
26 problems such as coliform contamination, siltation and other anthropogenic activities that
27 impact coastal regions.
28
30
31 Although seaweed production is concentrated in three major regions, namely, the Indian
32 Ocean, the North Pacific and the South Pacific, production is increasing in other regions. In
33 the South Atlantic, for example, specifically Brazil, Kappaphycus alvareziiand Gracilaria
34 spp. are cultivated on a family scale, as promoted by Government agencies and international
35 organizations, foragar extraction for the commercial market (Simioni and others, 2019).
647
1 In the South Pacific, Chile (unlike Argentina, Brazil and Mexico which have processing
2 plants for the production of algae), is the only country in the region where the harvesting,
3 cultivation and processing of seaweeds occurs on a commercial scale. Most of the Gracilaria
4 it produces (50 per cent of global production) is acquired by Chinese processors (Ramírez
5 and others, 2018). Changes in the conduct of the trades based on the introduction of new
6 markets and the opening of nations to international circuits has brought seaweeds from
7 marine products of relatively low economic value (i.e. commodities) into the category of
8 export goods with a high trading value in the market. New legislation for the conservation of
9 marine resources and restricting wild harvesting, and management policies granting unions
10 and cooperative rights to sea plots in order to promote cultivation, have provided fora
11 transformation at the national level to governance promoting sustainability. This has been
12 particularly important for the artisanal sector in social and economic matters (Gelcich and
13 others, 2015; Gallardo and others, 2018).
14
15 5. Outlook
16
17 With regard to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)218 in general and SDG 14, in
18 particular, seaweed farming and harvesting are relevant to: SDG 14.1, on reducing marine
19 pollution, since it has no fertilizer inputs and recycles nutrients; 14.2 on better marine and
20 coastal ecosystems; 14.3 on reducing ocean acidification - by absorbing atmospheric carbon
21 dioxide; 14.4 on reducing overexploitation of fisheries - by taking fishers out of capture
22 fisheries; 14.5 on conservation of marine and coastal areas; and target 14.b219 - by supporting
23 small-scale artisanal fisheries; and contribute to achieving the other SDGs, including but not
24 limited to SDG 3 on achieving food security and SDG8 on sustained and inclusive economic
25 growth, especially that women and children are involved.
26
27 Buschmann and others (2017) state that seaweeds could be the “ultimate sustainable crop”
28 which would lead to the growth of the aquaculture industry required to sustain the world’s
29 food supply. Without the constraints of arable land (since the sea covers 75 per cent of the
30 planet’s surface), fertilizer and freshwater inputs, coupled with “new aquaculture”
31 technologies, mariculture of seaweeds or “phyconomy”(see Hurtado and others, 2019), could
32 provide the 14 per cent year growth rate required of the industry to secure global food
33 security by 2050. Seaweeds not only supply food for human consumption but also supply raw
34 materials for feeds, nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, and provide a carbon sink to help to
35 combat climate change.
36
37 Apart from the projected continuing increase in seaweed production for traditional and
38 current uses, emerging applications in agriculture could help cattle-producing countries to
39 reduce global warming. For example, the red alga Asparagopsis, if added to cattle feed, has
40 been observed to considerably reduce methane “belching” in cattle by about 26 per cent
41 (Roque and others, 2019).
42
44
45 Buschmann and others (2017) identified many knowledge gaps with regard to large-scale
46 production, economics and climate change. The biology of many seaweed species is still
218
219
648
1 unknown and, even for those which are already harvested or farmed, there are aspects of their
2 biology which are still not well understood. Advanced production models need the above
3 phyconomic information and, for offshore farms, information on climate change effects are
4 especially important. The establishment of offshore farms will need long-term data on
5 typhoons, sea-surface temperatures and oceanographic information. Large-scale, phyconomic
6 production would also need phyconometric information to generate appropriate economic and
7 financial models, such as new applications, markets and “externalities”.
8
9 Artisanal farmers and harvesters still face the age-long problems of capitalization, the lack of
10 healthy and vigorous planting materials, and pricing variabilities.
11
12 7. Information and data used in the assessment

13
Description Data Reference

Source
Figure 1 World seaweed 2003–2012 FAO, 2014
production from
aquaculture,
2003–2017
2013–2017 FAO, 2019 (Tables 5 and 6)
Figure 2 World seaweed 2003–2012 FAO 2014

production by
group, 2013–
2016
2013–2016 FAO, 2018
Monetary values 2013–2016 FAO, 2019 (Tables 5 and 6)

for 2013-2016 US$ values
Figure 3 World seaweed 2003–2012 FAO, 2014

production from
wild stocks,
2003–2017
2013–2017 FAO, 2019 (Tables A-6)
References
Bradford, M (2014). Algas Las Verduras Del Mar Libro, Editorial OCEANO AMBAR. 8va
Edición.
Buschmann, AH and others (2017). Seaweed production: overview of the global state of
exploitation, farming and emerging research activity. European Journal of Phycology, vol.
52, No.4, pp. 391–406.
FAO (2014). FAO Yearbook. Fishery and Aquaculture Statistics 2012. Rome: FAO.
FAO (2018). The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018-Meeting the Sustainable
Development Goals. Rome.
649
FAO (2019). FAO Yearbook. Fishery and Aquaculture Statistics 2017. Rome: FAO.
Gallardo Fernández, GL and others (2018). Granjeras Del Mar: Luchas y Sueños En Coliumo.
Historia Del Área de Manejo Del Sindicato 2. Andros Impresores.
Gelcich, Stefan and others (2015). Exploring opportunities to include local and traditional
knowledge in the recently created “marine management plans” policy of chile. In Fishers’
Knowledge and the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries: Applications, Experiences and Lessons
in Latin America, eds.
Johanne Fischer and others, pp.247–62. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper 591.
Hurtado, AQ and others (2019). Phyconomy: the extensive cultivation of seaweeds, their
sustainability and economic value, with particular reference to important lessons to be
learned and transferred from the practice of eucheumatoid farming, Phycologia, vol. 58, No.
5, pp. 472-483, DOI:
10.1080/00318884.2019.1625632,https://doi.org/10.1080/00318884.2019.1625632
Ibáñez, E and M Herrero (2017). Las AlgasQueComemos (¿QuéSabemos de?; 81). Madrid: CSIC;
Los libros de la catarata.
Ramírez, M. and others (2018). Flora Marina Bentónica de Quintay. RIL Editores y Universidad
Andres Bello.
Roque, BM and others (2019). Inclusion of Asparagopsis armata in lactating dairy cows’ diet
reduces enteric methane emission by over 50 percent. Journal of Cleaner Production, vol.
234, pp. 132–138.
Simioni, C, L. Hayashi, and MC Oliveira and others (2019). Seaweed resources of Brazil: what
has changed in 20 years? Botanica Marina, vol. 62, No.5, pp. 433–441.
United Nations (2017). Chapter 14: Seaweeds. In The First Global Integrated Marine Assessment:
World Ocean Assessment I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
650
Chapter 18
Changes in Desalinization and in the Production of Sea Salt
Note: Elements of this chapter have been incorporated into Chapter 8C (“Maritime
Industries”).
***
651
Chapter 19
Changes in Seabed Mining
Co-Convenors: James R. Hein, Pedro Madureira; Contributors: Ana Colaço, Luis M.
Pinheiro, Richard Roth, Pradeep Singh
1 Keynote points
2
3 • The present Chapter updates Chapter 23 of the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA
4 I) (United Nations, 2017b) in terms of shallow-water aggregate, placer deposits, iron
5 sands, and phosphorite. Exploration licenses for deep-sea mineral resources have
6 increased significantly since WOA I and are the focus herein.
7 • New technologies to reduce the impacts on the marine environment are now
8 envisaged for exploitation of placer deposits, traditionally mined by dredging.
9 Prospects for mining phosphorite deposits have faced opposition from stakeholders
10 and are waiting to become a reality.
11 • Deep-sea mineral deposits considered--polymetallic sulfides, polymetallic nodules,
12 and cobalt-rich crusts--are being considered for mining, with 30 contracts for
13 exploration given by the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
14 • One driver for these activities is that deep-ocean mineral resources contain diverse
15 rare and critical metals needed to support the implementation of Sustainable
16 Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015.
17 • Environmental impacts from exploitation of deep-water mineral resources is a
18 scientific community focus and transparent and inclusive regulations are being
19 developed to avoid, reduce, and mitigate impacts to ecosystems.
20 • A lack of information on biodiversity, connectivity, and services exists and a robust
21 collection of baseline ecological data is necessary for predictions related to the future
22 deep-sea mining activities.
23 • The ISA has considered different financial models for commercial mining of
24 polymetallic nodules. Incomes must first compensate the Common Heritage of
25 (Hu)Mankind and provide funding for environmental and regulatory monitoring and
26 remediation. Metal prices are difficult to predict, which can create significant risk that
27 may delay commercial mining.
28 • Deep-sea mineral resources are typically located far from human communities and
29 social impacts may be less than for terrestrial mining. However, significant concerns
30 exist about loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, including the role of the deep
31 sea in climate regulation. These legitimate concerns constitute the basis for a “social
32 license to operate”.
33
34 1. Introduction
35
36 1.1. Links to the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I)
37
38 Chapter 23 of the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) focused on marine mining, and
39 particularly on established extractive industries, which are predominantly confined to near-
40 shore areas, where shallow-water, near-shore aggregate and placer deposits, and somewhat
41 deeper water phosphate deposits are found (United Nations, 2017a). At the time of
42 publication, there were no commercially developed deep seabed mining (DSM) deposits but
652
1 an assessment of mining leases and exploration activity was included. Since WOA I, the
2 number of deep-water (depths greater than 200 m below the ocean surface) exploration
3 licenses has increased both within national jurisdictions of coastal, island and archipelagic
4 States, and beyond in the Area (the seabed, ocean floor and subsoil thereof beyond the limits
5 of national jurisdiction) under the administration of the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
6 For the first time, in 2017, deep seabed test-mining was carried out by Japan at a water depth
7 of 1,600 m within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) (METI, 2017). The update in the
8 present Chapter will focus on the nascent deep-water mining industry and mineral deposits.
9
10 Environmental impacts focused on dredging activities with a list of references for a number
11 of real-world examples. However, WOA I could not provide an environmental baseline for
12 DSM and considered that environmental, social and economic aspects were often not
13 adequately understood with available data. Data on potential environmental impacts are still
14 scarce and can differ greatly between mineral extraction from near-shore and deep-sea
15 mining sites. Information on economic benefits, and to some extent social impacts, of mining
16 is becoming progressively more accessible due to several initiatives promoting an increase in
17 transparency of extractive industries.
18
19 In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations
20 Member States.220 It includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be addressed on
21 the basis of a global partnership. DSM activities may have implications for the achievement
22 of SDGs 1, 5, 7–10, 12–14, and 17.
23
24 1.2. Drivers, challenges and opportunities for deep seabed mining
25
26 Many drivers, challenges and opportunities exist for DSM, and have been discussed in many
27 scientific papers and popular media (Hein and others, 2013; Banerji, 2019; Koschinsky and
28 others, 2018). A key issue related to drivers is where the critical materials to support
29 infrastructure development and goods for an expanding middle class in developing societies
30 and transition to urbanization in those societies will come from. In addition, the question is
31 where will the rare and critical metals come from for green technologies, viewed by some
32 stakeholders as solutions for a low-carbon future and global climate change (Graedel and
33 others, 2015; Kim and others, 2015; McLellan and others, 2016; Zweibel, 2010; World Bank,
34 2017). DSM has been suggested as offering a potential partial solution to these important
35 issues (World Bank, 2017).
36
37 Many unique characteristics of future deep seabed mines have been pointed out as additional
38 drivers for this new industry (Petersen and others, 2016). These include: the high grades
39 (concentrations) and tonnages of rare and critical metals in deep-sea mineral deposits; the fact
40 that marine-based mine sites will not have roads, sea floor ore transport systems, water and
41 electrical transport systems, buildings, waste dumps and other infrastructure on the sea floor;
42 and, most importantly, no overburden will need to be removed before mining can take place
43 because the deposits of interest are exposed at the sea floor.
44
45 However, there are many challenges to DSM. The most significant challenge is obtaining a
46 sufficient understanding of the various ecosystems that characterize deep-sea mineral deposit
47 environments, as well as knowledge needed to avoid, mitigate and reduce the environmental
220
653
1 impacts of resource extraction. Other challenges include social license, which must be
2 addressed through transparency and communications. Challenges for the industry include
3 how to improve mining engineering and environmental safeguards, and development of green
4 metallurgical processing technologies. The ever-present volatility of metal prices and
5 markets, and competition with land-based mines, will also entail significant challenges.
6
7 DSM is being heavily regulated even before it has begun. This offers an opportunity to apply
8 a precautionary approach and adaptive management, supported by real-time monitoring, right
9 from the start.
10
11 1.3. Overview
12
13 Marine aggregate exploitation is still the major offshore mining activity, now better
14 regulated, as an alternative to mitigate the huge negative impacts of both legal and illegal
15 beach and onshore sand mining (Torres and others, 2017). An update of this activity is
16 considered first in section 2. Updates of other near-shore shallow-water deposits follow on,
17 including iron sands, placer diamonds, placer tin, and phosphorite deposits, before deep-sea
18 deposits are considered. Those of current economic interest are sea floor massive sulphide
19 (SMS) (or polymetallic sulphide) deposits, polymetallic nodules, and cobalt-rich
20 ferromanganese crusts (see Figure 1). The marine environment and the need to gather
21 sufficient data and information on the environmental impacts that may arise from their
22 exploitation will be addressed in section 3. Envisaged economic and social impacts related to
23 DSM are discussed in section 4. Section 5 briefly identifies the major capacity-building
24 needs.
25
26 2. Changes in scale and significance of seabed mining
27
28 WOA I emphasized the state of active marine mining, which was and still is limited to near-
29 shore, shallow-water deposits. Provided below are a few updates, although little has changed
30 since WOA I in this field of activity.
31
32 2.1. Current state of changes
33
34 2.1.1. Aggregate, sand and gravel update
35
36 WOA I presented a thorough overview of aggregate mining and identified the large negative
37 impacts of beach sand exploitation, especially concerning coastal vulnerability and resilience
38 to flooding, storm surges, tsunamis and rising sea levels. All of these impacts have led to an
39 increasing global interest in offshore aggregate exploitation as an alternative.
40
41 Since the conclusion of WOA I, aggregates continue to be the most mined materials in the
42 marine environment, generally at water depths of less than 50 m. In 2016, the Netherlands led
43 marine aggregate extraction (12.5 million tonnes), followed by the United Kingdom of Great
44 Britain and Northern Ireland (11.9 million tonnes), Germany (10 million tonnes), France (7
45 million tonnes), Denmark (6.6 million tonnes) and Belgium (6.6 million tonnes) (UEPG,
46 2018). In Belgium, no gravel was exploited from the continental shelf in 2017 and changes in
47 marine sand and gravel legislation in 2014 specified the maximum amounts of sand that can
48 be extracted from some areas, with an annual decrease of 1 per cent between 2014 and 2019
49 (ICES, 2018). In Finland, there was no marine extraction in 2017, but permits have been
50 issued to extract 8 million m3 of sand up to 2027 off the shore of Helsinki, and from the
654
1 mouth of the Iijoki River (ICES, 2018). Other countries already identified in WOA I with
2 significant offshore aggregate mining activity include China, India, Japan, the Republic of
3 Korea, the Republic of Kiribati and the United States of America.
4
5 Current development trends indicate that sand demand will increase further in the coming
6 years at an accelerated rate, associated largely with rapid urban expansion, putting additional
7 strain on the limited sand deposits and causing conflicts worldwide (Torres and others, 2017).
8 Therefore, a need exists for technological innovation to minimize impacts on the environment
9 (Gavriletea, 2017) and also for integrated studies to better understand the time of recovery of
10 offshore exploitation pits (Gonçalves and others, 2014) and the impacts on benthic and
11 planktonic ecosystems.
12
13 2.1.2. Placer diamonds update
14
15 Placer diamond mining was well covered in WOA I, although a few updates are warranted.
16 About 75 per cent of the diamond production in Namibia is from its offshore placer deposits.
17 Debmarine, a 50/50 joint venture between De Beers and Namibia, is in the process of
18 building a new mining vessel (SS Nujoma) that will increase the offshore production by
19 about 500,000 carats per year.221 This custom-made ship will be ready for operation in 2022
20 with new technologies that will provide higher efficiency and productivity. Placer diamond
21 mining off Namibia has now reached water depths of up to 200 m.
22
23 2.1.3. Placer tin update
24
25 Placer deposits in riverbeds, valleys and on the seabed make up nearly 80 per cent of the
26 world’s tin resources (Kamilli and others, 2017). The most extensive area for onshore and
27 offshore placers is in the enormous tin belt of Southeast Asia. In 2017, Indonesia became the
28 second largest producer of tin in the world, mined both onshore and offshore in subequal
29 amounts, and is the largest producer of offshore tin. Based on the 2018 annual report of the
30 PT Timah Tbk mining enterprise,222 tin production in Indonesia increased from 24,121 tonnes
31 in 2016 to 33,444 tonnes in 2018, the highest level of production since 2012. Indonesia’s
32 reserve of 800,000 tonnes is second only to that of China which stands at 1,100,000 tonnes
33 (USGS, 2019), and Timah estimates that Indonesia’s tin resource totals 1,043,633 tonnes.
34 Timah’s offshore mining is exploring the use of borehole mining technology, which the
35 company thinks can increase tin-ore production with a much lower environmental impact.
36 This is significant because offshore placer tin deposits are mined by dredging methods, which
37 have an environmental impact on benthic, midwater and pelagic ecosystems.
38
39 For comparison, in 2018, mine production for Malaysia was only 4,000 tonnes but the
40 estimated reserves are 250,000 tonnes (USGS, 2019). Historically, Malaysia has produced 55
41 per cent of the tin used worldwide (Kamilli and others, 2017).
221
See https://www.mining-technology.com/features/giant-mining-vessels-how-high-quality-gems-are-
exploited-from-the-sea/.
222
See http://www.timah.com.
655
1 2.1.4. Iron sands update

2
3 WOA I presented a case study of iron sands, which occur off New Zealand at water depths of
4 20 to 42 m. A mining permit was granted to Trans-Tasman Resources Limited (TTR) in May
5 2014 for up to 50 million tonnes of ore per year for 20 years, which would be mined over an
6 area of 66 km2. As reported in WOA I, the decision-making committee (DMC) of the New
7 Zealand Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014 did not grant permission to
8 mine, based on inadequate environmental data. However, an environmental permit to mine up
9 to 50 million tonnes a year of iron sands for 35 years was granted by the DMC in August
10 2018 based on a revised application. That decision was subsequently appealed by
11 environmental and fishing groups and the New Zealand High Court ruled in August 2018 that
12 no mining would take place and sent it back to the DMC for further consideration based on
13 the Court’s criteria concerning correct legal tests for adaptive management. TTR has now
14 appealed the High Court’s ruling to the Court of Appeals, where the case currently resides.
15
16 Three additional companies have been granted exploration permits for iron sands in New
17 Zealand’s maritime zones. Cass Offshore Minerals Limited (Cass) has an iron sands
18 exploration permit off the coast of New Plymouth, the same general region as the mining
19 permit granted to TTR. In May 2018, Ironsands Offshore Mining Limited was granted
20 permission for exploration inside a marine sanctuary off the coast of New Plymouth, the
21 same region as the TTR and Cass permits. Pacific Offshore Mining (POM) has an exploration
22 permit for iron-titanium sands (ilmenite) off the Bay of Plenty, east of the North Island.
23
24 2.1.5. Phosphorites: Chatham Rise (New Zealand), Don Diego (Mexico),
25 Namibian Marine Phosphate Sandpiper and other projects
26 (Namibia)
27
28 Mining has not yet started at any of the three licence areas (see Figure 1 for locations).
29 Chatham Rock Phosphate (CRP) has held a mining permit since December 2013 and applied
30 for an environmental consent in June 2014, but the decision-making committee appointed by
31 the New Zealand EPA turned down that application in February 2015. CRP anticipates
32 completing the EPA reapplication and hearing by the end of 2021. It plans to mine 820 km2
33 for up to 1.5 million tonnes of phosphate annually at water depths of up to 450 m. CRP is
34 currently considering the possibility of extracting rare earth elements as an important
35 potential by-product.
36
37 The proposed Mexican Don Diego phosphate project was covered in WOA I, at which time
38 Odyssey Marine Exploration had submitted an environment impact assessment for approval
39 to the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). The
40 application to develop the phosphate project through its subsidiary, Exploraciones Oceánicas,
41 was denied in April 2016. In 2018, the decision was appealed to the Mexican administrative
42 tribunal, which ruled that the decision had failed to consider the extensive environmental
43 mitigation procedures proposed, but SEMARNAT reinstated its previous decision. The
44 project is currently in various stages of negotiation.
45
46 Namibian Marine Phosphate Limited (Pty) (NMP) was awarded a mining license (ML170) in
47 July 2011 and, in 2012, NMP provided an environmental impact assessment and
48 environmental management programme. It received an environmental clearance certificate
49 for mining in September 2016; however, two months later the certificate was retracted
656
1 following protests by various stakeholders. NMP appealed to the High Court of Namibia. In
2 May 2018, the company was successful in its appeal and the High Court of Namibia set aside
3 the retraction. NMP operations will be at water depths of 190–345 m over an area of about
4 2,200 km2, 60 km off the coast of Namibia. Other companies also hold permits off Namibia,
5 including CRP.
6
7 2.1.6. Deep seabed mining
8
9 WOA I anticipated that SMS mining might begin in the Manus Basin, Bismarck Sea, in the
10 Papua New Guinea EEZ in 2017. This expectation was based on announcements made by
11 Nautilus Minerals Inc. (Nautilus, 2017). However, due to an inability to raise the necessary
12 funds, this component of the company has been curtailed.
13
14 The Pacific Island States are working to develop and adopt seabed mining legislation for
15 areas within national jurisdiction. The publication of domestic regulatory legislation has been
16 supported by a number of initiatives, including the ongoing Pacific Maritime Boundaries
17 Consortium and the European Union-funded Secretariat of the Pacific Community Deep Sea
18 Minerals Project (2011–2016).
19
20 The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is currently administering 30 exploration
21 contracts.223 Presently, Africa is the only continent without countries sponsoring exploration
22 activities in the deep sea. Draft regulations on exploitation of marine mineral resources in the
23 Area are currently in advanced discussion within the ISA and should be adopted as a matter
24 of urgency as requested by the Council.224
25
26 2.1.6.1. Polymetallic nodules
27
28 Polymetallic nodules (PN) form predominantly on the sediment-covered abyssal sea floor of
29 the global ocean at water depths of about 3,500 to 6,500 m (see Figure 2C, D). The economic
30 interest in these deposits is focused on nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese, although
31 molybdenum, titanium, lithium, zirconium, and the rare earth elements and yttrium (REY)
32 also occur in high concentrations (Hein and others, 2013; Kuhn and others, 2017).
33
34 Presently, 18 contracts for PN have entered into force, with 16 located in the northeast Pacific
35 Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) (see Figure 3), one in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and one
36 in the central Indian Ocean basin. The maximum size of the exploration area allocated to a
37 contractor can reach up to 150,000 km2 but shall not exceed 75,000 km2 after eight years
38 from the date of the contract.225
39
40 Apart from the CCZ, high prospective areas occur in the Peru and Penrhyn-Samoa Basins.
41 Although most nodule fields are in the Area, important PN deposits can also be found within
42 the EEZ of, inter alia, the Cook Islands, Republic of Kiribati, Niue and American Samoa
43 (Hein and others, 2005, 2015).
223
See https://www.isa.org.jm/deep seabed-minerals-contractors.
224
See International Seabed Authority, document ISBA/24/C/8/Add.1.
225
See International Seabed Authority, document ISBA/19/C/17.
657
1 2.1.6.2. Sea floor massive sulphides (SMS) or polymetallic sulphides

2
3 High-temperature hydrothermal circulation systems occur in all ocean basins along mid-
4 ocean ridge spreading centres, and along volcanic arcs and back-arc spreading centres (see
5 Figure 1). The highest-temperature products are SMS and sulphate deposits in focused-flow
6 systems such as chimneys, and lower-temperature hydrothermal manganese and iron oxide
7 deposits in diffuse-flow systems (see Figure 2E, F). Deposits form at water depths of 200 to
8 5,000 m, with deeper water deposits generally along spreading centres and shallower water
9 deposits along volcanic arcs. Economically important high concentrations of copper, zinc,
10 gold and silver occur in some SMS deposits at all of these settings. The tonnages of actively
11 forming deposits are generally poorly constrained but are usually small. Tonnages and grades
12 of inactive, off-axis SMS deposits are even more poorly known, but are likely to be of higher
13 tonnage and comparable with some land-based counterparts (German and others, 2016;
14 Jamieson and others, 2017).
15
16 Hydrothermal SMS deposits are common within the EEZ of many Pacific States, like Japan,
17 New Zealand, the Republic of Fiji, the Kingdom of Tonga, the Solomon Islands and the
18 Republic of Vanuatu, as well as the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Norway in the
19 Atlantic, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Sudan in the Red Sea. The
20 latter case corresponds to the metalliferous mud deposit of the Atlantis II Deep, which may
21 be the only SMS deposit similar in scale to the large terrestrial deposits (up to 90 million
22 tonnes) (Hoagland and others, 2010).
23
24 In the Area, seven contracts for exploration for SMS have entered into force since 2011, three
25 in the Atlantic Ocean and four in the Indian Ocean. The area under an exploration contract is
26 comprised of not more than 100 blocks, each block approximately 10 km by 10 km and no
27 greater than 100 km2, arranged in at least five clusters. The exploration area may not exceed
28 2,500 km2 by the end of the tenth year from the date of the contract.226
29
30 2.1.6.3. Cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts
31
32 Cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts (CFC) form on the flanks and summit of seamounts,
33 ridges, and plateaus where rock is exposed at the sea floor (see Figure 2A, B). Many
34 thousands of such edifices occur in the ocean basins and are especially abundant in the
35 Pacific Ocean (see Figure 1). CFC are found at water depths ranging from about 400 to 7000
36 m. In addition to cobalt, nickel and manganese, CFC contain a wide array of rare and critical
37 metals of economic interest and with applications in emerging and next-generation
38 technologies, especially tellurium, niobium, REY, scandium and platinum group metals
39 (PGM), among others (Hein and others, 2013, 2017). Based on grade, tonnage, topography,
40 age of oceanic crust and oceanographic conditions, the best areas within the Area and
41 national jurisdictions for CFC exploration and future mining occur within the central Pacific
42 Prime Crust Zone (PCZ) as defined by Hein and others (2009, 2013), for example, including
43 the EEZ of the Johnston Atoll and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
44 (United States of America), the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Izu-Bonin Islands
45 (Japan). Seamounts and ridges within the huge PCZ are about half in EEZ and half in the
46 Area. A smaller resource potential occurs in the Pacific EEZ of French Polynesia (France),
47 the Republic of Kiribati, Tuvalu and Niue. Seamounts in the northeast Atlantic Ocean (EEZ
226
See International Seabed Authority document ISBA/16/A/12/Rev.1.
658
1 of the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Spain) also show characteristics that warrant
2 further study.
3
4 Exploration for CFC in the Area is currently active under five contracts established with the
5 ISA, four in the western part of the PCZ, and one in the southwest Atlantic Ocean. The area
6 covered by each contract for exploration is comprised of not more than 150 blocks arranged
7 in clusters; each block may be square or rectangular in shape and no greater than 20 km2. The
8 exploration area may not exceed 1,000 km2 by the end of the tenth year from the date of the
9 contract.227
10
11 2.2. Technological developments
12
13 2.2.1. Sea floor massive sulphides
14
15 Since WOA I, several deep seabed test-mining operations have been conducted in situ, the
16 most complete of which was a two-month operation performed by the Japan Oil, Gas and
17 Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) in the summer of 2017 in its EEZ at a depth of
18 1,600 m near Okinawa Prefecture (METI, 2017). The operation involved a pilot test of the
19 full system envisaged for the recovery of SMS from the sea floor (see Figure 4D). The three
20 mining production tools designed by Nautilus Minerals to conduct extraction of the Solwara
21 1 SMS deposit off Papua New Guinea became a reality. The machines, built by Newcastle-
22 based Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd., underwent submerged trials in an enclosed onshore
23 excavation on Motukea Island (Nautilus, 2017). Other SMS mining tools have been
24 developed or are under development, for example the Bauer BC40 SMS trench cutter mining
25 tool (see Figure 4C).
26
27 2.2.2. Polymetallic nodules
28
29 Another in situ test was scheduled in 2019 for polymetallic nodules in the CCZ and inside the
30 contract areas of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and
31 Global Sea Mineral Resources NV (GSR), sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany
32 and the Kingdom of Belgium, respectively, at a water depth of around 4,500 m. The test
33 focused on the nodules prototype collector (Patania II) developed by the DEME corporation,
34 of which GSR is a division (see Figure 4A). The test was not successful due to damage to the
35 umbilical connector resulting in a power failure (DEME, 2019). In 2017, also in the CCZ,
36 GSR successfully launched the pre-prototype collector Patania I. Other PN mining tools have
37 been developed or are under development, including, for example, the Korea Research
38 Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering tandem nodule mining tools (see Figure 4B) that
39 collect PN, which are then crushed before entering a buffering system and then fed up the
40 riser pipe.
41
42 2.3. Future directions
43
44 The transition towards a low-carbon future committed to by most Governments could
45 invigorate interest in deep seabed mining and the search for new metal sources. The majority
46 of DSM activities may occur in the Area. This should promote a shift of the paradigm related
227
See International Seabed Authority document ISBA/18/A/11.
659
1 to the mining industry. Mining of the deep seabed will be mostly monitored by the
2 international community within the ISA framework that currently includes 168 members.
3
4 3. Environmental aspects
5
6 3.1. Advances in knowledge and environmental impacts
7
8 The deep-sea environment covers more than 90 per cent of the ocean area and includes a
9 range of ecosystems and habitats at the sea floor and in the water column (Ramirez-Llodra
10 and others, 2011; Gollner and others, 2017). The different types of mineral resources at the
11 sea floor are located in different geological/oceanographic settings that also host different
12 types of habitats and communities.
13
14 Regulations designed to avoid, reduce and mitigate impacts to resource- and non-resource-
15 associated fauna would include physical impacts, noise, light and particle plumes. During the
16 last decade, several projects and initiatives identified potential impacts of DSM, such as the
17 extent and impact of sediment or water plumes away from the areas directly mined and their
18 potential toxicity (Midas, 2016). Some of the expected impacts on ecosystems (Table 1)
19 include limiting connectivity between populations, interfering with the life cycle of species,
20 behaviour changes, loss of species and habitat, impacts on ecosystem structure and
21 functioning, and impacts on water-column chemistry. Several deep-sea species and
22 ecosystems show vulnerable characteristics such as maturation at a relatively old age, slow
23 growth rates, long life expectancies, and low or unpredictable recruitment.
24
25 Recent work highlighted the role of all sea-floor resources as critical habitats for
26 communities. A wide range of fauna habitats are associated with PN, which are the dominant
27 hard substrate on the CCZ abyssal plain (Vanreusel and others, 2016; Simon-Lledó and
28 others, 2019a). Active hydrothermal vent ecosystems are unusual, fragmented habitats
29 colonized by endemic and mostly rare species (Van Dover and others, 2018). SMS associated
30 with inactive vent fields are not well studied but the existing literature identifies the presence
31 of cold water corals and sponges, whose dependence on the microbial communities are as yet
32 to be determined (Boschen and others, 2016; Van Dover, 2019). CFC on seamounts host
33 various ecosystems depending on location and water depth, which include cold water corals
34 and sponges and other habitat-forming species (Rowden and others, 2010).
35
36 Although there has been no commercial-scale mining, deep-sea experiments simulating
37 mining activities have been carried out. The first commercial test-mining for PN was carried
38 out in 1970. Since then, there have been a number of small-scale commercial test-mining or
39 scientific disturbance events designed to simulate mining. The results of the simulated mining
40 impacts set a lower bound on the likely intensity of mining disturbance effects and the
41 timescales required for benthic community recovery (Jones and others, 2017 and references
42 therein). Those designed to mimic PN mining provided insights into recovery processes
43 following small-scale disturbance events (up to 26 years ago) on abyssal plains (Gollner and
44 others, 2017; Jones and others, 2017). Results of these studies showed that large sessile fauna
45 have very slow recovery after disturbance (see also Vanreusel and others, 2016) and
46 consistently show major impacts and lack of faunal recovery even over decadal time periods
47 (Jones and others, 2017). While the impacts on the nodule-dwelling fauna were entirely
48 anticipated, as the nodules take millions of years to form, there are also significant impacts on
49 the organisms inhabiting the sediments in and near disturbed tracks (Simon-Lledó, 2019b).
660
1 3.2. Policies and legislation: new regulations and policies, international,

2 regional and national developments
3
4 For nearshore deposits, an increase in sand and gravel extraction is foreseen for the next
5 decades, possibly extending to water depths greater than 50 m. Tighter environmental
6 regulation, accompanied by the development of more environmentally friendly technologies,
7 is also expected for marine aggregate exploitation.
8
9 Environmental management standards and guidelines for DSM are in their infancy (Jones and
10 others, 2019). The ISA has a “Mining Code” to regulate prospecting and exploration
11 activities and will establish regulations for exploitation of minerals in the Area. Development
12 of these regulations will move in parallel with development of standards and guidelines
13 aimed at defining environmental objectives and establishing environmental thresholds. A
14 crucial tool for the definition of environmental objectives is the adoption of regional
15 environmental management plans (REMP) in areas where exploration contracts exist. The
16 first environmental management plan was developed by the ISA in 2011 for polymetallic
17 nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and adopted in 2012.228 Several workshops have been
18 held or will soon be convened to develop criteria that will support the establishment of new
19 REMP.229
20
21 As can be ascertained from the comparative study of the existing national legislation on deep
22 seabed mining, as of 5 June 2018, a total of 31 States had provided to the ISA information on
23 or the texts of relevant national legislation related to DSM activities.230
24
25 3.3. Data and information/knowledge gaps
26
27 The definition and accurate quantification of mining impacts in the water column and at the
28 sea floor would require robust, specific environmental indicators that determine what
29 represents good environmental conditions and appropriate thresholds for impacts. Currently,
30 there is a significant lack of information on deep-sea ecosystems, deep-sea species basic life
31 history and biological traits, characteristics of future mining technologies and the response of
32 deep-sea organisms to mining impacts. Thus, unforeseen consequences of mining may occur.
33 The knowledge gaps can be grouped into three categories, namely biodiversity, connectivity
34 and function/services. Information is still lacking on the basic components of each ecological
35 system, the interactions among those components, and relationships of ecosystems to
36 environmental gradients. This baseline ecological information is necessary to allow
37 predictions of how biodiversity will respond to change.
38
39 4. Economic and social impacts
40
41 4.1. Economic impacts
42
43 Of the three deep-sea mineral deposit types being regulated by the ISA in the Area,
44 polymetallic nodules are considered the closest to being mined. Consequently, the economic
45 discussion here applies to nodules specifically.
228
See International Seabed Authority, documents ISBA/17/LTC/7 and ISBA/18/C/22.
229
See International Seabed Authority, document ISBA/24/C/3.
230
Available at https://www.isa.org.jm/national-legislation-database.
661
1
2 4.1.1. Economics of deep seabed mining for polymetallic nodules
3
4 Commercial mining activities for PN will depend not only on the overall economics of the
5 system, but also on the economics of individual stakeholders. While the potential revenue
6 from the sales of metals is sufficient financially to justify the rather large investments and
7 operating costs associated with DSM, the funds must first and foremost compensate the
8 common heritage of (hu)mankind (CHM) for the transfer of ownership of the mineral
9 resource and provide funding for environmental and regulatory monitoring and remediation,
10 while having no negative financial impacts on existing land-based mining countries. Mining
11 operations will occur only if the remaining revenue after payments to the ISA (or sovereign
12 nation) can cover operating costs and provide sufficient returns to entice investment.
13
14 Initial investigations of the economics of the system show promise that all stakeholders can
15 receive substantial funds. However, issues remain, including the level of funds needed to go
16 to CHM for the nodules, the required levels of environmental liability and related funds, and
17 returns required by investors.
18
19 4.1.2. Metals revenues
20
21 While PN contain many metals, currently only four occur at sufficiently high concentrations
22 to justify the cost of extraction for metals processors. Manganese is by far the largest metal
23 by mass, and so even at relatively low market prices, it is an important part of the revenue
24 stream. While cobalt, copper and nickel concentrations are lower, they command higher
25 prices and thus provide significant sources of revenue.
26
27 Future metals prices are difficult to predict and may differ from those forecasts, so this
28 uncertainty can create significant risk for investors. Cobalt and nickel are both expected to
29 play significant roles in future energy storage solutions and, consequently, may experience
30 high demand growth and upward trends in price. For manganese, PN mining will add a large
31 quantity of material onto a market of limited size and may itself put significant downward
32 pressure on prices.
33
34 4.1.3. Nodule collection, metals processing investments and operating costs
35
36 While the ISA has authority only over activities at the marine mine site, costs beyond their
37 jurisdiction must be considered when evaluating the economic factors that will impact
38 investments. For this reason, studies of the financial systems need to look at investments and
39 costs at sea as well as downstream.
40
41 On the cost side, there is the need for large upfront investments and then ongoing operational
42 expenditures. Economies of scale dictate a minimum size of operation that many experts
43 think will involve the extraction and processing of between 1.5 and 3 million dry tonnes of
44 nodules per year. A system generating 3 million dry tonnes per year would require
45 approximately 4 billion United States dollars in upfront investments, including about 300
46 million US dollars for exploration and feasibility studies, over 1.5 billion US dollars for the
47 nodule collection equipment and a dedicated transport system, and over 2 billion US dollars
48 for a metals processing plant. Annual operational expenses are estimated to be in the order of
49 1 billion US dollars per year, with roughly one third going towards nodule collection and the
50 remaining two thirds going towards metals processing. Metals revenues for an operation of 3
662
1 million dry tonnes per year, with consideration of metallurgical losses and industry forecasts
2 for long-term metals prices, would yield approximately 2.5 billion US dollars in annual
3 revenues.
4
5 4.1.4. Distribution of funds across stakeholders
6
7 It remains to be seen if this level of revenue can be divided up among the various
8 stakeholders in ways in which all players are motivated to participate. It is anticipated that a
9 market for nodules will develop if and when they become available. However, until that
10 market emerges, the system economics can be evaluated only by estimating the flow of
11 revenues from consumers to metals processors to nodule collectors and then on to the ISA.
12 Metals processors will sell the final metal products on the global market to a variety of end
13 users. These revenues will have to cover all their operational expenses, plus payment to
14 collectors (and transport providers) to obtain nodules. Any excess will be subject to local
15 corporate taxes. While the ISA will not see these funds, local taxes could have a significant
16 impact on the economics of other stakeholders and, therefore, must be considered when
17 evaluating if the system generates sufficient returns to justify investment.
18
19 Collectors will receive payments for the nodules from the metals processors, but will have to
20 cover their operational costs and provide royalty payments to the ISA (or local authority if
21 the operation is within an EEZ) for the rights to exploit the nodules. They may also have to
22 contribute to environmental sustainability funds and provide bonds as guarantees for
23 unanticipated environmental damages. Any profits may be subject to taxes from their sponsor
24 State and may be subject to additional royalty payments to the ISA. The ISA will receive
25 funds in the form of royalty payments for the rights to the nodules. They may also be the
26 guardians of any sustainability funds or environmental liability bonds. Royalty payments
27 must be sufficient to compensate for relinquishing the rights to the nodules plus any other
28 changes to the deep-sea environment.
29
30 A variety of royalty systems are under discussion at the ISA, including fixed single or two-
31 stage ad valorem systems, variable ad valorem systems where the rate changes with metal
32 prices or other financial conditions of the market, and combination systems with a fixed ad
33 valorem rate and an additional rate tied to profits. Each system has different pros and cons,
34 particularly with regard to which stakeholders bear the risks and benefit from the rewards of
35 changes in metals prices and project costs, and the timing of revenues to each stakeholder.
36
37 4.1.5. Returns to investors and cash flows to the ISA
38
39 The very high upfront investments will require the nodule collectors and metals processors to
40 raise funds on global capital markets. It is estimated that financiers will invest only if their
41 rate of return on investment is around 18 per cent for most reasonable future metals price and
42 cost scenarios. By contrast, investments in traditional land mining often require rates of
43 return above 15 per cent but involve considerably lower levels of technological risk. A
44 variety of royalty systems and rates would leave sufficient revenues for the contractors to
45 achieve these rates of return. It is still unclear if any of these would provide sufficient
46 revenue to the ISA to compensate for the removal of the nodules and changes to the deep-sea
47 environment.
48
49 4.2. Social impacts
663
1 The potential social impacts from DSM activities are understood to be both complex and
2 cumulative (Koschinsky and others, 2018). While DSM may result in a myriad of social
3 impacts, there is a general view that the impact on society will be less than that of terrestrial
4 mining (Roche and Bice, 2013). For instance, mineral deposits on the sea floor tend to
5 contain higher metal content than those on land, and a shift of focus to the seabed as a
6 supplemental source for metals would reduce the need to mine terrestrial sites more
7 extensively (Sharma and Smith, 2019).
8
9 One pertinent consideration to ascertain the possible social impacts of DSM is the intended
10 location of related activities. It is becoming increasingly clear that the areas typically
11 associated with seabed mineral deposits are located far from human communities. Thus,
12 issues of relocation or conflicts pertaining to land use do not arise with respect to DSM, as
13 opposed to terrestrial mining (Sharma and Smith, 2019). Further, social impacts related to
14 DSM in the Area will differ from those within national jurisdictions. However, it is
15 acknowledged that these activities may come into conflict with other uses of the marine
16 space, such as fisheries, shipping, deep-sea cables, nursing grounds and migratory routes.
17
18 Due to the nature of DSM and the possibility of transboundary harm, the sections of society
19 that could be directly impacted by related activities include the communities in the territory
20 where such activities take place, and those in adjacent coastal States (Dunn and others, 2017).
21 Because the Area and its mineral resources have been declared common heritage of
22 humankind, social impacts need to be considered as a whole (Hunter and others, 2018).
23 Notwithstanding how far any activities in the Area would be from population centres,
24 significant concerns remain as to how the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services,
25 including the role of the deep sea in climate regulation, could negatively impact society as a
26 whole (Kaikkonen and others, 2018).
27
28 Thus, when discussing the social impacts, the focus should be on how society would be able
29 to reap the benefits of DSM, and not just on any potentially negative consequences. However,
30 it should be recognized that, while a new source of metal supply might be beneficial, there
31 could be negative consequences, such as for countries whose economy relies heavily on the
32 export of metals obtained from terrestrial mining, and, in accordance with Article 151,
33 paragraph 10, of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,231 those
34 consequences need to be studied and addressed.
35
36 In addition to the above, the concept of a “social license to operate” deserves particular
37 attention. This concept includes acceptance by society, in addition to the permission required
38 from the regulator, that a commercial activity such as resource extraction may be undertaken
39 (Owen and Kemp, 2013; Parsons and Moffat, 2014). Also, issues of transparency and the
40 inclusion of broad stakeholder participation in the decision-making process are of particular
41 interest (Ardron and others, 2018; Madureira and others, 2016).
42
43 In addition, it is increasingly accepted that the ISA should incorporate the “polluter pays”
44 principle into its regulatory framework, in order to ensure that external costs to society
45 arising from DSM and other such activities are internalized (Lodge and others, 2019).
46
47 5. Capacity-building needs
231
664
1
2 It is crucial that the capacity-building needs of deep-sea biodiversity research and
3 conservation as well as offshore mineral deposit identification and assessment be met,
4 especially for developing States. For cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, both exploration
5 techniques and exploration technology are significantly lagging behind those for SMS and
6 PN.
7
8 Another key component now needed for offshore mining is an expanded collection of
9 baseline data especially in respect of characterization of ecosystems and their components, as
10 well as natural variations of environmental baselines, including for the shallow-water
11 continental shelf and the deep sea. Finally, there is also a clear need for capacity development
12 for long-term online monitoring of the impacts of mining.
665
1 Table 1. Deep-ocean mining pressures, potential impacts on the different habitats, and ecosystem services
2 (Thurber and others, 2014) that might be impacted.
Pressure • Potential impact Affected ecosystem services Habitat

Extraction of • Loss of benthic Bentho-pelagic
sea floor fauna by direct Benthic
substrate removal Supporting
• Changes in
sediment • Nutrient cycling
composition • Circulation
• Habitat loss or • Chemosynthetic production
degradation • Secondary production
• Stress induced on • Biodiversity
fauna
Regulating
Extraction • Loss or damage of • Carbon sequestration Bentho-pelagic

plume benthic species by • Biological regulation Benthic
smothering • Nutrient regeneration
organisms (from • Biological habitat formation
mega to micro) • Bioremediation/detoxification
• Behavioural
changes in animals
• Changes in
sediment
composition
• Changes in seabed
morphology Provisioning
• CO2 storage
• Fisheries
Dewatering • Clogging of • Natural products Pelagic
plume feeding, sensorial Bentho-pelagic
or breathing Benthic
structure
• Mechanical
damage of tissues
• Stress
Release of • Toxicity Pelagic
substances from • Nutrient release Bentho-pelagic
sediments • Turbidity Benthic
(extraction and
dewatering
plume)
Underwater • Disturbance of Pelagic
noise animals Bentho-pelagic
Benthic
Underwater • Disturbance of Pelagic
light animals Bentho-pelagic
Benthic
666
1
2
3 Figure 1. Global permissive areas for deep-sea mineral deposits. Red indicates the location of hydrothermal vent sites, which
4 are potential sea floor massive sulphide (SMS)-generating systems; SMS have not been found at all of those sites. In the area of
5 the Prime Crust Zone (PCZ; Hein and others, 2009), the permissive areas for crusts (CFC) and nodules (PN) overlap; nodule
6 fields occur between seamounts and ridges in much of the western PCZ. Location of the three phosphorite deposits discussed in
7 the text are indicated with yellow filled circles. The four well-known PN fields are also indicated: Clarion-Clipperton Zone
8 (CCZ), Peru Basin, Penrhyn Basin and Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB); modified from Hein and others (2013).
667
1 Figure 2. Sea floor and mineral deposit photographs of crusts, nodules, polymetallic sulphides: (A) Sea floor covered
2 with cobalt-rich crust in the Marshall Islands area, West Pacific (cruise USGS F10-89-CP), water depth ~1,650 m, field
3 of view about 3x3 m; (B) 12-cm thick crust (CD29-2, USGS cruise F7-86-HW) from the Johnston Island area, central
4 Pacific, recovered from a water depth of 2,225 m, scale bar represents 10 cm; (C) Seabed covered with polymetallic
5 nodules in the CCZ nodule field, water depth is approximately 5,000 m, field of view is about 3x3 m; (D) Polymetallic
6 nodules from the CCZ, NE Pacific Ocean; each nodule is 3 cm in diameter, approximate water depth is 5,000 m; (E)
7 Seabed with an active black smoker from the NE Pacific Ocean, approximate water depth is 2,200 m, field of view about
8 4x4 m (NOAA Ring-of-Fire); (F) Cross-section through a large zinc sulphide chimney showing a yellow silica conduit
9 through which the hot fluids flowed; collected at 377 m water depth, Mariana volcanic arc, West Pacific (JAMSTEC,
10 cruise NT10-12).
668
1 Figure 3. ISA CCZ contract map, overlaying Europe to provide scale.
2 Figure 4. Examples of new prototype deep seabed mining tools: (A) Global Seabed Mineral Resources (GSR; Belgium)
3 Patania II mining machine for polymetallic nodules (photo courtesy of GSR); (B) Korea Research Institute of Ships and
4 Ocean Engineering (KRISCO) mining machine for polymetallic nodules (photo by Hein); (C) Bauer Maschinen GmbH,
5 BC40 polymetallic sulphide trench cutter mining tool; (D) JOGMEC (Japan) mining machine for polymetallic sulphides,
6 tested in Okinawa Trough sulphides in the summer of 2017.
669
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672
Chapter 20
Changes in Hydrocarbon Exploration and Extraction
Convenor: Amardeep Dhanju; Contributors: Bera Arsonina, Alan Simcock (Co-Lead
Member) Joshua T. Tuhumwire (Lead Member), Kacou Yebowe Seraphim
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Since the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017b), the
4 offshore oil and gas sector has continued to expand globally, particularly in deep and
5 ultra-deep waters. The use of tension leg platforms, spars and Floating Production,
6 Storage and Offloading systems (FPSOs) are key to such expansion.
7 • In the next decade, frontier regions such as the eastern Mediterranean, east coast of
8 South America (Brazil and Guyana), and west coast of Africa could be the major
9 growth drivers for offshore oil and gas exploration and production.
10 • There is an upward trend in decommissioning activity, particularly in mature regions
11 such as the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
12 • Exploration and production practices continue to evolve to minimize potential impacts
13 on the surrounding environment.
14 • Creation of regulatory capacity to effectively manage offshore resources, especially in
15 frontier regions, requires significant commitment and long-term institutional
16 investment.
17 • Technological innovation and sophisticated industrial capability built over a century
18 by the offshore oil and gas sector are benefiting the emergence of the marine
19 renewable energy (MRE) industry.
20 • A major thrust of the offshore hydrocarbon sector since WOA I is technological
21 advancement in analysing offshore exploration and production data to enhance
22 operational and financial efficiencies.
23
24 1. Introduction
25
26 1.1. Scope
27
28 Chapter 21 of WOA I (United Nations, 2017a) provided a baseline state for the offshore
29 hydrocarbon industries in its discussion of exploration and production trends, social and
30 economic aspects, emerging technologies and potential future trends. The discussion also
31 included environmental impacts associated with resource development and production
32 activities and highlighted capacity gaps to assess impacts.
33
34 The present Chapter assesses the current state of the global offshore hydrocarbon sector and
35 presents some of the advances made in the field since WOA I. It includes: exploration,
36 production and decommissioning trends; region-specific assessments; an in-depth assessment
37 of economic, social and environmental aspects, including potential impacts; capacity-
38 building, particularly in emerging economies; and the crucial role of the offshore
39 hydrocarbon industry in facilitating the MRE industry globally. Its content relates also to
40 Chapter 6D, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23 and Chapter 29 of the
41 present Assessment.
673
1
2 The present Chapter also relates to four United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
3 (SDGs), namely, Goal 8, to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth,
4 full and productive employment and decent work for all; Goal 9, to build resilient
5 infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation; Goal
6 12, to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns; and Goal 13, to take urgent
7 action to combat climate change and its impacts.232
8
9 1.2 Overview of global offshore hydrocarbon resources and production
10 trends
11
12 Global crude oil production has grown steadily and exceeded 100 million barrels a day in
13 2018, while natural gas production has increased more rapidly to 113.7 billion MMBtu
14 (Million British Thermal Units) in 2016 (IEA, 2019).233 Onshore oil and gas production
15 continues to dominate, yet offshore oil production, which has been steady at around 27
16 million barrels per day (b/d) for a decade, is showing an upward trend (Clemente, 2018).
17 Meanwhile, offshore natural gas production has grown steadily in the past decade by 35
18 billion MMBtu, with gains off Brazil, Australia, the eastern Mediterranean and, most
19 significantly, in the Persian Gulf, with the development of the massive North Field off Qatar
20 (Davis, 2018). Natural gas production is projected to increase mainly from activities in
21 shallow waters; oil production increases will rely largely on drilling in deep and ultra-
22 deepwater areas.
23
24 Offshore oil is produced in more than 50 different countries, with Saudi Arabia, the United
25 States of America, Brazil, Mexico and Norway as the most significant producers. More
26 recently, large untapped resources have been discovered off the east coast of South America.
27 According to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),234 offshore oil
28 production from Brazil and Guyana will compensate for falling production in other regions,
29 although production in the United States Gulf of Mexico, the oldest offshore oil and gas
30 producing region, may hold steady with discoveries in deep and ultra-deep waters (OPEC,
31 2019).235
232
233
Converted to 5.3 mboe/d.
234
OPEC member countries in 2020 include: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq,
Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
235
Shallow waters generally extend to less than 1,000 feet; deep water is between 1,000–5,000 feet; and depths
greater than 5,000 feet are considered ultra-deep water.
674
1
2 Figure 1. Crude oil output in selected offshore producing areas (Source: OPEC 2019).
3
4 1.3. Advances in knowledge and capacity
5
6 New exploration and development in offshore areas remains a major source of increasing
7 global oil and gas production. Technological advances in the past decade have encouraged
8 exploration in deep and ultra-deep waters further away from shore and enabled discovery of
9 significant new reserves. The water depth capabilities for offshore exploration increased from
10 10,000 ft (3,048 m) to over 11,000 ft (3,353 m) between 2010 and 2018, while production
11 capability using floating platforms reached almost 9,500 ft (2,896 m) in 2018, up from 8,000
12 ft (2,438m) in 2010 (Barton and other, 2019). Such technological advances have in part
13 enabled the expansion of the offshore oil and gas sector to new regions including the eastern
14 Mediterranean and offshore Guyana.
15
16 There are also advances in understanding the potential environmental and social impacts of
17 exploration and production activities on the surrounding environment and in the development
18 of new approaches to mitigate impacts. For instance, the United Kingdom of Great Britain
19 and Northern Ireland has created a Marine Noise Registry (MNR) to record human activities
20 in the seas of the United Kingdom that produce loud impulsive noise (10 Hz–10 kHz).236 This
21 initiative intends to create a baseline level of data and to quantify the pressure on the
22 environment from anthropogenic activities associated with hydrocarbon exploration and
23 development, including seismic surveys, sub-bottom profiling, pile driving, etc. More
24 recently, the offshore oil and gas industry has contributed to the MRE sector by providing
25 expertise for the construction, maintenance, and decommissioning of utility-scale offshore
26 wind projects. The design and structural engineering concepts for the floating wind turbines,
27 which can significantly expand the development of wind power in deeper waters associated
28 with higher wind resources, are largely influenced by deepwater oil and gas installations
29 (IRENA, 2016).
236
See Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Marine Noise Registry Service. Available at
https://mnr.jncc.gov.uk/.
675
1 2. Offshore hydrocarbon exploration, production and decommissioning

2
3 2.1. Offshore hydrocarbon technologies for survey and exploration
4
5 Oil and gas survey and exploration techniques locate hydrocarbon resources accumulated
6 under impermeable rock formations. An initial assessment using seismic surveys evaluates
7 the location of hydrocarbon-rich geologic play - a group of oil- and gas-bearing rocks that
8 share a common history of hydrocarbon generation, migration, and entrapment (Maloney,
9 2018). This sets the stage for geological and geophysical surveys to obtain refined data on
10 resource-bearing geological formations. Such surveys also provide an assessment of marine
11 mineral resources, archaeological and benthic resources and any artificial structures buried
12 and abandoned on the ocean floor.
13
14 Offshore seismic surveys use specialized vessels equipped with a combination of air guns and
15 other acoustic sources. The equipment also includes hydrophones attached to a set of cables
16 (streamers) towed behind the vessel. The acoustic sources produce a seismic pulse projected
17 toward the ocean floor that reflects off the boundaries between various layers of rock. The
18 reflected pulse is then recorded by the hydrophones and collected for further analysis.
19
20 Recent advances in supercomputing and Full Waveform Inversion (FWI) technology are
21 transforming resource estimation. FWI, a new kind of processing technique applied to
22 existing seismic data using supercomputers, creates a model of the subsurface rock layers in
23 rich detail (Advisors, 2019). Similarly, advances in 4-D seismic technology, coupled with
24 superior computing power, now provide new insights into hydrocarbon reservoir
25 characteristics, thus offering greater certainty to prospective resource developers.
26
27 2.2. Technological changes in drilling and production, including
28 emerging technologies
29
30 Offshore drilling and production continues to witness significant technological advances.
31 Sophisticated techniques now allow for drilling multiple wells from a single drilling platform,
32 while advances in real-time fibre-optic monitoring of the well bore is optimizing the reservoir
33 performance and mitigating equipment failure risks (Beaubouef, 2019). Similarly, the use of
34 predictive analytics and artificial intelligence tools is enhancing data analysis for detecting
35 equipment breakdown and improving operational efficiency (Husseini, 2018).
36
37 The use of floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels allows for drilling in
38 areas further offshore and without ready access to a pipeline network to transport oil and gas
39 onshore. It has also opened previously inaccessible hostile environments, particularly in the
40 higher latitudes and in the Arctic, for exploration and development.
41
42 FPSO vessels are equipped to store hydrocarbons onboard and periodically transfer their load
43 to tankers for transportation onshore. They can also disconnect from their moorings in case of
44 adverse weather conditions such as cyclones and hurricanes. Once the wells are sufficiently
45 depleted, an FPSO vessel can be redeployed to a new prospective site. The global market for
46 FPSO vessels is currently boosted from large investments in deepwater exploration and
47 development in areas such as offshore Brazil (Rystad Energy, 2019). Meanwhile, FPSO
48 vessel design is evolving to enhance safety, minimize complexity and reduce fabrication and
49 operation costs (Barton, 2018).
676
1
2 Such technological advances have enabled exploration and production in unchartered depths
3 and distance from shore. As of March 2019, the record for an ultra-deepwater exploration
4 well was in depths of 11,155 feet offshore of Uruguay, while the record for an operational
5 production platform stands at 9,500 feet in the Gulf of Mexico (Barton and other, 2019).
6
7 Table 1. Drilling platform types by depth
Platform type Water depth
Fixed platforms Up to ~1,500 ft

Compliant towers 1,000–3,000 ft
Tension leg platforms 7,000–10,000 ft
Spars 10,000–12,000 ft
Floating production and FPSO systems 12,000 ft and above
8
9
10 2.3. Decommissioning techniques and trends
11
12 Although decommissioning regulations vary among jurisdictions, regulators increasingly
13 require complete removal of all drilling and production structures from the offshore
14 environment. The 1992 OSPAR Convention237 provides for protection of the marine
15 environment of the North-East Atlantic. It requires removal of disused offshore installations,
16 unless an exemption is provided to leave the entire installations or parts thereof in place
17 (OSPAR Commission, 1992). Similarly, the 1995 Barcelona Convention238 provides the
18 framework for decommissioning in the Mediterranean region and mandates removal of all
19 abandoned or disused installations (UNEP, 1976). Other regions have adopted similar
20 regulatory frameworks based on either regional conventions, such as the Regional
21 Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) Protocol in the Middle
22 East (ROPME, 1989) or, in the absence of a regional convention, the International Maritime
23 Organization guidelines (IMO, 1989) which are based on Article 60 (3) of the United Nations
24 Convention on the Law of the Sea.239 Regulations pertaining to pipelines vary. While some
25 jurisdictions require complete removal, others deal on a case-by-case basis, depending on the
26 hazards to fishing and navigation (IOGP, 2017).
27
28 The decommissioning process usually involves plugging the abandoned well, preparing the
29 platform for removal by flushing and cleaning any residual hydrocarbons, cutting the pipes
30 and cables between deck modules, and mobilizing equipment such as derrick barrage and
31 cranes to dismantle and move the topside platform onshore for disposal. The process also
237
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2354, No. 42279. The Convention for the Protection of the Marine
Environment of the North-East Atlantic has been signed and ratified by Belgium, Denmark, the European
Union, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
238
Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the
Mediterranean.
239
677
1 involves removing the jacket or the foundation structure using heavy lifting equipment, a
2 time-consuming and expensive process. Once on land, the structure is dismantled further for
3 disposal or sold off as scrap.
4
5 The offshore decommissioning activity is largely concentrated in the North Sea, United
6 States Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Asia-Pacific region. The steady depletion of legacy oil
7 fields in the North Sea has created significant demand for decommissioning, which is
8 expected to cost 32 billion United States dollars between 2018 and 2022 (Wood Mackenzie,
9 2017). In the United States Gulf of Mexico, decommissioning is focused on platforms in
10 shallow waters, while drilling and production moves to deep and ultra-deep waters.
11
12 Offshore platforms contribute hard structure to the marine environment and, in the process,
13 provide food sources and complex physical habitat for a variety of organisms. Studies
14 indicate higher levels of biological and fish productivity around platforms compared to
15 natural reefs at similar depths (Shinn, 1974; Claisse and others, 2015). Because they
16 recognize the ecological value of these structures, nations including Brunei, Malaysia and the
17 United States of America, are looking at converting obsolete platforms into artificial reefs in
18 lieu of complete removal and disposal onshore (also known as “rigs-to-reefs” programmes)
19 (Bull and Love, 2019).
20
21 In order to evaluate the decommissioning options, the state of California and other
22 jurisdictions are proposing using Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA) as a tool to
23 decide on reefing and removal options. NEBA is an analytical approach for comparing
24 alternatives of a proposed action by including non-monetary environmental metrics, such as
25 ecosystem services and values (Efroymson and others, 2004). It is conceivable that other
26 jurisdictions may adopt NEBA and similar approaches to consider holistically the
27 environmental and ecosystem impacts of decommissioning options.
28
29 3. Economic, social, and environmental aspects of offshore hydrocarbon
30 exploration, production, and decommissioning
31
32 3.1. Economic and social impacts
33
34 Offshore oil and gas exploration and production is highly capital intensive, with an estimated
35 annual global investment expenditure of 155 billion United States dollars in 2018 and
36 projected investment of over 200 billion dollars in 2021 (Sandøy, 2018). Engineering,
37 procurement, construction and installation of drilling and production structures, along with
38 the operation and maintenance of existing structures, are the two major areas of capital
39 expenditure.
40
41 The specialized workforce in the offshore oil and gas sector draws significantly from a highly
42 skilled global talent pool. Cities like Houston and Aberdeen have emerged as global hubs,
43 serving not only the regional offshore industry but also providing expertise and services for
44 projects around the world. The industry has also created a strong linkage with local
45 communities, offering much valued business and employment opportunities, often in synergy
46 with traditional activities. For instance, the Louisiana shrimpers, during the lean fishing
47 season, rent out boats for offshore oil and gas activities (Priest, 2016), while some fishermen
48 supplement their income by working on the production platforms. According to the Office for
49 Coastal Management at the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
50 offshore oil and gas activities in the United States contributed around 80 billion dollars to the
678
1 economy in 2016, and employed approximately 130,000 workers at an average salary of

2 153,000 dollars per year, which is almost three times the national average wage (NOAA,
3 2018). Meanwhile in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, offshore oil
4 and gas remains a significant source of skilled employment, and supported around 259,900
5 jobs in 2018, which includes a significant number of indirect and induced jobs (OGUK,
6 2019). Offshore oil and gas activities in other regions similarly produce high levels of
7 economic output and employ workers at above-average wage levels.
8
9 Offshore oil and gas production is maturing in many regions, especially in the North Sea and
10 shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. As the production declines and major oil reservoirs
11 deplete beyond recovery, the industry expects to spend around 100 billion dollars globally
12 over the next decade on decommissioning activities (OGUK, 2018). This trend has the
13 potential to create significant employment opportunities, some of which can offset the
14 contraction of exploration- and production-related jobs.
15
16 3.2. Environmental impacts
17
18 Offshore oil and gas exploration and development practices have evolved significantly in
19 terms of minimizing impacts on the surrounding environment, but operational and accidental
20 discharges still occur. Operational discharges include chemicals that arise from drilling
21 activities, produced water, drilling muds and cuttings, and small amounts of treated domestic
22 and sanitary wastes. Additionally, the installation of pipelines and related infrastructure also
23 contributes to certain discharges into the marine environment.
24
25 Produced water is a mix of oil and water from underground formations brought to the surface
26 during production. Initially representing a small percentage, over time the percentage of
27 water increases and hydrocarbon decreases (Clark and Veil, 2009). The global average is
28 estimated to be three barrels of produced water for each barrel of oil (Khatib and Verbeek,
29 2002). Older wells, meanwhile, can display a ratio in excess of 50 barrels of produced water
30 for each barrel of oil. Disposal options include injection into the same formation from where
31 the oil is produced, treating the produced water to meet a certain quality standard and then
32 either discharging it into the environment or using treated water in oil and gas field
33 operations. While most of the treated produced water onshore is injected underground, in the
34 offshore environment, it is discharged in the marine environment. The United States
35 Department of Energy is currently investing 4.6 million dollars to fund projects that would
36 advance produced water treatment technologies (DOE, 2019). Although the funded projects
37 focus on land-based drilling, many advances will be relevant for offshore oil and gas
38 production.
39
40 The emission of criteria pollutants related to platform or non-platform sources can impact air
41 quality in the vicinity of the drilling and production platforms. The platform sources concern
42 emissions from on-board equipment, such as boilers, natural gas engines and pneumatic
43 pumps, while non-platform sources concern emissions from pipe-laying operations, support
44 and survey vessels and helicopters. Additionally, open flaring of unwanted or excess gas
45 from production platforms affects air quality. According to the World Bank, around 145
46 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas related to oil production was flared globally in 2018,
47 equivalent to the total annual gas consumption of Central and South America (World Bank,
48 2019a). Multilateral initiatives such as the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership, led by
49 the World Bank, aim significantly to reduce flaring at production sites. The programme
50 promotes related research, disseminates best practices and works with national oil companies,
679
1 regional and national governments and international institutions to remove technical barriers
2 to flaring reduction (World Bank, 2019b).
3
4 4. Key knowledge and capacity-building gaps
5
6 4.1. Importance of long-term environmental monitoring and mitigation
7
8 The short-term marine environmental impacts from oil and gas exploration and development
9 have been studied extensively. However, the understanding of long-term effects is less
10 complete. Long-term monitoring provides valuable insights into ecology, environmental
11 change and natural resource management (Lohner and Dixon, 2013). It also provides a
12 systematic measurement of key environmental, social and economic indicators over time to
13 design and implement effective policies and mitigation measures, while establishing a natural
14 baseline for measuring trends over time. This baseline can then be used to assess changes
15 from ongoing drilling and production activities. Although establishing long-term monitoring
16 programmes in the offshore environment is particularly challenging, the oil and gas industry
17 and regulators are encouraging such programmes to assess changes and design effective
18 mitigation strategies. For example, two observatory systems installed off Angola record long-
19 term changes in the physical, chemical, and biological environment due to oil and gas
20 development (Vardaro and others, 2013). Similarly, the long-term monitoring of the Flower
21 Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the longest such
22 programmes to monitor the health of coral reefs in the vicinity of operational oil and gas
23 production facilities (NOAA, 2018). More such programmes are required to monitor long-
24 term environmental impacts and ensure resource development in an environmentally
25 responsive manner.
26
27 4.2. Capacity-building gaps, especially in emerging economies
28
29 Offshore oil and gas exploration and production is expanding, sometimes to regions with
30 minimal experience in managing the resources. Resource management in the offshore
31 environment presents unique challenges for oil and gas resource managers to control access
32 and encourage development. At its core, effective management requires the definition of
33 property rights for offshore oil and gas resources within a nation’s exclusive economic zone.
34
35 National resource management systems generally aim to clarify offshore jurisdiction, resolve
36 multi-use conflict and implement a regulatory framework for development in combination
37 with laws on environmental protection, pollution standards, health and safety standards, oil
38 spill response, etc. The regulatory frameworks tend to follow one of two approaches (Dagg
39 and others, 2011), namely, prescriptive, whereby operators are told what to do; or
40 performance- or goal-based, whereby goals that operators must achieve are identified but the
41 operators are allowed to choose how they achieve those goals.
42
43 These two approaches have their benefits and drawbacks. Prescriptive regulations have the
44 advantage of being relatively simple to implement and track, but they may stifle both
45 innovation and creative solutions due to their emphasis on narrowly defined rules and
46 regulations. Performance-based regulations, on the other hand, can create additional
47 administrative burdens in terms of tracking regulations and verify that goals have been met.
48 Often, these two approaches are blended to create a hybrid regulatory system.
49
680
1 In creating a new offshore oil and gas regulatory framework, a jurisdiction can recalibrate its
2 existing regulatory framework for land-based mineral development, while also appropriating
3 elements from jurisdictions with more established regulatory practices and significant
4 experience managing offshore oil and gas resources. This can be aided by capacity-building
5 facilitated through multilateral institutions like the World Bank.
6
7 When a regulatory framework is operationalized, it should be subjected to periodic reviews to
8 assess economic impacts and other unintended consequences. This can be achieved by using
9 the Regulatory Impact Analysis framework, which is used in many jurisdictions for routine
10 assessment and is supported by international entities such as the Organization for Economic
11 Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2019). Additionally, it is important to build good
12 regulatory practices into the administration itself if the public or regulatory agencies are
13 expected to carry out policies effectively and efficiently. Such practices require capacities to
14 judge when, what, and how much to regulate in order to allow responsiveness to changing
15 conditions and to ensure transparency, flexibility, and policy coordination.
16
17 Creating capacity to properly and effectively manage offshore energy resources requires
18 significant commitment and long-term institutional investment. The rewards, though, are
19 commensurate, ensuring that resources are developed in a responsible manner, and that
20 economic benefits are distributed fairly.
21
22 5. The hydrocarbon industry and the marine renewable energy (MRE)
23 industry
24
25 5.1. Role of the offshore hydrocarbon industry in facilitating the MRE
26 industry
27
28 The offshore oil and gas sector has built sophisticated industrial capability through
29 technological innovation and decades of experience operating in some of the most
30 challenging environments around the world. The emerging MRE industry, which includes
31 wave, tidal, ocean current and offshore wind power, is now benefiting from this accrued
32 knowledge. Offshore wind power, the most developed form of MRE, in particular, has seen
33 the use of technology and skills perfected by the oil and gas sector. Wind turbine foundations
34 and towers are engineered to withstand wave, wind, scouring and other forces that were first
35 analysed while designing oil and gas platforms. Similarly, the experience gained from
36 addressing the corrosive impact of salt water and sea spray on oil platforms was applied to
37 marinize and suitably modify terrestrial wind turbines for offshore installation (Breeze,
38 2016). Biofouling solutions for submerged oil and gas structures have been extensively
39 researched and more recently applied to MRE structures. Similarly, the installation of MRE
40 transmission cables on the ocean floor has seen the use of technologies and expertise first
41 developed for laying submerged pipelines to serve offshore oil and gas platforms.
42
43 The large manufacturing infrastructure that serves the offshore oil and gas industry is now
44 supporting the offshore wind industry. The jacket foundations for the first offshore wind
45 project in the United States of America, off Block Island, were fabricated and supplied by a
46 company in Louisiana with expertise in building structures for the offshore oil and gas
47 industry in the Gulf of Mexico. Similarly, in the North Sea, extensive expertise in the private
48 sector was harnessed in the oil and gas sector to design and engineer a floating offshore wind
681
1 turbine, which there are plans to deploy in deeper waters where the installation of
2 conventional bottom founded turbines is not viable.
3
4 The oil and gas sector experience in maritime logistics is now shaping the MRE industry. In
5 the United States, engineers have designed a marine vessel sufficiently versatile both to
6 install wind turbines and decommission oil and gas platforms (McGowan, 2018). Such
7 initiatives enable significant cost saving for MREs. The use of port infrastructure and service
8 vessels are other examples of leveraging already established assets to facilitate the utilization
9 of new marine energy resources.
10
11 The MRE industry is considering the use of abandoned offshore oil and gas platforms to
12 install wind turbines, although structural integrity concerns could impede such conversion
13 plans. A potentially more viable option is reconfiguring abandoned platforms to convert
14 MRE-generated electricity into hydrogen or synthetic gas, which could then be used to ride
15 over low wind or wave periods and enhance the market potential of MRE projects. A
16 simulated pilot project to test this concept was conducted by the Energy Delta Institute in the
17 Netherlands in 2015 (Jepma and van Schot, 2016). Repurposing a platform has the additional
18 benefit of delaying the expensive decommissioning costs while providing a new lease of life
19 with positive economic returns. Another proposal envisions supplying electricity from
20 offshore wind turbines to oil and gas platforms for on-board operations, now commonly
21 supplied by gas turbines located on board. A case study employing this approach in the North
22 Sea concluded significant cost savings and a reduction in the emissions of criteria pollutants
23 and greenhouse gases (Korpås and others, 2012). Creating such synergies and leveraging oil
24 and gas sector experience, expertise and infrastructure allows the burgeoning MRE sector to
25 reduce costs and save time and resources.
26
27 6. Conclusion
28
29 Offshore oil and gas is an important contributor to global hydrocarbon production. Increasing
30 global hydrocarbon demand, coupled with technological advances in offshore exploration and
31 production, has pushed the industry to discover new reserves in ever deeper waters and
32 challenging environments, often in areas with no prior resource development. Global offshore
33 hydrocarbon production therefore, continues to increase, creating economic opportunities for
34 coastal communities and much-needed leasing and royalty revenues for national
35 governments. It is important that new and existing offshore projects are managed in an
36 environmentally responsible manner, while decommissioning of obsolete facilities is
37 undertaken according to national regulations and regional marine environment conventions.
38 A number of major trends have been observed since WOA I, including technological
39 advances in collecting and analysing exploration and production data to enhance operational
40 efficiencies, greater use of flexible platforms such as Floating Production, Storage and
41 Offloading systems to expand production in unexplored areas, and a renewed push by the
42 industry and regulators to minimize environmental impacts by deploying enhanced safety
43 measures and using science to inform resource development.
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685
Chapter 21
Trends in Inputs of Anthropogenic Noise to the Marine Environment
Convenor: Ana Širović; Contributors: Karen Evans (Lead Member), John A. Hildebrand,
Sergio M. Jesus, James H. Miller
1 Keynote points
2
3 • The main anthropogenic noise sources in the ocean include vessels, industrial activity,
4 including seismic exploration and renewable energy development, and sonar.
5 • Anthropogenic noise levels vary across space and time, primarily driven by levels of
6 human activity and propagation characteristics in the region. However, it is worth
7 noting that noise does not persist once the sound source has been removed from the
8 environment.
9 • Areas with the highest level of anthropogenic noise are those with heavy industrial
10 use, such as the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean.
11 • Areas where anthropogenic noise is expected to increase include the Arctic, as the
12 area opens to shipping, and Africa, as investment in the region increases.
13 • Understanding of the impacts of anthropogenic noise on marine biodiversity is
14 increasing with associated increased recognition of the need to monitor and possibly
15 reduce noise entering the marine environment.
16
17 1. Introduction
18
19 Awareness of the importance of sound to marine life and understanding of the potential
20 impact of anthropogenic noise on that life have increased over the last few decades. In the
21 past ten years, there has been increased effort in some regions to develop guidelines and
22 standards for monitoring and regulating anthropogenic noise contribution to the marine
23 environment. While anthropogenic noise was not addressed as a stand-alone chapter in the
24 First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017), the recent increase in
25 awareness of its impacts warrants specific consideration in the present Assessment.
26 Therefore, the present Chapter presents a broad overview, including description of the main
27 sources of anthropogenic noise in the marine environment and the current state of knowledge
28 on the status of anthropogenic noise in the ocean, and since the main contributors of
29 anthropogenic noise include shipping, energy generation and oil and gas exploration and
30 extraction, those Chapters in WOA I are relevant herein.
31
32 An early source of ocean ambient noise data was the United States Navy, with recordings
33 offering insight into ambient sound at frequencies below several hundred hertz (Hz) from the
34 1950s onward (Ross, 2005). In addition to individual or small group research efforts, over the
35 last decade ocean observing systems have started implementing acoustic data collection, first
36 by Neptune Canada, now part of Ocean Networks Canada, and Australia’s Integrated Marine
37 Observing System. These observation systems began deploying hydrophones and collecting
38 acoustic recordings in 2008 and 2009, respectively. More recently, the development of
39 metrics and guidelines has also led to advances in impact assessments and modelling of
40 ambient sound using alternative data sources that serve as proxies for major sources of
41 anthropogenic noise, such as Automatic Information System (AIS) and impulsive noise
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1 registry data (e.g. Sertlek and others, 2019; United States National Oceanographic and
2 Atmospheric Administration (2020) CetSound project).
3
4 At the same time, challenges remain in measurement of ambient noise and modelling of
5 acoustic propagation, as well as understanding of the impact noise has on animal populations.
6 Measurement challenges include collection of calibrated data and lack of standardization for
7 both measurement and reporting. The American National Standards Institute/Acoustical
8 Society of America and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have issued
9 standards for measurement of underwater noise from ships, but the need for arrays of sensors
10 to execute the standard has limited its application. The relatively high cost of deployment and
11 recovery of underwater devices and even costlier installation of cabled systems are an
12 additional impediment to data collection. From the modelling perspective, issues include the
13 lack of fine-scale reliable data on environmental conditions needed for accurate models, and
14 the low spatial and temporal resolution of measured data for validation of models. Finally, on
15 the impact side, understanding of hearing sensitivities of many species, baleen whales, in
16 particular, and evaluation of population-level impact, are starting to be addressed but
17 practical difficulties remain.
18
19 2. Description of the environmental status
20
21 Sound is an efficient means of communication in the marine environment as sound waves
22 travel very well through water, at speeds approximately five times higher than in the air.
23 Nevertheless, the acoustic power is diminished as sound travels away from the source.
24 Differences in absorption and spreading losses at different frequencies mean that lower sound
25 frequencies travel further than higher frequencies. Additionally, properties of the
26 environment as sound travels through it affect propagation; ocean bottom and water
27 properties affect the sound speed; and bottom topography affects direction of sound travel. In
28 deep waters, special environmental conditions can result in efficient propagation of sound in
29 a deep channel, or convergence of sound at regular distances (Jensen and others 2011).
30 Unique propagation conditions such as the waveguide effect or the Lloyd mirror effect can
31 contribute to the intensification of sound near the surface (Jensen and others, 2011), and
32 bathymetric shielding can create large variability in sound intensity among nearby locations
33 (McDonald and others, 2008).
34
35 Sound levels in the ocean, reported in units of decibels, are calculated by referencing the
36 measured sound pressure levels (in units of pascals) to one micropascal (dB re: 1 µPa). Sound
37 pressure levels are typically measured as instantaneous peak-to-peak values or by calculating
38 root-mean-square of sound pressure for longer duration signals. Of note, since sound levels in
39 air are calculated relative to 20 micropascals, ocean and air sound levels are not directly
40 comparable. Higher acoustic impedance in water relative to air further contributes to a
41 difference in measurements between these environments. As a result, a correction of 61.5 dB
42 is required to compare airborne sound levels to those made underwater. When reporting noise
43 levels, calculation of power spectral density requires further normalization by the bandwidth
44 of the signal and thus is typically reported in units of dB re: 1 µPa2/Hz. Background ocean
45 ambient sound levels in absence of noise are not uniform across different frequencies, but
46 range from 60 to 70 dB re: 1 µPa2/Hz at frequencies below 100 hertz and decrease to below
47 40 dB re: 1 µPa2/Hz at frequencies higher than 10 kilohertz (Wenz, 1962).
48
49 Main contributors to the ocean soundscape include geophysical sources, such as wind, waves,
50 ice, volcanos and earthquakes; biological sources, such as marine mammals, fishes and
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1 invertebrates; and anthropogenic sources. There are multiple sources of anthropogenic noise
2 in the marine environment. The main ones include vessels (commercial shipping, fishing,
3 recreational and cruise ships, etc.), industrial activity (for example, offshore energy
4 generation, including seismic exploration activity, coastal development and mining
5 operations), and sonar (e.g. fisheries and military and scientific sonars). In some cases, the
6 production of sound is intentional and critical for the activity, such as seismic exploration and
7 sonar, while in others it is incidental, as in shipping and coastal development. Anthropogenic
8 noise levels are variable across space and time, with two primary drivers being levels of
9 human activity present and acoustic propagation characteristics in the region.
10
11 Below is an overview of the main anthropogenic contributors to ocean ambient sound (Table
12 1), their levels, and main frequency range. Following the approach in other reviews of ocean
13 noise, seismic survey activity is considered separately from other industrial activities as it is a
14 major contributor at low frequencies at large scales, with impacts that are substantially
15 different from other industrial noise sources. Also provided is a review of impacts of noise on
16 marine life. Among possible impacts considered here are physiological and behavioural
17 effects, as well as impacts on mortality, when reported in the past. An important extension of
18 these studies on the impact of noise on individuals, however, is understanding the population-
19 level consequences of acoustic disturbance, including cumulative effects (National
20 Academies, 2017).
21
22 Marine traffic as a contributor to ocean noise. The dominant sources of sound emanating
23 from marine vessels are cavitation and turbulence generated by propellers, but a substantial
24 component of acoustic energy contribution is also generated by machinery, transmitted and
25 radiated through a ship’s hull (Ross, 1976). At a lower level, the flow noise generated as a
26 ship advances through the water adds to the contribution of a vessel to ambient noise. The
27 levels of contribution from different components depend on a series of physical variables,
28 including ship dimensions, tonnage, draft, load and speed, as well as wind and sea state as far
29 as they interfere with ship movement in the water.
30
31 Marine traffic involves merchant shipping, cruise liners, military vessels, ferries, fishing
32 boats and coastal boating for recreational purposes. Merchant shipping includes container
33 ships, oil tankers, dry bulk carriers, general cargo ships and passenger liners. Different ship
34 classes have distinct noise signatures that also depend on ship speed and length (Ross, 1976;
35 McKenna and others, 2013). For example, a modern commercial container ship at typical (12
36 metres per second) operating speed has sound levels of 195 decibels (dB) re 1µPa at 1m with
37 most energy below 100 hertz (Gassmann and others, 2017). For smaller vessels, for example,
38 below 20 metres long, such as passenger and fishing boats, recreational high-speed boats, jet
39 skis, etc., radiated sound levels are lower (128 to 142 dB re 1 µPa at 1m; Erbe, 2013) with a
40 power spectrum including energy above 1 kilohertz (kHz) (Erbe, 2013), resulting in shorter
41 propagation ranges than for commercial shipping.
42
43 Merchant shipping noise is the main contributor to ocean noise at frequencies below 200
44 hertz. Globalization of the economy has resulted in a steep increase in merchant shipping
45 throughout the world in the last 30 years. There has been a uniform increase (except for 1985
46 and 2009) in the global volume of seaborne trade, reaching 10.7 billion tons in 2017
47 (UNCTAD, 2018; see also Chapter 23 of the present Assessment). A mean annual growth of
48 3.8 per cent is foreseen in the period 2018–2023. In addition to a steady increase in the
49 volume of trade, vessels are also spending more time at sea, with an increase of 5 per cent in
50 2017 (UNCTAD, 2018). The total gross tonnage has also increased in line with the volume of
688
1 trade. There is strong evidence that the overall increase in merchant shipping is highly
2 correlated with an increase in ocean sound pressure level. This increased approximately 3 dB
3 re 1 µPa2/Hz per decade over the 10 to 50 Hz band throughout several decades of the late
4 twentieth century (McDonald and others, 2006), although the increase seems to have
5 plateaued in the twenty-first century (Frisk, 2012, and references therein).
6
7 The “distant shipping” component of ambient noise, resulting when signatures from
8 individual vessels are indistinguishable in the data but appear as increased acoustic energy in
9 frequencies below 100 hertz, at any given location and time, strongly depends on the ship
10 distribution at that moment. Shipping is unevenly distributed in latitude, with higher densities
11 in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result, high levels of ambient sound (80 to 90+ dB re 1
12 µPa2/Hz) at frequencies dominated by shipping (10 to 100 Hz) are typically found in the
13 North Atlantic and the North Pacific Oceans (Ross, 2005; McDonald and others, 2006;
14 Širović and others, 2013; 2016). In the Arctic, where shipping traffic is substantially lower,
15 ambient noise at low frequencies is largely driven by environmental factors, such as sea ice
16 cover and wind conditions (Roth and others, 2012). In coastal waters, near busy harbours and
17 beaches, the noise generated by small and medium-size fishing vessels, recreational boats and
18 small ferries passing by can also be an important contributor to anthropogenic noise (Samuel
19 and others, 2005; Merchant and others, 2012).
20
21 Ambient noise levels from distant shipping have not been linked to lethal, tissue damaging or
22 other direct physical injury in marine mammals. However, shipping itself causes mortality in
23 marine mammals through ship strike (Cates and others, 2017; see also Chapter 6D). Shipping
24 and small craft noise has been associated with wide-ranging impacts on the survival,
25 physiology and behaviour of individuals as well as populations and communities across a
26 number of marine taxa. In marine mammals, these include: increased stress levels in North
27 Atlantic right whales (Rolland and others, 2012); changes in mating and foraging behaviour
28 of humpback whales (Blair and others, 2016; Tsujii and others, 2018); changes in harbour
29 porpoise behaviour (Dyndo and others, 2015); and changes in calling behaviour and masking
30 or reduction in communication space (Parks and others, 2010; Putland and others, 2018). In
31 other taxa, they include increases in stress levels for a number of fish species (e.g. Nichols
32 and others, 2015; Simpson and others, 2016a), potentially resulting in an increased risk of
33 predation in some species (Simpson and others, 2016a), a reduced ability to select suitable
34 habitat for fish and coral larvae (Simpson and others, 2008; 2016b), as well as masking and
35 reduction in communication space (Putland and others, 2018; Weilgart, 2018 and references
36 therein).
37
38 Seismic exploration as a contributor to ocean noise. The use of sound to image sub-sea
39 floor geologic structures is the predominant marine geophysical technique employed by the
40 offshore oil and gas industry. Seismic reflection profiling provides images at depths of
41 several kilometres below the sea floor. To generate the high levels of sound needed to
42 penetrate the solid earth, large arrays of airguns are towed behind survey vessels. Each airgun
43 releases a volume of air under high pressure, creating a high intensity sound pressure wave.
44 Typically, an array of airguns used in the seismic industry will include 25 to 50 individual
45 guns (Dragoset, 2000). The acoustic pressure signal of airgun arrays is focused vertically,
46 producing a signal 12 to 15 dB stronger in the vertical direction for most arrays. The peak
47 source level for these arrays, if considered as a single source, can reach 260 dB re 1 μ Pa at 1
48 m (Turner and others, 2006). Seismic operations can be limited in duration (weeks to months)
49 but, depending on bathymetry, can affect large areas of the ocean as low frequency signals
50 propagate over significant ranges.
689
1 Seismic surveys can also be conducted for research purposes. These types of surveys can be
2 conducted even outside of areas that are subject to commercial surveys, such as the Southern
3 Ocean. “Light” seismic surveys are also conducted in coastal areas for the construction of
4 critical infrastructure such as bridges, ports and, more recently, offshore wind farms. These
5 surveys employ sound sources such as sparkers and uniboom that are less powerful (210 to
6 230 dB re 1 µPa at 1m) than airguns and operate in a higher frequency band (0.5 to 2.5 kHz;
7 Gontz and others, 2006). While these surveys tend to be localized in both time and space,
8 their impact may be relevant for sensitive inshore species and ecosystems.
9
10 Areas with active seismic exploration cover marine areas of all continents except Antarctica.
11 The Gulf of Mexico has among the highest levels of activity in the world with deep-water
12 exploration the dominant source of low frequency ambient noise in this region (Wiggins and
13 others, 2016). High activity has also occurred in the North Atlantic (Nieukirk and others,
14 2004), the South Atlantic (Miksis-Olds and Nichols, 2016; Haver and others, 2017) and the
15 North Sea (Hildebrand, 2009). Seismic survey activity was increasing in the late 2000s and
16 early 2010s due to increasing prices of crude oil, particularly in areas such as the South
17 Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea (Maglio and others, 2016). An average of 40 seismic
18 vessels were active in 2004, which increased to 75 active vessels by 2014, with the highest
19 levels of activity in the Gulf of Mexico, Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa (Hildebrand, 2009).
20 However, with a decrease in crude oil prices in 2015 and 2016, the seismic explorations
21 decreased to 58 active vessels in mid-2018 (GeoTomo, 2018).
22
23 Impacts on marine life associated with sound produced during seismic exploration surveys
24 have been documented across a number of taxa, ranging from zooplankton to marine
25 mammals. McCauley and colleagues (2017) reported zooplankton depletion following
26 seismic operations, concurrent with an increase in dead zooplankton comprising a variety of
27 species. Controlled experiments on scallop larvae showed that they exhibit significant
28 developmental delays and developmental malformations if exposed to seismic airgun pulses
29 (Aguilar de Soto and others, 2013), while adult scallops were observed to have disrupted
30 reflexes (Day and others, 2017). Seismic operations may also be implicated in stranding of
31 giant squids (Guerra and others, 2004). Fish have been observed to exhibit behavioural and
32 physiological changes as a result of seismic operations (Weilgart, 2018 and references
33 therein), with changes in fish catch rates also observed (Løkkeborg, 1991; Løkkeborg and
34 others, 2012). Seismic operations have also been observed negatively to impact baleen whale
35 communication (Di Iorio and Clark, 2009; Cerchio and others, 2014). While a number of
36 impacts of seismic exploration on marine life have been observed, controlled exposure
37 experiments have reported no observable impacts on the development and survival of
38 embryos of southern rock lobster and larvae of Dungeness crab (Pearson and others, 1994;
39 Day and others, 2016) and they had limited effect on the copepod Calanus finmarchicus
40 (Fields and others, 2019).
41
42 Industrial activity as a contributor to ocean noise. A comprehensive review of underwater
43 noise from industrial activity was completed in 2003 by the National Research Council of the
44 United States of America. Below is a review of the broad findings of that report and a
45 summary of the research in the area of ocean industrial noise published since 2003. For the
46 purposes of the present Chapter, oil and gas industry contributions have been separated from
47 the remainder of industrial activity that contributes to marine noise.
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1 (a) Ocean noise from the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas industrial activities occur
2 worldwide from latitudes 72o North to 45o South. Activities associated with seismic surveys
3 and oil and gas production are present along the coastlines of all the continents of the world
4 except Antarctica (NRC, 2003). The noise levels associated with oil and gas production and
5 associated activities, such as installation of pipelines, generation of energy on platforms,
6 pipeline flow, noise associated with support vessels, etc., are typically much lower than those
7 involved in seismic surveying (Richardson and others, 1995). The impacts of this noise can
8 be restricted to areas near facilities but persists during the active life of the facility, which can
9 be years (NRC, 2003). Based on data collected along the North Slope of Alaska and the
10 adjoining coast of Canada, drill ships actively engaged in drilling activity have high radiated
11 sound levels with a maximum broadband source pressure level calculated from root-mean-
12 square of pressure across the 10 Hz to 10 kHz band of about 190 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m
13 (Richardson and others, 1995).
14
15 (b) Other industrial and construction contributions to ocean noise. The range of activities
16 in this category is extremely broad. Pile driving and power-generating wind turbines are often
17 found in deeper waters, while dredging, coastal development and associated construction,
18 shipyards and daily harbour/port functions located near the shore contribute noise in shallow
19 waters. Deep seabed mining is still largely limited in scope because of prohibitive costs
20 (Miller and others, 2018; Thompson and others, 2018) but may expand in the future. The
21 coupling of industrial activity, which can be made up of a combination of terrestrially based,
22 shoreline or nearshore sound sources, into the marine environment is poorly understood.
23 Nevertheless, this broad range of industrial activities produces a range of source levels and
24 acoustic patterns described in detail below.
25
26 Pile driving typically consists of thousands of impacts by large hammers occurring about
27 every second to drive stabilizing structures for above water structures into the seabed. Pile
28 driving noise source levels are substantial, with peak source levels ranging from 226 to 248
29 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m (Bailey and others, 2014; Miller and others, 2017). There are a number of
30 techniques for reducing propagated noise levels from pile driving, including freely rising
31 bubble screens (Würsig and others, 2000), fixed air bubble screens (Rustemeier and others,
32 2011), and Helmholtz resonator screens (Lee and others, 2012). Deployment of these
33 techniques has the potential to reduce received sound levels away from the activity by up to
34 20 dB, although average reductions are in the order of 5 dB (Buehler and others, 2015).
35
36 Operating offshore wind farms produce noise levels of about 150 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m
37 (Nedwell and Howell, 2004; Hildebrand, 2009). This can represent a 5 to 25 dB increase in
38 overall ambient sound levels at nearby (< ~1km) locations (Norro and others, 2011).
39 Analogous to oil and gas, the noise associated with wind farm construction, largely stemming
40 from pile driving activities, is limited in duration but can affect large areas of the ocean. Once
41 the wind farms are operational, however, noise generated by the operation affects a smaller
42 area but it will last as long as the operation continues.
43
44 In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in commercial operations for extracting
45 economically valuable metals from the deep sea, including hydrothermal vent locations
46 worldwide and exploration in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge area around the Azores (see also
47 Chapter 19 of the present Assessment). The levels of sound these activities contribute to the
48 deep sea are unknown.
691
1 Anthropogenic noise from dredging consists of sound from ship-borne machinery and
2 mechanical motion such as suction and earth-moving devices, as well as possible use of
3 explosives. Noise levels recorded during dredging range from approximately 163 dB to 190
4 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m depending on the type of dredging operation (Greene, 1985; Nedwell and
5 others, 2008; Robinson and others, 2011; Reine and others, 2012).
6
7 This varied industrial activity can have various impacts on marine life. Impulsive noise such
8 as that created by pile driving has been observed to disrupt harbour porpoise habitat use
9 (Carstensen and others, 2006) and has the potential to cause hearing impairment in marine
10 mammals close to the noise source (Madsen and others, 2006). The noise generated by pile
11 driving has been observed to increase metabolic rate in some fish and mussel species (Spiga
12 and others, 2016; Bruintjes and others, 2017) as well as alter fish swimming and schooling
13 behaviour (Mueller-Blenkle and others, 2010; Herbert-Read and others, 2017). Vibrations of
14 the seabed resulting from experiments designed to simulate pile driving have also been
15 observed negatively to impact growth and body condition of bottom-dwelling mussels
16 (Roberts and others, 2015). While fish and marine mammals can detect sounds from
17 operating wind farms at distances of a few kilometres, it is not known if these sounds cause
18 any disruptions to their biological functioning, but they were shown to disrupt crab settlement
19 (Pine and others, 2012). It has been estimated that noise generated during the operation of the
20 wind turbines is unlikely to reach levels that would be considered dangerous or result in
21 masking acoustic communication in marine mammals (Bailey and others, 2014).
22
23 (c) Ocean noise from sonar. Different types of sonars are used for mapping the ocean
24 bottom, as well as for the detection and localization of various objects in the water column
25 (e.g. plankton, fish or submarines). Sonar is used by a variety of stakeholders, including the
26 military, the commercial, charter and recreational fishing community and the scientific
27 research community, and the type of use is different within each of these groups.
28
29 Sonar use in the military is primarily focused on anti-submarine warfare and involves two
30 types of sonar: low frequency active (LFA) sonar and mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar.
31 The LFA sonar operates in 100 to 500 Hz band with overall source level of 230 to 240 dB re
32 1 µPa at 1 m, allowing detection over long ranges (hundreds of kilometres). The MFA sonar
33 operates at frequencies from 2 to 8 kHz, has a source level of 235 dB re 1 µPa at 1 m
34 (Hildebrand, 2009), and operates over ranges of tens of kilometres. The United States Navy
35 has four ships dedicated to LFA sonar use while, worldwide, approximately 300 active
36 military ships have MFA sonar (Hildebrand, 2009).
37
38 In non-military uses, the sonars most frequently encountered on vessels include “fish finders”
39 and other echosounders operating at single or multiple frequencies, multibeam sonars and
40 side-scan sonars. Sonars not used for military purposes generally operate at lower source
41 levels than military sonars and, in most cases, their beams are directed downward under the
42 vessel track, or across the track in case of multibeam sonar. Typical operating frequency of a
43 fish finder is 15 to 200 kHz. Multibeam mapping sonar typically used by the research
44 community operate at frequencies ranging from 12 kHz for deep-water systems up to 400
45 kHz for shallow-water systems, with narrow directional beams (~1 degree) and source levels
46 between 232 and 245 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m (Hildebrand, 2009).
47
48 The use of LFA sonar has been restricted due to concerns over its impact on divers and
49 marine mammals (Miller and others, 2000), although it has been reported that LFA sonar
50 does not affect herring behaviour (Doksæter and others, 2012). The use of MFA sonar has
692
1 been implicated in the stranding of multiple species of cetaceans (Balcomb and Claridge,
2 2001). Beaked whales appear to be particularly sensitive to this sound and it has been
3 associated with both physiological damage (Fernández and others, 2005) and behavioural
4 changes in several beaked whale species (Tyack and others, 2011; DeRuiter and others, 2013;
5 Moretti and others, 2014). Overall, however, responses vary by population and there is some
6 indication that beaked whales regularly exposed to MFA sonar may acclimate to the sound
7 (Bernaldo de Quirós and others, 2019). Presence of MFA sonar has been observed to alter the
8 behaviour of baleen whales (Goldbogen and others, 2013) and multiple odontocete species
9 (Sivle and others, 2012). Beaked whales also appear to be sensitive to other forms of sonar,
10 with observations of changes in their behaviour documented in the presence of an
11 echosounder deployed for scientific purposes (Cholewiak and others, 2017).
12
13 Table 1. Summary of main sources of anthropogenic noise (reproduced from United Nations document
14 A/73/68, annex).
15 (* = rms sound pressure level (SPL), ** = peak SPL, *** = peak-to-peak SPL)
16
Industry sector Sound source Sound type Source level (dB Frequency of
re:1μPa @ 1m) main energy
(kHz)
Commercial shipping
Medium-sized Propeller/cavitation Continuous 165-180* <1

ships (50–100
m)
Large vessels Propeller/cavitation Continuous 180-219* <0.2
(e.g. super-
tankers,
container ships)
Resource exploration and exploitation
Oil and gas Seismic airgun Impulsive 220-262*** 0.05-0.1
Drilling Continuous 124-190* 0.1-1
Renewable Impact pile driving Impulsive 220-257*** 0.1-2
energy
Operational wind farm Continuous 144* <0.5
Navy Low frequency sonar Impulsive 240** 0.1-0.5
Mid-frequency sonar Impulsive 223-235** 2.8-8.2

Explosions (e.g. ship Impulsive 272-287* 0.006-0.02
shock trials, exercises)
Fishing Propeller /cavitation Continuous 160-198* < 1-10
Deterrent/Harassment Impulsive 132-200** 5-30

device
Sonar (echosounder) Impulsive 185-210** 200-260
Dredging Propeller/cavitation, Mainly 163-188* 0.1-0.5
cutting, pumping, continuous
grabbing, digging
Marine scientific Propeller/cavitation Continuous 165-180* <1
research (e.g.
693
research vessel)
Recreational Propeller/cavitation Continuous 160-175* 1-10
activities (e.g.
recreational
craft/speedboat)
Tourism (e.g. whale and dolphin watching and cruise ships)

Vessels <50m & Propeller/cavitation Continuous 160-190* <0.2-10
>100m
Harbour Impact pile driving Impulsive 200** 0.1-0.5
construction (e.g. sheet piling)
1 3. Description of the economic and social consequences and/or the other

2 economic or social changes
3
4 During the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the
5 Law of the Sea discussions on anthropogenic underwater noise in 2018, the importance of
6 addressing the socioeconomic impacts of anthropogenic underwater noise was stressed. For
7 example, it has been shown that the presence of seismic airgun surveys reduces catch of
8 gadid and sebastid fishes (Hirst and Rodhouse, 2000), which may result in economic loss for
9 those fisheries during seismic survey effort. Possible other consequences of the change in
10 noise input are changes in the distribution of species of social, economic and cultural
11 relevance and changes in tourism opportunities. A decrease in abundance of commercially or
12 recreationally important marine species from areas with a heavy focus on fishing due to noise
13 may result in negative economic and social impacts on the communities relying on fishing
14 commercially or recreationally. A similar decline of social and economic benefits may be
15 expected in association with displacement or strandings of marine mammals that are the
16 focus of tourism activities. Additionally, displacement of marine animals may affect
17 traditional and cultural practices of indigenous communities that rely on artisanal fishing and
18 subsistence hunting. This area of interactions between anthropogenic noise and its impact on
19 social and economic factors has not been well studied in the past, but an increased interest in
20 anthropogenic noise in the ocean may lead to more focus on human consequences of the
21 increase in noise.
22
23 While anthropogenic underwater noise is most directly connected to the success of achieving
24 Sustainable Development Goal 14 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to
25 conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable
26 development, it is linked also to a number of other SDGs.240 Affordable and clean energy
27 (SDG 7) is likely to lead to localized increases in anthropogenic noise levels in the ocean via
28 construction and operation of wind farms, but could result in an overall reduction in
29 anthropogenic noise associated with a decrease in exploration and exploitation of fossil fuels.
30 Successful implementation of SDGs 11 and 12, on sustainable cities and communities and
31 responsible consumption and production, could ultimately contribute to a reduction in overall
32 anthropogenic noise in the ocean if achieving these goals results in a decrease in global
33 shipping.
240
694

2
3 4.1. Arctic Ocean
4
5 The opening up of shipping channels in the Arctic as a result of climate change-driven
6 decreases in sea ice has started to result in increased ship traffic through the basin (Eguíluz
7 and others 2016). While this is still a rather uncommon path, with further sea ice melt, the
8 Arctic is likely to become a more common shipping route in the future (Smith and
9 Stephenson, 2013). The consequences of changes in shipping and, in particular, of associated
10 changes in soundscapes to more anthropogenically driven ones on local Arctic communities
11 and marine animals are largely unknown (Ho, 2010). Oil exploration began in the Chukchi
12 Sea in the mid-2000s but further exploration and oil development were abandoned when the
13 region’s reserves were found to be insufficient to warrant additional investment (Shell, 2015).
14 Offshore oil and gas development in the Canadian Arctic is currently not allowed, with a
15 review of the ban due in 2021 (Nunatsiaq, 2016).
16
18 North Sea
19
20 The North Atlantic is a busy shipping route year-round (Vettor and Soares, 2015). Seismic
21 exploration noise is seasonally present in the polar areas of the North Atlantic (Klinck and
22 others, 2012; Haver and others, 2017). A rapid expansion of offshore wind farm development
23 in the North and Baltic Seas has resulted in more than 40 operational wind farms as of 2015
24 and continued development is predicted into the future (4C Offshore, 2020), which will result
25 in substantial increases in noise during the building phase (Miller and others, 2017). The
26 main noise hotspots in the Mediterranean Sea are the areas around major harbours. In
27 addition, the Ionian and Adriatic Seas, as well as coasts along north-western Africa and in the
28 eastern Mediterranean, have seen a recent increase in oil and gas exploratory surveys (Maglio
29 and others, 2016). An increase in seismic activity in the Black Sea is also a possibility
30 (Broad, 2014).
31
32 4.3. Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic Ocean and Wider Caribbean
33
34 The number of vessels conducting seismic surveys decreased in the Gulf of Mexico but
35 expanded off the Atlantic coast of South America (GeoTomo, 2018; USEIA, 2020),
36 potentially increasing noise levels at low frequency over the past decade. Large discoveries of
37 offshore oil by Guyana (Cummings, 2018) may lead to higher levels of seismic exploration
38 and industrial activity related to oil development in the area.
39
41 and Persian Gulf
42
43 This is a region of rapid expansion in shipping (Tournadre, 2014), especially along the coast
44 of Africa, resulting from increased investment in infrastructure on the continent by China as
45 part of its Belt and Road Initiative (Ehizuelen, 2017; Lee and others, 2018). Development of
46 new ports is contributing to increased anthropogenic noise in areas that were previously
47 relatively noise-free.
695

2
3 New offshore wind projects are being developed off Japan (Li and Yuan, 2019). As a part of
4 this process, Japan is also starting to define acoustic monitoring parameters. Likewise,
5 offshore wind projects are proposed but not yet permitted or constructed off the West Coast
6 of the United States of America (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 2020). Some areas
7 along the West Coast, as well along the Hawaiian Island chain are designated as Marine
8 Sanctuaries and could be protected from direct development.
9
11
12 Seismic exploration continues offshore from Australia and New Zealand (e.g. Cheong and
13 Evans, 2018; Urosevic and others, 2019). The South Pacific remains, otherwise, relatively
14 free from anthropogenic noise sources with little shipping and industrial development.
15
16 4.7. Southern Ocean
17
18 The Southern Ocean has seen an increase in cruise ship traffic in recent years, both in the
19 Antarctic Peninsula region that has had some cruise ship traffic in the past, and in the
20 previously unexplored Eastern Antarctica and the Ross Sea (Sánchez and Roura, 2016).
21 Overall, however, the region has had few anthropogenic noise sources, with little shipping
22 and industrial development (Dziak and others, 2015).
23
24 5. Outlook
25
26 Anthropogenic noise in the ocean is largely driven by shipping and oil exploration and, on a
27 more local or regional level, by coastal development. Factors such as, inter alia, population
28 growth, migration to coastal areas, increased industrialization and tourism will result in an
29 increase in activities that contribute to anthropogenic noise, unless accompanied by
30 mitigation efforts. A number of efforts, however, have been initiated to mitigate ocean
31 ambient noise. The Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC)
32 has endorsed target goals of reducing ocean ambient sound by 3 dB in the next decade and 10
33 dB over the next 30 years. The IWC is actively engaged with the International Maritime
34 Organization on discussions regarding these reductions. To achieve these goals, one step may
35 be to reduce noise from shipping, the major anthropogenic noise contributor at low
36 frequencies in the open ocean. Shipping noise can be reduced both by modifying propeller
37 blades to make them quieter, and by isolating engines and other noise contributors on the
38 vessel so that their noise does not propagate through the ship into the ocean. These
39 technologies already exist but need wider implementation. Alternative measures being
40 considered that can be implemented without technological advancements include decreasing
41 ship speed or diverting ship traffic away from marine life sensitive areas such as marine
42 sanctuaries, parks or reserves. In the oil and gas industry, new alternatives to exploration
43 surveys using airguns are being investigated, such as marine vibrator technology. Even with
44 new technological advances, the global approach to reducing anthropogenic noise will require
45 that a consensus be reached so that uniformly agreed thresholds to inform noise limits and
46 activity caps can be set.
47
48 The importance of anthropogenic noise has been acknowledged by different United Nations
49 entities. In June 2018, anthropogenic noise was the main topic of the nineteenth meeting of
696
1 the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the
2 Sea. The presentations and discussions during the meeting covered, inter alia, review of the
3 sources of anthropogenic noise, the effects and socioeconomic impacts of noise, and
4 cooperation and coordination among nations to address anthropogenic noise. Among other
5 things, it was noted that application of a precautionary approach in managing noise impacts
6 has been put forward both regionally and globally and that cross-sector cooperation is needed
7 for identifying and mitigating impacts.241
8
9 While anthropogenic noise is not explicitly included in the United Nations Convention on the
10 Law of the Sea ,242 since sound is a form of energy, its introduction into the marine
11 environment, if it results or is likely to result in such deleterious effects as harm to living
12 resources and marine life, hazards to human health, hindrance to marine activities, including
13 fishing and other legitimate uses of the sea, impairment of quality for use of sea water and
14 reduction of amenities, is considered by some a form of pollution of the marine environment
15 under the definition of pollution in the Convention. The United Nations Environment
16 Programme and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild
17 Animals243 explicitly recognize the importance of underwater noise on marine species and
18 encourage further study and mitigation of these issues.244
19
20 A number of nations have been developing their own management guidelines for managing
21 ocean noise. The European Union (EU) has a mandate for its member States to measure and
22 report anthropogenic noise under Descriptor 11 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive
23 (MSFD) adopted in June 2008. The aim of the directive is to achieve Good Environmental
24 Status by 2020, with each member State determining how this might be achieved. Driven by
25 the EU MSFD, there has been a proliferation of ocean noise-targeted projects and noise
26 registers, databases with specifications on impulsive noise activity, across the region.
27 Examples of these registers include the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission
28 (HELCOM) impulsive noise register245 and the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans
29 of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) noise
30 register for the Mediterranean and Black Seas).246 Canada is building the Marine
31 Environmental Research Infrastructure for Data Integration and Application Network, a
32 database on underwater acoustics and vessel tracking, including visualization and analytical
33 tools to provide information to managers, the public and researchers.247 In the United States
34 of America, measures comprehensively to manage the impact of noise on marine species are
35 set out in the Ocean Noise Strategy (Gedamke and others, 2016). This effort also includes
36 mapping tools to assist in evaluating the impacts of anthropogenic noise on cetaceans
37 (NOAA, 2020). These national efforts to document noise sources should lead to an increased
38 ability to map variability in sound levels across the region. At the same time, these initiatives
39 are leading to increased efforts to standardize data collection and measurements. For
40 example, the International Quiet Ocean Experiment, a collaborative international science
41 programme aimed at promoting research, observation and modelling to improve
241
See A/73/124.
242
243
Ibid., vol. 1651, No. 28395.
244
See UNEP/CMS/Resolution 12.14; available at https://www.cms.int/en/documents/cop-resolutions.
245
Available at http://www.ices.dk/marine-data/data-portals/Pages/underwater-noise.aspx.
246
Available at http://accobams.noiseregister.org/.
247
See https://meridian.cs.dal.ca/.
697
1 understanding of ocean soundscapes and the effects of sound on marine organisms, has
2 established working groups on data collection and data management standardization.
3
4 Sound has also recently been identified as an Essential Ocean Variable by the Global Ocean
5 Observing System (GOOS) Biology and Ecosystems Expert Panel (GOOS, 2020). Ocean
6 sound is recognized as a cross-disciplinary variable as it includes geophysical sources such as
7 wind, bubbles, ice, earthquakes, volcanos, etc. This global recognition and incorporation of
8 observing systems into new initiatives should contribute to an increase in monitoring of
9 anthropogenic noise and a better understanding of its contributions to ambient sound.
10
11 High levels of noise in the ocean can impact marine life in a variety of ways. A theoretical
12 framework to evaluate population-level consequences of acoustic disturbances is available for
13 marine mammals but should be applicable to other taxa as well (Pirotta and others, 2018).
14 This approach can be used for management purposes, but it also offers a framework to
15 investigate proximate mechanisms of phenomena that induce changes at the individual level
16 and guide future data collection and model development. Considering these consequences
17 occur among commercially and recreationally important species, as well as those that are
18 relied on for subsistence, there is potential for negative social and economic impacts. For
19 example, a reduction in the recruitment of commercially important fishes (Simpson and
20 others, 2008) may result over time in a reduction in catches, and higher mortality may
21 decrease fishery yields. For species that are the focus of tourism activities, those activities,
22 such as whale watching, result in increased noise and can cause impacts (Erbe, 2002; Holt
24
26
27 Several challenges remain in evaluating the relative increases and possible impacts of
28 anthropogenic noise in the ocean. The most fundamental problem is a lack of knowledge
29 regarding baseline ocean ambient noise. Given that no recordings are available from time
30 periods prior to human activities, we have a limited understanding of the marine soundscapes
31 that marine life evolved with or to what extent they might have adapted to anthropogenic
32 noise inputs. The best proxy we have are regions outside the influence of human development
33 and activity, which may exist in isolated basins, such as areas of the Southern Ocean or, until
34 recently, were present in parts of the Arctic. But based on our best estimates, many regions of
35 the ocean have at least 20 to 30 dB of increased ambient noise levels at low frequency (10 to
36 200 Hz) relative to primordial levels.
37
38 Another major gap is an understanding of the impact of noise on marine ecosystems. To date,
39 most work has been focused on the impact of a single stressor on a particular species, the
40 result of which may not be directly applicable to populations (Gill and others, 2001). A
41 framework has been developed to assess the population consequences of disturbance, but
42 often many key parameter values are missing to enable evaluation at the population level
43 (King and others, 2015). One large gap in our knowledge, for example, is the hearing
44 response of large baleen whales. In addition, environments can be subject to multiple sources
45 of noise over large scales with the potential to affect multiple species at the same time. This
46 can compound any effects (Shannon and others, 2016). At this stage, many regulations that
47 are based on insufficient data have adopted the precautionary principle. However, expanding
48 on our ability to integrate effects and impacts across different scales and sources will be
49 essential to allow realistic assessment of the impact that anthropogenic noise has on marine
50 animals.
698
1 Finally, substantial effort is needed to ensure standardization of monitoring approaches,

2 measurements collected and archival frameworks or systems for acoustic recording
3 approaches and associated collected data. An ANSI/ASA (2009) standard and International
4 Organization for Standardization (ISO) (2016) standard exist for measurement of underwater
5 noise from ships in deep water. However, these standards require multiple sound
6 measurements by arrays of sensors and, in practice, have been rarely applied. One promising,
7 recent implementation of an array that satisfies standards is by Ocean Networks Canada
8 outside of Vancouver Harbour. An inventive system has been set up by which ships that
9 follow the protocol to facilitate measurements receive a port discount. Strategic placement of
10 such measurement ranges at several additional locations around the world could greatly
11 enhance our knowledge of vessel-radiated noise characteristics. Other standards being
12 developed include those on soundscape measures and monitoring, which are currently
13 underway by ISO and will include underwater data. Standards are being developed also
14 through the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) standards procedures regarding towed
15 array systems and data archiving. In the future, standards should be expanded to other parts
16 of the acoustic monitoring effort, such as fixed recordings, calibrations and ambient sound
17 data.
18
20
21 Thus far, monitoring and modelling of anthropogenic noise efforts have been concentrated in
22 areas of North America and Europe, with some concentrated monitoring effort also taking
23 place off Australia. On the other hand, the Indian Ocean and its adjacent seas are an area
24 where across-board capacity building, including monitoring, impact assessment and
25 development of management frameworks, would help to increase our understanding of the
26 changes taking place in the environment. Since sound travels broadly across ocean basins,
27 and anthropogenic noise sources are found worldwide, there is a need for increased
28 collaboration and cooperation across all States and regions, as well as greater sharing of
29 information and technology. One example of difference in technological availability is AIS
30 for ship tracking. Knowledge of ship positions is essential for accurate mapping of
31 underwater noise. AIS is a localization and identification system developed for ship collision
32 avoidance that, over time, has been adopted and mandated across vessels of a broad range of
33 sizes. Ship monitoring is most comprehensive in the developed world, due to relatively good
34 spatial coverage with AIS receivers. The move to satellite AIS underway will enable broader
35 data coverage, and timely international collaborations to use those data might be an
36 opportunity to bridge some capacity gaps in modelling across States. Enhancement of
37 cooperation and collaboration activities with developing States would support the enhanced
38 sharing of best practices and best available technologies necessary to build national and
39 regional programmes not only to monitor the effects of anthropogenic underwater noise, but
40 also to provide the information needed for well-informed policy decisions.
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Chapter 22
Developments in Marine Renewable Energy Sources
Convenor: Takvor Soukissian; Contributors:248 Joan Bondareff, Valerie Cummins, Amardeep
Dhanju, Carlos Garcia-Soto (Co-Lead Member), Lars Golmen, Osman Keh Kamara (Co-
Lead Member), Jimmy Murphy, Eric Mwangi Njoroge, Anastasia Strati (Lead Member),
Georges Vougioukalakis
1 Keynote points
2
3 • The offshore wind sector is expanding globally to regions with no utility-scale
4 installations at present. The use of floating platforms is a step change for the industry
5 to open up large areas with deeper waters.
6 • Ιn the next decade, Asia and the United States of America could be major growth
7 drivers for offshore wind power development and installation.
8 • Current wave, tidal and ocean projects have not yet achieved full commercialization
9 at utility scale. However, at the global scale there is high wave energy potential.
10 • Progress in energy storage could make a significant contribution in the development
11 of offshore wind power and other marine renewable energy (MRE).
12 • Proper siting of MRE projects could minimize conflicts with other ocean uses and
13 have positive impacts on the marine environment.
14
15 1. Introduction
16
17 The present Chapter discusses advances made in recent years in knowledge and capacity for
18 the various types of marine renewable energy (MRE) at the global level. Offshore wind
19 energy, tidal/ocean current energy, wave energy, ocean thermal energy, osmotic power and
20 marine biomass energy are presented along with offshore solar and geothermal energy. The
21 Chapter has linkages with Chapters 5, 6D, 6F, 8A, 9, 14, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27 and 29 of the
22 present Assessment.
23
24 1.1. Climate change and the clean energy challenge
25
26 The consumption of energy derived from fossil fuels accounts for the majority of global
27 anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2014, the electricity and heat production
28 sectors were responsible for approximately half of total anthropogenic GHG emissions, while
29 the resulting global average atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in 2018 reached 407.4 parts
30 per million, higher than any point in the past 800,000 years (Ritchie and Roser, 2019;
31 Lindsey, 2019). The average global temperature has increased by about 0.8°C since 1880.249
32 The effects of rising temperatures and climate change are felt in almost every aspect of
33 human life.
34
248
We would like to acknowledge the substantial contribution of Dr. N. Koukouzas with respect to offshore
geothermal energy.
249
Available at https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/DecadalTemp.
707
1 Reducing GHG emissions is an important step towards reducing climate change impacts.
2 Evidently, a transition towards low-carbon and carbon-free energy resources is needed. We
3 are in the early stages of an era of energy transition, with increased interest in MRE, and
4 moving towards creating a viable low-carbon energy pathway in the near future. In 2018,
5 global energy consumption exhibited a growth rate of 2.3 per cent, while the total installed
6 capacity of renewable power grew by 7.86 per cent compared to 2017 (IEA, 2019a; IRENA,
7 2019a). MRE is also linked to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 which
8 recognizes affordable renewable energy as a key driver for development.250
9
10 2. State of MRE at the global level
11
12 2.1. Advances in knowledge and capacity between 2010 and 2020
13
14 The ocean has the potential to be a major source of renewable energy. In addition to climate
15 change mitigation, MRE can contribute to socioeconomic development, energy security and
16 energy access in remote coastal regions, where it is expanding to meet their energy needs
17 (Edenhofer and others, 2011). In 2018, global installed offshore wind capacity increased by
18 4.5 gigawatts (GW) compared to 2017, now totalling 23.7 GW, while the global capacity of
19 other MRE reached 532 megawatts (MW) with more than 90 per cent of this total from two
20 tidal barrages in France and the Republic of Korea. The global distribution of MRE is
21 presented in IRENA, 2019a.
22
23 The MRE sector is evolving and developing at different speeds: offshore wind technology is
24 mature and technically advanced and tidal energy converters have reached the pre-
25 commercial stage, while other MRE technologies are currently at the developmental stage.251
26 The emerging markets in offshore wind include China, Japan, Republic of Korea, India and
27 the United States of America.252 There has been a significant increase in wind turbine (WT)
28 rated capacities with 10 MW-12 MW turbines expected to be on the market by 2020. Europe
29 is currently the global leader in wave and tidal energy technology development and enjoys
30 significant support from national and European Union research programmes (Magagna and
31 others, 2016).
32
33 2.2. Regional advances
34
35 Offshore wind energy. Global offshore wind capacity potential (excluding Antarctica) is
36 estimated at 85.6 terawatt (TW) (Bosch and others, 2018). In 2018, 4.5 GW of new offshore
37 wind capacity was connected to the grid worldwide, a 15 per cent increase on 2017.
38 However, this figure will need to quadruple in order to meet the SDG targets under the 2030
39 Agenda for Sustainable Development (IEA, 2019c) .250 Europe has, to date, dominated in the
40 deployment of offshore wind with cumulative capacity of 18.9 GW in 2018. The main
41 countries developing offshore wind are the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
42 Ireland (with 1.3 GW installed in 2018 and 8.3 GW in total) and Germany (with 0.9 GW
43 installed in 2018 and 6.4 GW in total), although in 2018, 1.8 GW was additionally deployed
44 in China (IRENA, 2019a). See Figure 1 for installed and expected global offshore wind
45 capacity.
250
251
Available at https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/new-technologies-ocean-energy-sector.
252
Available at https://gwec.net/the-growth-of-the-global-offshore-wind-market-will-be-driven-by-asia/.
708
OFFSHORE WIND CAPACITY (STATED POLICIES

SCENARIO)
400
350
INSTALLED CAPACITY (GW)
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2025
2030
2035
2040
…
…
YEAR
Figure 1. Global offshore wind capacity (projections based on stated policies scenario). (Data from IEA,
2019b.
1 The Hornsea One Project, United Kingdom, with installed capacity of 1.2 GW, is the largest
2 offshore wind farm (OWF) in the world. In 2019, the Haliade-X 12 MW turbine with a rotor
3 diameter of 220 m became the largest wind turbine ever built. With the continued growth of
4 WT and wind farm size, concerns about potential environmental impacts, issues relating to
5 visual disamenities from shore and impact on fisheries are becoming more important.
6
7 Offshore wind is demonstrating the viability of large-scale, multiple installations in different
8 marine environments making the sector competitive. The construction costs for utility-scale
9 projects have fallen 45 per cent (in capital expenditure per MW) since 2015, thus driving
10 installation around the world, (Wind Europe, 2019). Fixed offshore wind platforms are viable
11 for water depths up to 60 m although, in the next decade, the industry plans to operate in
12 deeper waters using floating platforms. Many countries such as those in the Mediterranean
13 and on the ocean fringes worldwide see floating wind farms (WF) as a major opportunity.
14 The first commercial scale floating WF in the world began production in 2017 (offshore
15 Peterhead, Scotland) using the Norwegian Equinor’s Hywind concept (Musial and others,
16 2019) (see Figure 2).
17
18 The success of offshore wind power in reducing installation and production costs, combined
19 with the existing expertise from wind energy onshore, has made it the leader in the MRE
20 sector.
709
Figure 2. The world's first commercial wind farm based on floating wind turbines (Photographer: Øyvind
Gravås / Woldcam, Image kindly provided by Equinor)
1 Tidal/ocean current energy. Global tidal energy capacity (combined theoretical tidal range
2 and stream resource) is estimated at 3 TW (Lewis and others, 2011; Scottish Enterprise,
3 2018), while the worldwide potential of ocean currents is estimated at 450 GW.253 Tidal
4 stream energy, to be feasible, requires flow speeds greater than 2.0 m/s (Encarnacion and
5 others, 2019). Bays, estuaries, and inlets can have a funnelling effect and thus provide a
6 viable tidal/current energy resource. Locations such as the Bay of Fundy in Canada, Cook
7 Strait in New Zealand and the Pentland Firth in Scotland are known for significant resources
8 and have been targeted for development. Tidal energy was initially harnessed by
9 impoundment through the construction of barrages. This was the basis for the early
10 commercial ventures such as the 240 MW La Rance tidal energy station in France and the
11 254 MW Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station in the Republic of Korea.
12
13 Whilst various projects have been proposed, particularly on the west coast of the United
14 Kingdom, progress in building these projects has been slow, mainly because tidal barrages
15 can alter both local and regional hydrodynamic regimes with subsequent impacts on
16 ecosystems and water quality (Kadiri and others, 2012).Very high capital costs are another
17 deterrent. Therefore, the tidal energy industry has focused primarily on extracting energy
18 from fast-flowing tidal streams using horizontal axis tidal turbines that have progressed from
19 single prototype deployments to small-scale arrays (Encarnacion and others, 2019). The
20 environmental monitoring programme implemented for the deployment of the first large-
21 scale commercial tidal stream generator (SeaGen) became the roadmap for future tidal
22 projects (Savidge and others, 2014). The first grid-connected tidal array with 3 100 KW
23 turbines has been operating successfully since 2016 in the Shetland Islands,254 whilst the
24 MeyGen project in Scotland is the largest tidal energy array currently deployed with 6
253
Available at https://www.oceanenergycouncil.com/ocean-energy/ocean-current-energy/.
254
Available at https://microgridknowledge.com/baseload-tidal-power-station/.
710
1 MW.255 However, since the MeyGen and Shetland Tidal Array deployments in 2016, the
2 industry has largely stalled, particularly in the United Kingdom, where it is in direct
3 competition with offshore wind industry. In addition, the high-profile collapse of the
4 OpenHydro technology created significant negative publicity for the industry.256 As of 2019,
5 it seems that tidal stream energy is at a critical juncture for determining whether it can make
6 the leap to utility-scale projects and thus reduce costs.
7
8 Wave energy. The theoretical potential global wave power resource is estimated at 2.11 TW,
9 while the locations with the largest wave power resource are between 40⁰ and 60⁰ latitudes
10 (Gunn and Stock-Williams, 2012). Wave energy sites off the coast of Ireland, for instance,
11 can see annual average power density levels of more than 80 KW/m, although sites with
12 values of 30 KW/m and below, depending on the technology, are usually considered viable
13 for wave energy extraction (Sandberg and others, 2016).
14
15 As of 2019, the sector is still not close to commercialization but progress has been made in
16 assessing the difficulties involved in extracting power from waves at a reasonable cost. A
17 significant challenge is the hostile environment in which wave energy converters (WEC) are
18 required to produce power and the ability to design technologies that can reliably operate for
19 the life of a commercial project. There are a large number of WEC concepts and devices
20 under development (Maria-Arenas and others, 2019), but their variety has resulted in a lack
21 of convergence and overall focus within the sector. However, since 2015, multiple full-scale
22 WEC have been deployed, and there are plans for a number of full-scale prototype or array
23 deployments for developers such as OceanEnergy,257 Wello Oy258 and SeaBased.259
24
25 Salinity and thermal gradient energy. Salinity and thermal gradient energy originates from
26 the differences in salinity and temperature, respectively, of sea water masses. Salinity
27 gradient energy is obtained when fresh water and saltwater mix. The estimate of theoretical
28 resources available globally range between 647 GW to 1,183 GW (IRENA, 2014; Alvarez-
29 Silva and others, 2016). Pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) and reverse electrodialysis (RED)
30 have reached the pilot phase and are to date, the most advanced of the relevant technologies
31 (Schaetzle and Buisman, 2015). PRO technology was first utilized in 2009 in Norway (Chae
32 and Kim, 2018), and a full-scale plant based on RED technology is currently operational in
33 southern Italy (Tedesco and others, 2017).
34
35 Energy can also be harnessed from the temperature differences between different seawater
36 masses at various depths (Rau and Baird, 2018). Estimates of theoretical ocean thermal
37 energy conversion (OTEC) potential range between 1 – 3 TW, and 7 TW, when desalination
38 is also included (Scottish Enterprise, 2018). The minimum required temperature differential
39 between the seawater masses should be of the order of 20 °C, that can be met in areas
40 extending between 30⁰ north and 30⁰ south (Breeze, 2019). Several projects are under
41 development, while many countries are currently exploring novel concepts and prototypes to
42 harness this resource. The most active countries in the OTEC sector are China, France, Japan,
255
Available at https://simecatlantis.com/projects/meygen/.
256
Available at https://marineenergy.biz/2018/07/27/openhydro-another-casualty-of-innovation-valley-of-death-
emec-says/.
257
Available at https://www.oedigital.com/news/442140-the-oe-buoy-is-taking-shape.
258
Available at https://marineenergy.biz/2018/12/05/second-penguin-gets-ready-for-orkneys-waves/.
259
Available at https://www.seabased.com/news/seabased-signs-100-mw-wave-power-plant-contract-with-
ghana.
711
1 Malaysia, the Netherlands, Oman, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea and the United
2 States of America (Lewis and others, 2011; Edenhofer and others, 2011). A 100 kW onshore
3 OTEC installation in Kailua-Kona (Hawaii) was connected to the grid in 2015 (Patel, 2015);
4 an onshore OTEC prototype was installed in 2012 in Réunion (France)260, and a 250 kW plant
5 has been in operation on Kumejima island off the coast of Okinawa, Japan, since 2013.261
6 The nutrient-rich deep water can also be used to enhance mariculture and farming onshore,
7 creating significant additional revenues. A floating offshore prototype OTEC 10 MW plant in
8 Martinique (France) has been funded by the European Commission and is expected to be
9 completed by 2020.262 Ocean thermal energy conversion, as well as wave and ocean current
10 energies, constitute an important potential for the African continent.
11
12 Marine biomass energy. This involves the use of marine algae and other viable sources for
13 the production of biofuels. The use of marine biomass could circumvent many constraints
14 associated with terrestrial biomass energy production, including competition for agricultural
15 land with food crops, and the use of energy-intensive fertilizers and pesticides in farming.
16 Interest in biomass energy is also driven by the high productivity of marine ecosystems
17 compared to terrestrial ecosystems (Perlack and others, 2005; Sheehan and others, 1998) and
18 the versatility of marine biomass that can adapt to a wide range of salinity and light intensity
19 conditions.
20
21 The marine biofuel production cycle has two components: the first involves cultivation of
22 marine biomass on a sufficiently large scale continuously to feed the biofuel production
23 cycle; and the second involves the conversion of marine biomass into biofuels. Giant kelp is
24 considered one of the most prolific organisms on Earth with growth rates of up to 60 cm a
25 day.263 Efforts are currently underway off the United States Pacific coast to develop an open
26 ocean cultivation system for giant kelp which can then be converted to biocrude.264
27
28 Even though energy from biomass remains promising, scaling biofuel production on an
29 industrial level is yet to be achieved. Any large-scale production of macroalgae would also
30 have to consider long-term environmental impacts and potential space-use conflicts with
31 existing and emerging ocean and coastal uses such as fishing and other MRE.
32
33 Emerging MRE sources. These include offshore solar energy and ocean floor geothermal
34 energy. Offshore solar energy is considered the second most developed MRE technology
35 after offshore wind (Wang and others, 2019). On the other hand, ocean floor geothermal
36 energy is at a conceptual phase in contrast to inland geothermal power generation technology
37 that is well developed (Raviteja and others, 2018; Shnell, 2009; Shnell and others, 2015).
38
39 Offshore solar energy is based on floating solar systems that are designed to withstand the
40 harsh environmental conditions at sea.265 The offshore environment can take full advantage
41 of solar irradiation during the day so it seems an ideal alternative for the solar industry.
260
Available at https://www.oceanenergy-europe.eu/ocean-energy/otec/.
261
Available at http://otecokinawa.com/en/Project/index.html.
262
Available at https://www.oceanenergy-europe.eu/ocean-energy/otec/.
263
Available at https://oceana.org/marine-life/corals-and-other-invertebrates/giant-kelp.
264
Available at https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/marine-cultivation-technology-opening-the-door-to-
the-rich-sources-of-clean-energy-in-our-oceans/.
265
Available at https://kosatka.media/en/category/vozobnovlyaemaya-energia/news/v-severnom-more-
poyavyatsya-pervye-offshornye-solnechnye-parki.
712
1 Although it is more expensive to install floating systems offshore than onshore, they are
2 usually more efficient, since the panel is in direct contact with the seawater, thermal losses
3 are reduced and the panel temperature is lower. On the other hand, floating solar systems are
4 subject to harsh ocean environmental conditions and biofouling, and there may be
5 environmental effects (Sahu and others, 2016; Ranjbaran and others, 2019; Spencer and
6 others, 2019; Trapani and Redón Santafé, 2015). Dubai, Japan, the Netherlands and
7 Singapore are interested in developing offshore solar farms. Floating solar power farms are
8 operating or are under development/consideration in many countries, such as Japan, China,
9 the Republic of Korea, Australia, Brazil and India, in inland water bodies, such as man-made
10 dams and lakes (World Bank Group and others, 2019). The world’s largest floating solar
11 power plant is in Huainan, China, and has a capacity of 40 MW.
12
13 Ocean floor geothermal energy relies on high enthalpy and supercritical geothermal resources
14 in the ocean floor. The use of high enthalpy geothermal energy is currently limited to areas
15 on land which host geothermal resources (Saibi and others, 2013; Tester and others, 2006).
16 Access to vast amounts of geothermal energy can be gained through the ocean floor Hiriart
17 and Hernandez, 2010, for instance, in mid-ocean volcanic ridges in divergent plate
18 boundaries. Some potential environmental impacts are described in Raviteja and others,
19 2018). Benefits of offshore geothermal energy include the use of seawater as unlimited
20 geothermal fluid, while the cold temperature of seawater can serve as a limitless condenser
21 for the heat exchanger system (Banerjee and others, 2018). Offshore geothermal power plants
22 require no land space or extension of the energy field and, when compared with land-based
23 plants, have potential for further development, although it is not profitable under the current
24 financial framework (Karason and others, 2013).
25
26 Current initiatives like the Marsili project in Italy and the hydrothermal vents project in the
27 Gulf of California utilize steam from underwater volcano and hydrothermal vents,
28 respectively, to produce power. Additional potential locations for offshore geothermal
29 exploration are located in Iceland and Indonesia (Karason and others, 2013; Prabowo and
30 others, 2017). In the Netherlands, the Exploration Working Programme for Ultra-Deep
31 Geothermal Heat is exploring the viability of offshore geothermal projects to assess further
32 investments (Heijnen and others, 2019).
33
34 2.3. Environmental benefits and impacts from MRE development
35
36 2.3.1. Environmental benefits
37
38 MRE development has significant environmental advantages over energy production from
39 fossil fuels that is associated with a variety of adverse environmental impacts. Additionally,
40 risks to the environment, notably from oil spills, cooling water discharges and the siting of
41 infrastructure in ecologically sensitive areas are presented by transportation and infrastructure
42 related to coal, oil and natural gas supplies. MRE-based electricity generation can contribute
43 towards reducing GHG emissions, water pollution, particulate matter and waste products and
44 help in climate change mitigation (Owusu and Asumadu-Sarkodie, 2016).
45
46 Besides the evident benefits of MRE, proper site selection and construction of a marine
47 renewable energy installation (MREI) may have other positive marine environmental
48 impacts. The addition of a hard substrate makes the installed infrastructure important for the
49 creation of new habitats, attracting species not previously found in the area. Properly
50 designed WT foundations can be utilized as artificial reefs and act as stepping-stones,
713
1 enhancing connectivity among marine protected areas, while also allowing for sustainable
2 aquaculture (Boero and others, 2017). Current studies are examining how to optimize turbine
3 foundations or other subsurface installations, to incorporate artificial reef designs that are
4 progressively more intricate while also customizing them for specific marine environments
5 (Komyakova and Swearer, 2019). The engineering issues of scouring at the base of WT
6 foundations are focusing attention on the development of technical measures to enhance the
7 opportunity to turn biodiversity poor, soft bottoms into species rich ecosystems.
8
9 Offshore wind farms (OWF) may also serve as “areas of opportunity” for effective fisheries
10 management. Environmentally sound development of OWF and synergies with nature
11 protection seem to be feasible, for example, by prohibiting fishing activities and shipping
12 inside OWF areas so as to develop de facto marine reserves, (Lüdeke, 2018). The siting of
13 MREI can also contribute to marine biodiversity hotspots through the designation of
14 surrounding waters as sanctuaries, or “no take zones” for fishing. The increased deployment
15 of MRE arrays around the world provides a unique opportunity to achieve synergies between
16 objectives related to energy de-carbonization, while protecting biodiversity and striving to
17 protect fisheries as a source of food security for coastal communities. MREI, when sited
18 nearshore, also provide a natural barrier that may have positive or negative effects on the
19 shoreline dynamics of neighbouring coastal areas (Soukissian and others, 2017).
20
21 2.3.2. Potential adverse environmental impacts
22
23 Minimizing environmental impacts while ensuring energy generation at a competitive cost is
24 necessary for a successful MRE project. Environmental monitoring is essential for identifying
25 and quantifying the variability in the marine environment during the planning, construction,
26 operation and decommissioning of MREI. The magnitude and temporal extent of the
27 environmental impacts depends on the project size and scale, the location and the
28 implemented MRE technology. A practical way to systematize the environmental impacts of
29 MREI is to introduce the context of environmental stressors and receptors, bearing in mind
30 that the receptors of importance are marine animals, habitats and ecosystem processes.
31
32 There is now accumulated experience regarding the environmental effects of OWF. However,
33 the impacts of other MRE devices has not been studied in detail due to the scarcity of
34 operating WEC and tidal/current turbines (Copping and others, 2016). There are also some
35 undesired impacts of offshore solar farms on species dependent on solar radiation, including
36 corals, seagrass and kelp forests. For reviews regarding the environmental impacts of MREI,
37 see Bonar and others, 2015; Bray and others, 2016; Copping and others, 2016; ICES, 2019;
38 Willsteed and others, 2017.
39
40 The main effects of OWF are:
41
42 • Underwater noise generated during pile-driving operations masks the echolocation
43 sounds used by marine mammals for navigation, hunting and communication, while
44 also potentially impacting fish and mammal hearing. These problems can be
45 addressed through restrictions on the operation of WT, for example, during migration
46 of marine mammals or by noise mitigation measures (Koschinski and Lüdemann,
47 2013). In this respect, floating wind technology, that negates the need for piling,
48 compares favourably against bottom-fixed OWF foundations.
49 • The physical presence of OWF may change the hydrodynamic characteristics of the
50 area, affecting, inter alia, benthic habitats and sediment equilibrium, and pose a threat
714
1 to seabirds at individual and population levels (collisions, barrier effects and habitat
2 loss). Certain operational measures can contribute to decrease in bird fatalities during
3 the operation of OWF (Marques and others, 2014).
4 • The most important impacts of low frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) generated
5 by electricity transmission through underwater cables are due to the magnetic field
6 that persists for long distances, in contrast to the strength of the electric field that falls
7 rapidly with distance from the cable. The organisms that may be mostly affected are
8 those that have corresponding receptors for their orientation and navigation and
9 hunting purposes, such as elasmobranchs, marine mammals, crustaceans, etc. (Tricas
10 and Gill, 2011).
11 • Other stressors include chemicals that stem from preventive antifouling coatings or
12 from vessels and malfunctioning devices through leakage of chemical substances. The
13 range of the effects of chemicals into the marine environment depends on the toxicity
14 and quantity of the material.
15 • Regarding the decommissioning phase of an OWF, it is a contested topic and relevant
16 experience is sparse. There are significant anticipated environmental benefits of only
17 partially dismantling an OWF, since the remaining substructures enhance
18 biodiversity, provide reef habitats, and protect from bottom trawling (Topham and
19 others, 2019).
20
21 3. Socioeconomic benefits and impacts from MRE deployment
22
23 3.1. Socioeconomic benefits
24
25 MRE has the potential to drive regional and local economic development by providing access
26 to reliable energy in coastal areas and in non-interconnected islands and island States (Kuang
27 and others, 2016). The presence of MRE in the energy mix can reduce vulnerability to energy
28 price and availability.
29
30 Creation of new jobs. MRE development can provide economic opportunities and jobs in
31 coastal areas (Hoegh-Guldberg and others, 2019). Ocean Energy Systems has set a global
32 target of 300 GW for MRE, excluding offshore wind, by 2050, which could save up to 5.2
33 billion tons of carbon dioxide by that year and create 680,000 direct jobs (Huckerby and
34 others, 2016).
35
36 In 2018, onshore and offshore wind energy sectors employed 1.16 million people, with an
37 estimated 510,000 jobs in China (REN21, 2019). The offshore wind sector received 25.7
38 billion United States dollars in investments globally of which China received the most, with
39 investments amounting to 11.4 billion dollars compared to 3.3 billion dollars for European
40 projects. OWF require more labour inputs than onshore WF and are helping to revitalize
41 coastal communities (IRENA, 2019b), since a wide variety of professionals are engaged in
42 OWF development, installation and operation phases.
715
1 Synergies with other marine sectors. Aquaculture and MRE could be synergetic sectors.
2 Aquaculture sites are mainly located in areas of low wave and wind resources and, therefore,
3 it is unlikely that an MREI would be deployed in the same area. Multifunctional co-location
4 of these two sectors can be facilitated through marine spatial planning and through technical
5 advances in the design of more robust fish cages, technological developments in automation,
6 advances in mooring systems and benefit sharing (where MRE arrays provide shelter to fish
7 farms).
8
9 The oil and gas industry experience could also provide valuable lessons to the MRE industry,
10 in particular in the deployment of offshore platforms and transmission of energy to land-
11 based facilities. Moreover, abandoned oil and gas platforms may be converted into
12 production and storage units converting electricity from OWF into hydrogen and synthetic
13 gas (Jepma and van Schot, 2016). Synergies may also arise between the MRE sector and
14 other marine industries, such as transport and operations, supply and manufacture, new
15 materials and mining (Huckerby and others, 2016).
16
17 3.2. Potential adverse socioeconomic impacts
18
19 MRE, as a new economic sector, has considerable challenges to face. Apart from the higher
20 economic cost of MREI compared with land-based installations and the current efforts made
21 to be more cost-competitive, social acceptance and public rights are also crucial issues to
22 address. MREI may meet strong opposition from other maritime sectors and local coastal
23 communities that may be reluctant to share marine space (Dalton and others, 2015; Lange
24 and others, 2018). Important issues resulting from the interactions of fisheries and OWF are
25 related to loss of fishing grounds and displacement, gear damage, inadequate compensation
26 schemes and the need for a more dynamic engagement of fishers into planning processes
27 (Gray and others, 2016). MREI may also be a cause for concern for the coastal tourism sector
28 due to potential visual disturbance. Studies conducted on French Mediterranean coasts, in
29 North Wales (United Kingdom) and in New Zealand revealed opposition of coastal
30 communities to OWF and wave energy installations, especially in places with high scenic
31 beauty (Brownlee and others, 2015; Westerberg and others, 2013; Devine-Wright and Howes,
32 2010). Potential conflicts may also arise when MREI are close to existing maritime transport
33 routes with concerns regarding safe navigation and the operation of marine vessels.
34
35 Overall, potential environmental and socioeconomic risks underline the importance of
36 extensive stakeholder engagement, robust environmental impact assessment and risk analysis
37 before planning and siting MRE projects. Moreover, steps should be taken to gain the
38 continuous support of other sectors and ensure development of effective marine spatial
39 planning (see Chapter 29 of the present Assessment).
40
42
43 Transmission planning and siting. Transmission infrastructure is an essential component of
44 any MRE project, since it enables transmission of electricity from the generation site to a
45 land-based substation. With regard to OWF, in particular, transmission planning and siting
46 entails the following:
47
48 • An inter-array cable system that collects electricity from WT and connects to an
49 offshore substation.
50 • An offshore substation that converts medium voltage electricity from WT to high
716
1 voltage for transmission to an onshore substation using a submarine transmission

2 cable.
3 • An onshore substation that provides interconnection to the regional electrical grid.
4
5 The siting of inter-array transmission cables depends on the arrangement of WT. Generally, a
6 radial design is used with 22-33 kV infield cables feeding a single or two offshore
7 substations. The cables from the substation to the shore are usually rated at 133-155 kV to
8 minimize transmission losses (Baring-Gould, 2014). Other transmission layout options also
9 exist depending on the project size, location and distance from shore.
10
11 As projects increase in size, with higher installed capacity and sited further offshore, high
12 voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission is an alternative to high voltage alternating
13 current (HVAC) to lower transmission losses over long distances. The high voltage
14 transmission cable can have a range of social and environmental impacts (Taormina and
15 others, 2018). To date, HVAC remains the preferred option for transmitting electricity to
16 shore.
17
18 For off-grid areas, remote communities and dispersed inhabited islands, scalable, local MRE
19 options may offer a solution to their current and future power needs (Greenhill and others,
20 2016; Rusu and Onea, 2019).
21
22 Energy storage. Accurate short-term forecasting and energy storage are two important issues
23 related to intermittent electricity generation and stochastic fluctuation, respectively. Current
24 technologies that may be used for energy storage consist of electrochemical systems
25 (including batteries and fuel cells/hydrogen energy storage), electrical storage (including
26 super capacitor energy storage and magnetic systems), mechanical systems (including
27 flywheel, water pumps and air compressors) and thermal systems (Olabi, 2017; Ould
28 Amrouche and others, 2016). Pumped hydroelectric energy storage is both the most mature
29 and largest scale technology. For innovative designs of MRE storage technologies, see Wang
30 and others, 2019.
31
32 Environmental monitoring and mitigation measures. Environmental monitoring should be
33 implemented from the design to the decommissioning phase of MRE projects and cover
34 mainly living marine organisms and metocean characteristics.
35
36 Monitoring of biotic elements is necessary to confirm that the relevant activities will not have
37 an adverse impact on biodiversity. Detecting impacts promptly contributes to the
38 development of a mitigation plan from pre-construction to post-installation phases.266 It is
39 also necessary to set thresholds and determine any change (in abundance, diversity,
40 distribution and behaviour) and readjust management actions (Foley and others, 2015). The
41 different MRE technologies used and the stressors in the marine environment should be taken
42 into consideration when designing the monitoring procedures. The use of predictive models
43 can be a supplementary tool, combined with in situ observations.
44
45 Metocean characteristics comprise oceanographic data (sea wave and current characteristics,
46 tides, etc.) and meteorological parameters (wind speed and direction, air temperature, etc.).
47 Metocean data may be obtained from in situ measurements, outputs from numerical models
266
Available, for example, at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-04-30/pdf/2019-08666.pdf.
717
1 and remote sensing measurements. Long-term metocean data are required for the preliminary
2 estimation of the available MRE resource and the extremes expected to occur during the
3 operational life of the MREI, etc. Short- (up to 3 days) and medium-term (3–7 days)
4 forecasting of metocean conditions is also important for operational planning activities.
5 During the operation phase, short-term forecasts of the expected MRE farm power production
6 are required for reliable large-scale power integration. The forecasting techniques include
7 probabilistic methods, numeric weather prediction models and artificial neural network and
8 hybrid techniques.
9
10 Strategic considerations for developing MRE, including funding. There are a number of
11 objectives when developing national energy strategies, including economic growth,
12 improvement of environmental quality and enhanced national energy security. Besides the
13 evident promise of MRE, climate change mitigation objectives may be met provided that
14 some critical factors are addressed, such as: reducing the cost of MRE and integrating MRE
15 into electric power systems; leveraging a diversity of MRE sources and determining their
16 geographic distribution; reducing barriers, including siting conflicts and permitting; and
17 attracting investment with sound policies, stability, fair and equivalent subsidization and
18 recognition of total carbon cost, all with a view to enabling social acceptance.
19
20 Τhe sixth World Conservation Congress of the International Union for Conservation of
21 Nature asked States and competent authorities to implement a strategy for development of
22 MRE that takes into account environmental issues, and to subject this strategy to rigorous
23 strategic environmental assessment (IUCN, 2016). This commitment is in line with SDG 7
24 which, inter alia, calls upon all States to enhance international cooperation to facilitate access
25 to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and
26 advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure
27 and clean energy technology.250 In line with this, in 2018, renewables contributed to almost
28 two-thirds of all new power generation capacity added globally. Specifically, leading the
29 way, were the Oceania grouping of Pacific nations with 17.7 per cent, Asia with 11.4 per cent
30 and Africa with 8.4 per cent increases in renewable capacity growth.
31
32 The full development of MRE can enhance the diversity of low-carbon energy options and
33 provide viable alternatives to fossil fuel. Traditional commercial funding sources are often
34 insufficient to achieve this goal, so innovative strategies are required. Private-public
35 partnerships are considered critical for the launch of MRE. For example, the European
36 Commission initiated the Ocean Energy Forum, bringing together industry, finance, academia
37 and public authorities to identify practical solutions and make investment more attractive. By
38 looking at the opportunities and benefits of MRE exploitation, in 2014, the Commission
39 identified and assessed European Union policy options available to support the growth of
40 Europe’s ocean energy sector (European Commission, 2014a, b). In the United States of
41 America, the Business Network for Offshore Wind has also worked to promote the offshore
42 wind industry.267
43
44 The importance of public sector support is not confined to the funding of the early stages of
45 development of new technologies. The creation of a favourable private investment
46 environment through financial and fiscal incentives, renewable portfolio standards, offsets or
47 feed-in tariffs has proved equally, if not more, important. Investment in new technologies is
267
Available at https://www.offshorewindus.org/about-us/.
718
1 generally limited to States with the financial means to accept the risks associated with
2 technologies that are not commercially viable. However, developing countries could invest in
3 MRE energies that are more mature.
4
5 5. Anticipated future trends
6
7 Considerable progress has been made towards exploiting MRE. However, except for the
8 offshore wind sector, the industry is still in the early stages of development. Wave and tidal
9 energies are not yet commercially viable so the immediate target is to encourage more
10 offshore deployments either of single prototypes and/or small-scale arrays. Such
11 deployments, if successful, will build confidence in the sector and encourage the private
12 investment required to develop large-scale wave and tidal energy farms. In parallel,
13 technological advances are required to improve power take-off performance and reliability
14 along with control systems to maximize power absorption. The survivability, reliability and
15 cost reduction potential of wave and tidal technologies equate to a significant investment risk.
16
17 In Europe, the Strategic Energy Technology Plan has set ambitious targets for a levelized cost
18 of electricity (LCoE)268 reduction for offshore wind, wave and tidal energy (EC Directorate-
19 General for Energy and others, 2018). The goal for offshore wind energy is to reduce LCoE
20 to a no-subsidies point for fixed offshore wind and, for floating offshore wind, to less than
21 120 €/MWh by 2025, while the corresponding targets for wave and tidal energy are 200
22 €/MWh and 150 €/MWh, respectively. Worldwide support of national governments would
23 allow the industry to develop the critical mass that would in turn generate large cost
24 reductions. Co-location of wave farms in areas where OWF already operate is expected to
25 decrease the LCoE for wave energy (Rusu and Onea, 2019). The corresponding LCoE
26 projection for salinity gradient is 80 €/MWh and 150-200 €/MWh for OTEC (Ocean Energy
27 Europe, 2016).
28
29 A recent trend in relation to achieving more open sea deployments of wave and tidal/ocean
30 current devices has been to not initially target the large utility/electricity market which is very
31 competitive and requires large devices, but to focus on niche markets such as remote coastal
32 and island communities, desalination, etc., where there can be significant opportunities. In
33 these applications, wave and tidal energy can be competitive against diesel generators. The
34 wave or tidal energy devices in most cases would be smaller in size so would not require a
35 high capital outlay. Working towards utility scale by incrementally scaling up devices and
36 array size may provide the pathway to commercialization for wave and tidal energy.
37
38 The offshore wind sector is expected to expand globally (also covering marine areas where
39 there is no presence at a commercial level, such as the Mediterranean Sea, for example). It is
40 also very likely that, in the next decade, Asia and the United States of America will make
41 significant progress and that the nascent markets will accelerate offshore wind growth. The
42 use of floating platforms is a step change for the industry. While floating wind is on the cusp
43 of commercial deployment, there are new technologies with potential for offshore
44 deployment at earlier stages of development. For example, multi-turbine platforms may offer
45 an alternative future development route for offshore wind rather than continually increasing
268
The Levelized Cost of Electricity is the present value of the average minimum price of the produced
electrical energy in order to offset the total costs of its production (construction, operation and maintenance, and
fuel costs). LCoE is levelized over the lifetime of a generating plant.
719
1 the size of turbines, which can present manufacturing and installation challenges. High
2 altitude wind concepts such as autonomous kites or unpiloted aircraft, and hybrid platforms
3 that can combine different technology types, such as wind, wave and tidal, on a single
4 platform are also moving along the development process.
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Chapter 23
Developments in Marine Transportation
Industries”).
***
725
Chapter 24
Developments in Tourism and Recreation Activities
Industries”).
***
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Chapter 25
Invasive Species
Convenor: Thomas W. Therriault; Contributors: Marnie L. Campbell, Alan Deidun, Bella S.
Galil, Chad L. Hewitt, Graeme Inglis, Henn Ojaveer, Bing Qiao, Renison Ruwa, Evangelina
Schwindt
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Globally, about 2,000 marine non-indigenous species (NIS) have been introduced to
4 new locations via human-mediated movements. A few of these have economic value,
5 but most have had negative ecological, socioeconomic or human health impacts, with
6 increased trade and climate change, biological invasions will likely increase.
7 • NIS can pose significant biosecurity and biodiversity hazards. Large-scale NIS
8 surveys with broad taxonomic coverage are lacking, as are studies documenting the
9 range of potential impacts in recipient environments.
10 • Major invasion vectors (i.e. ballast water, biofouling, aquaculture, trade in live
11 organisms, canals) lack characterization and understanding at global and many
12 regional levels and, with the exception of ballast water/sediment management,
13 regulation is lacking. The multi-vector nature of both NIS introduction and spread
14 requires comprehensive and integrated legal instruments with robust enforcement to
15 mitigate the movement of species.
16 • Better tools are urgently needed to assess the potential risks of NIS under changing
17 environmental conditions and to identify the native species and ecosystems most at
18 risk. This is especially true for species with no previously documented invasion
19 history.
20
21 1. Introduction
22
23 Invasion by non-indigenous species (NIS) is a major driver of biodiversity change that can
24 reduce biodiversity, alter community structure and function, diminish fisheries and
25 aquaculture production and impact human health and well-being, and is exacerbated by
26 climate change and other human-induced disturbances (Bax and others, 2003; MEA, 2005;
27 Ojaveer and others, 2018). NIS are those species that have overcome a natural dispersal
28 barrier to become established in a new biogeographical area outside their native range due to
29 human-mediated activities, either intentionally or unintentionally (Carlton, 1999). These
30 species can then spread either naturally or via additional human-mediated activities in the
31 newly invaded area via a wide range of invasion vectors (i.e. the physical means by which
32 individuals are moved: biofouling, aquaculture, trade in live organisms, canals) (Carlton and
33 Ruiz, 2005; Richardson and others, 2011). Invasion pathways represent a combination of
34 processes and opportunities that allow individuals to be moved from a source location to a
35 recipient (non-native) one and include elements of the invasion vector (and has been used
36 interchangeably with invasion vector) (Carlton and Ruiz, 2005; Richardson and others, 2011).
37 Species that undergo distributional changes due to ecosystem regime shifts or climate change
38 in their native range are not considered NIS and neither are cryptogenic species - species
39 whose native range is unknown (Carlton, 1996). A subset of all NIS poses significant
40 biological, economic or human health impacts and these are often identified as “invasive
41 alien species” (Williamson, 1996; UNEP, 2002). Given that it is often impossible to predict
727
1 which NIS will become invasive in which area and under which circumstance, we take the
2 precautionary approach in the present Chapter and refer to all NIS from marine and estuarine
3 systems.
4
5 NIS are both drivers of change in invaded ecosystems and are influenced by the ecosystems
6 they are invading and the human-mediated activities that allow them to be moved from their
7 native range. Also, there is increased recognition that NIS are a critical component of
8 multiple stressors, especially in coastal marine habitats (see Chapter 4 of the present
9 Assessment) and that developments in the global economy and improved transportation are
10 contributing to the spread of NIS (MEA, 2005). NIS have been shown to benefit from already
11 stressed or degraded habitats due to other human impacts on marine ecosystems such as
12 overfishing, eutrophication, ocean acidification and habitat alteration (Crooks and others,
13 2011). Thus, changes in native biodiversity, productivity (including fisheries), harmful algal
14 blooms, and ecosystem structure and function (Chapters 6, 7, 10 and 15) can all directly
15 affect marine invasion success. Also, expected increases in artificial habitats (Chapter 14)
16 that allow fouling species to establish in otherwise unsuitable environments may facilitate
17 NIS introductions and spread, while NIS also benefit from being redistributed by human-
18 mediated activities such as marine transportation/shipping, aquaculture-mediated
19 movements/stocking, canals and diversions and marine debris/litter, especially plastics which
20 do not degrade rapidly and thus can persist as a transport vector for a considerable time
21 (Chapters 16 and 23)(Ruiz and others, 1997; Carlton and others, 2017; Galil and others,
22 2018; Therriault and others, 2018).
23
24 NIS have the potential directly or indirectly to affect the biota and ecosystems that support
25 healthy and productive human communities. Although in some cases, NIS have been
26 exploited following either unintentional introduction or escape to the wild from intentional
27 introduction events (e.g. the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, the Red Sea prawn Penaeus
28 pulchricaudatus, the blue swimming crab Portunus segnis and the Manila clam Ruditapes
29 philippinarum), the longer-term impacts tend to be negative, with reduced native diversity.
30 Impacts also extend to coastal communities directly or indirectly by reducing the overall
31 productivity and resilience of marine systems that traditionally support sustainable fisheries
32 or aquaculture (Naylor and others, 2001; Molnar and others, 2008).
33
34 To improve our understanding of invasions at the global scale, there is a need for validated,
35 detailed georeferenced inventories of NIS accessible in searchable databases that can be used
36 to better understand the distribution of NIS and the potential mechanisms of their
37 redistribution. Currently, there are many locations around the world where there is limited,
38 incomplete or even no understanding of NIS, including when they first arrived (or were
39 found), or what the likely introduction vector(s) were. Although there have been
40 advancements in biodiversity assessments (Costello and others, 2010; Narayanaswamy and
41 others, 2013), especially with advances in molecular techniques (Darling and others, 2017),
42 there remain critical gaps with respect to NIS. Specifically, not only does the taxonomy need
43 to be fully resolved for each species, especially where NIS and sibling native species overlap,
44 but an understanding of the native range of these species is also required. Similarly, there is a
45 need for improved geospatial and temporal understanding of invasion vectors and pathways.
46 Although some regional studies exist for ballast water, in general there is limited information
47 on NIS transported via many invasion vectors. Also, there is an incomplete understanding of
48 important invasion pathways such as their characteristics, routes, frequency, and intensity.
49 Collectively, such information is essential to inform NIS policy and management.
50
728
1 2. Documented baseline and changes in NIS

2
3 Since there was no formal assessment of status and trends of NIS in the First World Ocean
4 Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017), it is not possible to evaluate changes relative to
5 that baseline period. However, there are multiple lines of evidence confirming that NIS
6 continue to be redistributed globally with new introductions reported from new locations as
7 management and control is generally lacking. Globally, the International Convention for the
8 Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004, 269 came into force in
9 September 2017 (IMO, 2019) but the degree to which it has been implemented globally or its
10 effectiveness at reducing marine invasions regionally is not clear. Similarly, some States have
11 implemented the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Code of Practice
12 on the Introductions and Transfer of Marine Organisms (ICES, 2005) to reduce the threat of
13 NIS when intentionally introduced to new areas for culture, but invasions have still occurred.
14 Recognizing the growing importance of hull fouling as a vector, ICES has recommended four
15 actions to evaluate and mitigate biofouling introductions (ICES, 2019) but there are many
16 invasion vectors that are not currently globally regulated (see below).
17
18 Available information on NIS globally is quite variable spatially, temporally, and
19 taxonomically. There are many locations around the globe where NIS are not routinely
20 surveyed or monitored. There are also strong biases in the breadth and depth of taxonomic
21 coverage and expertise. There is better information on larger, more conspicuous species (i.e.,
22 fishes, large crustaceans) but significantly less information on smaller, less conspicuous ones
23 (i.e., worms and other small invertebrates).
24
25 It is important to note that consequences of marine invasions can take considerable time to
26 manifest and are notoriously difficult to quantify. There are often time lags between when a
27 NIS is introduced to a new location and when the species is detected or impacts noted.
28 Further, important baseline data are often not available pre-invasion. Thus, it is difficult to
29 attribute observed ecosystem changes to NIS specifically, especially when so many other
30 external stressors are affecting marine ecosystems. However, by establishing global or
31 regional baselines such as the present Assessment, it will be possible to better understand
32 both the changes in NIS over space and time and their impacts on ecosystems and human
33 well-being. Thus, we provide the first region-specific analysis of baseline status and trends
34 for multiple taxonomic groups (see section 4 below).
35
36 3. Consequences for human communities, economies and well-being
37
38 NIS have the potential to interact directly or indirectly with many Sustainable Development
39 Goals (SDGs)270 beyond SDG 14 (Life Below Water) (see ICSU and others, 2017). The
40 achievement of SDG 1 (No Poverty) may be reduced by the continued spread of NIS that
41 negatively impact fisheries and aquaculture directly or indirectly by altering ecosystem
42 structure and function. This could be especially true for Small Island Developing States
43 (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) where NIS regulations, policy, and
44 monitoring/early detection and rapid response plans are lacking. Similarly, NIS could also
45 compromise the achievement of SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) by compromising seafood safety and
46 security via the same mechanisms. In many cases, NIS can be considered a biological
269
International Maritime Organization, document BWM/CONF/36, annex.
270
729
1 contaminant, especially those that have the potential for human health impacts. Thus, the
2 continued global spread of NIS, especially human pathogens such as vibrio cholera, is also
3 implicated in the achievement of SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being). Some NIS have the
4 potential to dramatically alter marine coastal environments and communities and as such they
5 could negatively influence the achievement of SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation). There is
6 growing evidence that many biofouling marine NIS are able to exploit anthropogenic
7 structures, including docks, oil platforms, wind farms, and so forth. As growing energy
8 demands result in the development of coastal and offshore infrastructure, NIS could be
9 implicated in the achievement of SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy). Sustainable growth
10 in fisheries and aquaculture could be compromised in areas where NIS continue to spread
11 unmanaged. As such, NIS also have the potential to compromise the achievement of SDG 8
12 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
13
14 Good ocean governance (SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) could play an
15 important role in improving our understanding of marine NIS and their impacts globally. This
16 could include the development of a reporting framework or database that would allow the
17 ever-changing distributions of NIS to be documented such that informed management or
18 policy development in areas beyond national jurisdictions could occur. Further, there are
19 many marine ecosystems where even basic information on NIS is lacking (see sections 2 and
20 4 below). Thus, global partnerships and capacity building may be possible under SDG 17
21 (Partnerships for the Goals). Also, if progress is slow on achieving the SDGs, then the spread
22 and impacts of NIS could be exacerbated. For example, without progress on SDG 13
23 (Climate Action), the few marine ecosystems that currently have a limited number of NIS
24 such as the Arctic and Southern Ocean (see section 4 below) will likely see invasions proceed
25 at a much faster rate as these environments become more suitable to a wide variety of taxa
26 and abiotic and biotic barriers to invasion are degraded or removed.
27
28 NIS are also implicated in other global policy documents, especially those pertaining to
29 biodiversity given the negative relationship between the two. For example, the Convention on
30 Biological Diversity (CBD)271 recognizes the threat of NIS and article 8(h) of the Convention
31 states that, each contracting party shall, as far as possible and as appropriate, “prevent the
32 introduction of, control or eradicate those alien species which threaten ecosystems, habitats or
33 species”. Also, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and
34 Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has recognized the negative impacts of NIS around the world
35 and has started a process for the assessment of invasive alien species.
36
37 Some NIS have the potential to impair human health and well-being. For example, introduced
38 Vibrio bacteria and harmful algal species (dinoflagellates, diatoms and cyanobacteria) that
39 create toxins can negatively impact marine biota and human consumers, and are expected to
40 worsen as they benefit from climate change (Ruiz and others, 2000; Paerl and Huisman,
41 2009). In the highly invaded Mediterranean Sea, nine venomous/poisonous NIS from the
42 Indian Ocean or the Indo-west Pacific Ocean pose human health risks (Galil, 2018). In the
43 western Atlantic and Caribbean Sea, the Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans) produces a toxin
44 that is poisonous to humans although it rarely results in death. However, only fragmentary
45 information is available concerning the spatial and temporal trends of these human health
46 impacts as under-diagnosis and under-reporting hampers quantitative assessment of global
271
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1 incidence of medically treated health impacts, and ignorance of the extent, severity and trends
2 of these emerging public health risks may prejudice risk analyses.
3
4 Some NIS have provided economic benefits, whether introduced intentionally or not, but this
5 often represents a trade-off with ecological consequences. For example, the Pacific oyster has
6 been introduced to coastal environments around the world, including in North America,
7 South America, Africa, Australia and Europe, resulting in economic opportunities with global
8 production in excess of 4 million tonnes (Shatkin, 1997; FAO, 2019). However, in many
9 locations this species has spread beyond culture locations and in some areas has negatively
10 impacted both native biodiversity and ecosystem functioning as well as human well-being
11 (Molnar and others, 2008; Herbert and others, 2016). Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) also has
12 been used to create economic opportunities in countries around the world but large-scale
13 escape events can result in negative ecological and socioeconomic impacts (Naylor and
14 others, 2001). In the Barents Sea, red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) was introduced
15 intentionally for fisheries but has rapidly spread to adjacent waters and increased in
16 abundance, thus creating conflicts among different user groups and negatively impacting
17 biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, especially in coastal fjords (Falk-Peterson and
18 others, 2011). Also, Schlaepfer and others (2011) suggest some NIS may provide ecological
19 or conservation benefits but predicting these is often complex and context dependant.
20
21 4. Key region-specific baselines, changes and consequences
22
23 4.1. Arctic Ocean
24
25 Although basin-wide assessments of biodiversity and NIS in the Arctic Ocean are lacking,
26 there appears to be relatively few invaders presently (Molnar and others, 2008; Chan and
27 others, 2013). However, with rapid environmental changes, including increased temperatures
28 and reduced sea ice, these waters could be suitable for a number of potential invaders in the
29 future (Ware and others, 2016; Goldsmit and others, 2018). Further, these environmental
30 changes could lead to changes in human-mediated invasion vectors in the Arctic Ocean,
31 especially marine transport that could result in increased propagule pressure in the future
32 (Miller and Ruiz, 2014).
33
34 4.2. North Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean and North
35 Sea
36
37 The Mediterranean Sea has a long history of invasions - 22 NIS had been recorded before
38 1900 (Galil, 2012). By the early 2000s, country level NIS inventories were initiated and, as of
39 2011, there is a total of 787 NIS listed in European Union marine waters (Macaronesia
40 included), with the highest number (242 NIS) reported in the western Mediterranean Sea
41 (Tsiamis and others, 2019; see Gómez, 2019, regarding 52 microalgal species) but omission
42 of data from the eastern and southern Mediterranean Sea induced a major bias since the
43 number of NIS is substantially greater in the eastern than in the western Mediterranean Sea
44 (over 400 NIS recorded along the coast of Israel alone). There are 727 metazoan NIS in the
45 entire Mediterranean Sea, and the number is rapidly increasing (Galil and others, 2018)
46 (Figure 1) while, as of 2018, 173 NIS and cryptogenic species have been reported in the
47 Black Sea. Despite the growing awareness of the role of the Suez Canal in Mediterranean Sea
48 invasions, the “New Suez Canal” project was initiated in 2014 to substantially increase the
49 depth and width of the canal, but measures to mitigate probable NIS propagule increases have
731
1 yet to be considered (Galil and others, 2017). Thus, the main invasion vectors for the
2 Mediterranean Sea in descending order include: the introduction of Red Sea biota via the
3 Suez Canal; shipping (commercial and recreational); mariculture; and the aquarium trade.
4 Although the latter vectors contribute fewer NIS, some have had disproportionate impacts,
5 including the green alga (Caulerpa taxifolia) introduced with aquarium spill-over (Meinesz
6 and Hesse, 1991) and the brown alga (Fucus spiralis) introduced in the packaging of fishing
7 bait (Sancholle, 1988).
8 Figure 1: Changes in non-indigenous species reports over time for the Mediterranean Sea. Red indicates species
9 introduced via the Suez Canal and blue represents species introduced by other vectors (A. Marchini and B.
10 Galil).
11
12 Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the apparent annual introduction rate to the
13 Baltic Sea has been almost two times higher: 3.2 and 1.4 species per year, respectively,
14 between 1950 and 1999 (ICES 2018). Both ballast water and hull fouling are the main vectors
15 for primary introductions, followed by natural spread of NIS introduced via rivers and the
16 North Sea. Most of the NIS in the Baltic Sea originate from North America, the Ponto-
17 Caspian region and East Asia but, more recently, introductions of subtropical NIS have been
18 increasing such that 174 NIS and cryptogenic species have been recorded from the Baltic Sea
19 (AquaNIS, 2019; Ojaveer and others, 2017; ICES, 2018). However, there remains
20 considerable uncertainty about the direction and magnitude of impacts for even the most
21 widespread NIS on the structure and dynamics of the Baltic Sea ecosystems (Ojaveer and
22 Kotta, 2015).
23
24 Reported NIS include: at least 80 from the North Sea (Reise and others, 2002); 90 from
25 waters around United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Minchin and others,
26 2013); 104 from French Atlantic waters (Goulletquer and others, 2002); and more than 100
27 from the English Channel (Dauvin and others, 2019). These lists largely overlap. For policy
28 and management, validated regional integrations are required.
732

2
3 Records of NIS in this region are incomplete both spatially and temporally. The earliest
4 historical compilations are from South Africa, where 12 NIS were reported in the early
5 1990s, including two global invaders, the European green crab (Carcinus maenas) and the
6 blue (Gallo) mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) (Griffiths and others, 1992). Mead and others
7 (2011) reassessed NIS occurrences in the region and identified 86 NIS, and singled out
8 ballast water and ship fouling as the main vectors. Apart from South Africa, most of the
9 South-East Atlantic coast remains unexplored regarding NIS, although a recent study from
10 Angola reported 29 NIS (Barros Pestana and others, 2017). For the South-West Atlantic, the
11 earliest compilations were for Argentina and Uruguay, and identified 31 NIS, including one
12 intentionally introduced species (Crassostrea gigas) (Orensanz and others, 2002). A recent
13 reassessment for this region identified more than 120 NIS from diverse taxonomic groups
14 (from viruses to plants and fishes), including 33 new detections since 2002 (Schwindt and
15 others, in press) and, as in the case of South Africa, ships were the main vector for species
16 introductions. The most recent surveys from Brazil have identified 73 NIS (Lopes, 2009;
17 Rocha and others, 2013), along an extensive coastline with a long history of shipping, which
18 suggests that this number could be underestimating true NIS richness. A data gap exists for
19 the North Atlantic coast of South America (from French Guiana to Guyana) where there has
20 been little attention to NIS (Schwindt and Bortolus, 2017) and no extensive compilations are
21 available for the Wider Caribbean region, although smaller-scale information is available for
22 Venezuela (Pérez and others, 2007- 22 NIS) and Colombia (Gracia and others, 2011- 16
23 NIS). The lionfish (Pterois volitans) is one of the most problematic and studied NIS in the
24 Caribbean region, and is now present in Brazil (Ferreira and others, 2015) and has the
25 potential to disperse to Uruguay.
26
28 and Persian Gulf
29
30 Regional records of NIS are incomplete both spatially and temporally. Despite its size and
31 diversity, Indian Ocean studies on marine NIS are scarce, mostly qualitative and
32 geographically scattered, resulting in significant knowledge gaps for this large and diverse
33 area (Indian Ocean Commission, 2016). For example, the Philippine-derived red algae
34 Eucheuma denticulatum and Kappaphycus alvarezii were introduced for mariculture along
35 the east African coastline (Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique) which resulted in deleterious
36 impacts (Bergman and others, 2001; Halling and others, 2013). K. alvarezii was also
37 introduced along the western Indian coast and has spread into the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere
38 Reserve in India, where it has impacted native corals (Chandrasekaran and others, 2008). As
39 elsewhere, intentional introductions have been attributed to mariculture activities to address
40 food security and the aquarium trade for economic benefits, while unintentional introductions
41 are mostly due to maritime shipping activities or transport on floating objects (Indian Ocean
42 Commission, 2016; Anil and others 2003).
43
45
46 This Ocean is large and biogeographically diverse but, as with the other regions, NIS
47 reporting is incomplete. However, like the Mediterranean Sea, as of 2012 there have been at
48 least 747 NIS reported from 23 ecoregions studied (including Hawaii and Northern Central
49 Indo-Pacific), with more than 70 per cent of these belonging to four phyla - Arthropoda
733
1 (224); Chordata (Tunicata + Fish) (114); Mollusca (110); and Annelida (89) (Lee II and
2 Reusser, 2012; Kestrup and others, 2015). Of these NIS, 32 per cent were native elsewhere in
3 the North Pacific Ocean, 48 per cent were native to regions outside the North Pacific Ocean,
4 and 20 per cent were cryptogenic (Lee II and Reusser, 2012; Kestrup and others, 2015). The
5 Northeast Pacific (368 NIS) and Hawaii (347 NIS) had similar numbers of invaders, while
6 lower numbers were observed for the Northwest Pacific (208) and the Northern Central Indo-
7 Pacific (75), possibly owing to different levels of sampling effort. Further, it is important to
8 note that there are at least 27 additional ecoregions in the North Pacific Ocean, predominately
9 in Southeast Asia (Spalding and others, 2007) where there is no systematic survey effort, so
10 the number of NIS is expected to be higher for the entire Ocean. It is important to note that
11 there have been some more in-depth studies at smaller spatial scales and/or focused on
12 specific taxonomic groups. For example, there are at least six planktonic and 10 algal NIS in
13 the Bohai Sea and port locations in China (Qiao, 2019) compared with recorded baseline
14 observations (Liu, 2008; Wang and Li, 2006), while San Francisco Bay has more than 234
15 NIS (Cohen and Carlton, 1998).
16
17 As for other regions, ballast water discharges, hull fouling, intentional stocking, aquaculture
18 escapees, aquaculture-associated species, and aquarium/plant trade were all important vectors
19 for the North Pacific. Intentional stocking and aquaculture escapees were more prominent in
20 the Northwest Pacific compared to the Northeast Pacific or Hawaii, likely reflective of large-
21 scale aquaculture efforts in Asia. Another difference between the Northeast and Northwest
22 Pacific was the importance of aquaculture-associated species in the Northeast Pacific (about
23 42 per cent of NIS), likely reflective of the large number of NIS introduced via importation of
24 Atlantic oyster (Crassostrea virginica) from the Atlantic coast of North America and Pacific
25 oyster from Asia which resulted in many hitchhikers becoming established outside their
26 native range. Increased regulation in recent decades has been effective in reducing the
27 number of inadvertent NIS movements related to aquaculture.
28
30
31 There have been no synthetic assessments of the status of marine bioinvasions across this
32 geographically, culturally and ecologically diverse area. Most existing information comes
33 from literature and field studies undertaken since the late 1990s in Australia, New Zealand
34 and Chile. A literature review combined with NIS surveys in 41 Australian shipping ports
35 between 1995 and 2004 identified132 NIS from throughout Australia (Sliwa and others,
36 2009), with 100 NIS detected in Port Phillip Bay alone (Hewitt and others, 2004). There were
37 more NIS in southern temperate Australia than in tropical northern Australia (Hewitt, 2002)
38 but these patterns are confounded by poorer taxonomic resolution in the tropical
39 environments and by the larger urban centres and longer history of shipping in southern
40 Australia (Hewitt and Campbell, 2010). Forty-three similar baseline surveys were conducted
41 in New Zealand between 2001 and 2007 (Seaward and others, 2015) and, when combined
42 with published records, museum holdings and submissions to the Marine Invasives
43 Taxonomic Service (Cranfield and others, 1998; Kospartov and others, 2010), as of March
44 2018, 377 NIS have been recorded from New Zealand marine waters (214 are considered to
45 have established in recipient systems, while the remaining 163 species have been recorded
46 only from vessels or transient structures or were failed introductions). Forty-six new NIS
47 were recorded between 2010 and 2018, only 15 of which appear to have established (Seaward
48 and Inglis, 2018).
734
1 At least 53 marine NIS have been reported from Chile (1 seagrass, 15 algae, 26 invertebrates
2 and 11 fishes) (Castilla and Neill, 2009; Turon and others, 2016). However, this is likely an
3 underestimate as there appear to have been few studies of biofouling assemblages in ports
4 and harbours where introduced species tend to be more abundant. For example, 53 NIS
5 marine invertebrates were recently reported from the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador (Carlton
6 and others, 2019) of which 30 species (57 per cent) were first recorded in fouling plate and
7 shoreline surveys undertaken around shipping docks and infrastructure.
8
9 There is limited information about the distribution and impact of NIS in the Pacific Island
10 Countries and Territories (PICTs) as relatively few systematic studies have been done in the
11 region. Surveys undertaken in American Samoa in 2002 identified 17 NIS, most of which
12 were restricted to Pago Pago Harbour and were species known to occur across a broad
13 geographic range (Coles and others, 2003). Forty NIS have been identified from Guam
14 (Paulay and others, 2002) and a preliminary survey of fouling assemblages in Malakal
15 Harbour, Palau, identified 11 NIS (Campbell and others, 2016), in each case comprising
16 mostly ascidians, bryozoans, hydroids and bivalve molluscs. Six NIS - 5 invertebrates and an
17 alga - have been recorded from the remote Palmyra Atoll (Knapp and others, 2011). Nuisance
18 blooms of fucoid algae, possibly spread by shipping have been reported in Tahiti (Stiger and
19 Payri, 1999) and Tuvalu (De Ramon N’Yeurt and Iese, 2013).
20
21 Over 80 per cent of known NIS in Australia and New Zealand have been associated with
22 incidental transport in ballast water or biofouling (Hewitt and Campbell, 2010; Kospartov
23 and others, 2010) while deliberate introductions of aquaculture species accounted for less
24 than 2 per cent of records. Introductions of aquaculture species have been more important in
25 Chile and Peru (Castilla and Neill, 2009) and the PICTs. At least 38 NIS have already been
26 transported deliberately throughout the PICTs over the past 50 years in attempts to establish
27 fisheries or small-scale aquaculture ventures (Eldredge, 1994). In the 1970s–80s, green
28 mussels (Perna viridis) sourced from the Philippines were successively introduced to New
29 Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Society Islands, Western Samoa and the Cook Islands (Baker and
30 others, 2007).
31
33
34 The Antarctic Circumpolar Current acts as a strong barrier to natural dispersal that has likely
35 contributed to the uniqueness of Southern Ocean communities. Further, the Southern Ocean
36 has limited shallow-water continental shelves and a poorly described fauna (Brandt and
37 others, 2007). Thus, it appears the most likely vectors for NIS to these waters would either be
38 direct human-mediated transport such as shipping, or indirectly via longer-distance rafting on
39 artificial marine debris (Lewis and others, 2003; Barnes and others, 2006; Hughes and
40 Ashton, 2017). In addition, any NIS that may reach these environments would face
41 challenging environmental conditions but, with increased rates of climate change, these
42 waters may be more prone to invasions in the future. Currently, only the North Atlantic
43 spider crab (Hyas araneus) appears to have been introduced by human activities to the
44 Southern Ocean (Tavares and de Melo, 2004) but it is likely this will change in the future.
45 Suggested future invaders include the blue mussel (Mytilus) (Lee and Chown, 2007), the
46 predatory sea star (Asterias amurensis) (Byrne and others, 2016) and the kelp (Undaria
47 pinnatifida) (James and others, 2015). Due to the relatively low biodiversity, simple
48 ecosystem structure and unique assemblages dominated by soft-bodied organisms, this
49 system may be especially vulnerable to NIS introductions, especially predatory species that
50 could result in significant impacts.
735
1 5. Outlook
2
3 NIS introductions continue as species are redistributed by human activities but there were
4 many regions where NIS information is either very poorly documented or lacking completely
5 such that temporal analyses were not possible. Further, climate change will add to other
6 drivers of ocean change - including water pollution and overfishing - to potentially enhance
7 NIS abundances, ranges and impacts by altering recipient ecosystems where native species
8 will be increasingly stressed and changing human-mediated connectivity by shifting vectors
9 and pathways. About 40 per cent of the world's population live in coastal communities,
10 increasing pressure on coastal marine ecosystems through multiple activities, including (but
11 not limited to) shipping, boating, marine farming, land-based pollution and marine litter,
12 coastal installations and development, energy production and multiple extraction activities
13 (oil/gas, sediments, fisheries/aquaculture), which contribute to the introduction and spread of
14 NIS. For regions like the Arctic, it has been predicted that changing environmental conditions
15 will increase the likelihood of new invaders from a variety of taxa (e.g., Goldsmit and others,
16 2018) and may also change shipping patterns, which could increase the supply of propagules
17 (Miller and Ruiz, 2014) where traffic is expected to increase along the Northern Sea Route
18 and become possible along the Northwest Passage.
19
20 Despite the risks posed by NIS, they are substantially underrepresented in existing databases
21 and registries such that many of the challenges inherent in dealing with NIS stem from a
22 limited/incomplete knowledge base. The magnitude and breadth of this gap is difficult to
23 assess, and it varies amongst taxa, habitats and regions, and owes much to the inaccessibility
24 of marine ecosystems (including higher costs of research, lack of expertise and lack of
25 interest in NIS that do not benefit or interfere with human needs).Generally, impacts are not
26 well documented unless the NIS is profitable or highly destructive. Thus, for the vast
27 majority of marine NIS, impacts remain unknown and have not been quantitatively or
28 experimentally studied over sufficiently long temporal and spatial scales, and their
29 cumulative and synergetic connections with other drivers of change affecting the marine
30 environment are unknown (Ojaveer and others, 2015).
31
32 Vector management is the most effective strategy for preventing translocation of species,
33 thereby reducing introduction and spread of marine NIS. Lack of effective control on
34 propagule transfer by the major vectors, as mentioned above, reduces management to
35 frequently futile eradication/removal and control efforts. NIS known or suspected to cause
36 harm, and identified while spatially confined, should be removed, thus mitigating long-term,
37 ongoing management costs. Once NIS have spread widely, eradication/removal is virtually
38 impossible, and attempts for long-term reduction of the population to an economically or
39 ecologically acceptable level are rarely successful (Forrest and Hopkins, 2013). Legislation,
40 regulations and policies to date have been reactive and fragmentary, often following
41 disastrous and costly NIS outbreaks. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the
42 Sea272 was the first global legally binding instrument dealing with the intentional or
43 unintentional introduction of marine species. While guidelines for preventing the introduction
44 of unwanted aquatic organisms and pathogens from ships’ ballast water and sediment
45 discharges were established in 1991, and the International Convention for the Control and
46 Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments269entered into force in 2017, the
47 management of ships’ biofouling is not yet required (IMO, 2019). Also the CBD-revised
272
Ibid., vol. 1833, No. 31363.
736
1 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020273 called for invasive alien species and pathways
2 to be identified and prioritized, for priority species to be controlled or eradicated, and for
3 measures to be taken to manage pathways by 2010 - a target that was missed. The European
4 Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive aims to ensure, among other things, that
5 NIS are at levels that do not adversely alter ecosystems by 2020 is also, more than likely,
6 unattainable. EU Regulation No.1143/2014, on the prevention and management of the
7 introduction and spread of invasive alien species, which focused only on widespread
8 established species and those of “Union Concern”, is unlikely to succeed in marine
9 ecosystems where only one marine species has been listed. Despite some national-level
10 regulations, including those in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States of
11 America, major global and regional introduction vectors such as biofouling, culture and trade
12 in live organisms, and maritime canals, all lack legally binding and strictly monitored NIS
13 frameworks and tools.
14
15 6. Other
16
17 Although NIS have long been recognized as a major threat to native biodiversity (Bax and
18 others, 2003), they have been largely overlooked in conservation/protected area planning,
19 regulations and management (Giakoumi and others, 2016; Mačić and others, 2018). This
20 omission, given global commitments to establishing and extending conservation areas (i.e.
21 Aichi Target 11,273 CBD article 8 and SDG 14) may undermine conservation efforts,
22 including the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), in regions overrun by NIS
23 (Galil, 2017; Iacarella and others, 2019). In the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, large
24 populations of the Indo-Pacific lionfish have been documented in MPAs where abundant
25 lionfish populations have impaired native biodiversity (Ruttenberg and others, 2012; Aguilar-
26 Perera and others, 2017). Similarly, in the Mediterranean Sea, many Erythraean species have
27 become the most conspicuous denizens in MPAs, having displaced and replaced native
28 species, thereby reversing marine conservation efforts and hampering stock recovery of key
29 economically and ecologically important species (Jimenez and others, 2016; Galil, 2018;
30 Stern and Rothman, 2019).
31
32 Thus far, few NIS have been reported from areas beyond national jurisdiction where a United
33 Nations resolution on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of
34 areas beyond national jurisdiction would apply. It is possible that this is due to limited survey
35 efforts to detect NIS in these ecosystems but it is also likely that most NIS that have been
36 reported globally are primarily from coastal waters (from all continents). In addition, oceanic
37 abyssal communities have been poorly described so it is possible that, even if potential NIS
38 are detected, they would not be recognized as such and may actually be classified, at least
39 initially, as a native species. This would mimic the experience in South America with smooth
40 cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) where “ecological mirages” masked the true situation
41 (Bortolus and others, 2015).
42
43 Globally, marine NIS pose significant biosecurity and biodiversity hazards, but identifying
44 and mitigating these hazards lag behind comparable efforts in terrestrial systems where there
45 has been a longer history dealing with agricultural and forest pests. Efforts must be increased
46 to document NIS, their vectors/pathways and their impacts at larger spatial scales, given that
47 existing marine NIS data were often sparse and incomplete, possibly reflective of logistical
273
United Nations Environment Programme, document UNEP/CBD/COP/10/27, annex, decision X/2, annex.
737
1 and capacity constraints. Devoted funding, political will and capacity building related to
2 invasion science are required to effectively understand and ultimately manage marine NIS
3 and their vectors globally. Only then can we ensure sustainable marine ecosystems.
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Chapter 26
Developments in Exploration and Use of Marine Genetic Resources
Co-Convenors: Robert Blasiak, Ellen Kenchington; Contributors: Jesús M. Arrieta, Jorge
Rafael Bermúdez-Monsalve, Shao Changwei, Sanae Chiba (Lead Member), Hebe Dionisi,
Helena Vieira, Boris Wawrik
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Marine genetic resources (MGRs) continue to be the focus of an expanding range of
4 commercial and non-commercial applications.
5 • Rapidly sinking sequencing and gene synthesis costs and swift advances in the
6 metabolic engineering and synthetic biology fields within the biotechnology sector
7 have rendered scientists less reliant on physical samples, and increasingly dependent
8 on the exponentially expanding public databases of genetic sequence data.
9 • Sponges and algae continue to attract substantial interest for the bioactive properties
10 associated with their natural compounds.
11 • Within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals,274 capacity-building issues
12 persist, with entities in a handful of countries conducting the majority of research and
13 development associated with MGRs.
14 • Multiple international processes with relevance to MGRs are in progress, most
15 notably on biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), with an
16 Intergovernmental Conference set to conclude in 2020 with a potential BBNJ treaty
17 covering access and benefit sharing for these resources.
18
19 1. Introduction
20
21 The ocean is home to a vast diversity of life constituting a rich source of marine genetic
22 resources, that is, genetic material of marine origin containing functional units of heredity
23 and of actual or potential value, characterized by high biological and chemical diversity
24 (Appeltans and others, 2012; United Nations, 2017). Over 34,000 marine natural products
25 (MNPs) have been described, with recent discovery rates reaching more than 1,000
26 compounds each year (Lindequist, 2016; Carroll and others, 2019). New marine natural
27 products produced by organisms from the deep sea have been described from the Bryozoa,
28 Chordata, Cnidaria, Echinodermata, Mollusca and Porifera, in addition to microbes, with 188
29 reports since 2008 (Skropeta and Wei, 2014). These MNPs have remarkable bioactivity (75
30 per cent), with almost 50 per cent exhibiting low micromolar cytotoxicity towards a range of
31 human cancer cell lines. Although the bioactivity of many MNPs suggests the potential for
32 drug discovery, only ten marine-derived drugs have gained market approval, although 28
33 candidates are currently in clinical trials (Alves and others, 2018). Marine antifoulant
34 research is currently focused on identifying viable non-toxic substances, and a recent review
35 has estimated that more than 198 antifouling compounds have been obtained from marine
36 invertebrates, specifically sponges, gorgonian and soft corals (Qi and Ma, 2017), in addition
37 to the products derived from macro- and microalgae highlighted in the First World Ocean
38 Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017). Innovative research has also identified
274
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1 ingredients from discarded fish that are suitable for high-end cosmetics as well as a number
2 of other products (Young, 2014). As of 2018, a total of 76 publicly available MNP
3 cosmeceutical ingredients have been marketed, reflecting a new growth sector (Calado and
4 others, 2018).
5
6 Simultaneously, consumer demand for nutraceuticals has increased rapidly, as anticipated in
7 WOA I. The global nutraceutical market is expected to reach 580 billion United States dollars
8 by 2025, more than tripling the 180 billion dollars projected for 2017 in WOA I, and growth
9 in the market has been linked to increased innovation and consumer awareness (Grand View
10 Research, 2017). Marine nutraceutical products such as fish oil and collagen represent a large
11 portion of the global market, and demand for these products is expected to grow in the Asia-
12 Pacific region, particularly in China and India (Suleria and others, 2015).
13
14 While the global blue economy continues to develop with respect to MGRs, most commercial
15 activity is concentrated in a comparatively small number of countries, suggesting potential
16 for technology transfer and capacity building (Thompson and others, 2017; Blasiak and
17 others, 2018). Several international processes addressing genetic resources, including MGRs,
18 are currently underway.
19
20 2. Trends between 2010 and 2020
21
22 Technological innovations have been key for the recent advances in the exploration and
23 exploitation of marine genetic resources. The discovery of new marine molecules, and their
24 corresponding sources, has been increasing rapidly, particularly since the 1970s (Figure 1).
25 By November 2019, a total of 34,197 marine natural products had been documented (Carroll
26 and others, 2019). This growth is most likely associated with modern sampling and analytical
27 techniques that have allowed the collection of novel MGRs from deeper environments and
28 covering a wider range of chemical diversity. Approximately 11 per cent of MGRs associated
29 with patent applications are found in deep-sea and hydrothermal vent communities, reflecting
30 increased research in remote and extreme ocean environments. However, the number of
31 MGRs collected at depths of more than 50 metres remains insignificant when compared to
32 the whole MNP library (Skropeta and Wei, 2014). The discovery of enzymes from marine
33 organisms is also accelerating due to the development of innovative screening methodologies
34 (Ferrer and others, 2019). Enzymes from microorganisms adapted to extreme conditions are
35 of particular interest for their application in industrial processes, as they are often active
36 under challenging operational conditions (Birolli and others, 2019).
37
38 2.1. Commercial application highlights
39
40 2.1.1. Pharmaceutical applications
41
42 Ten drugs of marine origin have received market approval from the United States Food and
43 Drug Administration (FDA) or European Medicines Agency (EMA), with a stronghold in the
44 area of anti-cancer chemotherapy (Calado and others, 2018). Most recently, Trabectedin (ET-
45 743) gained FDA approval in 2015 to treat soft tissue sarcoma and ovarian cancer, while
46 Plitidepsin was approved by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration in 2018 to
47 combat multiple myeloma, leukemia and lymphoma (based on Mayer and others, 2010). In
48 both cases, the relevant compounds were derived from tunicates. Macroalgae are also a
49 source of pharmaceutical products. For example, OligoG, an oligoalginate with a defined
50 structure produced from brown algae, is currently in a phase II clinical trial for the treatment
745
1 of cystic fibrosis patients (Rye and others, 2018), and the red algae biopolymer Carragelose is
2 used for treating respiratory diseases due to its broad anti-viral properties (Hackl, 2017).
3
4
(A) Marine natural products (B) GenBank's Sequence Read Archive
discovered (cumulative) (cumulative # of base pairs)
30000 4E+12
3.5E+12
25000
3E+12
20000
2.5E+12
15000 2E+12
1.5E+12
10000
1E+12
5000
5E+11
0 0
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2002
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2008
2009
2010
2011
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2015
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2017
2018
(C) Sequencing cost ($ per base pair) (D) Marine sequences associated with
10,000.00 patents (cumulative)
14000
1,000.00
12000
100.00 10000
10.00 8000
6000
1.00
4000
0.10
2000
0.01 0
2001
2002
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2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
5
6 Figure 1. Recent trends related to marine genetic resources. (A) Number of new marine natural products (Carroll and
7 others, 2019); (B) Number of sequences deposited in GenBank (Data from the US National Institute of Health
8 (Wetterstrand, 2018; NCBI, 2018); (C) Cost of sequencing (in USD per base pair); (D) Number of marine sequences
9 associated with patents (Data from Blasiak and others, 2018).
10
11 2.1.2. Cosmeceutical applications
12
13 Within the context of commercializing marine natural products, the cosmeceutical pipeline is
14 among the fastest growing markets. An entire new class of beauty care, combining cosmetics
15 and pharmaceutical properties into novel products with biologically active ingredients, is
16 emerging and will be a hallmark of the next decades. The majority are derived from
17 macroalgae and microalgae, but an increasing number are being generated through marine
18 biotechnology processes based on microorganisms like bacteria and fungi (Calado and others,
19 2018).
20
21 2.1.3. Food and feed applications
22
23 The consumption of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) is linked
24 with multiple positive health outcomes (Ruxton and others, 2007). However, production of
25 aquaculture species rich in omega-3 LC-PUFAs remains reliant on fish-based feeds. The
746
1 development of algal oils and alternative transgenic crops of omega-3 LC-PUFAs have
2 consequently attracted substantial interest. Initial efforts have focused on oilseed crops while
3 relying on enzymes from marine species (i.e. marine algae) (Ruiz-Lopez and others, 2014;
4 Zhao and Qiu, 2018). Agro-industry corporations have filed for patents associated with these
5 innovations and large-scale production is envisaged by 2020 (Sprague and others, 2017).
6 Further, the use of macroalgae as feed additives is showing potential for biological methane
7 mitigation in the cattle industry (Roque and others, 2019).
8
9 2.2. Growth of public databases of biodiversity and genetic sequence data
10
11 Public data archives are integral to modern biological research (Ellenberg and others, 2018).
12 This is in large part due to rapid technological developments over the past two decades that
13 have substantially democratized the availability of nucleic acid sequencing technology. The
14 cost per base of sequencing has fallen more than four orders of magnitude over the past
15 decade alone (Wetterstrand, 2018), and this has been paralleled by exponential growth in the
16 size of publicly available repositories (Figure 1). Overall, the number of bases in GenBank
17 has doubled approximately every 18 months since 1982 (NCBI, 2018).
18
19 Although the size of public databases has grown substantially, there is good reason to believe
20 that the current state of knowledge still substantially underrepresents the extant genetic
21 diversity in the ocean. The best evidence for this interpretation comes from omics-based
22 studies. The most recent and comprehensive survey of marine eukaryotic genetic diversity
23 identified ~53 million genes (Carradec and others, 2018), with about half of the detected
24 genes showing no similarity to existing proteins (de Vargas and others, 2015). Estimates for
25 oceanic plankton also suggest the presence of about 150,000 eukaryotic species, which is far
26 greater than the ~11,200 formally described species (de Vargas and others, 2015). Large-
27 scale initiatives such as Tara Oceans (Sunagawa and others, 2015) and Ocean Sampling Day
28 (Kopf and others, 2015) are generating vast quantities of information that are increasing our
29 understanding of the microbial diversity in the ocean at a global scale (Coutinho and others,
30 2018). The resulting available public data sets represent an important source of information
31 for sequence-based research efforts (Kamble and others, 2019).
32
33 2.3. Highlighted research
34
35 Two comprehensive volumes focused on marine biotechnology were published in 2018: the
36 first systematically describes recent developments in the marine biotechnology sector and
37 seeks to define the current and future economic potential (Rampelotto and Trincone, 2018);
38 the second goes beyond research and development aspects to also delve into intellectual
39 property law and the protections offered through patent claims (Guilloux, 2018). Previous
40 studies focused on patents associated with marine genetic resources (Arrieta and others,
41 2010; Arnaud-Haond and others, 2011) were updated with an analysis that identified patent
42 filings associated with 12,998 genetic sequences from 862 marine species (Blasiak and
43 others, 2018). Actors located or headquartered in 10 countries were responsible for patent
44 filings covering 98 per cent of these sequences, while 165 countries were unrepresented
45 (Blasiak and others, 2018).
747
1 SponGES, a four-year project funded since 2016 through the European Union Horizon 2020
2 research and innovation programme,275 aims to couple exploration with bioprospecting for
3 industrial applications, namely drug discovery and tissue engineering. Sponges and their
4 associated microorganisms are the richest and most prolific source of marine natural
5 products, comprising more than 30 per cent of those described to date (nearly 5,000
6 compounds) (Mehbub and others, 2014). From 2001 to 2010, more than 2,400 sponge-
7 derived natural products were discovered from 671 species of sponges (Mehbub and others,
8 2014). SponGES research has already identified unexpected microbial diversity and resulting
9 biotechnological potential, including unconventional C30 sterols and new barrettides with
10 potential for anti-fouling activity (Lauritano and Ianora, 2018).
11
12 3. Economic and social consequences and/or changes
13
14 Interest in the exploration and use of marine genetic resources is increasing, at the same time
15 as rapid advances are being made in the global biotechnology industry and initiatives to
16 explore the potential of the blue economy (Wynberg and Laird, 2018). Divergent views exist
17 regarding the economic potential linked to MGRs, particularly those from areas beyond
18 national jurisdiction (Leary, 2018). However, the robust pipeline of marine-derived drugs in
19 clinical trials suggests substantial interest, given that bringing a new drug to market can cost
20 as much as 2.9 billion United States dollars (DiMasi and others, 2016) and take 10 to 15
21 years (Blasiak and others, 2019).
22
23 The regulatory framework for accessing MGRs and engaging in subsequent utilization varies
24 depending on whether those resources are from areas within national jurisdiction or beyond.
25 While the former fall under the scope of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)276
26 and the Nagoya Protocol thereto,277 MGRs of areas beyond national jurisdiction are one of
27 the elements of a package of issues currently under negotiation in relation to the conservation
28 and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. In
29 December 2017, by resolution 72/249, the United Nations General Assembly decided to
30 convene an intergovernmental conference to elaborate the text of an international legally
31 binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea278 on the
32 conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national
33 jurisdiction. Accordingly, three meetings of the conference were held in 2018–2019, with a
34 fourth to take place in 2020. The conference is mandated to address, among other elements,
35 MGRs, including questions on the sharing of benefits.
36
37 Both in the context of the conference and in the context of the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol
38 thereto, discussions are taking place on whether to address and regulate the use of digital
39 sequence data and/or information, with different views expressed on this issue and on
40 terminology. In 2019, the CBD commissioned studies covering the concept and scope of
41 digital sequence information, traceability and databases, and domestic measures, which are to
42 be published in early 2020 following an open review period.
43
44 Finally, the World Intellectual Property Organization took steps in 2017 to extend the
45 mandate of its Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources,
275
Available at http://www.deepseasponges.org.
276
277
United Nations Environment Programme, document UNEP/CBD/COP/10/27, annex, decision X/1.
278
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1 Traditional Knowledge and Folklore. The Committee has been called upon to address issues
2 “relating to intellectual property which will ensure the balanced and effective protection of
3 genetic resources”.279
4
6
7 In WOA I, the focus was on providing a general review of marine genetic resources rather
8 than providing regional assessments or overviews. This is in part because regional summaries
9 are difficult to obtain. Below is a brief summary of regional issues for the Pacific and
10 Southern Ocean, highlighting trends over the last decade.
11
12 4.1. Pacific
13
14 Skropeta and Wei (2014) conducted an update of their 2008 regional analyses of marine
15 natural products reporting, and found that while a high proportion (24 per cent) of MNP
16 continue to come from Australia, there has been a marked increase in reports of metabolites
17 from deep-sea sediment sampling from the South China Sea (18 per cent) and the Pacific
18 Ocean (17 per cent, including maritime zones off the coast of Guam and Palau). This has
19 been attributed to increased accessibility to remote deep-sea environments. Indeed, the
20 regional pattern of MNP discovery was linked to access to manned submersibles and trawling
21 operations rather than regional biodiversity. This was also reflected in the depth distribution
22 of the discoveries where, by 2008, only 8 per cent of MNP were from organisms found at
23 depths of over 1,000 metres but, by 2013, this had increased to 37 per cent.
24
26
27 With increased scientific research taking place in Antarctica, research there has increased
28 along with the growing number of patents derived from Antarctic organisms in the United
29 States of America and in Europe (Oldham and others, 2014).
30
31 4.3. Arctic
32
33 A collaborative international research model was established (Leary, 2008), although
34 research on the biotechnology potential of Arctic genetic resources is largely occurring within
35 the exclusive economic zones of the Arctic States.
36
37 5. Capacity-building gaps
38
39 Many States are faced with challenges in engaging directly in marine genetic resources
40 research. These include limited knowledge of the biodiversity, capacity (both in terms of
41 facilities and technological expertise), financial resources for research and development,
42 experience with access and benefit-sharing mechanisms, and the need to increase
43 collaborations across academic, government and private sectors (Thompson and others,
44 2017). Capacity-building initiatives in these countries, such as Brazil’s National Research
45 Network in Marine Biotechnology (Thompson and others, 2018), are key to alleviating some
46 of these limitations.
279
See World Intellectual Property Organization, document WO/GA/49/21.
749
1 Wynberg (2016) has highlighted rapidly increasing research activity in the Western Indian
2 Ocean, particularly along the Eastern and Southern African coastline, the latter being
3 associated with higher biodiversity and endemism. This research is largely being undertaken
4 by developed countries from other regions with few countries of the Western Indian Ocean
5 engaged as collaborators (with the exception of South Africa and Kenya). Comparatively few
6 countries operate their own research vessels, and only a handful have the capacity to
7 undertake collections in areas beyond national jurisdiction or from deep-sea environments
8 (Figure 2). Although public databases of genetic sequence data are available globally, many
9 countries lack the cyberinfrastructure to access such data sets, or to establish and manage
10 comparable national databases (Thompson and others, 2017).
11
12 Figure 2. Country of origin for marine research vessels (as of June 2019): (A) Number and distribution of research
13 vessels by flag state; (B) Number and distribution of research vessels with offshore capacity (60+ metres in size) (from
14 Blasiak and others, in preparation).
15
16 6. Methodological challenges and future trends
17
18 6.1. New developments in omics approaches
19
20 Over the last decades, innovations in technologies for the analysis of biomolecules have
21 facilitated more comprehensive studies of marine organisms and their communities (Coutinho
22 and others, 2018). Sequences technologies with ultra-high throughput allow high coverage in
23 the analysis of microbial communities, single-molecule sequencing technologies produce
24 long sequence lengths from DNA and RNA, and portable real-time sequencing instruments
25 can be used in the field (Ip and others, 2015). The current focus of the sequencing technology
26 field is generating platforms for specific applications, and improving sequence length and
27 output while decreasing sequencing error rates (Wuyts and Segata, 2019). Improvements in
28 sequence length and accuracy are key for generating less fragmented data sets. Assembling
750
1 deduced amino acid sequences, instead of DNA data, can also generate large catalogues of
2 complete protein sequences from complex metagenomic datasets (Steinegger and others,
3 2019). Unlike ecological studies, complete proteins and gene clusters are needed for
4 biotechnological applications.
5
6 While high-throughput sequence platforms have drastically eased sequence data acquisition,
7 assigning functions to predicted genes, proteins and pathways remains problematic (Woyke
8 and others, 2019). Often it is not possible to assign a putative function or only general
9 functional predictions are possible, in particular, for enzymes. The experimental
10 characterization of selected sequences with biotechnological potential is time-consuming and
11 expensive. A combination of gene synthesis, cell-free protein expression systems and
12 sensitive high-throughput screening methods are being developed for the discovery of novel
13 biocatalysts and enzyme variants with improved characteristics (Rolf and others, 2019).
14 Advances in the detection systems for a different bioprospecting approach, functional
15 metagenomics, are also having a positive impact on biodiscovery (van der Helm and others,
16 2018).
17
18 In spite of recent advances in sequencing technologies, it remains difficult to obtain high-
19 quality near-complete genomes from uncultured microorganisms. Sequencing the genome of
20 single microbial cells and the reconstruction of genomes from complex metagenome data sets
21 have generated genomic information from thousands of uncultured marine microorganisms
22 (Parks and others, 2017; Coutinho and others, 2018; Tully and others, 2018), a public
23 resource available for bioprospecting efforts. Technological advances are needed, however,
24 for improving the completeness and reducing the contamination of genomes generated using
25 these culture-independent approaches (Woyke and others, 2019). Another technique that is
26 facilitating the analysis of genomes from uncultured microorganisms is metagenomic
27 chromosome conformation capture (meta3C), which reveals physical contacts in different
28 regions of the DNA present within a cell. When applied to microbial communities, this
29 technique not only facilitates the assembly of genomes but also allows analysis of the
30 tridimensional organization of these genomes (Marbouty and others, 2014). Improvements in
31 cultivation techniques for marine microorganisms are also needed, in particular, in the
32 context of the utilization of microbial marine genetic resources for industrial purposes.
33
34 The exponential growth of data generated by the different omics approaches represents a
35 challenge, and new bioinformatic tools and platforms continue to be developed for the
36 analysis and integration of omics data for a better understanding of biological systems
37 (Dihazi and others, 2018). One example is the open-source platform KBase (United States
38 Department of Energy Systems Biology Knowledgebase).280 This software and data platform
39 enables collaborative analyses of multi-omics information, including (meta)genome
40 assembly, annotation, transcriptomics and metabolic modelling (Arkin and others, 2018). The
41 integration of metabolomics data, that is, the analysis of small biomolecules from organisms
42 or microbial communities, can validate identified pathways, as well as link microbial
43 community structure, dynamics, interactions and function (Baidoo and others, 2019). Another
44 example of a multi-omics integration tool, focused on data exploration and data mining, is
45 mixOmics.281
280
Available at http://kbase.us.
281
Available at http://mixomics.org.
751
1 6.2. Marine genetic resources and synthetic biology

2
3 Due to the exceptional biodiversity of marine organisms, marine genetic resources are a
4 promising source of genes and gene clusters for the artificial redesign of organisms for
5 industrial applications (Bloch and Tardieu-Guigues, 2014). Synthetic biology, in combination
6 with enzyme and/or metabolic engineering, can greatly ease the development of high-
7 performance strains for the production of chemicals, biomaterials and services. For instance,
8 a synthetic biology approach can be used as an alternative to chemical synthesis for the
9 production of marine natural products, when the extraction from the original source is not
10 sustainable (Kiran and others, 2018). The field of synthetic biology is subject to the same
11 laws and conventions as other uses of MGRs, although new challenges are arising as the
12 genetic information can be modified to a point where it is not possible to determine its
13 geographic origin (Bloch and Tardieu-Guigues, 2014). Public health and ethical
14 considerations are also important issues in synthetic biology, and the public perception on the
15 safety of genetically modified organisms will also play a role in the translation of this
16 technology into the industrial sector (Kiran and others, 2018).
17
18 7. Marine genetic resources and the Sustainable Development Goals
19
20 Regardless of the scale of economic benefits associated with commercializing marine genetic
21 resources, capacity-building gaps remain (Section 5), with substantial implications for
22 achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.274 Table 1 summarizes the
23 relevance of MGRs to the Sustainable Development Goal targets that are most applicable.282
24 Table 1: Marine genetic resources and the Sustainable Development Goals
Selection of relevant Sustainable Development Goal Relevance of marine genetic

Targets resources
14.2 By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine Ensure that protected areas take
and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse genetic diversity of populations into
impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and account, among other things, to
take action for their restoration in order to achieve promote resilience.
healthy and productive oceans
Use MGRs as tools to understand
biotic and abiotic interactions to
14.5 By 2020, conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal help manage ecosystem services.
and marine areas, consistent with national and
international law and based on the best available Promote and focus exploitation on
scientific information sustainably harvested and/or
developed MNP.
14.a Increase scientific knowledge, develop research Promote inclusive innovation and
capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into other mechanisms to ensure broader
account the Intergovernmental Oceanographic capacity for States to engage in the
Commission Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of exploration and use of MGRs.
Marine Technology, in order to improve ocean health
and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity
282
752
to the development of developing countries, in

particular small island developing States and least
developed countries
9.5 Enhance scientific research, upgrade the
technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all
countries, in particular developing countries, including,
by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially
increasing the number of research and development
workers per 1 million people and public and private
research and development spending
9.b Support domestic technology development, research
and innovation in developing countries, including by
ensuring a conducive policy environment for, inter alia,
industrial diversification and value addition to
commodities
17.6: Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular
regional and international cooperation on and access to
science, technology and innovation and enhance
knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including
through improved coordination among existing
mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level,
and through a global technology facilitation
mechanism.
3.b Support the research and development of vaccines Rich pipeline of marine-derived
and medicines for the communicable and medicines in clinical trials, and
noncommunicable diseases that primarily affect potential of marine organisms as
developing countries, provide access to affordable source of new antibiotics.
essential medicines and vaccines, in accordance with
the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and
Public Health, which affirms the right of developing
countries to use to the full the provisions in the
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights regarding flexibilities to protect public
health, and, in particular, provide access to medicines
for all.
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756
Chapter 27
Marine Hydrates – a Potentially Emerging Issue
Convenor: Alan Simcock (Lead Member); Contributors: Aninda Mazumdar, Aaron Micallef,
Kate Segarra, Leonid Yurganov
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Marine hydrates (mainly methane hydrates) exist in large quantities in the ocean
4 where gas is available, pressure is high enough and temperature is low enough,
5 mainly on the continental slopes.
6 • Concern has been expressed about the climatic risks from the sudden release of large
7 amounts of methane from marine hydrates. However, this hypothesis is not widely
8 supported at present and is not mentioned in the recent special report of the
9 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the ocean and cryosphere in a
10 changing climate.
11 • Areas of gas seepage in the deep sea associated with gas hydrates host a very rich
12 biodiversity supported by chemosynthesis.
13 • Initial successes have recently been noted by China and Japan in producing methane
14 from marine methane hydrates.
15
16 1. Introduction
17
18 The First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017c) did not contain
19 detailed material on marine hydrates. The overall summary noted that they were among the
20 deep-water deposits that had generated continuing interest, but were not mined at that time.
21
22 Chapter 21 of WOA I (United Nations, 2017a) reported that marine hydrates were a potential
23 area for future offshore energy development and provided an estimate of the amount of
24 marine hydrates and their carbon equivalent worldwide. While hydrates are potentially an
25 immense store of hydrocarbons, Chapter 21 noted that methane production from hydrates had
26 not been documented beyond small-scale field experiments and that its contribution to global
27 gas supply had probably been delayed by increasing development of onshore gas.
28
29 Chapter 35 of WOA I (United Nations, 2017b) noted that, because of the close relationship of
30 gas seeps on continental margins to areas of resource exploration interest (oil and gas,
31 methane hydrates), assessment of the nature of the rich associated biodiversity and its role in
32 ecosystem function would be important before potential alterations and/or extractions
33 occurred. This biodiversity is discussed in Chapter 7R of the present Assessment on
34 hydrothermal vents and cold seeps.
35
36 The present Chapter aims to provide a fuller assessment of the origin and estimated
37 abundance of marine hydrates, their potential as a source of energy and the risks to the earth’s
38 climate, slope stability and human society associated with them.
39
40 2. What are marine hydrates?
41
42 A marine hydrate is a crystalline solid composed of natural gas molecules retained within an
757
1 ice-like cage of water molecules. The most common form of marine hydrate is methane
2 hydrate, which has the chemical formula (CH4)4(H2O)23, or 1 mole of methane for every 5.75
3 moles of water, corresponding to 13.4 per cent methane by mass. (Maslin and others, 2010;
4 Chou and others, 2000). Marine hydrates are often referred to as marine or methane clathrates
5 from the Latin clathri meaning lattice, since the water molecules form a lattice within which
6 the gas molecules are held. See the schematic drawing of a gas hydrate in Figure 1.
7 Figure 1. Typical structure of a gas hydrate with water molecules linked together to form a cage that traps gas
8 molecules such as methane within. Source: Maslin and others, 2010.
9
10 Methane hydrates were first recognized in the late nineteenth century (Wróblewski, 1882;
11 Villard, 1894). In the 1930s, they were identified in nature when their formation clogged
12 natural gas pipelines in cold weather. In the 1950s, theoretical models for gas hydrates were
13 developed and, in the 1960s, Russian scientists, such as Vasiliev and colleagues (Vasiliev and
14 others, 1970) argued for the existence of substantial marine deposits around the world. This
15 conclusion was confirmed in the early 1970s by the retrieval of samples of methane hydrates
16 from the seabed in the Black Sea (Yefremova and Zhizhchenko, 1974). Since then, there have
17 been similar retrievals all around the world (Figure 2), and countries such as Canada, China,
18 Germany, India, Japan and the United States of America have established major hydrate
19 research programmes (Sloan and Koh, 2007; Maslin and others, 2010; Song and others,
20 2014).
21
22 2.1. Location and scale of marine hydrates
23
24 Gas hydrates occur in areas of significant gas generation in which temperatures are
25 sufficiently low and the pressure is sufficiently high to form and maintain them. The vast
26 majority of gas hydrates occur as marine hydrates, while just over 1 per cent are located in
27 permafrost soils (Ruppel, 2015). Most marine hydrates are formed by the accumulation of
28 methane produced from the degradation of organic matter in buried sediments. Gas hydrate
29 deposits (often several hundred metres thick) are embedded in sediments (Milkov and Sassen,
30 2002; Ruppel and Kessler, 2017). Structural hydrates are primarily driven by gas flowing
31 through faults and channels in the sedimentary column and can be found exposed at the sea
32 floor.
33
34 Marine hydrate distribution is driven by the combination of a gas source, water depth (usually
35 more than 500m, but depends on gas composition) and temperature (geothermal gradient) to
36 stabilize hydrates and the permeability of sediments. The most common way of detecting gas
37 hydrates is by seismic investigation: the boundary between the gas hydrates and the
758
1 underlying sediments containing free gas reflects forms with a negative impedance contrast,
2 which mimics the sea floor (Bottom-Simulating Reflector) and can be interpreted to show the
3 base of the gas hydrate stability zone. Sea floor samples can also be taken directly with cores
4 or other sampling devices, but special steps need to be taken to prevent their breakdown as
5 they are brought to the surface (Maslin and others, 2010). Seismic data indicate that methane
6 hydrates are found in the sediments of the continental slope, with those in the Arctic Ocean at
7 lesser depths, because of the lower temperature of the water column (Dillon and Max, 2012).
8 In the middle of ocean basins, where primary production is low, and in marginal seas where
9 sea floor pressure is lower, hydrates do not form. Hydrates also form in and below the
10 terrestrial permafrost soils of Alaska and Siberia (Maslin and others, 2010). Figure 2 shows a
11 recent mapping of known and inferred locations of methane hydrates.
Any boundaries or names shown, and the designations used, on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United
Nations.
12 Figure 2. Map showing locations where gas hydrate has been recovered, where gas hydrate is inferred to be present on
13 the basis of seismic data, and where gas hydrate drilling expeditions have been completed in permafrost or deep marine
14 environments, also leading to the recovery of gas hydrate. Source: Ruppel, 2018; updated to reflect Minshull and others,
15 2020.283
16
17 The presence of marine hydrates is constrained by the conditions in which they can persist.
18 First, there needs to be a source of gas, generally methane of biogenic origin, derived from
19 the decaying of organic material trapped in seabed sediments, that leads to the presence of
20 methane in quantities greater than what is soluble in surrounding waters. Secondly, there has
21 to be an appropriate combination of high pressure and low temperature at the sea floor. In
22 Arctic waters, where the temperature is very low, the necessary pressure can, depending on
23 the gas composition, be found at depths as shallow as 400 metres. In warmer waters, the
24 depth required can be as great as 1,000 metres. Thirdly, there is a lower limit to the
25 occurrence of marine hydrates: even at high pressures, the increase of temperature with depth
26 below the sea floor (geothermal gradient) will set a limit to the stability of marine hydrates at
27 around a depth of 1,600 metres (Kvenvolden and Lorenson, 2001; Maslin and others, 2010).
28 The presence of methane hydrates can also act as a seal for free gas, thus retaining substantial
283 The writing team is grateful to Mr Chibuzo Ahaneku Valeria for assistance in updating the map.
759
1 amounts of methane in the sediments below them (Hornbach and others, 2004).
2
3 In 1988 and 1990, two independent estimates indicated a total global hydrate quantity of 21 ×
4 1015 cubic metres (MacDonald 1990; Kvenolden 1999), which became a consensus view.
5 However, in 2011, based on an exhaustive review of other assessments and considering the
6 lessons of many drilling programmes, an estimate was made of 3 × 1015 cubic metres of
7 methane gas in place (calculated at standard temperature and pressure; Boswell and Collett,
8 2011). This is similar to the lower end of the range (1 - 5 to 15 - 20 × 1015 cubic metres)
9 calculated by Milkov (2004), and more than 30 times smaller than the 1 × 1017 cubic metres
10 estimated by Klauda and Sandler (2005). Some experts still support a larger estimate
11 (Kvenvolden, 2012). The Milkov range equates to a range of 500-1,000 to 7,500-10,000
12 gigatons of carbon (Maslin and others, 2010). By way of comparison, the United States
13 Geological Survey estimated in 2000 that the total reserves of all other fossil fuels contained
14 5,000 gigatons of carbon (USGSWEAT, 2000). Subsequent work has supported the call for
15 further research into the global total of marine hydrates on the basis of a wide-ranging
16 discussion at the Royal Society of London in 2010 (Day and Maslin, 2010).
17
18 3. Potential risks from marine methane hydrates
19
20 3.1. Risks in relation to the atmosphere
21
22 Methane is well-known as a powerful greenhouse gas with a heat-trapping potential over a
23 century of 25 times that of carbon dioxide, as estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on
24 Climate Change (IPCC, 2013). Some more recent calculations suggest that this factor should
25 be higher, by possibly as much as 25 per cent (Etminan and others, 2016). For the decade
26 2008–2017, global methane emissions were estimated at 0.572 gigatons of methane per year
27 (Saunois and others, 2019). The temperature and pressure dependence of gas hydrate stability
28 (mainly temperature) has led to a perception that global warming could cause catastrophic
29 methane releases from gas hydrate reservoirs (the so-called “clathrate gun” hypothesis)
30 (Henriet and Mienert, 1998; Haq, 1999). A similar mechanism has also been proposed as a
31 way of explaining periods of rapid warming during the Quaternary Period (Kennett and
32 others, 2000; Maslin and others, 2004). However, this hypothesis is not widely supported and
33 empirical evidence is mixed (Sowers, 2006; O’Hara, 2008).
34
35 A recent thorough review of the interaction of climate change and methane hydrates
36 concluded that there is no current evidence from observations that hydrate-derived methane is
37 reaching the atmosphere or that the amounts that could potentially reach the atmosphere are
38 significant enough to affect the overall methane budget. It went on to note that, in considering
39 potential effects on methane flux to the atmosphere from the dissociation of marine methane
40 hydrates, it is essential to consider the processes (sinks) that would intercept the methane
41 before it reaches the atmosphere: in passing through sediment, methane may be broken down
42 by anaerobic oxidation by microbes. In general, the conclusion is that methane from
43 dissociated hydrates would not reach the atmosphere - it may dissolve in water in the
44 sediment or in the water column, and it may be broken down further by microbial oxidation
45 in the water column. However, more observational data and improved numerical models are
46 needed to better characterize the climate-hydrate synergy in the future (Ruppel and Kessler,
47 2017).
48
49 Thus, the role of methane hydrates in contemporary and future climate change is unclear.
50 Rather than with catastrophic, abrupt impacts, the release of methane from marine hydrates in
760
1 response to rising ocean temperatures may have occurred gradually in the past and may occur
2 over time scales of millenniums or longer (Archer, 2007; Archer and others, 2009).
3
4 However, the Arctic is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the globe (Larsen and others,
5 2014) and there is evidence of significant methane release into the Arctic Ocean, which may
6 come from near-shore, submarine permafrost on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (Shakhova
7 and others, 2014). However, seasonal changes in the mixing of the water column appear to
8 prevent methane from reaching the atmosphere during the summer (Yurganov and others,
9 2019).
10
11 The recent special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the ocean and
12 cryosphere in a changing climate (IPCC, 2019) does not mention marine hydrates, except to
13 note (in its chapter 5), with low confidence, that rising bottom temperatures or shifting of
14 warm currents on continental margins could increase dissociation of buried gas hydrates on
15 margins, potentially intensifying anaerobic methane oxidation (which produces hydrogen
16 sulphide) and expanding cover of methane-seep communities.
17
18 3.2. Risks in relation to seabed stability
19
20 When enclosed in sediments, and when the saturation is high enough, gas hydrates can act
21 like cement, compacting and stabilizing the sea floor. However, if formed in deposits that are
22 still unconsolidated, gas hydrate prevents the normal increase of compaction as the weight of
23 the sediment increases. If destabilized by lower pressure and/or particularly by increased sea
24 floor temperature, the gas hydrate can then dissociate. If this occurs, submarine slope failures
25 may occur (Maslin and others, 2010). One particularly notable case where gas hydrates are
26 thought to have been implicated is the Storegga slide off the middle of the west coast of
27 Norway, dated to about 8,200 years ago. According to calculations, it had a volume of 3,000
28 km3 and produced a tsunami that impacted Norway, the Faroe Islands (Denmark), and
29 Scotland and northern England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with
30 a run-up of up to 20m. While an earthquake was probably the proximate cause, dissociation
31 of marine hydrates appears to have contributed significantly to this occurrence (Bondevik and
32 others, 2005; Bryn and others, 2005; Micallef and others, 2009). In general, the consensus at
33 present seems to be that, while dissociation of marine hydrates can contribute to the scale,
34 and thus to the impact, of major slope failures, there is usually a separate trigger in the form
35 of an earthquake or extreme weather event (Tappin, 2010).
36
37 4. Marine hydrates as a source of energy
38
39 Methane, as natural gas, is a well-known source of energy. Several countries have undertaken
40 large research programmes to investigate the possibilities of using marine hydrates as a
41 source of natural gas. Because of their lack of terrestrial resources of natural gas, China and
42 Japan have been among the States putting most effort into this exploration.
43
44 Japan established a research consortium, MH 21, in 2002 to explore and develop energy from
45 marine hydrates in its seas. The consortium brought together the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals
46 National Corporation, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology,
47 and the Engineering Advancement Association of Japan. The work was planned in three
48 phases. Phase one ran from 2002 to 2008, and included cooperation with a number of other
49 States, including Canada, Germany, India and the United States of America. The main
50 outcomes were improved knowledge of Japan’s marine-hydrate resources and two successful
761
1 onshore methane-hydrate production tests, yielding about 13,000 cubic metres of methane.
2 Phase two, from 2008 to 2015, ran a successful offshore production test, developed an
3 environmental impact assessment and completed an economic valuation and field
4 verification. Phase three is still in progress. The significance of the programme has increased
5 since the Tōhoku earthquake in 2011 which has led to a policy of reducing planned
6 dependence on nuclear energy (Oyama and Masutani, 2017).
7
8 In China, a substantial number of institutions have undertaken investigations into the
9 possibility of using marine hydrates as a source of energy, and particularly the technology
10 that would be needed to recover them. The methods considered include depressurization and
11 thermal stimulation. Research has also focused on the security of methane-hydrate-bearing
12 sediments during gas production and the related environmental impact (Song and others,
13 2014). In 2017, the China Geological Survey conducted a first production test and recovered
14 309,000 cubic metres of methane from marine hydrates in the Shenhu area of the South China
15 Sea between 10 May and 9 July 2017 (Li and others, 2018).
16
17 5. Key knowledge and capacity-building gaps
18
19 There are obvious gaps in our knowledge of the global distribution and size of deposits of
20 methane hydrates. The map in Figure 2 shows that, for much of the world, assessments of the
21 presence of gas hydrates are largely based on extrapolation rather than direct observation.
22 Likewise, estimates of the global amounts of hydrate present are largely based on estimates
23 of the volume of the methane hydrate stability zone, regardless of evidence of the presence or
24 not of gas to form them. Also, abiogenic methane generation by ocean crust serpentinization,
25 a major process in the ocean, has been largely ignored. A recent review of gas hydrates in
26 Europe has been published (Minshull and others, 2020) but there is still no updated review at
27 the global level.
28
29 There are also major gaps in our understanding of how methane hydrates will behave in
30 changing circumstances, especially changes of ocean temperature, the way in which methane
31 hydrates may dissociate and the way in which any methane released will then behave, and its
32 impacts on climate and slope stability. These knowledge gaps have the possibility of being
33 very significant in relation to the release of oceanic methane into the atmosphere and its
34 consequent function as a greenhouse gas, even though the predominant opinion at the
35 moment is that this possibility is limited (see section 4 above).
36
37 Capacities are clearly being developed in China, Japan and elsewhere to access methane
38 stored as marine hydrates. At present, these are at the experimental/testing stage but could
39 become important for States with limited access to natural gas.
40
41 6. Outlook
42
43 The outlook therefore depends very much on demand for natural gas in the context of
44 reducing consumption of coal and other fossil fuels, on the success of experiments in
45 accessing methane hydrates, and on the further identification of locations of significant
46 methane hydrate deposits that may justify their exploitation.
762
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765
Chapter 28
Cumulative Effects
Convenor: Karen Evans (Lead Member); Contributors: Roland Cormier, Piers Dunstan,
Elizabeth Fulton, Jörn Schmidt (Co-Lead Member), Alan Simcock (Co-Lead Member),
Vanessa Stelzenmüller, Ca Vu Thanh (Co-Lead Member), Skipton Woolley
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Increasing pressures on marine environments from multiple sources are resulting in
4 biodiversity loss, habitat damage and fragmentation and disease.
5 • Effective implementation of ecosystem-based management requires an appreciation of
6 how and to what extent human activities and natural events interact and affect
7 different ecosystem components and their functions, and identification of solutions to
8 prevent and/or mitigate the pressures being caused by these interactions.
9 • Over the past two decades, many frameworks for assessing these interactions, known
10 as cumulative effects, have been developed using different approaches and
11 terminologies and applied at differing scales.
12 • Although approaches vary, cumulative effect assessments (CEAs), aimed at advising
13 management and planning conducted to date, have mostly involved three main steps:
14 (i) collation of information on the intensity and footprint of activities that may be
15 affecting marine ecosystems; (ii) identification of the responses of ecosystem
16 components; and (iii) identification of management measures that could be applied in
17 response.
18 • Despite their increase in use, assessments focused on particular regions, areas or
19 values that follow the same general steps outlined above are largely lacking from
20 areas outside Europe and North America.
21 • This geographical bias in implementation of CEAs highlights clear knowledge and
22 capacity gaps, and the need for the development of approaches that: (i) can be
23 implemented in regions where data is lacking; (ii) are easily implementable; and (iii)
24 produce outputs that can be readily understood and translatable to decision-making
25 processes, particularly in developing countries.
26
27 1. Introduction
28
29 The marine environment is currently subject to many pressures, many of which are derived
30 from human activities. These include climate change, extraction of resources, pollution (from
31 land and marine sources) and invasive species resulting in biodiversity loss, habitat damage
32 and fragmentation and disease (e.g. Evans and others, 2017). Ecosystem-based management
33 aims to balance human activities with environmental stewardship to maintain ecosystem
34 properties, functions and services.284 This requires an appreciation of how and to what extent
35 human activities and natural events interact and affect different ecosystem components and
36 their functions and the identification of solutions to prevent and mitigate the pressures being
284
See also Chapter 29 of the present Assessment for an overview of assessments associated with marine spatial
planning, and Chapter 30 for an overview of ecosystem-based management approaches.
766
1 caused by these interactions (Halpern and others, 2008; Levin and others, 2009, Ban and
2 others, 2010; Curtin and Prellezo, 2010). These interactions are termed cumulative impacts or
3 cumulative effects.
4
5 The terms cumulative impacts and cumulative effects are often used interchangeably to
6 describe how pressures affect ecosystems. The use of standardized language is key to the
7 transfer of knowledge, assessment approaches and expertise across management boundaries,
8 stakeholders and organizations. A preference for the use of the term “cumulative effects” has
9 been identified, noting that impacts are hypothesized and have either not been directly
10 observed, or attributed (Murray and others, 2015). For consistency, the term “cumulative
11 effects” is used in the present Chapter. There is as yet no universally accepted definition of
12 cumulative effects and impacts, with definitions varying in literature, depending on what
13 might be being assessed and the context within which the assessment is being undertaken
14 (e.g. Anthony, 2016; Spaling and Smit, 1993; Hegmann and others, 1999; Halpern and
15 others, 2008; Johnson, 2016; Uthicke and others, 2016). Here we follow the premise that
16 effects can be defined as a change to the environment, including its human components,
17 while impacts represent the consequences of such change (Johnson, 2016).
18
19 Cumulative effects can be of four general types: additive, synergistic, antagonistic
20 (compensatory), and masking (Sonntag and others, 1987; Hegmann and others, 1999; Crain
21 and others, 2008; Halpern and others, 2008). Additive effects are incremental additions to, or
22 deletions from, the pressures caused by an activity, where each increment or deletion adds to
23 previous increments or deletions over time. Synergistic effects, also referred to as amplifying
24 or exponential effects, magnify the consequence of individual pressures to produce a joint
25 consequence that is greater than their additive effect or risks. Antagonistic or compensatory
26 effects produce a joint consequence that is less than additive, and masking effects produce
27 essentially the same consequence for the ecosystem or social component as would occur with
28 exposure to one of the pressures alone. Impacts that can be considered as cumulative might
29 result from a single activity repeatedly producing a single pressure, a single activity
30 producing multiple pressures, multiple activities producing a single pressure, or multiple
31 activities producing multiple pressures through time (Foley and others, 2017).
32
33 The topic of assessments of cumulative effects was not included in the First World Ocean
34 Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017b), although the range of factors affecting
35 ecosystem services were considered in each of its regional chapters and a summary of
36 pressures affecting the marine environment was provided in its Chapter 54 (United Nations,
37 2017a). However, Chapter 54 did not attempt to undertake an assessment of the cumulative
38 effects of those pressures, nor did it identify the frameworks within which such assessments
39 could be conducted. The present Chapter, therefore, provides an overview of the key
40 elements of assessments of cumulative effects, and provides an overview of approaches and
41 their outcomes, including several regional examples of approaches in detail. The aim of this
42 overview is to provide a baseline of the diversity of approaches and their use that can be used
43 for establishing changes in approaches and applications in future global assessments.
44
45 2. Cumulative effects assessments
46
47 Over the past two decades, many frameworks for assessing cumulative effects on the
48 environment have been developed using different approaches and terminologies
49 (Stelzenmüller and others, 2018). Similarly, their focus has varied, with some attempting to
50 take whole-of-system approaches where all existing stressors and their effects on broad
767
1 components of the marine environment are included in the assessment, while others have
2 focused on single stressors and single species or habitats (Korpinen and others, 2012;
3 Marcotte and others, 2015; Coll and others, 2016). Of the 154 studies reviewed by
4 Stelzenmüller and others (2018), several key conclusions regarding the various approaches
5 utilized were identified, including that (i) expert knowledge and qualitative data are
6 sporadically or moderately used across assessments; (ii) the use of Geographic Information
7 Systems (GIS) is almost a prerequisite for assessment; (iii) large gaps exist in addressing
8 uncertainty throughout components of each assessment; and (iv) novel integrative methods,
9 such as a combination of qualitative data and qualitative modelling to assess ecosystem state
10 and pressures, were increasingly being developed for use in assessments.
11
12 Although approaches vary, several common elements have been identified that should be
13 incorporated into cumulative effect assessments (CEAs) aimed at advising management and
14 planning (Halpern and others, 2008; Kappel and others, 2012; ICES, 2019). These elements
15 can be broadly categorized in terms of information on the activities causing pressures that
16 may be affecting marine ecosystems, information on measures that might be implemented to
17 manage those activities and therefore pressures, and the responses of ecosystem components,
18 which in turn depend on their resistance and recovery potential from the exposure to the
19 pressures being exerted.
20
21 The process for undertaking a CEA is fundamentally based on a mapping process where the
22 footprint of one or more pressures is spatially and temporally considered (including the
23 frequency of that activity and associated pressures as a measure of intensity) in relation to
24 those components of the marine ecosystem that are being or might be impacted, the
25 vulnerability of or risk to those components assessed (including their sensitivity), whilst
26 taking into account any management measures that might be in place. This allows for the
27 identification of residual pressures remaining after accounting for management, and the
28 calculation of a measure of the anticipated cumulative effect (Halpern and others, 2008;
29 Kappel and others, 2012; ICES, 2019). These various elements of information are identified
30 in Figure 1. The connectivity and heterogeneity of ecosystem components, functions and
31 processes, and the uncertainty in biophysical processes, together with varying levels of
32 intensity of activities affecting the environment, determine the complexity of CEAs.
33
34 Figure 1. The elements of a cumulative effect assessment with a focus on quantifying effects associated with human
35 activities on ecosystems. Adapted from ICES (2019).
768
1 The key functional steps of a CEA are:

2
3 (i) To define and map the values of the marine system being assessed
4
5 This first step of an assessment identifies the values of importance in the location of the
6 assessment and their spatio-temporal distribution within the assessment area. Values can be
7 ecological, social, economic or cultural in nature.
8
9 (ii) To define and map the activities placing pressures on the marine system (stressors)
10
11 Identifying a tangible expression of the potential cumulative impacts involves confirmation
12 that the system value and the pressure do indeed interact. This requires that disturbances and
13 activities potentially placing pressures on the marine system in the area of the assessment be
14 identified, and the nature of pressure (e.g. direct, indirect, continuous, pulse) and their spatio-
15 temporal distribution be mapped. This is a key factor within CEAs. Many activities or
16 disturbances concentrated in a small area over a short time can result in pressures or stressors
17 that cumulate due to a crowding effect. An area may be resilient against some level of
18 disturbance, but if that level is exceeded faster than the natural recovery rate, then the
19 disturbance could exceed an ecological or societal threshold for a valued component
20 (Johnson, 2016). Further, the effects of pressures can disperse from the activity area, resulting
21 in a lagged effect on areas outside the immediate footprint of the activity. As a result, the
22 extent, dispersal, frequency and persistence of pressures associated with an activity need to
23 be accounted for when assessing exposure to risk (Borgwardt and others, 2019). In addition,
24 all potential stressors within and adjacent to the area of the assessment should be considered
25 in order to identify potential emerging risks.
26
27 There are many approaches that can be used to map both values and stressors, such as GIS,
28 spatial interpolation and dynamic models, and multiple approaches to how the spatial and
29 temporal extent of both might be defined (e.g. Andersen and others, 2013; Robinson and
30 others, 2013; Borgwardt and others, 2019; Dunstan and others, 2019). Because of the varying
31 nature of values and stressors and their measurement, the data or information that might be
32 available to contribute to the mapping process, it is unlikely that a single approach will be
33 appropriate in all circumstances. Rather, the approach undertaken should be appropriate for
34 the data available (including its complexity) capture the spatio-temporal components of the
35 data appropriately and address any uncertainties, biases or assumptions associated with those
36 data.
37
38 (iii) Conceptually to link pressures and values
39
40 Conceptual approaches (e.g. models identifying impact pathways) can then be used to link
41 the values (ecological, social, economic and cultural) identified for the environment and the
42 various potential activities and stressors in the assessment area (e.g. Dambacher and others,
43 2009; Anthony and others, 2013). How components and processes in the marine environment
44 are related, how natural and anthropogenic pressures can affect the system, and knowledge
45 gaps and key uncertainties in the system are identified. Ideally, consideration of the nature of
46 potential interactions between pressures caused by multiple stressors is included, recognizing
47 that interactions may be nonlinear and that they may be synergistic or antagonistic in nature
48 (see section 2 above).
769
1 (iv) To assess risk and uncertainty

2
3 Once the pathways for the effects of pressures on values are understood, the scale of the
4 effect on the value can be mapped so that the level of exposure resulting from different
5 stressors are integrated across their individual spatial extents - their “zones of influence” (e.g.
6 Figure 2; Anthony and others, 2013). The risk to the value associated with impacts caused by
7 the pressure and associated uncertainty can then be estimated, while noting that, often, the
8 limited understanding of both the value and the pressures is, in itself, also a source of
9 uncertainty. Estimation of risk needs to be capable of capturing the complexity of the system
10 components, the interactions with the activities and the uncertainties associated, and then
11 incorporate the relevant spatial and temporal distributions of any consequences, both positive
12 and negative in nature (e.g. Gregory and others, 2012; Stock and Micheli, 2016).
13 Figure 2. A conceptual model illustrating zones of influence for two examples of point sources: (A) river run-
14 off from catchments and (B) urban or port development. From Anthony and others (2013).
15
16 (v) To validate
17
18 Finally, where possible, the networks of interactions, maps of risk and cumulative effects
19 should be verified observationally (though, in practice, this has occurred relatively rarely; see
20 Halpern and Fujita (2013)). In order to facilitate such validation, risk assessments need to be
21 reported in such a way that they can be observable, that is, measured and mapped in the field.
22
23 One framework in which these steps could be conceptually carried out, that is useful for
24 developing quantitative models for estimating effects, and that is also useful for the purpose
25 of communication with policy makers and other decision makers, is the Driver-Pressure-
26 State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework (Smeets and Weterings, 1999; Elliott and others,
27 2017). This framework is based on the concept that drivers (underlying natural and human-
28 caused forces) exert pressures (immediate factors) on the environment that lead to changes in
29 the state of the environment. To be operational, a CEA should also explicitly include an
30 evaluation of the effectiveness of management measures (Cormier and others, 2018;
31 Stelzenmüller and others, 2018), particularly in, first, quantifying the effects of any
32 management measures on pressures and their resulting impacts and, second, identifying how
33 management measures might be modified to further reduce those pressures and resulting
34 impacts. As yet, however, most CEAs lack linkages between an assessment of cumulative
35 effects and the management measures that might regulate the activities causing the respective
36 pressures (Hayes and others, 2015; Cormier and others, 2017). Further, most widely accepted
770
1 CEA methods consider that the provision of ecosystem services and estimates of
2 sociocultural effects are outside the remit of a CEA (ICES 2019).
3 3. Regional applications of CEAs on the marine environment -

4 distribution and approaches
5
6 Implementation of CEAs within marine systems has increased rapidly over the last couple of
7 decades, with applications in regional marine assessments, planning and regulatory processes
8 (Halpern and others, 2015; ICES, 2019). However, despite their increased use, assessments
9 following the same general steps outlined in Section B are largely lacking from areas outside
10 Europe and North America (Korpinen and Andersen, 2016; Table 1; Figure 3).
11 Figure 3. Global distribution of cumulative impact assessments implemented in marine ecosystems and published 2016-
12 2019, providing an update to those detailed in Korpinen and Andersen (2016). Numbers align with the summaries
13 provided in Table 1.
14 Recently, Korpinen and Andersen (2016) undertook a review of CEAs, in an effort to provide
15 an overview of the methods and practices associated with CEAs in the marine environment.
16 In particular, the review aimed to determine if different estimate variables used in CEAs were
17 comparable, and whether validation of the CEAs was reliable. Similar methodological
18 approaches were identified in half of the studies reviewed, with those studies based on the
19 method of Halpern and others (2008), although relatively few addressed the major
20 uncertainties with the use of such approaches as outlined in Halpern and Fujita (2013). The
21 review identified several key areas in which CEAs needed to be advanced, including
22 validating or benchmarking pressures, including accurate measures of temporal components
23 to human activities (many assumed that activities were long lasting and overlapped in time),
24 and accounting for historical impacts that have already modified the marine environment.
25
26 Building on this review, we have undertaken a review of literature published publicly in the
27 peer review literature since 2016 (by searching Scopus for the keywords “cumulative effect”
28 and “cumulative impact”) to provide an updated summary of assessments. In so doing, we
29 provide an overview of each approach and the outputs from each CEA (Table 1).
771
1 Key insights gained from an updated review are that:

2
3 • Assessment approaches need to be contextually based. So, while approaches
4 should include the functional steps outlined here, development of approaches
5 needs to consider the values being assessed, the data available for undertaking a
6 CEA, the uncertainties associated with those data and the specific management
7 objectives in undertaking the assessment.
8 • Assessments need to incorporate the extent and spatial variability in data and
9 associated uncertainty not only to ensure robust outputs from CEAs, but also to
10 focus where knowledge gaps might lie and where future efforts should be placed
11 for improving assessments and reducing uncertainties.
12 • Most CEAs lack experimentally or observation-based measures of sensitivity of
13 ecosystem components to the effects of stressors, so the outputs of assessments
14 should be verified observationally.
15 • Many assessments continue to provide a single point assessment of cumulative
16 effects, rather than repeated assessments that might provide information on
17 changes in cumulative effects through time (i.e. trends).
18 • In order to ensure uptake into the decision-making processes, CEAs should
19 incorporate linkages between an assessment of cumulative effects and the
20 management measures that might regulate the activities causing the respective
21 pressures. Many continue to lack these linkages. In association, few assessments
22 consider evaluation of the implementation of management measures on activities
23 causing the respective pressures and cumulative effects on the environment.
24 • Assessments linked to management and regulatory processes, in most cases,
25 consider only the effects of activities within the area under regulation and do not
26 account for the dispersal of effects beyond the area being assessed (i.e. regional
27 and/or ecosystem-scale effects). It is, therefore, important that spatial separation
28 of activity location and pressure effect is considered (see also Stephenson and
29 others, 2019).
30 • Clear communication of risk and the uncertainties associated with estimates of
31 risk is needed for maximal uptake of CEAs into decision-making processes.
32 Assessments need explicitly to describe the causes and consequences of
33 deleterious effects to help managers, stakeholders, scientists and engineers to
34 understand the causal pathways of risk.
35 • Implementation of CEAs is geographically biased to Europe and North America,
36 although it is encouraging to see publications of assessments from areas in which
37 no assessments had been identified in Korpinen and Andersen (2016). The
38 jurisdictions of many developing economies are still yet to see any level of formal
39 assessment beyond the general coverage of global analyses such as those by
40 Halpern and others (2015). This highlights clear capacity gaps and the need for the
41 development of approaches that (i) can be implemented in regions where data is
42 lacking; (ii) are easily implementable (both in terms of skills and time); (iii) can
43 be readily updated as new information or pressures are realized; and (iv) produce
44 outputs that can be readily understood and translatable to decision-making
45 processes.
46
47 Detailing the many approaches to CEA implemented in the marine environment globally is
48 beyond the scope of the present Chapter. Here we expand on approaches utilized in several
49 regions as examples of varying frameworks implemented in assessing cumulative effects.
772
1 3.1. Great Barrier Reef, Australia

2
3 The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has been identified as being under a range of pressures that
4 vary across local to global scales, including those associated with climate change, (cyclonic)
5 storms and flooding, nutrient and sediment run-off from land use, pollutants (including
6 pesticides, marine debris, plastics, nano-particles, noise and light), human uses of the marine
7 environment and disease (Uthicke and others, 2016). Overall reef health has been identified
8 as declining for some time (De’ath and others, 2012) and mass bleaching events that occurred
9 in 2016/2017 have reduced its health even further, with some sources concluding that the
10 northern portion of the reef has been permanently altered (Hughes and others, 2017).
11
12 The management of the GBR, carried out by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
13 (GBRMPA), has, since the park was proclaimed, been focused on control of multiple uses in
14 and around the region. Development of CEAs for the GBR has been an iterative process. The
15 first formal CEA conducted in 2012 used a combined cumulative impact and structured
16 decision-making (CISDM) framework that used both qualitative and probabilistic models to
17 consider the influence of a subset of cumulative stressors (nutrients, turbidity and
18 sedimentation, habitat erosion and climate change) on coral reefs and seagrass ecosystems
19 (Anthony and others, 2013). The framework incorporated a decision-making process that
20 allows for exploration of hypothetical management interventions, consequences and trade-
21 offs.
22
23 This CISDM approach has been further developed to incorporate statistical, ecotoxicological,
24 conceptual, semi-quantitative and quantitative mechanistic models, and structured decision
25 analyses to assess cumulative effects on coral reef environments (Uthicke and others, 2016).
26 Outputs from the framework included risk and exposure maps, and the assessment of pressure
27 and value thresholds for specific locations and ecological communities of interest. The
28 application of the framework resulted in the recognition that (i) linear changes are rare in
29 ecosystems; (ii) ecological thresholds and responses to multiple pressures are likely to change
30 over ecologically relevant time frames, through acclimation (which can ameliorate effects) or
31 dynamically compounding effects (that amplify responses); and (iii) predictions without
32 experimental or field confirmation of responses may lead to false conclusions and suboptimal
33 investment in management processes.
34
35 The approach of Uthicke and others (2016) goes beyond simply spatially layering the
36 distribution of stressors and assuming that the cumulative effects are linearly additive in
37 nature, as it allows for mechanistic understanding of non-linear interactions with management
38 implications. Specifically, when the approach was applied to 12 scenarios with varying
39 combinations of warming, sediment and nutrient influence, it identified that high and
40 prolonged periods (e.g. weeks to months) of turbidity is a key mortality risk agent for subtidal
41 corals through the effect of suppressing the energy balance and increasing the disease risk to
42 coral. It was noted that although turbidity can reduce bleaching risk, mortality is generally
43 higher under higher temperatures and nutrient loading. The results from the assessment
44 highlight the importance of improved coastal water quality management and associated
45 reductions in turbidity, nutrient loading and disease risks in supporting coral reef resilience.
46
47 Formal application of this CEA framework, with a set of guidelines for its implementation,
48 has only recently occurred (Dunstan and others, 2019). The involvement of the management
49 agency in the development of the framework has seen it underwritten into all future planning
50 and approval processes at the regional, or plan of management, level, as well as at the level of
773
1 specific development applications. This first (illustrative) application of the guidelines linked
2 data collected on shallow coral reef systems with spatial data on the distribution of pressures
3 through structural equation models, indicating a strong context dependence for the
4 cumulative effects (Dunstan and others, 2019). This highlighted the role of long-term
5 monitoring in informing assessments when evaluating cumulative effects.
6 3.2. North Sea

7
8 The North Sea ecosystem is one of the most impacted marine ecosystems in the world ocean
9 (Halpern and others, 2008), with multiple anthropogenic stressors associated with global and
10 regional developments, including coastal development and habitat loss, eutrophication,
11 pollution and fishing, affecting it (Emeis and others, 2015). In addition, the North Sea is a
12 climate change hotspot (Burrows and others, 2011; Holt and others, 2012) with dramatic
13 changes in food web structure and functioning reported in association with trends in sea level,
14 ocean temperatures and acidification (Reid and others, 2001; Beaugrand, 2003; Weijerman
15 and others, 2005; McQuatters-Gollop and others, 2007; Kenny and others, 2009; Lynam and
16 others, 2017). In particular, the fish community of the North Sea has been strongly impacted
17 by fishing and climate change, with rapid and substantial changes reported since 2000
18 (Engelhard and others, 2014; Fock and others, 2014; Sguotti and others, 2016; Frelat and
19 others, 2017).
20
21 Assessments investigating effects of human activities on ecosystem components of the North
22 Sea have largely comprised modelling studies focused on the effect of different demersal
23 fishing practices and derived aggregated measures of benthic disturbance by such practices
24 (Stelzenmüller and others, 2015; Rijnsdorp and others, 2016; Hiddink and others, 2019).
25 Only within the last decade has there been an increasing focus on assessing the combined
26 effect of human activities other than fishing on the marine environment. (Stelzenmüller and
27 others, 2010; Fock, 2011; Foden and others, 2011). This is not only due to limitations
28 associated with data that might be available for CEAs, but also the complex socio-ecological
29 interlinkages in the North Sea region, in no small part due to the multinational jurisdictions.
30
31 More recently, a greater emphasis has been placed on the development of approaches that not
32 only allow for the assessment of the cumulative effects of human activities, but also assess
33 those effects at considerably larger spatial scales than previously considered (Knights and
34 others, 2015; Piet and others, 2019) in order to produce more targeted advice for management
35 (Piet and others, 2017; Cormier and others, 2018). Approaches have included exposure-effect
36 risk assessments based on sector–pressure–ecological component linkage matrices (Knights
37 and others, 2015; Piet and others, 2019) and spatial mapping of activities/stressors and
38 ecosystem components combined with linkage pathways determined by expert elicitation
39 (Andersen and others, 2013) similar to that described by Halpern and others (2008). Results
40 from such assessment have identified key areas where cumulative effects are greatest, and the
41 stressors associated. As yet, however, a North Sea-wide assessment has not been undertaken.
42
43 An emerging approach to assessing cumulative effects within the region, particularly in the
44 context of management or regulation, comprises a framework which combines the conceptual
45 structuring of cause-effect pathways with a quantitative assessment of effects (Cormier and
46 others, 2018). This approach highlights the need to assess the effectiveness of management
47 measures in reducing human pressures in order to understand the prevailing cumulative
48 pressure load on distinct ecosystem components.
774
1 3.3. Other regions

2
3 As identified by the review presented here, few CEAs have been conducted outside North
4 America and Europe (Table 1). Examples of CEAs conducted elsewhere include those in the
5 Asian region, where an expert based step-wise decision logic process was used to score the
6 intensity of ten pressures (including urbanization; coastal, anchorage and port infrastructure;
7 sewage discharge; aquaculture; a gas platform; a saltern; and tourism) on Jiaozhou Bay in
8 China (Wu and others, 2016). The weighted outputs were then combined with distance
9 measures calculated using geographic information system software to produce maps that
10 represented the sum of the cumulative effects. In Hong Kong, a similar approach was taken to
11 look at the potential implications for the survivorship of the local population of Indo-Pacific
12 humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) (Marcotte and others, 2015). In this case, however, the
13 weighting was done in terms of the severity of each effect on dolphin survival.
14
15 Beyond these explicit examples of CEAs, other related or precursor assessments exist for
16 Asian and Latin American locations, highlighting that a wider number of CEAs could be
17 undertaken in these regions. For example, the Integrated Fisheries Risk Analysis Method for
18 Ecosystems (IFRAME) approach developed by Zhang and others (2011) to look at the
19 performance of fisheries management strategies in terms of the goals of an ecosystem
20 approach to management could easily be extended beyond fisheries to other human activities.
21 This approach explicitly considers aspects of the local fish stocks, habitats, biodiversity
22 measures and fisheries economic indicators. Importantly, it considers the kinds of pressures
23 fisheries place on ecosystems. It is at this point that the approach could be extended to other
24 activities as a means of creating a CEA. Dynamic process-based models explicitly bringing
25 together multiple human activities, including fisheries, aquaculture, urban development,
26 marine transport, mining, forestry, agriculture and tourism, to explore the implications for the
27 future management, development or expansion of sustainable aquaculture in Patagonian
28 Chile could also be used as a basis for CEA (Steven and others, 2019).
29
30 4. Outlook
31
32 Most CEAs undertaken to date have focused on assessing activities that have already been
33 carried out and effects that have already occurred in the marine environment. There is a
34 growing enthusiasm to move to assessments that allow foresighting and prediction, so as to
35 inform future planning of activities or adaptive and anticipatory management approaches
36 (e.g. Lukic and others, 2018; see also Chapter 29 of the present assessment on marine spatial
37 planning). The global economic contribution by marine industries is projected to double by
38 2030 (OECD, 2016), reaching as much as 3 trillion United States dollars, with exponential
39 (or similar) increases in their footprint and interactions (McCauley and others, 2015; Plagányi
40 and Fulton, 2017). Avoiding undesirable outcomes and a degradation in the values of marine
41 systems will require informative CEAs feeding into adaptive management and evidence-
42 based decision making. Dynamic research languages, methods and models spanning across
43 disciplines will be required in order to achieve this, the development of which is not
44 straightforward and will require substantial effort, particularly in forecasting each stressor
45 into the future in a spatially and temporally explicit way, and accounting for the changing
46 nature of interactions among the stressors. Although a unified and broadly applicable
47 forward-looking CEA methodology is most probably not feasible at least in the near future,
48 due to the inherent difficulties in addressing key uncertainties in future projections, the
49 improvement of guidelines and best practices to facilitate such CEA approaches will provide
50 a useful step forward in this regard.
775
1 Whether forward or rearward looking, there is growing agreement that the methods
2 associated with CEAs need to expand from consideration of the multiple effects of single
3 development activities or the accumulation of effects of multiple similar activities within a
4 single industrial sector to the combined effects of all pressures on marine ecosystems.
5 Modelling frameworks such as those detailed above have identified that non-linear responses
6 are common in marine systems and synergistic and antagonistic effects play strong roles in
7 shaping the environment (Crain and others, 2008; Hunsicker and others, 2016; Uthicke and
8 others, 2016). There is therefore a need for improving capacity in the use of conceptual and
9 statistical modelling approaches that allow for mechanistic understanding of non-linear
10 interactions between stressors, non-additive effects on marine environment and responses of
11 the marine environment as a result. Again, it is recognized that the development of such
12 approaches is not straightforward and will require substantial effort. Improvement of
13 guidelines and best practices to facilitate such CEA approaches and commitment to building
14 capacity in their application and use will provide a useful step forward in this regard.
15 Meta-analyses (e.g. Crain and others, 2008) are helping researchers to understand the
16 prevalence of additive, synergistic and antagonistic interactions, while statistical approaches
17 are helping to identify the presence and nature of non-additive interactions (e.g. Teichert and
18 others, 2016). In addition, there have been significant advances in the handling of uncertainty
19 in assessments (e.g. Rochet and others, 2010; Foster and others, 2014; Gissi and others, 2017)
20 and some progress in defining thresholds and reference points to use in assessments, though
21 these can be somewhat subjective as they are defined by societal objectives (e.g. Samhouri
22 and Levin, 2012; Samhouri and others, 2012; Large and others, 2015; Samhouri and others,
23 2017). Incorporation of uncertainty not only allows for more robust interpretation of the
24 outputs of assessments, it also facilitates an adaptive management process and identifies
25 research priorities to fill knowledge gaps for continuing improvement to management.
26
27 Ultimately, to increase the geographical spread of CEA, future effort has to address the
28 development of approaches that can be applied, particularly in data-poor situations and that
29 produce outputs that can be readily understood and translated into decision-making processes.
30 This would better equip decision makers to deal with the dynamic nature of rapidly changing
31 marine ecosystems, where the mixes and relative dominance of the different pressures will
32 change through time and space.
776
1 Table 1. Summary of cumulative effects assessments, works published 2016–2019. Map numbers are presented
2 in Figure 3.
Map Country Region Assessment Objectives Assessment References

No. approach result
1 Australia South Pacific Qualitative Map scientific Overall the Great Grech and others
Ocean conceptual understanding Barrier Reef is (2011); Marzloff and
models, Bayes of coral habitats continuing to others (2016);
nets, statistical and identify decline in state; Uthicke and others
models, gaps, identify considerations for (2016); Bessell-
mechanistic limitations of conducting CEAs Browne and others
models, index extant (including (2017); Richards and
calculation, assessment uncertainties and Day (2018); Dunstan
literature methods; assess biases) and and others (2019)
review the impact of recommendations
prawn trawling; for advancing
identify impacts CEAs, including
affecting reef developing
habitats and assessment
communities; frameworks for
assess response application across a
of coral to range of activities
ocean warming and area;
and identifying
sedimentation; knowledge gaps;
identify under redistribution of
climate change multiple species
scenarios the can induce trophic
cumulative cascades and
effects of negatively impact
multiple range ecosystem
shifting species dynamics and
and evaluate productivity
management
responses
2 Australia South Pacific Spatial Evaluate the A bycatch Riskas and others
Ocean, Indian mapping cumulative “hotspot” was (2016)
Ocean patterns in sea identified in the
turtle bycatch Gulf of Carpentaria
where multiple
species were
impacted by
commercial
fisheries
3 Australia Indian Ocean Spatial Assess Assessing experts’ Jones and others
mapping cumulative uncertainty makes (2018)
effects on CEA more
marine transparent and
environment robust for
while capturing management
uncertainty in implementation
expert
elicitation
777
4 Brazil South Atlantic Spatial Assess Exposure to Magris and others

Ocean mapping, exposure of cumulative effects (2018)
index coral reefs to varied spatially and
calculation cumulative in terms of the
effects of types of stressors
human coral reefs were
activities exposed to. Areas
of highest exposure
were closest to
population centres
5 Canada North Atlantic Species Assess the Species Stortini and others
Ocean distribution impact of ocean distributions were (2017)
models warming and projected to change
decreases in substantially across
oxygen on three 20-30 years in
marine species varying ways
6 Canada/USA North Pacific Spatial Assess the Bottom trawling De Leo and others
Ocean mapping, impacts of influences deep- (2017); Dethier and
statistical dissolved water benthos even others (2016); Ellison
models oxygen where communities and others (2016)
concentrations are being shaped by
and bottom strong
trawling along environmental
a depth gradients; shoreline
gradient; assess armoring can
the impacts of contribute to
sea shore cumulative effects;
armoring; marine mammals
assess the are predicted to
impacts of avoid or be injured
marine noise by loud marine
noise
7 China North Pacific Literature Qualitative Ecosystem based Qian and others
Ocean review, review of management is (2017; Zhao and
statistical potential needed for others (2016); Ma and
models, stressors sustainable others (2017)
numerical contributing to development of
models fishery fisheries; individual
declines; assess and cumulative
the cumulative effects of Cadmium
effects of and PHE on
metals and bacterial
polycyclic assemblages were
aromatic temporally variable
hydrocarbons and antagonistic in
on the early stages of
bacterioplankto exposure;
n communities; restoration projects
assess the improved water
cumulative quality but were
effects of often implemented
restoration within single
projects on objective
water quality frameworks and did
778
not account for

other activities
reducing water
quality
8 Europe/Africa Mediterranean Meta-analysis, Map and Current Coll and others

Sea and Black expert calculate conservation (2016); Katsanevakis
Sea elicitation, cumulative initiatives are and others (2016);
estimation of impacts inadequate to deal Ben Rais Lasram and
uncertainty, associated with with cumulative others (2016);
regression a range of threats in Tunisia Corrales and others
models, index human EEZ; estimates of (2017); Depellegrin
calculation, activities, uncertainty of and others (2017);
spatial invasive species impacts highly Gerakaris and others
mapping, and effects on variable with (2017); Gissi and
mechanistic biodiversity impacts on only a others (2017); Trop
models, values. few areas of the (2017); Bevilacqua
statistical Adriatic/Ionian and others (2018);
models Seas robustly Brodersen and others
identified; the (2018); Corrales and
cumulative effects others (2018)
of extraction and
dumping of marine
sand are
overlooked; the
modelled
importance of
drivers of observed
degradation on
coralline outcrops
did not agree with
expert elicitation
outputs.
9 Europe North Atlantic Biological Assess the Sensitivity of Merchant and others
Ocean traits analysis, cumulative habitats to activities (2017); Johnson and
spatial impact of five varies with others (2018); Kenny
mapping, marine sectors placement of hard and others (2018)
expert on benthic structures onto
elicitation, communities; benthic habitats
meta-analysis, assess the causing significant
spatial influence of changes in
analysis, index climate change biological and
calculation on area-based functional traits;
management climate change is
tools in high projected to reduce
seas areas; the usefulness of
assess the area-based
cumulative management tool in
effects of noise high sea areas; high
on two species exposure risk areas
were identified for
the two species
10 Europe Baltic Sea GIS-based Conduct visual Sheltered coastal Depellegrin (2016)
viewshape impact areas of complex
model assessment of geomorphological
cumulative features have
779
pressures highest potential

caused by visual impacts
existing and
planned
anthropogenic
activities
11 Global Global Literature Review of Considerations for Borja and others

review, meta- CEAs across a conducting CEAs (2016); Briscoe and
analysis, range of (including others (2016);
spatial anthropogenic uncertainties and Hazeem and others
analysis, activities and biases) and (2016); Lucke (2016);
statistical including social recommendations Lundquist and others
models and for advancing (2016); Davies and
management CEAs, including others (2017); Foley
objectives; developing and others (2017);
assess the assessment Green and others
capacity of frameworks for (2017); Le and others
large MPAs to application across a (2017); Willsteed and
protect range of activities others (2017);
ecosystems and areas, Faulkner and others
from identifying (2018); Stelzenmüller
cumulative knowledge gaps and others (2018)
impacts; assess
vulnerability of
deep-sea
ecosystem
services to deep
sea mining;
assess the
cumulative
effects on the
marine
environment
generated
through oil
sands
production and
transport.
12 Greenland Arctic Ocean Spatial Assess There is high Andersen and others
mapping cumulative overlap between (2017)
effects of stressors and key
multiple species along the
stressors on west coast of
biodiversity Greenland,
values highlighting this
area in need of
future management
and protection.
13 Indonesia South Pacific Expert- Assess the Complex Hoshino and others
Ocean elicitation, interactions of interrelationships (2016)
Bayesian social, between
belief economic and community
networks environmental perceptions of
factors fishing and tourism
influencing and associated
780
fishing conflicts influenced

activities and the social economic
effectiveness of and environmental
customary outcomes of
marine tenure customary marine
tenure.
14 Indonesia Indian Ocean Semi- Assess the Fishing, climate Battista and others
quantitative cumulative risk change and coastal (2017)
risk scoring to marine development pose
ecosystem of a the greatest risk to
range of human marine ecosystems
activities
15 Ireland North Atlantic Statistical Assess the The occurrence of Culloch and others
Ocean models impact of three species was (2016)
vessel and reduced in
construction- association with
related activity vessel and
on marine construction-related
mammals activity
16 Kenya Indian Ocean Statistical Assess the The presence of Pérez-Jorge and
models cumulative tourist boats others (2017)
effects of the affected the
presence of behavioural
tourist boats on budgets of dolphins
a population of although at current
Indo-Pacific levels the
dolphins cumulative effects
were not significant
17 New Zealand South Pacific Literature Assess Considerations for Thrush and others
Ocean review, meta- interdependenci identifying risks (2016), Singh and
analysis, es in science- and others (2017)
expert governance- recommendations
elicitation society to for risk
identify risks in assessments; total
marine cumulative impacts
ecosystems; were severe for all
assess the ecosystem services
importance and considered with
magnitude of climate change,
impacts by commercial fishing,
various sedimentation and
activities and pollution
stressors on contributing the
ecosystem most
services
18 Philippines North Pacific Semi- Assess the Fishing and climate Battista and others
Ocean quantitative cumulative risk change pose the (2017)
risk scoring to marine greatest risks to
ecosystem of a marine ecosystems
range of human
activities
19 Portugal North Atlantic Spatial Assess the The Portuguese da Luz Fernandes and
781
Ocean mapping interactions maritime space is others (2017)

between a experiencing high
range of human cumulative impacts
activities and caused by human
the marine activities,
environment particularly near
the coast
20 South Africa Atlantic Ocean, Statistical Describe Bioregional Roberson and others
Indian Ocean Models pelagic analysis identified (2017)
bioregions for three key
defining bioregions and a
regions of number of
marine spatial subregions as a
planning framework for
ecosystem
reporting and
systematic
conservation
planning
21 USA North Atlantic Mechanistic Simulate the Temperature Ihde and Townsend
Ocean models effects of increases have the (2017)
multiple highest impacts on
stressors on the system
marine living productivity
resources
22 USA North Pacific Spatial Map potential Intense land- and Micheli and others
Ocean mapping, impacts of ocean-based (2016); Mach and
statistical single and impacts affect the others (2017);
models multiple majority of MPAs Saarman and others
stressors across with climate (2018)
the Marine stressors having the
Protected Area greatest impacts;
(MPA) recommendations
network; assess for a decision-
the making framework
appropriateness for assessing
of scientific scientific activities;
activities on impacts associated
habitats and with storm and
communities in trampling occurred
MPAs; assess across similar
the cumulative species thereby
effects of storm identifying
events and vulnerable species,
trampling on with disturbances
intertidal having additive
ecosystems effects
782
Acknowledgements
The writing team would like to thank Nicole Stollberg, Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries,
Bremerhaven, Germany, for developing Figure 1 and the three peer reviewers for providing
comments that helped to improve the present Chapter.
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PART 6: TRENDS IN MANAGEMENT APPROACHES TO THE MARINE

ENVIRONMENT
Chapter 29
Developments in Marine Spatial Planning
Convenor: Alan Simcock; Contributors: Jarbas Bonetti, Louis Celliers, Karen Evans (Co-
Lead Member), Leandra Gonçalves, Marcus Polette, Julian Reyna, Ca Thanh Vu (Co-Lead
Member)
1 Keynote points
2
3 • The growing scale of human activities and the associated impacts on the marine
4 environment mean that conflicts are increasingly occurring between different uses of
5 the ocean. Marine spatial planning is an effective way of resolving such conflicts.
6 • Over the past two decades, marine spatial planning has been instituted to a growing
7 extent in many jurisdictions, in a variety of forms: some are simply zoning plans;
8 others include more complex management systems.
9 • The legal status of marine spatial planning varies between jurisdictions: in some it is
10 guidance to be taken into account; in others it has legal force constraining specific
11 management decisions.
12 • In general, marine spatial planning has been most effective where it has been
13 developed with the involvement of all relevant authorities and stakeholders.
14
15 1. Introduction
16
17 As noted in the summary of the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations,
18 2017), “human activities now have so many and such great impacts on the ocean that the
19 limits of its carrying capacity are being (or, in some cases, have been) reached”. The causes
20 of these impacts include both the intensification and extension into new areas of traditional
21 uses of the sea and also the development of new uses. Increasingly, the use of ocean space
22 cannot be taken for granted, and uses will tend to conflict with each other, especially in
23 coastal zones. The present Chapter discusses the role of marine spatial planning (MSP) as an
24 approach aimed at planning and managing such potential conflicts.
25
26 The demands for goods and services from areas of the sea within national jurisdiction often
27 exceed the capacity of those areas to meet all the demands. In the absence of special
28 regulatory regimes, marine resources are often subject to excessive exploitation, and other
29 uses of the sea (such as inputs of waste) can degrade the marine environment. The
30 externalities of such exploitation and uses are often not considered within relevant market
31 systems, and there can be a need to identify efficient trade-offs in the allocation of sea uses.
32 A public process may, therefore, be desirable to reconcile all these factors.
33
34 At the same time, there has been increasing realization of the importance of the ocean for
35 achieving sustainable development. Many countries have developed programmes to ensure
790
1 the sustainable use of their marine resources in order to achieve the Sustainable Development
2 Goals285 (INTOSAI, 2019).
3
4 1.1. Marine spatial planning in the First World Ocean Assessment
5 (WOA I)
6
7 Marine spatial planning (MSP) was not treated as a standalone topic in the First World Ocean
8 Assessment (WOA I), though its relevance was noted in the chapters on ecosystem services,
9 land-sea physical interactions, marine renewable energy and offshore hydrocarbon
10 development, and fisheries. Marine spatial planning was defined as “the public process of
11 analysing and allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in marine
12 areas to achieve ecological, economic, and social objectives that are usually specified through
13 a political process”. It was noted that MSP is linked to a number of other tools and
14 approaches that have the potential to assist in managing conflicts among diverse stakeholders
15 through participation, such as ecosystem-based management, marine protected areas and the
16 ecosystem approach to fisheries.
17
18 2. Types of marine spatial planning
19
20 Marine spatial planning is in its infancy as a field of research. Therefore, there is not as yet
21 wide agreement about the nature of MSP or how it should be evaluated. However, the
22 relationship between MSP and terms such as ecosystem-based management, sea use
23 management, and ocean zoning has been clarified (Ehler and Douvere, 2009).
24
25 The concept of marine spatial planning covers a spectrum of processes. At its most basic, it
26 may involve simply the production of a plan allotting zones to different activities. At the
27 other end of the spectrum, it may provide a complex system for planning activities in the
28 ocean, including elements of planning, management, licensing and enforcement. Decisions on
29 what type of MSP is appropriate in what areas take account of the range and intensity of
30 pressures on the ocean, the national and local administrative frameworks and the level of
31 economic development (Douvere and Ehler, 2009).
32
33 Many States have already implemented some forms of development control over land, which
34 constrain the abilities of landowners to develop and change the use of their properties. The
35 precise extent of such controls varies (OECD, 2017). Most countries also have systems set up
36 to regulate coastal and maritime activities. A review by the OSPAR Commission for the
37 Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic identified the following
38 aspects as those that could be covered by MSP: coastal defences and land reclamation;
39 dumping; fisheries; harbour works and navigational dredging; marine aquaculture; seabed
40 minerals other than oil and gas; nature protection; navigation; offshore oil and gas; pipelines
41 and cables; recreation (including bathing and pleasure boats); underwater cultural heritage;
42 wind and wave energy; and wrecks and other historic features (OSPAR, 2009).
43
44 In addition, many States have instituted systems to promote the use of the sea and marine
45 resources for economic development. This is especially the case for exploration for, and
46 exploitation of, offshore hydrocarbons and for marine renewable energy installations.
47 However, the socioeconomic aspects of MSP can extend well beyond simple planning of the
285
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1 location of offshore installations and can also cover consideration of the way in which to
2 enhance the maritime sectors of the coastal economy and the gross domestic household
3 incomes in the coastal communities (Jay, 2017).
4
5 It is clear from this wide range of regulatory and economic-development systems that there
6 rapidly develops a need to integrate these controls, so that they are not in conflict and allow a
7 coherent approach. This is where marine spatial planning becomes necessary (Ehler and
8 Douvere, 2009).
9
10 Given the wide range of potential elements to be covered in MSP, and the spectrum of types
11 of MSP, the resulting MSP systems vary widely, but attempts have been made to synthesize
12 good practices. One such attempt is the development of the guide “Marine spatial planning: A
13 step-by-step approach toward ecosystem-based management” by the United Nations
14 Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (Ehler and Douvere, 2009).
15
16 3. “Marine spatial planning: A Step-by-Step Approach toward
17 Ecosystem Management”
18
19 In the early 2000s, interest in marine spatial planning developed rapidly. The United Nations
20 Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization realized that marine spatial planning could
21 make a useful contribution both to the Man and Biosphere Programme and the work of the
22 UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. In 2006, a workshop on MSP was
23 organized, which led to the development of a guide to marine spatial planning (Ehler and
24 Douvere, 2009).
25
26 The guide recommends 10 steps for the MSP process. These steps are not a linear process –
27 feed-back loops, and opportunities for review and revision as the process is implemented
28 should be built in from the beginning (Ehler and Douvere, 2009):
29
30 Step 1: Identifying need and establishing authority: This includes formulating clearly
31 why MSP is needed, and establishing appropriate authority to plan for and to
32 implement MSP. In most MSP initiatives around the world, a new authority is often
33 established for MSP, while implementation is carried out through existing authorities
34 and institutions;
35
36 Step 2: Obtaining financial support: This includes preparing a financial plan that
37 estimates the costs involved in developing and implementing MSP, and identifying
38 sources to meet those costs. The identification of alternative sources tends to be
39 necessary as agencies are often given responsibilities to undertake MSP activities
40 without receiving additional funds. In many cases, some form of fee or charge on the
41 activities authorized under the plan will be appropriate;
42
43 Step 3: Organizing the process through pre-planning: MSP requires substantial
44 preparation, including to assemble a multidisciplinary team to develop a work plan,
45 defining the boundaries, time frame, principles, goals and objectives, and identifying
46 risks and developing contingency plans;
47
48 Step 4: Organizing stakeholder participation: Involving key stakeholders in the
49 development of MSP is essential, in particular because MSP aims to achieve a number
50 of social, economic and ecological objectives and should therefore reflect as many
792
1 expectations, opportunities or conflicts in the area under consideration. This step

2 includes defining who should be involved, and when and how they should be involved
3 in the MSP process;
4
5 Step 5: Defining and analysing existing conditions: It is essential to know a sea area to
6 create a useful marine spatial plan for it. The preparation of inventories of relevant
7 information is therefore important to the creation of an MSP. The inventories should
8 include information about ecological, environmental and oceanographic conditions,
9 and on human activities in the area, which would be mapped on to the area being
10 planned. Then, conflicts and compatibilities among existing human uses and between
11 those uses and the protection and preservation of the marine environment need to be
12 identified;
13
14 Step 6: Defining and analysing future conditions: This includes evaluating the likely
15 future development of the sea area if no changes are made (“business as usual”),
16 estimating the effect of new demands for ocean space, and identifying alternative
17 scenarios for the future of the area. The outcome of this step is the selection of a
18 preferred scenario towards which MSP will work;
19
20 Step 7: Preparing and approving the spatial management plan: Within this step, a
21 marine spatial management plan should be developed to identify specific management
22 measures that can deliver the preferred scenario, specifying criteria for selecting
23 measures, and developing a zoning plan, then evaluating and approving the spatial
24 management plan through a formal process;
25
26 Step 8: Implementing and enforcing the spatial management plan: At this stage, the
27 planning phase ends and the implementation phase begins. Relevant institutions
28 would carry out actions towards implementation, and ensure compliance with the
29 marine spatial management plan, including through enforcement actions. These
30 activities require continuing new information on what is actually happening in the sea
31 area being planned, and action by a wide range of institutions to gather, evaluate and
32 respond to that information;
33
34 Step 9: Monitoring and evaluating performance: As with all policy activities, there is a
35 need to revisit the conclusions that have been adopted and see what progress is being
36 achieved. For MSP, an assessment of the state of the environmental system is relevant
37 in addition to the measurement of the performance of management measures;
38
39 Step 10: Adapting the marine spatial management process: The results from the
40 monitoring and evaluation would be used to adapt MSP and management so that the
41 actions dictated by the plan have their intended effects.
42
43 The MSP may need to include, or be accompanied by, an investment and development plan
44 to provide the infrastructure, equipment and (above all) the skilled people needed to ensure
45 the desired economic development of the “blue economy” (Schultz-Zehden and others,
46 2019).
47
48 4. Tools for marine spatial planning
49
50 A distinction can be made between MSP as a process to produce a plan for marine space and
793
1 the further development, based on such planning, of systems for managing human impacts on
2 the ocean through the planning, management, licensing, regulation, surveillance and
3 enforcement of human activities. Management approaches are considered in Chapter 30 of
4 the present Assessment.
5
6 As noted above, information about ecological, environmental and oceanographic conditions
7 of the sea area for which an MSP is being developed is an essential basis for this work.
8 Habitat mapping is therefore a necessary tool: if the current state of the natural marine
9 environment is not known in some detail, the possible effects of both policies and individual
10 projects can be little more than guesswork. For the benthic layer, improvements in echo-
11 sounding techniques – in particular in allowing whole swathes of seabed to be explored in a
12 single sweep – have permitted since the early 2000s much better resolution of seabed
13 exploration. Geophysical techniques (multibeam, side-scan, seismic) may allow the
14 recognition of the nature of the seabed (mud, sand, gravel or rock), the nature of the rock and
15 the thickness of sedimentation to be ascertained thoroughly, and link it to what is known
16 about the plants and biota that it supports. These techniques are providing a mass of new
17 information to support MSP and other marine policymaking (Colenutt and others, 2013).
18
19 Habitat mapping does not give a comprehensive view of the ecology of the ecosystems
20 inhabiting the various habitats. In more developed MSP systems, therefore, an ecosystem
21 overview is usually one of the bases of the planning system. An example of this is the
22 Ecosystem Overview of the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (Lucas and
23 others, 2007). This report covered geology, meteorology and climate, physical and chemical
24 oceanography, plankton, marine plants, invertebrates, fish, marine mammals, marine turtles
25 and seabirds.
26
27 Similarly, where fisheries are included as part of the MSP process, it will be desirable to
28 incorporate temporal and spatial knowledge of fish stocks and their exploitation. In France, a
29 method for incorporating fishers’ knowledge has been developed to ensure that these
30 aspects can be brought into the MSP process (Trouillet and others, 2019).
31
32 A further significant tool is Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). SEAs aim to
33 ensure that relevant aspects are considered effectively in the development of policies, plans
34 and programmes, because it is often at this more general level that decisions are taken that
35 constrain specific projects. The techniques are not peculiar to marine environment policy.
36 Originally focused on environmental aspects, it has broadened to cover social and
37 sustainability issues as well. In China, the technique grew out of the long-established
38 administrative process of environmental impact assessment for specific projects, and was
39 then embodied in the 2002 revision of the law on environmental assessment, which provided
40 for assessment of integrated plans for land use and regional development, development of
41 drainage areas and marine areas (Zhu and others, 2005).
42
43 In Europe, the technique grew out of the Espoo Convention,286 and is outlined in the 2003
44 Protocol thereto.287 The Protocol provides for six stages: screening, to determine whether
45 SEA is needed to implement a plan or programme; scoping to determine what information is
286
Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context; United Nations, Treaty
Series, vol. 1989, No. 34028.
287
Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in
a Transboundary Context; United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2685, No. 34028.
794
1 relevant to the environmental report; preparing an environmental report to identify, describe

2 and evaluate the likely effects of a planned activity; informing and consulting the public,
3 relevant authorities and any States likely to be affected; feeding the SEA into the decision-
4 making process; and monitoring the effects of plans and programmes after their
5 implementation. SEA is recognized by the World Bank as a key means of integrating
6 environmental and social considerations into policies, plans and programmes (World Bank,
7 2013), and incorporated into the management of development support by a number of States
8 in line with the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (OECD, 2006).
9
10 At the level of an individual project, a significant tool is Environmental Impact Assessment
11 (EIA), with the aim of ensuring that environmental consequences are taken into account
12 before a decision is made to start physical changes in the environment. A detailed description
13 of the form of this adopted for States across the whole of Europe can be found in the Espoo
14 Convention.
15
16 If the socioeconomic aspects are to be included, surveys of the maritime industrial sectors
17 that are local to the plan will be needed. There may be problems, however, in correlating the
18 relevant sectors with the area for which the plan is being prepared, since fishing vessels may
19 be based at distant ports and other out-of-area industries may impact on the plan zone. To
20 incorporate wider socioeconomic aspects, it can be appropriate to include a social survey of
21 communities involved with the sea area to be covered by the MSP process. In addition to
22 employment, such a survey may also (depending on the area) need to include cultural aspects,
23 indigenous rights and traditions and other traditional involvement of the communities with
24 the sea.
25
26 5. Progress in implementing marine spatial planning
27
28 5.1. Overview
29
30 All across the world, governments have developed – or, more commonly, are developing –
31 marine spatial plans. A “Joint Roadmap to accelerate Maritime/marine spatial planning
32 processes worldwide” was adopted during the Second International Conference on Maritime
33 Spatial Planning, organized by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and
34 the European Commission in March 2017 in Paris. This foresees the creation of an
35 international forum for discussion and exchanges on cross-border MSP at the international
36 level. Three workshops of the International MSP Forum have already taken place: in
37 Brussels, Belgium, on 24 and 25 May 2018; La Réunion from 26–29 March 2019; and Vigo,
38 Portugal, from 12–15 May 2019. These meetings build on a wide exchange of good practices
39 and interactive discussions in order to work towards the creation of international guidelines
40 on transboundary MSP (IOC, 2019).
41
42 Summarizing the IOC worldwide inventory of marine spatial planning (IOC, 2020), the
43 situation appears to be as follows:
795
Region Number of States Number of States with States concerned

with full or MSP planned, started
partial MSP or in progress
approved
Africa 10 Angola, Ghana, Kenya,
Madagascar, Mauretania,
Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia,
Seychelles, South Africa
Asia 3 China, Philippines, Viet Nam
3 Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand
Australia/Oceania 4 Australia, Kiribati, New
Zealand, Palau
4 Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga,
Vanuatu
Europe 6 Belgium,* Germany,* Latvia,*
Netherlands,* Norway, United
Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland
19 Bulgaria,* Croatia,* Cyprus,*
Denmark,* Estonia,* Finland,*
France,* Greece,* Iceland,
Ireland,* Italy,* Lithuania,*
Malta.* Poland,* Portugal,*
Romania,* Russian Federation,
Slovenia,* Spain,* Sweden*
Middle East 2 Israel, United Arab Emirates
The Americas 5 Antigua and Barbuda, Belize,
Canada, Mexico, United States
of America
9 Colombia, Dominica, Grenada,
Jamaica, St Kitts, St Lucia, St
Vincent and the Grenadines,
Trinidad and Tobago
1 Table 1. Number of States with full or partial MSP approved or planned, started or in progress, by region.
2 Source: IOC, 2019. Note: The 22 coastal States of the European Union (marked *) are committed to full
3 coverage of MSP in their waters by 2021.
4
5 In the Baltic Sea, efforts are being made to develop transboundary marine spatial planning.
6 The Regional Baltic MSP Roadmap 2013–2020 indicates the necessary steps to fulfil the goal
7 of drawing up and applying maritime spatial plans throughout the Baltic Sea region by 2020.
8 These are to be coherent across borders and are to apply the ecosystem approach.
9 Additionally, it requires the promotion of the creation and sharing of MSP relevant Baltic Sea
10 regional data sets. In order to facilitate a coherent MSP process, the Helsinki Commission has
11 developed guidelines for the implementation of an ecosystem-based approach in MSP in the
12 Baltic Sea area on transboundary consultations, public participation and cooperation, and
13 transboundary MSP output data structure (HELCOM, 2016).
14
15 5.2. Case study – Australia
16
17 Australia made an impressive start on MSP with the creation of the Great Barrier Reef
18 Marine Park (GBRMP) in 1975. Legislation defined the Great Barrier Reef Region and
19 established the GBRMP Authority that manages and protects the park. The GBRMP has
20 unique governance arrangements whereby the Authority liaises and coordinates policies with
21 other departments of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Queensland government. As
796
1 part of this arrangement, the GBRMP (also a World Heritage Area) extends from the low
2 water mark across the three nautical-mile-limit of Queensland jurisdiction out to the 200
3 nautical mile-limit of the exclusive economic zone of Australia. The park is managed on the
4 basis of ecologically sustainable principles, a zoning plan that includes multiple-use areas and
5 provides protection of biodiversity values through a network of no-take zones for 33 per cent
6 of its area and for at least 20 per cent of every bioregion (Vince, 2014). The Great Barrier
7 Reef Zoning Plan provides the cornerstone for management within the GBRMP
8 (Kenchington and Day, 2011), but many other integrated spatial and temporal management
9 tools and strategies are also in place (Day and others, 2019). Such an effective management
10 process, however, cannot insulate the GBRMP from pressures coming from outside Australia,
11 such as ocean warming and the resulting coral bleaching (see Chapter 7E of the present
12 Assessment).
13
14 Elsewhere in Australia, progress has been less straightforward. Efforts were started in 1998 to
15 develop an “integrated oceans strategy”. After a change of government, the goal was renamed
16 as a “national oceans policy”. To begin with, the aim was a “full integration” between the
17 various levels of government (particularly States and Commonwealth) and across the relevant
18 sectors. The GBRMP was suggested as a model for this oceans policy. However, that would
19 have required changes in legislative arrangements, which had been settled, after much
20 argument, in 1979 (OAGA-OCS, 1980), and so that model was not pursued. Effectively, the
21 national oceans policy provided a comprehensive review of each marine sector and the state
22 of the waters within the marine jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Australia. In 2004, a
23 South-East Regional Marine Plan was agreed, covering waters from southern New South
24 Wales to eastern South Australia, including Victoria and Tasmania. This foresaw
25 collaborative action over the next decade, leading to a review in 2014 (NOO, 2004).
26 However, little of this action developed, and the review was not held. In 2005, a new start
27 was made at Commonwealth level, focusing on marine bioregional plans (MBPs) for
28 Commonwealth waters. These MBPs were based on large ecosystems and described the
29 marine environment and conservation values of each marine region, set out broad
30 biodiversity objectives, identified regional priorities and outlined strategies and actions to
31 address these priorities by bringing together scientific knowledge and information and they
32 are intended to offer guidance for the relevant sectoral decisions (Vince and others, 2015).
33
34 5.3. Case study – Canada (Pacific coast)
35
36 The arrangements for MSP on the Pacific coast of Canada are interesting since they involve
37 organizations of the indigenous peoples – the First Nations. Canada first developed a
38 comprehensive approach to ocean management in the Oceans Act (Statutes of Canada, 1996,
39 c.31). This Act provided for an integrated approach to oceans management, based on the
40 development and implementation of marine integrated management plans. To support this, an
41 Oceans Strategy was published in 2002 and five priority regions for marine planning were
42 identified in 2005 in an Oceans Action Plan. This identified the Pacific North Coast
43 Integrated Management Area as one of five national Large Ocean Management Areas. The
44 governmental situation is complex, since it involves the Canadian Federal Government, the
45 British Columbia Provincial Government and 18 First Nations. Not surprisingly, progress
46 was slow. In 2005, some of the First Nations on the Pacific Coast began considering MSP as
47 one of a number of issues of common interest. This led eventually to the creation of the
48 Marine Planning Partnership for the Pacific Coast, which brought together the Provincial
49 Government and (eventually) 18 First Nations (Rodriguez, 2017). At the same time, the
50 Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans organized a thorough ecological overview of
797
1 the area, providing much of the basic material for planning (Lucas and others, 2007). The
2 plans are not considered as having a legal function, but set guidelines in partnership between
3 18 member First Nations and the Province of British Columbia. The plan has a zoning regime
4 which identifies areas important for biodiversity, general use and for the marine industry. The
5 four subregional plans have been synthesized into a regional action framework for the whole
6 planning area (Rodriguez, 2017). Finally, in 2017, the Federal Government joined the
7 process, thus extending it to cover Federal issues as well (PNICMA, 2017).
8
9 5.4. Case study – China
10
11 In China, marine functional zoning (MFZ) is considered as a practical form of MSP and was
12 introduced by the Chinese government as of 1988 (Feng and others, 2016; Kang and others,
13 2017). To institutionalize MFZ, the Law on the Administration of the Use of Sea Areas was
14 enacted in 2001. This law established principles for sea-use authorization, user fees and
15 marine functional zoning systems. According to the law, MFZ is based on dividing sea areas
16 (including islands) into different spatial areas for human activities, in the light of their
17 geographical and ecological features, natural resources, current usage and socioeconomic
18 development needs (Fang and others, 2018). So far, MFZ in China has passed through three
19 phases.
20
21 The first phase was from 1989 to 1993. At the beginning of this phase, a pilot MFZ project
22 was implemented in the Bohai Sea in 1990. After that, coastal provinces in China developed
23 and implemented their provincial MFZ from 1991 to 1997. The State Oceanic Administration
24 (SOA) developed the first national MFZ maps with a scale of 1:300,000 in nearshore areas of
25 the territorial sea in 1993.
26
27 The second phase of MFZ was from 1997 to 2002. In 1997, the Standardization
28 Administration of China released a Technical Directive for Marine Functional Zoning to
29 guide MFZ. A first MFZ plan was adopted in the same year by the local government of the
30 city of Xiamen. Based on the experience of the first phase, the SOA organized the second
31 phase of MFZ in 1998. This phase lasted until 2010. During this phase, in 1998, SOA
32 instructed all 11 coastal provinces of China to formulate a provincial MFZ plan. In 2001,
33 these were completed and, in 2002, the MFZ plans of 7 coastal provinces were approved. The
34 MFZ plans of all 11 coastal provinces of China had been approved by 2008 (Fang and others,
35 2018).
36
37 The third phase of MFZ in China began in 2011 and will last until 2020. In this phase, the
38 MFZ is divided into three levels so that the entire maritime area of China is covered (Huang
39 and others, 2019). At the first level, the seas of China are divided into five geographic
40 regions: the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and the
41 Taiwan Straits. The second level is the MFZ at the provincial level, and the third level is the
42 municipal level MFZ (IOC, 2020).
43
44 The MFZ has helped China to better achieve sustainable development of its seas and coasts
45 (Fang and others, 2018; Huang and others, 2019). However, there are shortcomings, which
46 indicate needs for improvement. Implementation of MFZ in China needs better coordination
47 between maritime and land planning, better resolution of conflicts between stakeholders,
48 better monitoring and evaluation, and more effective participation of stakeholders (Feng and
49 others, 2016; Liu and Xing, 2019). In practice, MFZ is only a zoning tool of marine spatial
50 planning for multiple marine spatial users (Feng and others, 2016; Kang and others, 2017).
798
1 Huang and others (2019) found that the MFZ formulation and implementation process in
2 China is essentially top-down management, which led to two issues: low applicability due to
3 deficiencies in marine spatial zone classification; and lack of consistency due to lower
4 (municipal) levels having to work within different sea-use areas specified on smaller scale
5 maps set by the provincial authorities. MFZ in China lacks implementation plans and does
6 not ensure management of cumulative impacts of the different sectors. It does not seem to
7 have stopped the degradation of coastal and marine natural resources and ecological systems,
8 thus leaving the environment still polluted (Kang and others, 2017).
9
10 5.5 Case study – European Union
11
12 Following on from the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008), the European Union
13 decided in 2014 to adopt a directive requiring its coastal member States to develop and
14 implement maritime spatial plans for their waters (EU, 2014). The national legislation for this
15 was to be adopted by 2016, and Maritime Spatial Plans for all the waters covered by the
16 directive are to be in place by 2021. The Plans are not to include coastal waters covered by
17 town and country planning systems, and are not to deal with land/sea interactions, though the
18 results of national decisions on these are to be reflected in the Plans. The planning is to take
19 into account all the relevant human activities and uses, including: aquaculture areas, fishing
20 areas, installations and infrastructures for the exploration, exploitation and extraction of oil,
21 of gas and other energy resources, of minerals and aggregates, and for the production of
22 energy from renewable sources, maritime transport routes and traffic flows, military training
23 areas, nature and species conservation sites and protected areas, raw material extraction areas,
24 scientific research, submarine cable and pipeline routes, tourism and underwater cultural
25 heritage. Member States are required to arrange for public participation in the planning
26 process, to share information and generally to cooperate with each other and with relevant
27 third countries – especially through existing regional seas organizations (EU, 2014).
28
29 The areas to be covered by individual plans are left to the judgement of the member States.
30 For example, in France, there is a high-level National Strategy for the Sea and Coast, which
31 was approved by a decree of the Prime Minister in February 2017. In accordance with this
32 National Strategy, there is to be a Strategy Document for each of four sea and coastal basins
33 (Eastern Channel and North Sea; Atlantic (North) and Western Channel; Atlantic (South);
34 and Mediterranean). Each of these strategy documents is to have four parts: situation review,
35 challenges and a vision for the sea basin in 2030; strategic objectives defined from an
36 economic, social and environmental perspective, together with related performance
37 indicators; evaluation procedure for assessing implementation of the strategy document; and
38 an action plan. The first two parts have now been produced for each basin and the remaining
39 parts are due over the next few years. Taken together, these documents set the framework for
40 all relevant decisions by national, regional and local authorities (FMTES, 2017).
41
42 5.6. Case study – South Africa
43
44 The framework for marine spatial planning in South Africa is provided by the Marine Spatial
45 Planning Act 2019 (RSA, 2019). This Act provides for the development of marine spatial
46 plans and the establishment of institutional arrangements for their implementation and
47 governance of the use of the ocean by multiple sectors. The accelerated pace of the
48 development and enactment of MSP legislation in South Africa (less than three years from
49 first draft to promulgation) stems from a renewed awareness of the importance and urgency
50 for larger-scale marine spatial planning (exclusive economic zone (EEZ) scale). This
799
1 emerged in 2013 through an initiative of the South African government – Operation Phakisa
2 (“phakisa” means “hurry up” in Sesotho) – to unlock the country’s ocean economy as a
3 mechanism to fulfil the ideals of the National Development Plan 2030, which focuses on
4 poverty alleviation, increasing employment and reducing inequality. Within Operation
5 Phakisa, MSP was identified as a focus area, which, in turn, fast-tracked the development of
6 the MSP legislation.
7
8 During the detailed planning and roll-out of Operation Phakisa, and while the MSP Act was
9 being drafted, the national Government also published the National Framework for MSP
10 (RSA, 2017). This policy provides high-level direction for undertaking MSP in the context of
11 the country’s legal framework – including existing planning regimes – in order to ensure
12 consistency in ocean space planning. Importantly, the framework also highlighted the need
13 for coordination with terrestrial and coastal planning. To simplify spatial planning, South
14 Africa’s EEZ has been divided into western, eastern and southern marine areas, and the
15 Prince Edward Islands, for which legislated marine spatial plans will be developed. The
16 Government aims to publish the first marine area plans by 2021. The national Government
17 has recognized the importance of data and information for spatial planning and has initiated
18 projects simultaneously to fill data gaps and to provide spatial data infrastructure to support
19 MSP and ocean economy planning (RSA, 2017).
20
21 The establishment of MSP in South Africa is constructed on a legacy of environmental
22 policies that were inherently supportive of area-based management, and specifically spatial
23 planning of environmental resources. South Africa chose a consociational democracy as the
24 basis for its political system after apartheid (i.e. post 1994) (Karume, 2003). As a result, most
25 post-1994 environmental legislation embraces cooperative, participatory approaches,
26 including the need for negotiated spatial planning or zonation. This is evident in legislation
27 for terrestrial protected areas, and spatial planning for terrestrial areas (RSA, 2004; RSA,
28 2013b). In 2008, the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management
29 Act (RSA, 2009) established cross-sectoral mechanisms for government of coastal space,
30 thus introducing administrative (and explicitly spatial) boundaries such as coastal public
31 property and development set-back lines. In this way, spatial planning (or zoning) was
32 recognized as a key component within the national framework for integrated coastal
33 management extending to the outer limit of the EEZ (e.g. RSA-DEA, 2014; RSA, 2013a).
34 Although considered progressive and bold (Taljaard and others, 2019; Colenbrander and
35 Sowman, 2015), many barriers for implementation remain, including lack of political
36 support, lack of resources and lack of clarity regarding jurisdiction over private and
37 communal land, and limited civil-society involvement in decision-making (Sowman and
38 Malan, 2018).
39
40 The MSP legislation in South Africa is new and its implementation is untested and, as of yet,
41 unchallenged in case law. Its testing in courts of law is a certainty given its intention to
42 allocate the use of space, as it relates to highly valued marine resources that are often
43 contested by multiple users for multiple, often conflicting, uses. Operation Phakisa, with its
44 emphasis on MSP, is also encouraging community-based, bottom-up initiatives such as the
45 “Algoa Bay Project” (Dorrington and others, 2018). The role of these initiatives within the
46 national framework for MSP is not yet clear.
47
48 5.7. Case study – Viet Nam
49
50 Research on integrated coastal management (ICM) and MSP began in Viet Nam in 1996. In
800
1 2009, Viet Nam translated the “Guidelines for MSP: a step-by-step toward ecosystem-based
2 management” (Ehler and Douvere, 2009) into Vietnamese. From 2010 to 2013, by
3 implementing a regional project on coastal spatial planning, Viet Nam improved MSP
4 capacity by participating in training courses and developed MSP in the coastal areas of
5 Quang Ninh and Hai Phong provinces. Also, with the assistance of various donors, including
6 Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) and the
7 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Viet Nam applied an MSP
8 approach to the functional zoning of Hon Mun MPA, Bai Tu Long Bay marine park and Cu
9 Lao Cham MPA, and coastal-use zoning for integrated coastal management on the Da Nang
10 coast (Nguyen and Hien, 2014). At the same time, through the implementation of the project
11 “Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development: Mainstreaming the Application of Marine
12 Spatial Planning Strategies, Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use”, funded by the
13 Global Environment Fund and executed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
14 Development of Viet Nam from 2012 to 2018, seven coastal provinces (Nghe An, Thanh
15 Hoa, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Soc Trang and Ca Mau) initiated MSP. The MSP for
16 Ca Mau was completed in 2015. The creation of formal institutions specifically for MSP in
17 Viet Nam began in 2012 with the Viet Nam Law of the Sea. In 2015, the Viet Nam Law on
18 Sea and Island Natural Resources and Environment provided for integrated planning of the
19 sustainable use and exploitation of coastal resources. This was followed by the Viet Nam
20 Law of Planning, enacted in January 2017. This legislation provides that MSP shall be the
21 basis of all relevant planning, and that all other sectoral planning in the coasts and seas of
22 Viet Nam must follow it. At present, the Viet Nam Administration of Seas and Islands is
23 developing MSP for all the coasts and seas of Viet Nam.
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804
Chapter 30
Developments in Management Approaches
Convenor: Piers Dunstan; Contributors: Hilconida Calumpong (Co-Lead Member), Louis
Celliers, Valerie Cummins, Michael Elliott, Karen Evans (Co-Lead Member) Antony Firth,
Frederic Guichard, Quentin Hanich, Ana Cristina de Jesus, Manuel Hildago, Essam
Mohammed (Co-Lead Member), Hector Manuel Lozano-Montes, Chanda L. Meek, Marcus
Polette, Jemma Purandare, Anita Smith, Anastasia Strati (Lead Member), Ca Than Vu (Co-
Lead Member)
1 Keynote points
2
3 • The ecosystem approach is one of the most significant approaches to ocean
4 management, consisting of the environmental, social and economic management of
5 human interactions with oceans and coasts at multiple scales (i.e. transboundary,
6 regional, national and local).
7 • While there is general agreement that the ecosystem approach provides an effective
8 framing of ocean management, further research and capacity-building is needed to
9 realize its full potential benefits across the oceans.
10 • Management has two different levels of governance, namely, decision-making
11 processes that provide a framework to make decisions and implement policy focused
12 on the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources; and management tools
13 (area-based and non-area based) that can be used to regulate and modify human
14 activity in a particular system.
15 • The implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 288 requires
16 management grounded in the ecosystem approach in order to achieve the integrated
17 set of global priorities and objectives set out in its Sustainable Development Goals
18 (SDGs). This will allow for the integration of the interactions, benefits and trade-offs
19 between the SDGs and support achievement of each of the ocean-related targets.
20 • There is a growing trend towards incorporating the cultural values of the ocean into
21 management.
22
23 1. Introduction
24
25 1.1. The need for management of the marine environment
26
27 The past decade has seen a step-change in the development of management approaches for
28 ocean resource management and sustainability. The present Chapter aims to provide an
29 overview of the nature of this change as well as examples of selected good practices
30 worldwide, including decision-making processes and their tools. To understand these
31 changes, it is important to recognize that approaches to ocean management have deep roots in
32 local and indigenous communities, as well as in science, having evolved incrementally from
33 initial attempts to deal with specific environmental issues, such as pollution from land-based
34 sources in the 1960s, to more integrated approaches, such as integrated coastal zone
35 management (ICZM) starting in the 1970s. Modern approaches to ocean management now
288
805
1 cover many different tools, tailored to regionally specific issues at a range of scales. The
2 needs and nature of ocean management are influenced by social, cultural, economic and
3 governance contexts, including the norms and value systems that impact on approaches to
4 decision-making between government, industry and civil society at multiple levels. In
5 general, ocean management is expanding from coasts and regional seas to include the
6 regulation of increasing human activities in deeper waters of the exclusive economic zone
7 (EEZ) and the continental shelf (e.g. via marine spatial planning (MSP); see Chapter 29 of
8 the present Assessment). Areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) are currently the focus
9 of negotiations at the United Nations in the context of the intergovernmental conference on
10 an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law
11 of the Sea289 on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas
12 beyond national jurisdiction (see Chapter 31 of the present Assessment). In applying the
13 many different forms of management, an understanding of these approaches and their success
14 to date is, therefore, necessary.
15
16 The Chapter commences with one of the most significant emerging paradigms for ocean
17 management, the ecosystem approach, which is now universally accepted at global, regional
18 and national scales (SCBD, 2004) as a strategy for integrated management. The ecosystem
19 approach embraces the need for engagement of all relevant sectors of society and has
20 motivated increasing levels of support for “bottom up” community-led approaches to ocean
21 management that take into consideration traditional rights and social justice and apply
22 participatory processes. These trends are juxtaposed in a stocktake of global approaches to
23 management, organized according to area-based and non area-based examples. The bottom-
24 up approaches are complemented by the top-down approaches, developed through
25 international, regional and national governance initiatives. This shows a diversity of ocean
26 management interventions, designed to address a wide range of issues, from global wetlands
27 conservation to networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). Adaptive management
28 integrating flexible strategies that mitigate and adapt to shifts in marine ecosystems
29 associated with climate change is also analysed in the context of region-specific issues,
30 capacity-building, gaps and future research.
31
32 1.2. Summary of the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I)
33
34 The First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017) did not explicitly
35 include management approaches as a stand-alone chapter, with high-level commentary on
36 management approaches integrated into individual chapters instead. Recognizing the
37 importance of providing a consolidated overview of the many approaches to marine
38 management and their application, a chapter specifically focused on ocean management has
39 been included in the present Assessment.
40
41 1.3. Overlaps/interactions with other Chapters
42
43 Management tools broadly apply across all marine uses and users and so the present Chapter
44 is relevant to all other Chapters in the present Assessment, in particular, Chapter 15 on
45 capture fisheries, Chapter 16 on aquaculture, Chapter 22 on renewable energy, Chapter 28 on
46 cumulative effects and Chapter 29 on marine spatial planning.
289
806
1 2. Management approaches
2 2.1. Introduction to the ecosystem approach

3
4 The ecosystem approach consists of an integrated approach with three main pillars, that is,
5 the environmental, social and economic management of human interactions with oceans and
6 coasts at multi-level scales (i.e. transboundary, regional, national and local) incorporating
7 both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. The Parties to the Convention on Biological
8 Diversity (CBD) (UNEP, 2000), in decision V/6, described the ecosystem approach as “a
9 strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes
10 conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in an equitable way”. As such, the ecosystem
11 approach has been widely accepted and implemented as an effective management mechanism
12 (see, for example, the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive290 and the
13 Integrated Ecosystem Assessment implemented by the United States National Oceanic and
14 Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)).291
15
16 There is a plethora of legislative instruments covering all aspects of marine use and requiring
17 both vertical and horizontal integration (Boyes and Elliott, 2014). Top-down management
18 approaches generally include policy and legislative instruments focused on implementing
19 international conventions, agreements and instruments, and meeting national priorities for
20 marine spaces. Bottom-up management tools, including customary or indigenous ecosystem-
21 based and stakeholder-based approaches to resource management (Thornton and Maciejewski
22 Scheer, 2012; Turner and Berkes, 2006), are generally driven by a local-level need to
23 implement effective management at the local scale. Bottom-up management tools can be
24 motivated by social, economic or environmental aspects specific to an area, such as the need
25 to address point source pollution impacts through targeted management.
26
Box 1 – The 12 principles of the ecosystem approach as defined by the CBD Guidelines
(COP decisions V/6 and VII/11), which include implementation guidelines for each
principle.
Principle 1: The objectives of management of land, water and living resources are a matter of societal choice.
Principle 2: Management should be decentralized to the lowest appropriate level.
Principle 3: Ecosystem managers should consider the effects (actual or potential) of their activities on adjacent and
other ecosystems.
Principle 4: Recognizing potential gains from management, there is usually a need to understand and manage the
ecosystem in an economic context. Any such ecosystem-management programme should:
(a) Reduce those market distortions that adversely affect biological diversity;
(b) Align incentives to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable use;
(c) Internalize costs and benefits in the given ecosystem to the extent feasible.
Principle 5: Conservation of ecosystem structure and functioning, in order to maintain ecosystem services, should be
a priority target of the ecosystem approach.
Principle 6: Ecosystems must be managed within the limits of their functioning.
Principle 7: The ecosystem approach should be undertaken at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales.
Principle 8: Recognizing the varying temporal scales and lag-effects that characterize ecosystem processes,
objectives for ecosystem management should be set for the long term.
Principle 9: Management must recognize that change is inevitable.
290
See https://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/eu-coast-and-marine-policy/marine-strategy-framework-
directive/index_en.htm.
291
See https://www.integratedecosystemassessment.noaa.gov/.
807
Principle 10: The ecosystem approach should seek the appropriate balance between, and integration of, conservation
and use of biological diversity.
Principle 11: The ecosystem approach should consider all forms of relevant information, including scientific and
indigenous and local knowledge, innovations and practices.
Principle 12: The ecosystem approach should involve all relevant sectors of society and scientific disciplines.
1
2 The CBD implementation guidelines above acknowledge that there are often limitations in
3 current understanding and, in such cases, a precautionary approach should be followed.292
4 The precautionary approach, as reflected in Principle 15 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on
5 Environment and Development,293 which states that, where there are threats of serious or
6 irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for
7 postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation, has been
8 incorporated into an increasing number of international treaties and other instruments and is
9 now considered as part of customary international law (see, for example, Advisory Opinion
10 of the Seabed Disputes Chamber of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, ITLOS
11 (2011), para. 125).
12
13 2.2. Implementation of the ecosystem approach to management
14
15 The ecosystem approach can be operated and implemented in a single sector, for example,
16 ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) (Cowan and others, 2012), ecosystem
17 approaches to fisheries (EAF) and the ecosystem approach to aquaculture (EAA, Brugère and
18 others, 2019) or multiple sectors such as integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) (UN
19 Environment, 2018). Over the last decade, specific implementations of the ecosystem
20 approach have resulted in management mechanisms moving towards establishing methods for
21 operation and implementation (Link and Browman, 2017). Despite this, there are still large
22 gaps in implementation and incomplete uptake across sectors and regions. For example, there
23 are still significant differing opinions on the implementation of EBFM from different
24 stakeholders, such as policymakers and managers, scientists, conservationists and ecologists
25 (Trochta and others, 2018). It is, therefore, necessary to create frameworks and criteria for
26 ecosystem assessment (Harvey and others, 2017; Zador and others, 2017), particularly based
27 on demonstrated best practices. Developing methods to increase stakeholder engagement is
28 also essential for ensuring successful implementation (Oates and Dodds, 2017).
29
30 Management generally occurs in two different levels of governance: (i) decision-making
31 processes that provide a framework for making decisions and implementing policy focused
32 on the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, such as MSP, EAF and ICZM;
33 and (ii) management tools (area based and non-area based) that can be used to manage or
34 regulate human activity in particular systems, such as marine protected areas (MPAs) and
35 zoning (Maestro and others, 2019), fisheries closures (Hall, 2002), Particularly Sensitive Sea
36 Areas (PSSAs) (Basiron and Kaur, 2009) and fisheries effort controls (Pope, 2002) (see also
37 section 3 below).
292
CBD decision VII/11, annex I, implementation guideline 6.2.
293
Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3−14 June
1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and
corrigendum), resolution 1, annex I. See also https://www.cbd.int/doc/ref/rio-declaration.shtml.
808
Figure 1. Illustrative typology of approaches to ocean management.
1 2.3. Community-based and cultural-based management

2
3 One area where ocean management based on ecosystem approaches continues to develop is
4 in the way in which it supports engagement with communities and their culture. The
5 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment identified cultural ecosystem services as the non-material
6 benefits that people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive
7 development, reflection, recreation and aesthetic experiences (Milcu and others, 2013; Diaz
8 and others, 2018). As already noted, the principles of the ecosystem approach include
9 decentralization of management to the lowest appropriate level and involvement of all
10 relevant sectors of society. While recognizing that ecosystems give rise to cultural services
11 that connect us to nature, management approaches also have to protect features in the coastal
12 and marine environment that are highly valued and of anthropogenic origin, including
13 archaeological and historical sites (shipwrecks, prehistoric sites, ancient buildings, etc.).
14 Hence, there is growing recognition that many marine ecosystem services are a hybrid of
15 culture and nature in combination, appreciated holistically by coastal communities. For
16 example, management of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Hawaii, is
17 framed by a native Hawaiian understanding of the ocean as a cultural seascape, where all
18 natural resources are cultural resources, connected through ancestral stories and perpetuated
19 through traditional practices, including wayfinding and voyaging (Kikiloi and others, 2017).
20 Despite an anthropogenic emphasis, community-based and cultural-based management
21 approaches respect the intrinsic value of nature for its own sake.
22
23 Equally, recognition of the limitations of top-down management approaches, and increased
24 understanding of the rights, tenures, traditional and indigenous customary uses of inshore
25 marine environments, have catalysed widespread recognition of the strength and
26 sustainability of community-based management (CBM) or “bottom-up” approaches to marine
27 conservation. Community-based management recognizes local community stewardship,
28 knowledge and practices in monitoring, assessing and managing marine resources and
29 through participatory, collaborative governance structures led by or involving local
30 communities and systems of authority (Turner and Berkes, 2006). Many CBM schemes often
31 develop from long-standing local institutions, such as the Alaska Eskimo Whaling
32 Commission (Meek, 2013) and its self-organized aboriginal whaling captain associations that
33 are now engaged in cross-scale (local to international) and community-based management. In
34 the Southern Hemisphere, dugong management is shared by State and Territory agencies and
809
1 communities in the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea, through a system
2 of indigenous rangers and Papua hunters (Miller and others, 2018). Such systems of shared
3 management may be framed by a general understanding of the ecosystem approach but, at the
4 local level, communities shape management approaches within their social and cultural
5 values and the cultural benefits of their traditional practices (Delisle and others, 2017). As
6 another example, networks of locally managed marine areas (LMMA) in the Pacific build
7 community resilience by supporting village-level management and sustainable use of marine
8 resources (Govan, 2009; Veitayaki, 2003).
9
10 Growing recognition of the importance of marine ecosystem services to coastal communities
11 and culture will undoubtedly intensify as these communities face pressures associated with
12 climate change, particularly sea level rise and both temporary and permanent coastal
13 inundation (Goodhead and Aygen, 2007; see also Chapter 9 of the present Assessment).
14 Cultural information is increasingly regarded as an integral part of ecosystem-based
15 management, both in the context of community-based management and for safeguarding the
16 cultural dimension of the marine environment. Such information may be very diverse and
17 intangible, relating to, for example, traditional marine resource use, sea routes, ancient
18 navigational skills, maritime identities, legends, rituals, beliefs and practices, aesthetic and
19 inspirational qualities, cultural heritage, places of spiritual and sacred and/or religious
20 importance.294 This may mean that these cultural values and practices are challenging to
21 incorporate into planning and management. Nonetheless, the cultural dimension of the sea
22 can be integrated and mapped as a precursor to management. Once taken on board, culture
23 can be potentially powerful, not simply as a factor to be managed and monitored, but as the
24 foundation upon which management incorporating ecosystem approaches may be developed
25 in the context of sustainable development.
26
27 3. Advances in ocean management approaches
28
29 The last decade has been characterized by the proliferation and expansion of new and existing
30 approaches to the management of the oceans and seas. This has been manifested by the
31 regulation of human activity in specified areas to achieve conservation or resource
32 management policy objectives. Although all areas of the marine environment might be
33 managed in some way (e.g. fisheries, tourism, oil and gas extraction), this often consists of a
34 patchwork of policies and legislation that results in piecemeal approaches to protection
35 (Boyes and Elliott, 2014). While the management processes and tools described in this
36 section tend to have a spatial dimension, they share a common set of characteristics, namely:
37
38 ● Scale- from international to regional to local scales.
39 ● Driving factors- e.g. whether motivated by conservation or economic development.
40 ● Sectoral dimensions - e.g. single sector, multi-sector or cross sector.
41 ● Implementation measures - e.g. hard measures (legally binding) or soft measures
42 (voluntary).
43 ● Top down or bottom-up approaches to management.
44
45 In this assessment, we have concentrated on management approaches that alter some aspect
46 of human use. Other tools, such as the description of Ecologically or Biologically Significant
294
A number of cultural practices relating to the sea have been inscribed in the UNESCO Representative List of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; see https://ich.unesco.org/en/lists.
810
1 Marine Areas (EBSAs)295 under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)296 do not
2 change use but provide information that may play a role in decision-making processes. They
3 should be distinguished, however, from “decision making processes”, such as fisheries stock
4 assessments, Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (IEA) and Strategic Environmental
5 Assessments (SEA), as EBSAs are a purely scientific and technical process exercise and do
6 not include management measures, even though they have the potential to inform policy and
7 management decisions.
8 3.1. Decision-making processes for management

9
10 Decision-making processes are used to identify the most appropriate policy and management
11 objectives of competent authorities tasked with developing and implementing management
12 approaches or strategies (Table 1). Governments, industry, communities and civil society
13 identify the outcomes they wish to achieve, i.e. the management objectives, and then use one
14 of the potential management approaches to identify how and where to achieve these
15 outcomes. The outcomes described cover the different aspects of sustainable development,
16 including environmental, economic and social aspects. They may be global, regional, national
17 and subnational/community-led. Common examples are MSP, IEA, SEA, EAF and EBFM,
18 systematic conservation planning (SCP) (McIntosh and others, 2017), community-based
19 resource management (see section 2.3) and ICZM.
20
21 At the regional level, examples of such approaches can be found in the context of the
22 OSPAR,297 Helsinki,298 Barcelona299 and Bucharest300 regional seas conventions. These
23 Conventions use an area-based approach to assess the status of the environment and control
24 activities, aimed at ensuring good environmental status of marine assets. The organizations
25 established under those Conventions have working groups that are focusing on MSP,
26 fisheries management and ICZM.
27
28 The concept of adaptive management or adaptive resource management (ARM) is shared
29 across decision-making processes (Dunstan and others, 2016), but the actual process used is
30 often determined by the policy objectives. Within adaptive management frameworks,
31 management measures or actions are implemented sequentially over time, taking into account
32 future conditions and uncertainties associated with the responses of the resource being
33 managed (Schultz and others, 2015). Conservation objectives are often met using systematic
34 conservation planning and community-based approaches at local levels in order to support
35 local communities in the sustainable use and conservation of marine resources (Berkes and
36 others, 2000; Nguyen and others, 2016). In contrast, the ecosystem approach to fisheries aims
37 to provide a holistic approach to managing fisheries and other living marine resources by
38 taking into account relevant human activities and their interactions with the ecosystem, with
39 the purpose of maintaining health, productivity and resilience in order to ensure the continued
295
See https://www.cbd.int/ebsa/.
296
297
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic; United Nations, Treaty
Series, vol. 2354, No.42279.
298
Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area; United Nations, Treaty
Series, vol. 2099, No.36495.
299
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean;
300
Bucharest Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution.
811
1 delivery of ecosystem services and societal goods and benefits (Cowan and others, 2012).
2 However, even with these more holistic processes, there are still issues around integrating
3 multiple sectors (Jones and others, 2016).
812
1 Table 1. Decision-making processes and their associated attributes, including primary drivers (economic, environmental or social/cultural), sectors (single sector or multi sector),
2 implementation measures (source of authority to establish), direction (top down via government or bottom up via communities) and scale (global to local scales).
Management Example in Relevant Primary driver Sector Measures Direction Spatial scale
approach practice authority
wellbeing/cultural
Legally Binding
Environmental
Sub-national
Bottom-up
Top-down
Voluntary
Economic
Regional
National
Global
Single
Cross
Social
Multi
Both
Decision-
making
processes
Marine spatial Competent x x x x x x x x x x
planning (via national
zoning, authorities
consenting,
licencing and
policy-led
mechanisms)
Integrated Competent x x x x x x x x x x x
coastal zone national/local
management authorities
(ICZM)
Systematic Competent x x x x x x
Conservation national/local
Planning authorities
813
Integrated Competent x x x x x x x
Ecosystem national/local
Assessment authorities
(IEA)
Ecosystem Competent x x x x x x x x
approach to national/local
fisheries authorities
Community- Competent x x x x x x x x x
based national/local
management authorities
plans
Strategic Competent x x x x x x x x x x
Environmental national/local
Assessment authorities
(SEA)
814
1 3.2. Area-based management tools

2
3 Area-based management tools provide a spatial context to management approaches where,
4 usually, the area has been defined as having distinctive characteristics that warrant measures
5 that are different to the management of surrounding sea areas. Examples of area-based
6 management tools that change or regulate aspects of human use of the marine environment
7 include Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), PSSAs, Areas of Particular Environmental Interest
8 (APEI), World Heritage Sites (WHS), fisheries closures, infrastructure closures and
9 designations under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as
10 Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention).301 Applying these tools worldwide, and the use of
11 terminology, is highly variable, due in part to local hazards, risk and vulnerability and the
12 need for resilience building (Fanini and others, 2020). Despite this variability, there is general
13 consistency in overall goals to improve pathways towards sustainability, and some of these
14 tools could be used as “other effective area-based conservation measures”. The following
15 paragraphs, while not exhaustive, highlight a number of examples of area-based management
16 tools in current use.
17
18 MPAs provide specific protection mechanisms to specific areas of the ocean. They have been
19 identified as tools that should be implemented in achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 11302
20 and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.5.303 The indicators and global targets for
21 MPAs as identified under the CBD are currently under revision through the CBD post 2020
22 framework. MPAs can take many forms, covering varying spatial scales and providing
23 varying levels of marine environmental protection. Examples of MPAs include the 94,000
24 km2 South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf MPA (2009) and the 1.5 million km2 Ross Sea
25 MPA (2017) designated by the Commission for the Conservation of the Antarctic Living
26 Resources;304 the OSPAR network of MPAs of a total surface area of 864,337 km2;305 the
27 Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMIs) under the SPA/BD
28 Protocol to the Barcelona Convention, including the 87,500 km2 Pelagos Sanctuary for the
29 Conservation of Marine Mammals established by a tripartite agreement between France,
30 Monaco and Italy (2001),306 and the European Union Natura 2000 Network, the largest
31 coordinated network of protected areas in the world, spanning the marine territory of 23
32 European Union countries and, at the end of 2018, covering more than 551,000 km2.307 MPAs
33 have increased rapidly in both number and size in recent years, largely in response to
301
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 996, No. 14583; see also https://www.ramsar.org.
302
See United Nations Environment Programme, document UNEP/CBD/COP/10/27, annex, decision X/2;
Target 11 “By 2020, at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of coastal and
marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved
through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected
areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscapes and
seascapes”.
303
See United Nations General Assembly resolution 70/1; SDG 14.5 “By 2020, conserve at least 10 per cent of
coastal and marine areas, consistent with national and international law and based on the best available scientific
information”.
304
See https://www.ccamlr.org/en/science/marine-protected-areas-mpas.
305
As of 1 October 2018, the OSPAR Network of MPAs comprised 496 MPAs, including 7 MPAs collectively
designated in ABNJ; see 2018 Status Report on the OSPAR Network of MPAs, OSPAR Commission, 2019; see
also https://ospar.org.
306
See www.rac-spa.org/spami.
307
See https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/dashboards/natura-2000-barometer.
815
1 internationally agreed targets under the CBD and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
2 Development,288 to the point that they are now considered as the primary tool and cornerstone
3 of marine conservation (Humphreys and Clark, 2020). Currently, the global MPA coverage in
4 areas within national jurisdiction has reached 18 per cent, which amounts to 8 per cent
5 coverage of the entire ocean. In contrast, only 1 per cent of areas beyond national jurisdiction
6 (ABNJ) has been established as protected areas (UNEP-WCMC, IUCN, 2019).
7
8 With respect to incorporating community and indigenous values into area-based
9 management, an example can be found in Canada, which has designated two MPAs in the
10 Arctic (Anguniaqvia niqiqyuam in the Amundsen Gulf and Tarium Niryutait in the Beaufort
11 Sea). Anguniaqvia niqiqyuam was the first Canadian MPA that incorporated indigenous
12 knowledge into its design and management. The cultural importance of species and
13 contribution to social and cultural values were criteria used in the identification of the
14 MPAs.308
15
16 Other examples of area-based management tools are provided for under conventions that seek
17 to protect specific areas of diversity, habitat or heritage. In Ramsar-designated areas, for
18 example, the broad aim is to halt the worldwide loss of wetlands and to conserve those that
19 remain through wise use and management. As of February 2019, 2,341 sites have been
20 designated under the Ramsar Convention,301 comprising 252.48 million hectares of
21 internationally significant wetlands. A recently designated site is the Qurm Nature Reserve in
22 Oman, which has successfully protected 106.83 hectares of coastal wetland ecosystems
23 through specific planning and management, as a result of its designation as a Ramsar-listed
24 site. Programmes include encouraging the development of nature-based tourism and
25 community engagement in active management of the wetlands, which has resulted in an
26 increased economic value of the Qurm Nature Reserve309 to the community.
27
28 Other mechanisms that use area-based management include implementation of offshore
29 exclusion zones or closures to facilitate infrastructure installation and operation, for example,
30 pipelines, offshore windfarms and telecommunication cables. These areas are restricted
31 primarily for public health and safety although, indirectly, have resulted in the protection of
32 marine habitats and biodiversity.
33
34 Area-based management tools of particular sectors, such as shipping, encompass the
35 seventeen areas designated by the International Maritime Organization as PSSAs,310
36 including the Great Barrier Reef, the Torres Strait, the Florida Keys, the Papahānaumokuākea
37 Marine National Monument, the Galapagos Islands, the Wadden Sea and Western European
38 waters. The protection afforded in these areas includes routeing measures and anchoring
39 bans, mandatory reporting requirements and strict application of discharge and equipment
40 requirements for ships, such as oil tankers as set out under the International Convention for
41 the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (1973), as modified by the Protocol of 1978 and the
42 Protocol of 1997 (MARPOL).311 Four of these areas (Great Barrier Reef,
308
See https://cases.open.ubc.ca/the-cultural-and-conservation-significance-of-anguniaqvia-niqiqyuam-marine-protected-
area-mpa-north-west-territories-canada/.
309
See https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/2144.
310
See https://www.pssa.imo.org/.
311
See http://www.imo.org/en/About/Conventions/ListOfConventions/Pages/International-Convention-for-the-
Prevention-of-Pollution-from-Ships-(MARPOL).aspx.
816
1 Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Galapagos Islands, Wadden Sea) are also
2 protected as marine World Heritage Sites (see below).
3
4 The Regional Environmental Management Plan adopted by the International Seabed
5 Authority for the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in Eastern Central Pacific included the
6 establishment of an initial set of nine Areas of Particular Environmental Interest as “no
7 mining areas”, based on expert recommendations. These areas were intended to protect the
8 biodiversity and ecosystem structure and functioning of the Zone from the potential impacts
9 of seabed mining (Jones and others, 2019; see also Chapter 19 of the present Assessment).
10
11 Marine protected areas may also be used in combination with fisheries management tools and
12 sanctuaries (no take zones which may be within MPAs). Sanctuary areas and seasonal and
13 year-round fisheries closures312 and exclusion zones provide area-based management
14 mechanisms that seek to improve species population and biodiversity recovery. For example,
15 the International Whaling Commission has established two sanctuaries, both of which
16 prohibit commercial whaling: the Indian Ocean Sanctuary which was established in 1979
17 and covers the whole of the Indian Ocean south to 55°S; and the Southern Ocean Sanctuary
18 which was established in 1994 and covers the waters around Antarctica.313
19
20 Seasonal and year-round fisheries closures support the maintenance or recovery of
21 overexploited species, preserve livelihoods of local communities, protect habitats and key
22 ecological processes such as spawning, and prevent the exploitation of living resources in
23 ABNJ prior to specific rule setting as a precautionary measure. Examples include the
24 establishment of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) and no-trawl zones in the United
25 Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to protect fish stocks and habitats, dynamic
26 spatio-temporal closures in Australia to manage catches associated with migratory species,
27 and the closure of Arctic waters to commercial fishing under the Agreement to Prevent
28 Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean, pending a scientific assessment
29 of the sustainability of such fisheries.
30
31 Area-based management is also used to safeguard marine sites of significance due to their
32 cultural value, or the way the marine seascape combines cultural and natural attributes. World
33 Heritage Sites under the 1972 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
34 Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention (UNESCO, 1972) provide an
35 international example. Since the inscription of the first marine site on the UNESCO World
36 Heritage List in 1981, 50 marine sites across 37 countries have been recognized for their
37 unique marine biodiversity, ecosystems or geological processes or incomparable beauty.314
38 The largest is the French Austral Lands and Seas, designated in 2019, covering 67,296,900
39 hectares. Following this is the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in Kiribati at 408,250 km²,
40 inscribed in 2010.315 Four of these sites, the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National
312
See, inter alia, new European Union regulation No 2019/1022 establishing a multiannual plan for the
fisheries exploiting demersal stocks in the western Mediterranean Sea to face generalized regional fisheries
overexploitation; the regulation provides, inter alia, for the establishment of 3-month closure areas for the
protection of juveniles to be determined spatially and temporally by each Member State; see
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2019/06/06/first-ever-multi-annual-management-plan-for-
fisheries-in-the-western-mediterranean-becomes-reality/.
313
See https://www.iwc.int/sanctuaries.
314
See https://whc.unesco.org/en/marine-programme/.
315
Also, the number of marine World Heritage Sites declared as “in danger” has been reduced from three to two
817
1 Monument in Hawaii, St. Kilda in Scotland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
2 Ireland, Ibiza in Spain and Rock Islands Southern Lagoon in Palau, are internationally
3 recognized for their mixed cultural and natural outstanding universal value. In a national
4 context, the National Marine Sanctuaries316 of the United States of America include marine
5 areas protected for their cultural resources (e.g. Monitor National Marine Sanctuary). In
6 Scotland, the MPA concept has been developed to introduce MPAs around significant
7 historic wreck sites (Historic Environment Scotland, 2019). Similarly, many national heritage
8 laws provide for the designation of protection zones around underwater archaeological and
9 historical sites, including measures such as prohibition of fishing, anchoring and scuba diving
10 without special authorization (e.g. Greek law No. 3028/2002 on the protection of antiquities
11 and cultural heritage in general). Finally, special reference should be made to the recognition
12 of the wreck site of RMS Titanic as an international maritime memorial by United States law
13 and the International Agreement on RMS Titanic between the United Kingdom and the
14 United States that entered into force in 2019.317
sites. The Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System was removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2018
due to the effective implementation of national policy, specifically relating to the adoption of forests (protection
of mangroves) regulations, a moratorium on oil exploration and other petroleum operations within the entire
maritime zones of Belize, and further revision and amendment of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
checklist and the corresponding ongoing revision of the EIA regulations.
316
See https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/.
317
See https://www.gc.noaa.gov/gcil_titanic.html; see also IMO Circular (MEPC.1/Circ.779, 31 January 2012) on pollution
prevention measures in the area surrounding the wreckage of RMS. Titanic. Since 2012, the wreck site of the Titanic falls
within the scope of protection of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage
(United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2562, No. 45694) which applies to all traces of human existence having a cultural,
historical or archaeological character that have been underwater for at least 100 years; see
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/underwater-cultural-heritage/the-heritage/did-you-know/titanic/.
818
1 Table 2. Area-based management tools and their associated primary drivers (economic, environmental, social/cultural), sectors (single sector or multi-sector), implementation
2 measures (source of authority to establish), direction (top down via government or bottom up via communities) and scale (global to local scales)
Management Example in practice Relevant authority Primary Sector Measures Direction Spatial scale
approach driver
wellbeing/cultural
Legally Binding
Environmental
Sub-national
Bottom-up
Top-down
Voluntary
Economic
Regional
National
Global
Single
Cross
Social
Multi
Both
Area-based
tools
Areas of Particular International x x x x x x
Environmental Interest Seabed Authority
(APEI)
Vulnerable Marine FAO x x x x x
Ecosystems (VMEs)
Particularly Sensitive Sea IMO x x x x x x
Areas (PSSAs)/Areas to
be Avoided (ATBA)
Fisheries closures FAO, RFMO, x x x x x x x
Competent national
authorities
Whale sanctuaries IWC x x x x x
Infrastructure closures: IMO, Competent x x x x x

pipeline (e.g. oil, gas, national authorities
waste, freshwater) and
cable closures (e.g.
telecommunications,
819
grid)
National marine Competent national x x x x x x

conservation authorities
zones/priority areas for
conservation
Aquaculture closures Competent national x x x x x x x
authorities
World Heritage Sites UNESCO x x x x x x
(WHS), including those
recognized for their
mixed cultural and
natural outstanding
universal value
Marine Protected Areas CBD, Aichi x x x x x x
(MPAs) Targets, Regional
Seas Conventions
(RSC), competent
national authorities
Protection zones around Competent national x x x x
archaeological and authorities
historical sites
Ramsar sites Ramsar Convention x x x x x x
Species specific Competent national x x x x x x

sanctuaries (e.g. shark, authorities
dugong)
Co-location (e.g. ocean Competent national x x x x x x x
energy, aquaculture etc.) authority
820
Special areas and MARPOL/IMO x x x x x x x

emission control areas
Community-based spatial Local government/ x x x x x x x
closures communities
Traditional management Community x x x x x x x x x
approaches, including leadership/authority
indigenous rangers , competent
programmes national or local
authorities
821
1 3.3. Non area-based management tools

2
3 The management of the ocean is not limited to area-based approaches, although,
4 paradoxically, all management measures are applied across a spatial area even if required or
5 sanctioned at larger scales. Many activities are dealt with through a range of other measures,
6 such as regulation of chemicals and pollution events, management of transboundary
7 migratory species and the application of technical measures in fisheries management (see
8 Chapter 15 of the present Assessment).
9
10 Non area-based tools are primarily sectoral in nature and regulate specific sectoral activity of
11 a specific sector to achieve a specific outcome. For example, global emissions controls are
12 applied to international shipping vessels (global sulphur cap),318 while catches within
13 fisheries can be restricted through catch limits and/or limits on effort (through quota-based
14 systems, hook limits, capacity limits, etc). Technology-based measures can also be applied to
15 fisheries to restrict catches of non-target species (e.g. turtle exclusion devices) and market-
16 based approaches (e.g. accreditation schemes, seafood sustainability or eco-labelling) can be
17 applied across an entire fishery, whether at a global, regional, national or subnational scale.
18
19 Non area-based tools are also widely used by domestic law for managing cultural heritage at
20 sea, such as the requirement to report discoveries and obtain a licence before carrying out any
21 activities directed towards the excavation, removal or disturbance of underwater cultural
22 heritage.
23
24 At the international level, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea289 sets out
25 the jurisdictional framework for the duty to protect objects of an archaeological and historical
26 nature at sea (see Article 303 of the Convention; Strati, 1995). The 2001 UNESCO
27 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage elaborates this duty into
28 specific rights and obligations within the various maritime zones as defined by the United
29 Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, by providing, inter alia, a system of
30 reporting/notification and consultation for the protection of underwater cultural heritage
31 found in the exclusive economic zone and on the continental shelf as well as in the Area. In
32 addition, the Rules annexed thereto concerning activities directed at underwater cultural
33 heritage lay down general principles of protection along with technical rules, such as
34 standards for conservation and management.
318
See http://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/Pages/Sulphur-2020.aspx.
822
1 Table 3. Non area-based management tools and their associated primary drivers (economic, environmental or social/cultural), sectors (single
2 sector or multi sector), implementation measures (source of authority to establish), direction (top down via government or bottom up via
3 communities) and scale (global to local scales)
Management Example in Relevant Primary Sector Measures Direction Spatial scale
approach practice authority driver
wellbeing/cultural
Legally Binding
Environmental
Sub-national
Bottom-up
Top-down
Voluntary
Economic
Regional
National
Global
Single
Cross
Social
Multi
Both
Non area- Catch Regional/national x x x x x x x x
based tools and/or effort competent
controls authorities
Technology Regional/national x x x x x x x x
controls competent
authorities
Market- Regional/national x x x x x x x x x
based tools competent
authorities
Underwater National x x x x x x x
cultural competent
heritage authorities
protection
mechanisms
823
1 4. Management tools to support mitigation of and adaptation to climate

2 change, including building resilience
3
4 In undertaking the ecosystem approach, decision-making processes are also required to consider
5 knowledge of climate impacts and mitigation and adaptive responses. In this regard, identifying
6 the adaptation pathways that might be undertaken to progress climate resilience is important for
7 determining which management processes and tools can incorporate the uncertainty and
8 unpredictability of environmental impacts and responses across spatio-temporal scales (Holsman
9 and others, 2019; Wise and others, 2014). The choice of different adaptive measures that might
10 be implemented to achieve greater resilience can vary greatly, and is contingent on the decision-
11 making processes that frame them. As an example, ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction
12 contributes to the adaptability of ICZM and protected area management, particularly in the case
13 of vulnerable communities and countries (Ferrario and others, 2014; Satta and others, 2017).
14 Alternative strategies might apply mitigation and compensation measures,319 such as the blue
15 carbon initiative. Effective mitigation approaches should also enhance linkages with adaptation
16 finance, technology transfer and capacity-building, while adaptive responses should consider
17 environmental, social and economic aspects in order to identify effective mechanisms that
18 balance the needs and maximize benefits to all.
19
20 The global application of marine protected area networks helps to promote mitigation and
21 adaptation to climate change (Dudley and others, 2010; Roberts and others, 2017) by supporting
22 ecosystem resilience. By building resilience, ecosystems have a greater ability to cope with
23 perturbations and recover from adverse circumstances, thereby maintaining ecosystem functions
24 and provision of services necessary to human well-being (Chong, 2014).
25
26 Resilience-based management (alongside area based management tools) uses knowledge of
27 current and future drivers influencing ecosystem function (e.g. coral disease outbreaks, changes
28 in land use, trade or fishing practices) to prioritize, implement and adapt management actions
29 that sustain ecosystems and human well-being (Mcleod and others, 2019). To support the
30 maintenance of ecosystem resilience, managers must reduce local stressors (e.g. pollution,
31 destructive fishing pressures), while fostering key resilience processes (e.g. recovery,
32 reproduction, recruitment and connectivity) (Anthony and others, 2015; Graham and others,
33 2013). This requires managing the causes and consequences of the endogenic (local) pressures
34 and responding to the consequences of the exogenic (global) pressures, given that responding to
35 the causes of the latter requires global action (Elliott, 2011). For example, marine protected area
36 networks can be designed for climate resilience by maintaining a diversity and redundancy of
37 species, habitats and functional groups and pathways of connectivity and reducing stressors, and
38 by including adaptive processes can accommodate uncertainty and change (Mcleod and others,
39 2019). Coral resilience and associated ability to recover from bleaching events across Hawaii’s
319
These follow a hierarchy of management measures: preventative measures (such as stopping pollutants from
entering the sea); mitigation measures (reducing the direct impacts); and compensation, for example by
compensating the user (such as fishers for a loss of catch), the resource (such as by re-stocking fishes or replanting
mangroves), or the habitat (by creating new habitats to compensate those lost by building infrastructure) (Elliott and
others, 2016).
824
1 MPA network is supported through active management of herbivore fish aimed at maintaining
2 and/or increasing herbivore biomass, abundance and functional diversity (Chung and others,
3 2019).
4
5 Along with MPA networks, there is a diversity of adaptation measures that can be carried out at
6 the community and institutional level. These include tools such as cross-sectoral coordination,
7 flexible fishing licences, seasonal rights, transboundary management or enhanced institutional
8 cooperation which can be applied in conjunction with market and livelihood diversification and
9 resilience-building tools such as emergency preparedness, early-warning systems, remittances
10 and post-disaster recovery plans (Poulain and others, 2018). In applying specific management
11 tools, trade-offs should also be considered, as these tools can trigger contrasting effects on
12 different sectors or countries. In the Arctic, for example, transboundary cooperation engages new
13 actors and sectors, for example, polar tourism, but also brings new risks, such as shipping and
14 mineral exploration and exploitation. In the Mediterranean, transcontinental cooperation
15 (Europe-Africa) is needed to embrace regional adaptation measures to deal with contrasting local
16 needs and adaptive capacities of European and African countries (Karmaoui, 2018, Hidalgo and
17 others, 2018).
18
19 5. Key region-specific issues
20
21 The implementation of the ecosystem approach through decision-making processes and
22 management tools in the marine environment has progressed at different paces in different
23 regions. Regions with higher skill-levels, financial capacities and resources have seen
24 considerable progress in the implementation of the ecosystem approach. For example, rapid
25 environmental change in the Arctic Ocean, driven by large-scale warming, has necessitated a
26 shift by the Arctic Council from a focus on soft-policy scientific assessments to legally binding
27 agreements negotiated by member countries. These agreements have also become necessary as a
28 result of the increasing opportunities for industrial uses of the Arctic Ocean, and their attendant
29 risks, including shipping activities, Arctic tourism, the transfer of alien species and mineral
30 exploitation on the continental shelf of Arctic coastal States. These rapid changes have prompted
31 countries to adjust their policies to better respond to fast-emerging social, economic and
32 environmental challenges resulting from climate change. Canada, for example, amended its
33 Oceans Act in 2019 to be able to apply precautionary principles and allow interim protection for
34 a five-year period, through the use of a ministerial order (replacing longer processes), to an area
35 identified for conservation. The Tuvaijuittuq marine protected area was the result of these recent
36 amendments and was created in 2019 to protect the oldest and thickest sea ice in the Arctic
37 Ocean as an important summer habitat for species as ice cover continues to decline in the Arctic.
38
39 In regions with more limited capacity, it is more difficult to implement the ecosystem approach.
40 Many marine and coastal areas in such regions are confronting decades, if not centuries, of
41 degradation as a result of a lack of management practices or controls and due to the fact that
42 restoration approaches are being implemented reactively. In South America (Gianelli and others,
43 2018; Reis and D’Incao 2000), implementation of ecosystem approaches to fisheries has
44 struggled with both limits to institutional and to scientific capacity, which has limited success to
45 areas with favourable enabling conditions. Similar capacity challenges are seen in the
825
1 management of MPAs (Gerhardinger and others, 2011), although engagement with local
2 knowledge holders has seen improvements in outcomes (Gerhardinger and others, 2009).
3
4 Much of the recent growth in the surface areas of MPAs can be accounted for by a small number
5 of countries that have established large marine protected areas. As of 2018, the United States of
6 America, France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and their
7 overseas territories accounted for 50 per cent of the total area covered by MPAs, while Australia,
8 the Cook Islands, New Zealand and Mexico accounted for 30 per cent. Although the data reflect
9 progress towards the conservation of biodiversity and marine resources, protection is still
10 focused on waters under national jurisdiction and those countries with the capability and capacity
11 to identify and implement MPA networks. However, the designation of an MPA is not
12 necessarily reflective of active management and protection, since many of them lack adequate
13 management plans and associated enforcement measures (UNEP-WCMC, IUCN, 2019; Maestro
14 and others, 2019). Similarly, the uneven geographical distribution of MPAs limits their
15 effectiveness, connectivity, coherence and representativeness.
16
17 Finally, climate change is becoming a key driver in prioritizing restoration approaches in many
18 parts of the world, including the restoration of mangrove forests in Indonesia and in a number of
19 small island developing States in the Pacific Ocean, aimed at protecting local communities from
20 coastal inundation (FAO, 2016) and increasing resilience to future changes, and the restoration
21 of parts of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia following multiple bleaching events (RRAP
22 Consortium, 2018). The restoration of coral reefs in the Caribbean and oyster reefs worldwide
23 employed small-scale techniques, such as micro-fragmentation, to address local-scale damage
24 (Gilby and others, 2018). However, such approaches are often still limited in their scale. Further
25 examples of climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction include the measures undertaken by
26 Grenada, Ecuador and Colombia with respect to mangrove restoration and coastal protection; the
27 United Kingdom with respect to coastal realignment; Mexico with respect to sustainable fishing
28 and mangrove rehabilitation; and Vanuatu with respect to coral reef restoration (CBD, 2019).
29 The forthcoming United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030)320 aims to
30 accelerate this trend (Waltham and others, 2020).
31
32 6. Capacity-building
33
34 Most management approaches require information that cuts across natural and social sciences. In
35 many regions, especially in developing countries, scientists and practitioners are simply not
36 sufficiently trained to implement existing or new approaches to management, particularly those
37 involving the ecosystem approach. Increased capacity, not only in understanding management
38 approaches, but also in having the tools to implement them, will support governments and other
39 stakeholders to understand the suite of options available for marine management and governance
40 in their jurisdictions. Hence, there are several key capacity-building and technology-transfer
41 requirements in this field. First, there is a need for training and expertise in marine management
42 and governance linked to the required science, including training in policy drivers, as well as
43 policy-relevant science and policy repercussions of science, that is, how relevant science can be
44 used in developing policy and what adaptations/revisions need to be made to policy as new
320
826
1 scientific information becomes available. Second, there is a large scope for learning within and
2 between nations and regions (i.e. knowledge and technology transfer), especially since some
3 approaches have worked well in some conditions, such as MSP programmes under the
4 Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal
5 Environment of the Western Indian Ocean (Nairobi Convention). In this regard, increased
6 capacity in transboundary cooperation is needed, with science-based management as a core
7 element. Third, there is also a large scope for learning across the breadth of different policies,
8 including how policy was derived, especially for new practitioners but also as continuing
9 professional development for more experienced professionals.
10
11 Knowledge of the key stages in implementing the planning and policy process for marine
12 management, as well as the metrics for measuring and monitoring the effectiveness of
13 management measures, are key requirements for countries starting to implement management
14 approaches. Also important, in this regard, is an understanding by scientists and other
15 stakeholders (including the public) of policymaking and management of public behaviour,
16 including related economic aspects. To achieve these goals, both formal and non-formal
17 approaches to education are required. In addition, transfer of knowledge on decision-making
18 processes and tools across sectors should be promoted in order to ensure that the ecosystem
19 approach can be applied holistically across marine sectors.
20
21 Gill and others (2017) indicated that staff and budget capacity are the strongest predictors of
22 conservation impacts. In this study, MPAs with adequate staff capacity had ecological benefits
23 2.9 times greater than those with inadequate capacity. Creating MPAs without adequate
24 investment will, therefore, result in suboptimal conservation outcomes. Limited resources in
25 some cases may increase the need for citizen science programmes that can complement and/or
26 support monitoring limitations (e.g. in the United Kingdom for shore biota monitoring and beach
27 litter monitoring/clean-up programmes, and Reef Check, MangroveWatch and the Manta Trust)
28 in their global programmes (see also section 7.1 below). These techniques can be deployed
29 worldwide as best practices for greater benefit.
30
31 7. Gaps and future perspectives
32
33 7.1. Data and information for management needs
34
35 Marine management approaches, processes and tools are often hampered by lack of data of
36 appropriate quality and quantity (Borja and others, 2017). Recent developments in the use of big-
37 data methods, innovative use of data and information in policy approaches and the linking of
38 databases help to provide information in such situations. However, understanding of ecological
39 cause and effect related to socioeconomic priorities, as reflected in modelling expertise and
40 scientific support systems for decision-making (recognizing the complexity of coastal and
41 marine systems), is still limited across many regions. Sharing of knowledge and open access to
42 information and data streams, particularly across sectors, should be encouraged in order to
43 ensure that the data collected are made available to all (e.g. “collect once, use many times”).
44 Enhanced collaboration and connectivity of monitoring programmes will assist, not only in the
45 sharing of capacity across sectors and institutions, but also in providing for more efficient
46 approaches to monitoring and provision of data and information. Data from citizen science are
827
1 increasingly becoming an important source of monitoring information, where they are validated
2 and accepted by the academic community (Bennett, 2019) to provide key information on
3 environmental state and trends (e.g. Edgar and Stuart-Smith, 2014).
4
5 Challenges that still need to be addressed include the gathering of data for marine management
6 in a cost-effective manner. The role of technology in marine conservation and management will
7 become increasingly important, especially the collection and use of data from remote sensing and
8 satellites. In sectoral and spatial management, for example, Automatic Identification System
9 (AIS) and Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data are used to manage shipping and fishing
10 activities, particularly for mapping. Novel analytical approaches, such as machine learning, are
11 increasingly being applied to identification of illegal activities in these sectors (Longépé and
12 others, 2017) and to monitor fishery catches (Lee and others, 2008).
13
14 7.2. Management requirements
15
16 Marine management requires the best available science for maintaining and protecting the
17 natural system, while also providing benefits for the private sectors and for society. More
18 research is needed on ecological adaptation/resilience, inter alia, and the prediction of ecosystem
19 response trajectories. These variables should be built into management approaches that cover the
20 scale of both the impact and the response of marine ecosystems, which implies the need for a
21 greater recognition of human intervention in the marine environment as measured against
22 baselines and for using thresholds and targets for unacceptable change. However, this is a major
23 challenge and there is often no baseline or, because of climate change, baselines are moving.
24 Establishing better interconnected monitoring programmes across institutions is also needed.
25
26 Management approaches are underpinned by detailed governance mechanisms, such as policies,
27 polities, administration and legislation. Improving the science-policy interface by enhancing
28 capacity is necessary and particularly important where the knowledge base of informing
29 decision-making is quickly expanding and emerging. Greater coordination is needed in this
30 regard between social and natural sciences, between scientists and policymakers and between
31 science and civil society, including industry, as is inclusion of traditional knowledge, culture and
32 social history into management. Such cross-sectoral understanding is important for management
33 that is truly holistic. There is also a need for data and ecosystem management in ABNJ, in
34 particular with respect to deep sea ecosystems.
35
36 7.3. Incorporating multiple values into management
37
38 The present Chapter has shown an evident trend in management approaches from focusing on
39 predominantly ecological aspects to the inclusion of diverse links between ecological and
40 societal/economic/cultural aspects of the marine environment. Management would be better
41 equipped to achieve the fundamental goal of protecting and maintaining natural systems if it also
42 recognized the wide range of ecosystem services and benefits derived from our oceans.
43 Protecting and preserving the marine environment depends on engaging those who live or work
44 with the sea, and who gain benefits from it, to address deleterious behaviours.
45
828
1 However, the values that people place on the marine environment and its services vary not only
2 in quantity but also in character. Challenging to most management systems is the need to
3 accommodate the multiplicity of values, where real or perceived benefits cannot be equated with
4 each other, or reconciled. The best opportunities to understand and address multiple values are
5 those that engage affected communities in the management approach, and hence the need to
6 combine ecosystem-based management with community-based management that is sensitive to
7 the cultural dimensions of the sea. Such hybrid systems are more capable of balancing all three
8 pillars of sustainable development (environmental, economic and social) and, as such, are likely
9 to be more successful.
10
11 8. Outlook
12
13 While the present Chapter has identified a plethora of approaches to the management of the
14 marine environment, there is still much that can be done to improve and enhance progress,
15 including with regard to the successful integration of the Sustainable Development Goals
16 (SDGs), especially SDG 14, into management objectives and programmes. There is also a need
17 for increased integration of measures to manage anthropogenic pressures not currently the focus
18 of management measures, for example anthropogenic noise.
19
20 Overall, the progress made to date, notwithstanding existing actions for the implementation of
21 SDG 14, is insufficient. Accelerated action, in particular in respect of SDG 14 targets that mature
22 in 2020, is necessary on an urgent basis, including for targets 14.2, 14.4, 14.5 and 14.6.288
23 Although SDG 14 does not explicitly include any reference to marine cultural aspects, the
24 outcome of the United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable
25 Development Goal 14, “Our ocean, our future: call for action”, includes the need to develop
26 comprehensive strategies to raise awareness of the natural and cultural significance of the
27 ocean.321 Similarly, the Samoa Pathway recognizes the cultural connection of the communities of
28 small island developing States to the ocean and the importance of traditional knowledge in the
29 sustainable development of ocean-based economies.322
30
31 The outputs of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development
32 (2021–2030)323 and the concurrent United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration320 will
33 support the implementation of SDG 14 and provide many of the necessary data sources to apply
34 management processes and tools. These initiatives have the potential to progress the tools needed
35 for current and future decision-making, improve overall understanding of issues and solutions for
36 ocean management and increase societal engagement in decision-making and solution
37 applications. Integration of the protection of the underwater cultural heritage in the United
38 Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development324 is also pertinent (UNESCO,
39 2019; Trakadas and others, 2019).
321
322
The SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway; see United Nations General Assembly
resolution 69/15, annex.
323
324
See United Nations General Assembly resolution 72/73, para. 292; see also Ocean Decade Heritage Network,
https://www.oceandecadeheritage.org/.
829
1 While it is implicit in the context of marine management, the present Chapter has not covered the
2 detailed nature of marine governance, nor the challenges associated with the sectoral and often
3 fragmented nature of administrative bodies (e.g. Boyes and Elliott, 2014, 2015). In order to be
4 effective across wider scales and for species that span large scales, both area and non area-based
5 management approaches will need to overcome the often fragmented and complex governance
6 regimes worldwide.
7
8 Effective management of marine resources will also need to extend beyond areas under national
9 jurisdiction to ABNJ, where challenges are greater due to the complexities of the legal regime.
10 This gives added significance to the current negotiations at the United Nations on an
11 international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
12 Sea for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of ABNJ (see Chapter
13 31 of the present Assessment). Similar discussions have been initiated at UNESCO on the
14 expansion of the scope of application of the World Heritage Convention to provide for the
15 protection and management of marine sites of outstanding universal value in high seas areas
16 (UNESCO, 2016; UNESCO, 2019).
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Chapter 31
Developments in the Understanding of Overall benefits
from the Ocean to Humans
Convenor: Luciano Hermanns; Contributors: Denis Worlnanyo Aheto, Adem Bilgin, Robert
Blasiak, Cecile Brugere, Deborah Greaves, Osman Keh Kamara (Co-Lead member), Wenhai Lu,
Essam Mohamed (Lead member) Iryna Makarenko, Stale Navrud, Marinez Eymael Garcia
Scherer, Anastasia Strati (Co-Lead member), Rashid Sumaila, Kateryna Utkina, Wojciech
Wawrzynski
The Group of Experts acknowledges the contribution of Antony Firth, Anita Smith and Hans
Van Tilburg to the present Chapter
1 Keynote points
2
3 • Ocean resources provide main sources of livelihoods to millions of people across the
4 globe. They also provide a wide range of ecosystem services or benefits including oxygen
5 production, carbon storage, genetic resources and general life support services. However,
6 these ecosystem services from marine and coastal ecosystems are deteriorating at an
7 alarming rate.
8 • Human activities are directly or indirectly affecting ecosystem services and thus can
9 reduce or erase benefits that otherwise would be provided. As human activities in the
10 marine environment are expected to increase in the future, in particular in areas beyond
11 national jurisdiction, they will not only exert growing pressure on natural resources, but
12 may also threaten marine biodiversity and thus the benefits people obtain from ecosystem
13 services.
14 • International law as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 325
15 plays a crucial role in the conservation and the sustainable use of the ocean and its
16 resources and in safeguarding the many ecosystem services that the ocean provides both
17 for current and future generations. Actions and efforts should primarily focus on
18 implementation and regulatory gaps, especially in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
19 • This gives added significance to the current negotiations at the United Nations on the
20 elaboration of an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations
21 Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine
22 biological biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.
23 • The distribution around the world of the benefits drawn from the ocean is still very
24 uneven. Gaps in capacity-building and resource and financial constraints hamper less
25 developed countries in taking advantage of what the ocean can offer them.
26 • Capacity-building and shared scientific knowledge and the transfer of marine technology
27 will empower States to fully participate in and benefit from the conservation and
28 sustainable use of the ocean and its resources and assist them in meeting their obligations.
29
325
836
1 1. Introduction
2
3 Ocean resources provide the basis for the livelihoods of millions of people across the globe, and
4 also provide a range of critical ecosystem services, including oxygen production and carbon
5 storage, several biodiversity related services, like harvesting of living resources, coastal
6 protection and genetic resources (Mohammed, 2012) and cultural and amenity services
7 (Whitmash, 2011). The most commonly valued services are tourism and recreation, and storm
8 protection (Mehvar and others, 2018). Fisheries alone provide multiple benefits to millions of
9 people, including those living in poverty in coastal communities of low-income countries. Fish
10 and other seafood are a major source of food, protein and micronutrients for many vulnerable
11 communities. It is also estimated that, in 2016, 59.6 million people were employed in the
12 primary sector of capture fisheries and aquaculture, with a great majority in low-income
13 countries. With the addition of those who work in associated processing, marketing, distribution
14 and supply industries, it is estimated that fisheries and aquaculture support nearly 250 million
15 livelihoods (FAO, 2018).
16
17 Benefits from marine and coastal ecosystems can be categorized in several ways. Traditionally,
18 these benefits have been understood in terms of “goods” (i.e. products, resources, harvests from
19 nature with a market value), “services” (i.e. processes that sustain all forms of life but that do not
20 have a market value), and “cultural benefits” (i.e. spiritual, religious heritage, with no explicit
21 market value). Whilst goods have a direct use (consumptive) value, determined through market
22 prices, services and cultural benefits have an indirect use (non-consumptive) value that can be
23 determined through the application of a variety of valuation techniques (See Figure 1).
24
25 Source: Barbier, 2017.
26
27 The seminal Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) proposed a different classification of
28 benefits obtained by humans from ecosystems, which it simply called “ecosystem services”.
837
1 These are disaggregated as Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural and Supporting, the latter category
2 being needed for the existence of the previous ones. Provisioning services, such as the food, fuel
3 and fibre extracted from ecosystems, are akin to consumptive benefits and have a use value,
4 while other services, such as regulating the climate, absorbing carbon dioxide, maintaining life
5 cycles and landscapes, creating income and employment opportunities and cultural identity, are
6 mostly immaterial (i.e. non-consumptive in nature, with a non-use value).
7
8 1.1. Provisioning services of marine and coastal ecosystems
9
10 The ocean provides a multitude of direct and indirect benefits of value to humans. The most
11 direct benefit that marine and coastal ecosystems provide is through their primary productivity
12 and its resulting products, such as fish, plants, animals, fuel, timber (e.g. mangroves),
13 biochemicals, natural medicines, pharmaceuticals, raw materials (sand, corals), and to a lesser
14 extent, freshwater and fibre. In 2016, 79.3 million tonnes of marine fish326 were caught, and 28.7
15 million tonnes of marine aquaculture species326 were farmed, supplying together an average
16 14.6kg of seafood per person on earth (FAO, 2018). Seafood is essential for food security - it
17 provides more than 20 per cent of the average per capita animal protein intake for 3 billion
18 people, and more than 50 per cent in some developing countries (FAO, 2018).
19
20 1.2. Regulating services of marine and coastal ecosystems
21
22 Oceans also perform fundamental regulating services. They influence biologically mediated
23 processes, e.g. carbon fixation and oxygen release, enabling climate mitigation and regulation.
24 Similarly, coastal fringes perform a key role in sequestering carbon. These services have an
25 indirect use value to humans as they enable the maintenance of favourable and stable climate
26 conditions (e.g. temperatures, precipitations) to which livelihood activities have adapted (e.g.
27 crop cultivations), the preservation of human health, and infrastructures and other assets on
28 which livelihoods depend. The role of coastal ecosystems in controlling pests and animal
29 populations through trophic-dynamic relations and supporting pollination helps to keep at bay
30 pests and diseases that can impact cultivations, aquaculture activities and, potentially, human
31 health.
32
33 Coastal ecosystems play an important role in the prevention of coastal erosion and can act as
34 both shoreline stabilization and protection against storms, attenuating the strength of the waves
35 and reducing the vulnerability of coastal settlements to sea surges and flooding events. For
36 example, it was estimated that the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 caused greater damage to areas
37 that had been converted to shrimp ponds and other uses than those where the mangrove had
38 remained intact (EJF, 2006) and that, overall, the thicker the mangrove fringes are, the greater
39 the protection to economic activity they offer (Hochard and others, 2019). Though to a lesser
40 extent, coral reefs, seagrass beds and other vegetated coastal ecosystems can also have a
41 significant impact in dissipating wave action and offering shoreline protection (Spalding and
42 others, 2014).
326
Excludes aquatic mammals, crocodiles and related, seaweed and other aquatic plants.
838
1 1.3. Supporting services of marine and coastal ecosystems

2
3 Photosynthesis occurring in marine and coastal ecosystems enables the conversion of solar
4 energy into plants and animals and the maintenance of the net primary productivity of these
5 ecosystems. Coastal ecosystems perform a key role in maintaining biodiversity and suitable
6 reproductive habitats and nursery grounds for aquatic species. The ecological niches and refuge
7 for wild animals and plants they provide directly support the provisioning services of marine and
8 coastal ecosystems. For example, seagrass beds in the Mediterranean are estimated to contribute
9 30 to 40 per cent of the value of commercial fisheries landings and approximately 29 per cent of
10 recreational fisheries expenditure (Jackson and others, 2015). Coastal ecosystems also act as
11 pollution sinks and enable the storage and recycling of nutrients, and support water cycling.
12
13 1.4. Cultural services and other social benefits of marine and coastal
14 ecosystems
15
16 The aesthetic, cultural religious and spiritual services from the ocean (“cultural services”) cover
17 a wide range of practices. These services are essential in the maintenance and creation of social
18 capital, education, cultural identity and traditions (human and social capital). All around the
19 world, many beliefs and rituals are rich in references to the sea. Research on marine and coastal
20 cultural ecosystem services is, however, still limited (Garcia Rodrigues and others, 2017).
21
22 Some services take the form of culturally important provisioning, such as jewellery (e.g. pearls
23 or corals); ornamentation (e.g. mother-of-pearl); food of cultural significance (e.g. shark fins);
24 and traditional medicine products (e.g. dried seahorses). Some of these, such as the harvesting of
25 shark fins and seahorses have serious adverse impacts on the ocean. Since the First World Ocean
26 Assessment (WOA I) (United Nations, 2017b), the pearl industry has substantially recovered
27 from the drop in demand caused by the 2008–2011 financial crisis, while the pressures from
28 shark fin harvests on shark stocks have declined further, by around 25 per cent (FAO, 2018).
29
30 Other cultural practices form integral parts of the traditional use of the ocean (such as ways of
31 building boats or harvesting shellfish, and stone fish traps found across the coast of South-East
32 Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands). The diversity and technological sophistication of these
33 structures attest to indigenous traditional knowledge of the ocean and its resources (Jeffery,
34 2013; Rowland and Ulm, 2011) Traditional watercraft like the Hawaiian voyaging canoe
35 Hōkūle`a provide an active platform for the restoration and maintenance of Pacific non-
36 instrument navigation and cultural identity. Numerous other voyaging canoes have been
37 constructed in the Pacific and, in many places, the knowledge of traditional wayfinding has been
38 preserved. Fautasi races in Samoa and dragon boat races in China merge history and cultural
39 traditions with health, fitness and contemporary competition. People have long incorporated
40 water-related activities as habitual or significant parts of their lives. Non-consumptive ocean
41 activities also include swimming, diving, kayaking, surfing, sailing and wildlife viewing.
42
43 Other cultural activities represent ways of reacting to the ocean (such as dances to celebrate the
44 ocean or religious practices to safeguard against danger on the ocean). These practices can
45 constitute an important part of the cultural heritage of a people. One example is the role of whale
46 hunting for the indigenous peoples of the western seaboard of Canada and the United States of
839
1 America, as discussed in WOA I. One tribe in Washington State, United States of America, the
2 Makah, has been pursuing special authorization to resume some whale hunting since 2005. In
3 November 2019, a hearing was held into their request and, in February 2020, a revised
4 environmental impact assessment was published. They fear that, without the special
5 authorization, this element of their culture would remain a connection to the past without any
6 present reinforcement. (NOAA, 2015; NOAA, 2020).
7
8 Heritage is also a part of the cultural services provided by the ocean, providing significant,
9 though often unquantified, social and economic benefits (Firth, 2015). The iconic nature of
10 underwater cultural heritage, such as historic shipwrecks, captures archaeological and historical
11 information, revealing unique aspects of past human seafaring and behaviour, to be shared
12 through museums, documentaries and public research. Shipwrecks can also yield valuable
13 information about the sociocultural, historical, economic, and political contexts at various scales
14 of reference (local, regional, global) between the date of the vessel’s construction (e.g. hull
15 design, rig, materials used, its purpose, etc.) and its eventual demise in the sea (e.g. due to
16 warfare, piracy/privateering, intentional abandonment, natural weather events, etc.) (Gould,
17 1983). The remains of prehistoric landscapes submerged by changing sea levels and the
18 continuing destruction of important coastal sites by exposure and erosion are important
19 reminders of climate change in the human past and of the impact of the climate crisis today
20 (Harkin and others, 2020).
21
22 Wreck site tourism plays a role in the recreational diving industry. Services memorializing vessel
23 losses, such as wreath-laying ceremonies at submerged warship gravesites, expresses a deep
24 connection to sacrifice at sea. The diversity of cultural services arising from shipwrecks, and
25 other historic structures in the sea, is complemented by the role that underwater cultural heritage
26 can play as artificial reef, providing habitats that are important for nature conservation, sea
27 angling and commercial fishing, for example (Firth, 2018).
28
29 Finally, there is the sense of place engendered in onlookers by the ocean. The sense of openness
30 and exposure to the elements can be very important to those who live by the sea or visit it as
31 tourists. As discussed in Chapter 8B of the present Assessment, on human health and the ocean,
32 there is growing evidence that the sense of openness engendered by the ocean can improve
33 human health. The ocean has also been an important source of inspiration to artists, composers
34 and writers, often reflecting economically important aspects of society. Some studies reveal the
35 deep emotional attachment of people to the marine environment (e.g. the Black Sea in Fletcher
36 and others, 2014, and the North Sea in Gee and Burkhard, 2010), and the importance of
37 maintaining this relationship to preserve both nature and culture (Fletcher and others, 2014).
38
39 Opportunities for income generation and employment opportunities, for education and recreation
40 and for scientific and artistic information and inspiration, are also part of the wider range of
41 social benefits that marine and coastal ecosystems provide, and upon which the well-being of
42 populations, regardless of their distance from the shore, hinges directly and indirectly.
43
44 2. Benefits and their distribution
45
46 While some benefits from the ocean are very central and ensure the existence of life on earth,
840
1 like the production of oxygen, and the uptake of carbon dioxide and heat, most services are
2 related to specific ecosystems or elements therein and are thus not fairly distributed. Moreover,
3 not all States have the capacity to participate fully in and benefit from the ocean and its
4 resources. This might be either because they do not have access to ocean, like landlocked States,
5 or do not have the financial means to develop maritime industries, which is the case for many
6 developing countries. Some States do not have the capacity to access areas beyond national
7 jurisdiction or even parts of their own exclusive economic zone. For example, in areas beyond
8 national jurisdiction, the collection of marine genetic resources, their sequencing and potential
9 commercialization are currently concentrated within a small number of countries (Blasiak and
10 others, 2019; Harden-Davies, 2019; Levin and Baker, 2019; Blasiak and others, 2018).
11
12 One of the main provisioning services, living resources, is not only unevenly distributed, with
13 productivity hotspots concentrated in the upwelling areas of the world (Kämpf and Chapman,
14 2016), but a very substantial proportion of capture fisheries are carried out by relatively fishing
15 vessels from relatively few States: China and six industrialised countries (Iceland, Japan,
16 Norway, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America), took
17 42 per cent of the global catch in 2016 (FAO, 2018). Thus, profits are not necessarily going to
18 the countries with the exclusive economic zone producing the fish. McCauley and others (2018)
19 found that vessels flagged to higher-income nations, for example, are responsible for 97 per cent
20 of the trackable industrial fishing on the high seas and 78 per cent of such effort within the
21 national waters of lower-income countries.
22
23 The most valued services, tourism and recreation, rely on specific characteristics, such as coral
24 reefs (Spalding and others, 2017), and specific activities, like cruise tourism, and are
25 concentrated in certain areas like the Caribbean and the Mediterranean (see Chapter 8C of the
26 present Assessment) and in the hands of only a few companies.
27
28 The International Seabed Authority has been established as the organization through which
29 States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea organize and control
30 activities in the Area (i.e. all activities of exploration and exploitation of the mineral resources of
31 the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof beyond the limits of national jurisdiction) for the
32 benefit of mankind as a whole and to provide for the equitable sharing of financial and other
33 economic benefits from activities in the Area (Article 140). However, in addition to economic
34 benefits from deep seabed mining, the benefits from leaving ecosystems intact should also be
35 considered in the context of Article 140, thus integrating redistribution (international solidarity)
36 with ecological preservation (intergenerational solidarity) (Tladi, 2015, Feichtner, 2019).
37
38 Specific revenue-sharing obligations are also included in Article 82 of the Convention, which
39 provides for a system of payments or contributions in kind by coastal States with respect to the
40 exploitation of the non-living resources of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. Such
41 payments or contributions are to be made through the International Seabed Authority for
42 distribution to States Parties to the Convention, on the basis of equitable sharing criteria (Spicer
43 and McIsaac, 2016).
841
1 3. Disbenefits to humans
2
3 The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
4 conceptual framework defines nature’s contributions to people as all the positive contributions or
5 benefits (including ecosystem services) and occasionally negative contributions, losses or
6 detriments, that people obtain from nature (Pascual and others, 2017). The negative contributions
7 of nature, which in some fields have become known as ecosystem disservices, are beginning to
8 be incorporated into ecosystem service assessments (Campagne and others, 2018).
9
10 Ecosystem disservices or disbenefits are functions or properties of ecosystems that are
11 unpleasant or cause harm, either by reducing ecosystem services or directly affecting humans
12 (Lyytimäki, 2014; Shackleton and others, 2016). Direct effects on humans are, for example,
13 caused by floods and storm surges, which can lead to economic losses of several billion to over
14 100 billion United States dollars annually (Kousky, 2014). Direct harm to humans can also come
15 through seafood-borne diseases, mainly caused by harmful algal blooms such as Amnesic
16 Shellfish Poisoning, Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning, Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning, Neurotoxic
17 Shellfish Poisoning and Ciguatera Fish Poisoning. Besides the negative impact on human well-
18 being, these diseases also cause economic losses due to hospitalization expenses and lost
19 productivity (Sanseverino and others, 2016). Harmful algal blooms can also cause losses in terms
20 of fisheries and aquaculture production. Coastal vegetation and sedimentation can negatively
21 affect human activities, including shipping.
22
23 4. Threats to ocean ecosystem services
24
25 Human activities are directly or indirectly affecting ecosystem services and thus can reduce or
26 erase benefits that otherwise would be provided. These threats are the pressures which are
27 detailed in Chapters 9–28 of the present Assessment.
28
29 Relatively little is understood about how social and ecological processes interact to determine
30 marine ecosystem benefits (Outeiro and others, 2017). While the co-production process can
31 sustain desirable ecosystem service flows, it can also produce trade-offs which constrain flows of
32 ecosystem services or exacerbate the provision of disservices, with negative impacts on human
33 well-being at a range of scales (Pope and others, 2016). These impacts, which can be categorized
34 as extractive (e.g. fishing, mining, offshore hydrocarbon exploration and extraction, and
35 mangrove exploitation) and non-extractive threats (e.g. ocean warming and acidification,
36 eutrophication, pollution, and habitat destruction and conversion), interact, often with
37 compounded effects (McCauley and others, 2015; Sumaila and others, 2016).
38
39 5. Safeguarding ocean benefits through regional and international
40 cooperation and improved implementation of international law as
41 reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
42
43 5.1. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, its implementing
44 agreements and related instruments
842
1 The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,325 which sets out the legal framework
2 within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out, plays a crucial role in the
3 conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources and in safeguarding the many
4 ecosystem services that the ocean provides for both current and future generations.
5
6 Integration of the environmental, social and economic dimensions is at the core of the
7 Convention, which establishes a delicate balance between the need for economic and social
8 development through the use of the oceans and their resources and the need to conserve and
9 manage those resources in a sustainable manner and to protect and preserve the marine
10 environment. It also provides a framework for international cooperation in the conservation and
11 sustainable use of the oceans and its resources, which can take place through intergovernmental
12 institutions, or bilaterally among States (United Nations, 2017b).
13
14 The integrated approach to ocean management as reflected in the Convention is essential for
15 promoting sustainable development, as sectoral and fragmented approaches lack coherence and
16 may lead to solutions that have a limited impact on the conservation and sustainable use of the
17 oceans and their resources. At the international level, it is important that this integrated approach
18 guide the regulatory work and capacity-building activities of international organizations in the
19 framework of their competences and that such organizations effectively respond to the increasing
20 need for coordination and cross-sectoral cooperation. At the same time, at the national level, the
21 integrated approach requires that a comprehensive legal framework for ocean matters be put in
22 place and that institutional mechanisms enabling inter-agency cooperation be set up and
23 improved.
24
25 In many fields, the Convention is supplemented by more specific, sectoral instruments. In
26 addition to its two implementing agreements, the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation
27 of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982327 and
28 the 1995 Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention
29 on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of
30 Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks,328 there are numerous other
31 international legal instruments both at the global and regional levels covering many aspects of
32 ocean use, including the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources.
33
34 Such instruments include, inter alia, global treaties relating to sustainable fisheries management,
35 pollution from ships, maritime safety, atmospheric pollution, the release of hazardous substances
36 into the environment, the protection of certain species or habitats and the conservation and
37 sustainable use of biodiversity, the working conditions of seafarers, fishers and other maritime
38 workers, and the protection of underwater cultural heritage. A number of regional treaties are
39 also included in this framework, including those adopted by regional fisheries management
40 organizations and arrangements (RFMO/As) and regional seas conventions and action plans. In
41 addition, a number of soft law instruments also address relevant issues, including technical
42 guidelines on fisheries, such as the FAO International Guidelines for the Management of Deep
43 Sea Fisheries in the High Seas, the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries or the IOC-
327
328
Ibid., vol. 2167, No. 37924.
843
1 UNESCO Step by Step Approach for Marine Spatial Planning toward Ecosystem-based
2 Management. While these guidelines are universal, they highlight best practices and regional
3 specificities and, therefore, support individual countries in the implementation of global ocean
4 agendas. Components of a working system for global ocean management are also supported by
5 soft law mechanisms providing guidance for international action, such as the Rio Declaration on
6 Environment and Development of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
7 Development329 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development330 and its Sustainable
8 Development Goals, in particular SDG 14 (Life below water).
9
10 Effective conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources will be achieved only
11 with the full and effective implementation of the whole of this body of international law. Actions
12 and efforts should focus primarily on implementation gaps. All States are challenged by the
13 implementation of such a comprehensive legal framework, in particular, developing countries.
14 Many small island developing States and least developed countries lack the detailed knowledge
15 and skilled manpower needed for ocean management because of the large ocean areas under their
16 jurisdiction and their limited resources and capacity. Capacity and technologies for planning and
17 managing land-based activities that have impacts on coastal and marine environments, as well as
18 those activities occurring in coastal and marine environments, will ensure that economic benefits
19 can be maximized in an environmentally sustainable manner.
20
21 WOA I noted that capacity-building and shared scientific knowledge and the transfer of marine
22 technology, taking into account the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Criteria and
23 Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology, will empower States to fully participate in and
24 benefit from the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources and assist them
25 in meeting their obligations (United Nations, 2017a).
26
27 The situation has not changed drastically since then. Human, institutional and systemic
28 capacities, as well as financing, continue to be the primary limiting factors, in particular for
29 developing countries. Resource capacity, including financial capacity, remains a significant
30 constraint in relation to the protection and preservation of the marine environment and marine
31 scientific research, whilst technology constraints are often an impediment to effective
32 implementation of a State’s obligations (United Nations, 2017b; see also Chapter 30 of the
33 present Assessment).
34
35 Gaps also exist with regard to the material or geographical scope of relevant instruments. For
36 example, while some aspects of marine debris, plastics and microplastics are covered by several
37 global, regional and national instruments, none, other than some regional action plans on marine
38 litter, are specifically dedicated to these issues. At the same time, some geographic areas remain
39 uncovered by regional instruments relevant to the implementation of aspects of the United
40 Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Fish Stocks Agreement (United Nations,
41 2017b).
329
Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3–14June 1992,
vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigendum),
resolution 1, annex I.
330
844
1 Special challenges are encountered in the enforcement of effective management measures in

2 areas beyond national jurisdiction, due to regulatory gaps and a lack of cross-sectoral
3 coordination (Altvater and others, 2019; Chapter 30 of the present Assessment). These issues are
4 currently being discussed at the United Nations in the context of the intergovernmental
5 negotiations on the elaboration of a legally binding instrument under the United Nations
6 Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity
7 in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
8
9 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 can be a strong driver for strengthening ocean
10 governance and enhancing policy coherence, whilst providing an impetus for collective global
11 accountability for the oceans under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In target 14.c
12 of SDG 14, States committed to “enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and
13 their resources by implementing international law as reflected in UNCLOS”.331 Increasing
14 participation in international instruments and addressing challenges of implementation, including
15 resource and capacity constraints, strengthening intersectoral cooperation, coordination and
16 information-sharing at all levels and developing new instruments to address emerging challenges
17 in a timely fashion, will be key elements in accelerating the implementation of this target
18 (United Nations, 2019).
19
20 5.2. The third implementing agreement of the United Nations Convention
21 on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of
22 marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, currently
23 under consideration
24
25 Efforts to strengthen the international legal framework through the elaboration of new
26 instruments include, in particular, the intergovernmental conference convened by the General
27 Assembly to elaborate the text of an international legally binding instrument on the conservation
28 and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. More
29 specifically, following a decade of work in the framework of a working group and then a
30 preparatory committee, the United Nations General Assembly decided in its resolution 72/249 of
31 24 December 2017 to convene an intergovernmental conference, under the auspices of the
32 United Nations, to consider the recommendations of the Preparatory Committee established by
33 its resolution 69/292 of 19 June 2015 on the elements and to elaborate the text of an international
34 legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea on the
35 conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national
331
See United Nations General Assembly resolution 71/313, annex. The indicator to monitor progress against target
14.c, indicator 14.c.1, calls for an assessment of the number of countries making progress in ratifying, accepting and
implementing through legal, policy and institutional frameworks, ocean-related instruments that implement
international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, for the conservation and
sustainable use of the oceans and their resources. Recently, a new methodology for the measurement of such
progress has been developed. Data to be collected based on the approved methodology will provide, for the first
time, a baseline of the current state of implementation of the Convention and its implementing agreements with
respect to the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources. See further DOALOS, Information
Note. Development of a methodology for Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 14.c.1, 4 October 2019.
845
1 jurisdiction, with a view to developing the instrument as soon as possible.

2
3 The Conference convened three substantive sessions from 2018 to April 2020 to address the
4 topic identified in the package agreed in 2011, namely the conservation and sustainable use of
5 marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, in particular, together and as a
6 whole, marine genetic resources, including questions of the sharing of benefits, measures such as
7 area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, environmental impact
8 assessment and capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology. Negotiations are at a
9 critical juncture. Regrettably, however, in accordance with General Assembly decision 74/543 of
10 11 March 2020, the fourth session, initially scheduled for March/April 2020, was postponed due
11 to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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848

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Second World Ocean Assessment | first draft | 27 April 2020

1 PART 5: TRENDS IN PRESSURES ON THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

Cyclone Extreme Drought Marine Tidal Wave-induced

Cold or Sea-ice Compound Compound Compound

1 increase transmission of pathogens to humans through consumption of immunosuppressed

1 3. Capacity building: Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network

2.1. Extreme climate events

2.2. Sea level rise and cities

2.3. Pressures from changes in temperature

2.4. Pressures from changes in ocean chemistry

1 • The single largest source of anthropogenic N and P is synthetic fertilizers156 (Vitousek

1 3.2.2. Toxic algal events

1 Nuclear weapon testing

Slovakia 55.0 (51.7) Armenia 25.6 (29.2) Japan 6.2 (1.7)

1 As the impacts of increased anthropogenically produced carbon dioxide become more

1 confidence, quality control/assurance guidelines, including inter-calibrations, will be

Cunningham, Patricia A and others (2019). Assessment of metal contamination in

Hernández, F and others (2019). Occurrence of antibiotics and bacterial resistance in

Chemistry and Physics, vol. 19, No.3, pp. 1721–1752. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-

Verlicchi, Paola, M Al Aukidy, and Elena Zambello (2012). Occurrence of pharmaceutical

of the United and from North- North Atlantic.

Mediterranean Amount of Mediterranean Sea is Mediterranean All types of

Sea (Arossa and commercial

South Pacific Compared to Highest concentrations Different Ninety-seven

and others, 2017; synthetic line and

East Greenland Subsurface 2005 and WP-2 net, Significant Amélineau

North-East 78 beaches 2001–2011 OSPAR/ No large- Hydrodynamics Schultz and

North-East microplastics 1976–2015 Epibenthic No trends 2 species Courtene-

North Sea/ Birds (fulmars, 1979–2012 OSPAR Increase to Van

Cetaceans 1990–2015 Stomach No trend Lusher and

Baltic Sea 245 stations; 1987–2015 Plankton No change Beer and

North Atlantic Floating plastics 1987–2012 Surface No Extension of Van

France, Sea floor/shelves 1994–2017 Trawling, No regular Plastic is up to Gerigny and

Spain/ Seabed Shelves, 2007–2017 Trawl, No Medits project García-

Western Ingested debris/ 1995–2016 MSFD Slight 195 samples Domènech

Balearic Floating 2005–2015 Onshore/ No trend From cleaning Compa and

Southern Birds (white- 1990–2014 Stomach Increase of Petry and

North Pacific Floating 2001–2012 2,500 surface No evident Confounded Lavender

China National 2011–2018 State & No trend MEE/PRC,

Chile Beaches (all 2006–2016 Participative No trend Three Hidalgo-Ruz

1 Microplastics also relate to SDG 12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and production

Little understanding of the fate of marine litter and where it accumulates

Unknown effects on human health of ingestion of plastic-contaminated seafood

Scope and granularity of computational models are insufficiently developed

Economic evaluation methodologies need to incorporate costs of plastic in the environment

Poor storm-water management

Inadequate infrastructures for waste collection, management, recycling, port reception

Recyclability must be improved

Awareness, information and education must be improved

1 2.3.1. Sewage sludge dumping

Inert inorganic geological

1 2.7. Relevance to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

1 2.9. Key remaining knowledge and capacity-building gaps

1 3. Consequences of the changes on human communities, economies and

1 improved understanding of the spatial dimensions associated with alongshore redistribution

1 4.6.1. Arctic Ocean

1 fishery subsidies have continued at an accelerated pace, although no firm agreement

1 sustainability (Hilborn and others, 2020). Management reforms, such as rights-based

1 Table 1. Marine capture fisheries production by country. Source: FAO (2018)

1 Table 2. Fishing areas and capture production. Source: FAO (2018).

1 6. Potential for fisheries enhancement

1 environmental issues are still to be addressed, it is important to put aquaculture in a wider

Bacher, Kathrin (2015). Perceptions and misconceptions of aquaculture: a global overview.