Transboundary Marine Ecosystems and Marine Resource ...



Transboundary Marine Ecosystem and Living Resource

Problems in the North Pacific

Seong K. Park, Ph.D. and Jae M. Choi[1]

Pukyong National University/Faculty of Ocean Industry Policy

599-1 Daeyon-3dong, Nam-gu, Busan 608-737, Korea

Tel: 51-620-6511 Fax: 51-621-8168

Email: skpark@pknu.ac.kr

Presented for the Open Meeting of International

Science Planning Committee (ISPC)

October 6-8, 2001, Hotel Gloria

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Defining Problems

The North Pacific region has witnessed profound technological, economic and social transformations for the past fifty years. During the period North Pacific countries also experienced the rapid development and diffusion of marine technological innovations with regard to vessels, equipments, and fish farming that were accompanied by the emergence of mass exploitation of coastal/marine living resources, mass mariculture production and mass consumption.

Many experts on marine ecosystem and resources believe that ocean carrying capacity may no longer allow overexploitation of marine living resources. In reality, North Pacific coastal states and international fishery organizations have put much more efforts on resource management over their jurisdictional waters as well as the high seas than ever before. This is a clear sign that cheap marine fisheries operation in the oceans will be no longer possible throughout the region.

Such global and/or regional trend naturally raises an important question on fisheries/resources sustainability. That is to say, how can coastal states with limited but transboundary[2] marine living resources provide their people with seafood in a sustainable manner under the restrictive conditions? Many North Pacific countries are facing the challenging marine environmental/resource issues. One way to solve the problem is to transform its fisheries into environmentally sound sustainable fisheries. However, most of the North Pacific countries have a wide spectrum of socioeconomic development stage and cultural background and are sharing transboundary marine ecosystems and living resources in the North Pacific waters. Asian countries in the region are quite different from North American coastal states in many respects. First of all, population density seems to be the most important element. China, Japan and Korea are the coastal nations with the highest population density and account for 13 percent of the world population. Second, they are among the largest consumers/producers/traders of fish and fish products in the world. Japan is the biggest importer, while China is the largest exporter. Third, their environmental/resource management practices are not much advanced although some of them are highly industrialized. A main reason for this is that they (particularly, China and Korea) have a large number of less developed coastal communities, which have developed resource-use oriented technologies under the massive government financial support.

Such unbalanced technological development strategy and competitive exploitation of marine living resources showed a tendency of resulting in a treadmill phenomenon (a vicious cycle) in many fisheries. For example, introducing new fishing technology with little conservation concern induces higher fishing intensity, which leads to lowering resource stock/environmental quality associated with higher marginal production/conservation costs, followed by lowering income. This process tends to repeat itself. That is, newer technology requires more investment, which, in turn, results in higher overcapacity.

In this regard there have been serious international debates surrounding world marine environmental conservation and living resource management issues: (i) reduction in government financial transfer (subsidies) to fisheries sector (OECD, FAO and WTO), (ii) fishing capacity adjustments (FAO), (iii) lowering tariff and non-tariff barriers (WTO and APEC), and (iv) early voluntary sectoral liberalization (APEC). The main objective of addressing these marine fisheries issues is to explore ways that international communities can contribute to sustainable marine fisheries and ecosystem management in the world and the Pacific Region as well. However, in particular, a little attention has been given to human dimensions in the previous international marine environmental and fisheries fora.

In this context, section two describes geographic setting of the North Pacific ocean. Section three examines characteristics of Transboundary Marine Ecosystem and Marine Living Resources in the region. Section four identifies and analyzes key driving forces including human dimension, which affect North Pacific marine affairs and national/international responses to the driving forces. Section five concludes this paper and makes some suggestions.

II. Geographic Setting of the North Pacific Ocean

The Pacific is the world’s largest, coldest and deepest ocean. It occupies about 166 million square kilometers, or approximately one-third of the earth’s total surface area. Its mean depth is about 4,000 meters (The Mariana Trench, off the island of Guam, is measured at a depth of 11,000 meters). The Pacific contains a volume of more than 576 million cubic kilometers of water. The average water temperature of the Pacific is about 3.36℃, and the salinity content is about 3.46 percent (Wang 1992).

The pacific is so vast that it could contain all of the world’s land masses or continents within its area. Near the equator the Pacific extends and spreads to 17,700 kilometers-halfway around the world. To the east of the Pacific lie the American continents, and to the west Asia and Australia. To the north the Pacific is connected by the Bering Strait with the Arctic Ocean. In many ways, the Pacific can be a violent ocean where fearsome storms occur and frequent earthquakes, caused by erupting volcanic islands, disturb the tranquility of its waters. The Pacific Ocean is commonly divided into North, Central and South Pacific segments.

Among the segments the North Pacific Ocean is a major world source of marine organisms: harvests of these organisms play an important role in the economic and international relations of the bordering nations. The region itself extends from the near-tropical waters off southern Japan to the arctic waters of the Bering Sea. The Bering Sea contains one of the largest and most productive areas of continental shelf of the world ocean, while the continental shelves along the Pacific coast of Japan and the United States are relatively narrow and productivity is variable.

Table 1. Bathymetry of the North Pacific and Adjacent Seas

| | | | | | |

| |Pacific Ocean |Bering Sea |Sea of Okhotsk |East Sea |Yellow and |

| | | | | |East China Seas |

|Area (km2) |22,000,000 |2,261,000 |1,392,000 |1,013,000 |1,202,000 |

|Mean Depth (m) |4,188 |1,492 |973 |1,667 |272 |

|Volume (km3) |92,180,000 |3,373,000 |1,354,000 |1,690,000 |327,000 |

|Continental Shelf |1.6% |46.4% |26.5% |23.5% |81.3% |

|Area (0-200m) | | | | | |

|Continental Slope |2.6% |6.0% |39.5% |15.2% |11.4% |

|Area (200-1000m) | | | | | |

|Deep Basin Area |95.8% |47.6% |44.0% |61.3% |7.3% |

Source: Edward Miles et al. 1994. The Management of Marine Regions: The North Pacific. University of California Press. p. 19.

There are five marginal seas surrounding the North Pacific – the Bering Sea, East Sea, Okhotsk Sea, Yellow Sea and East China Sea. Together, these seas constitute an area exceeding all the other marginal seas of the world’s oceans. Comparison of bathymetery of the North Pacific and marginal seas in table 1 shows considerable variation in the amount of continental shelf, slope, and ocean basin.

In particular, the East Sea, East China Sea and Yellow Sea are the locales of important marine activities, many of which can be expected to increase in scope in the future, as the economic activities of the coastal states continue to expand. The semi-closed nature of the waters and the market interdependence require a variety of cooperation among the countries. The East Asian Seas are carrying more than 80 commercial marine species, which are of much socio-economic significance. Most of these fish species have transboundary, straddling and highly seasonal migratory characteristics.

III. Characteristics of Transboundary Marine Ecosystem and Marine Living Resources in the North Pacific

Marine Ecosystem

Marine organisms of the same species living in a specific area are populations of that particular species. A population never lives in isolation but interact with other populations. A group of plant and animal population living together in the same region is a community. For example, a variety of marine animals in a food chain system coexist.

Communities of marine organisms that interact with one another, as well as with their physical and chemical environment, in such a way as to sustain a system are found collectively termed an ecosystem. These dynamically balanced systems are found from the tallest peaks to the floors of the deepest oceans. Ecosystems come in many sizes, exhibit variations in life form and have distinct chemical and physical properties, such as those found in sea, bay, tide pool, stream and pond. The North Pacific Ocean has a multitude of naturally balanced ecosystems.

The many marine ecosystems coupled together sustain the larger, complex, and intricately interlinked North Pacific and global ecosystem - ecosphere.[3] Marine living resources would not sustain themselves without healthy ecosystems which are necessary for marine living organisms’ survival and regeneration. In the North Pacific, some sub-ecosystems (i.e., Yellow Sea, Okhotsk Sea and Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, California Current, etc.) turn out to have been seriously degraded by marine pollution and/or overexploitation of marine living resources during the last three decades.

Reversing this downward trend will require, besides population stabilization, regional cooperation in management and effort to repair, mitigate and minimize damages by adaptive preventive policy measures to secure sustainable development of these resources. For this, recently, large marine ecosystems (LMEs) approach[4] has been introduced to regions of ocean space.

Figure 1. World Map of Large Marine Ecosystems

[pic]

Source: Sherman K. 1999. Large Marine Ecosystem: Assessment and Management in the Large Marine Ecosystems of the Pacific Rim (edited By K. Sherman and Q. Tang). Blackwell Science. p. 444.

encompassing coastal areas from river basins and estuaries to the seaward boundary of continental shelves and the seaward margins of coastal current systems. They are relatively large regions characterized by distinct bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and trophically dependent populations.[5]

This approach to management, pertinent to LMEs, represents a paradigm shift from highly focused short-term sector by sector resource assessment and management to larger spatial scale, long-term management. This practice moves away from management of commodities to management practices that are focused on ensuring the sustainability of the productive potential for ecosystem goods and services. Now, 61 LMEs are designated around the world oceans. Among them there are 12 LMEs in the North Pacific region. To obtain information in support of improved management practices, a five module strategy, which is called modular assessments, has been developed for assessing and analyzing ecosystem-wide changes in (i) productivity, (ii) fish and fisheries, (iii) pollution and ecosystem health, (iv) socio-economics, and (v) governance (. In particular, for governance Costanza et al (1998) advocate an integrated approach based on adaptive management embodying six principles: responsibility, scale matching, precaution, adaptive management, full coast allocation and participation.

Marine Living Resources

While socio-economic and political interests of the North Pacific nations may be fragmented, reliance upon shrinking ocean and coastal resources, international trade and foreign investment capital are the most important factors that are common in all North Pacific economies. Through international markets, investment and trade links these interdependencies will reverberate throughout the region with consequences that must be addressed by all economies of the North Pacific rim.

Exploitation of fishery resources has already exceeded sustainable levels in some parts of the region and it has transboundary implications in such areas as Bering Sea, East Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and North American Pacific waters. Anadromous fish (i.e., salmon), marine mammals (i.e., whales and dolphins), and seabirds have typical transboundary and straddling characteristics.

All species of salmon have extensive migration patterns during their long growth period in the marine waters. Various information sources have provided some indications of the transboundary migration routes of the different species from various spawning grounds, but in general the routes are not well-defined. The area between 175 degrees west longitude and 175 degrees east longitude is an area where the distribution of migrating stocks of Asian and North American origin overlap, and the difficulty in distinguishing between stocks that spawn in different rivers has been a major source of conflict in the management of salmon fisheries in the North Pacific. It also should be noted that stocks originating in the rivers of the nations of Asia intermingle with other stocks of Asian and North American origin and vice versa. Thus, high-seas fishing and, to some extent, even coastal fishing can occasion significant interception of stocks. Salmon feed on large zooplankton and small fishlike lantern fish.[6]

Over fifty species of marine mammals are found in the North Pacific. The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is largely an ice-living mammal, while seals and alruses spend time in rookeries for mating and pupping. The whales, dolphins, and other mammals are exclusively water-dwelling animals. One species of marine mammals, the Stellar’s sea cow (Hydroanalus gigas) is known to have been exploited to extinction prior to 1800, and the Japanese fur seal (Zalophus californianus japonicus) is thought to be extinct despite possible shifting off the coast of the Republic of Korea. Not all species are considered to be of commercial importance. The distribution of whales in the North Pacific is largely within several hundred miles of the coastline of the continents, although some have been noted over much wider areas during seasonal migrations.[7] The sperm whale is found in the North Pacific from southern along the coast of North America.[8]

Large numbers of seabirds exist in the North Pacific area. Among the most numerous families are the Alcidae, such as murres and auklets, the laridae, or gulls and terns, and the Procellariidae, such as fulmars and shearwaters. Most species are found in the coastal areas during warmer months and migrate offshore or to more southerly latitudes in colder months. Many species breed in the North Pacific but some breed in the southern hemisphere and visit only during the summer. The food required and methods of capturing it differ greatly from where one group of species to species even within families. One example of this variation is seen in the Alcidae, exclusively on fish, and a third group on both.[9]

Overuse and/or by-catch of some marine living resources in the North Pacific waters may irreversibly transform marine ecosystems in the intermediate and long run. Continued human pressures and resulting deterioration of marine sub-ecosystems and resources have caused significant losses of marine biodiversity and weakened the potential for long-term sustainable development of the coastal areas (table 2).

Human and Economic Dimensions of Marine Living

Resources: Key Driving Forces

The North Pacific experiences in marine environment and resource management over the decades have shown that the conventional marine management did not work once the human capacity of exploiting marine living resources approaches to or exceeds their ability to sustain themselves. For example, ailing coastal fisheries in the region have been characterized by declining total yields, sharp decreases in the yield per unit of fishing effort, the disappearance of valued species, cut-throat competition among fishermen, in some cases the economic collapse of the fishing industry and communities, and sociopolitical conflicts between domestic /international fishing entities.

Table 2. Marine Biodiversity

|Country |Length of |Maritime Area |Total Number of Known |Marine Habitats |Marine Protected Areas |

| |Coast-line|(000 sq. km) |Coastal Marine Species {a}|(000 hectares) | |

| |(km) | | |Mangroves Coral | |

| | | | |Reefs | |

| | |Shelf to |Excl-usive|Mammals | |Number |Area |Regional |

| | |200-Meter |Econ-omic | | | |(thous |Priority |

| | |Depth |Zone | | | |hectares) |Sites {b} |

| | | | | | | | |(number) |

| | | | |F |

|Canada | 13,737 | 20,194 | 36,385 | 36,352 |

|China | 554,760 |1,255,091 |1,480,430 |1,516,664 |

|Japan | 83,625 | 125,920 | 121,348 | 109,546 |

|Korea, North | 9,488 | 23,206 | 30,046 | 32,873 |

|Korea, South | 20,357 | 46,115 | 52,533 | 52,146 |

|Mexico | 27,737 | 95,831 | 130,196 | 154,120 |

|Russia, Fed | 102,192 | 147,231 | 131,395 | 114,318 |

|USA | 157,813 | 273,754 | 332,481 | 347,543 |

|North Pacific Total | 969,790 |1,987,342 |2,314,814 |2,363,562 |

|World |2,523,878 |5,929,839 |8,039,130 |9,366,724 |

Source: The World Resource Institute. 1998. The United Nations Environment Programme, The United Nations Development Programme and World Bank, World Resources 1998-1999. pp. 244-2445.

Table 4. Average Annual Population Change (North Pacific Region)

Unit: percent

|Country |1985-90 |1995-2000 |2005-2010 |

|Canada |1.4 |0.9 |0.7 |

|China |1.5 |0.9 |0.7 |

|Japan |0.4 |0.2 |0.0 |

|Korea, North |1.5 |1.6 |0.9 |

|Korea, South |1.0 |0.9 |0.6 |

|Mexico |2.0 |1.6 |1.2 |

|Russian, Fed |0.7 |0.3 |0.4 |

|USA |1.0 |0.8 |0.8 |

|North Pacific |1.2 |0.9 |0.7 |

|World |1.7 |1.4 |1.2 |

Source: The World Resource Institute. 1998. The United Nations Environment Programme, The United Nations Development Programme and World Bank, World Resources 1998-1999. pp. 244-2445.

In contrast, China has reported increases in fish production and shows little sign of slowing growth. There has been a major growth of aquaculture, which now dominates China’s production, although capture fisheries have also seen increases. In fact, China’s aquaculture production began to exceed capture fisheries production in 1993. Per capita fish supply, based on reported production, has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, indicating the growing importance of fish as food. This increased supply has been helped by China’s slowing growth of population.

The Northwest Pacific had the largest reported landings in 1998, followed by the Northeast Atlantic and the Western Central Pacific (Figure 2). Typically, high landings are dependent on one or two productive stocks, such as Alaska Pollock and Japanese anchovy in the Northwest Pacific. Alaska Pollock from the North Pacific had the highest landings in 1998. This also is unusual, as anchoveta landings generally exceed this quantity and those of Chilean jack mackerel equal it. However, the fisheries for both these species were severely affected in 1998. Alaska Pollock catches have fallen by 0.5 million tones since 1996, continuing a general decline in production since the mid-1980s when landings exceeded 6 million tones. It is worth noting that production from the Northwest Pacific has shown a constant overall increase since 1950. However, since 1992, this has continued only because China’s reported increases in production have more than made up for combined declines of all the other countries in the region.

Consumption

During the last decades, per capita consumption of fish has expanded globally as well as in the North Pacific region along with economic growth and increasing well-being. However, there is a limit to how much food including fish each person will consume, and long-term ceilings for consumption will be established. It is clear that the limit will be reached first wealthy economies, and fastest in those where fish has been a staple or almost staple food since ancient times –for instance in Japan.

Figure 2. Marine Capture Fisheries Production by Principal Fishing Areas in 1998,

compared with 1996

[pic]Source: FAO. 2000. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture-Part 1. pp. 5.

The image of fish is changing in rich industrialized economies. It is moving away from being just the side food it once was and is becoming a culinary specialty. There are two main reasons for this: the vast majority of the population in the North Pacific nations tends to be much concerned about health. They, too, know that fish contain higher quality animal protein and unsaturated fatty acids than livestock meats. Thus, marketing campaigns launched by retailers/wholesalers/production firms for fish and fish products tend to affirm that the consumption of fish is an appropriate means of satisfying the consumer’s need for variety and for nutritious, tasty, healthy and fashionable foods.

Many studies forecast that per capita fish consumption will continue to increase worldwide as well as in the North Pacific region over the next three decades, and that most of this increase will result from economic prosperity. The existing positive income elasticity of fish demand, which generally ranges between 1.0 and 2.0, supports this finding, although the manner in which consumption responds to increases in wealth seems not only to depend on the level of wealth attained, but also on the quantities of fish that are currently consumed by the average consumer (FAO 2000). However, as seen in case of Japan for example, the correlation between per capita fish consumption and wealth could mislead reality because supply (or production) constraints often dictate consumption even if wealth continues to increase.

Table 5. Correlation Coefficient Between Per Capita Fish Consumption and GDP

|Country |Correlation Coefficient |

|Canada (22.6) |- 0.574 |

|China (9.7) |+ 0.998 |

|Japan (72.1) |- 0.626 |

|South Korea (30.9) |+ 0.857 |

|The United States (21.3) |+ 0.005 |

Source: FAO. 2000. The State of world Fisheries and Aquaculture 2000 (Par 4). Rome. pp. 4-5

Note: The figures in parentheses denote the 1988-87 average consumption quantity per capita. South Korea’s correlation coefficient was estimated in the same data period as other countries by the authors.

Trade

Fish and fish products are widely traded in the world as well as the North Pacific area – mostly as frozen products and increasingly less as a canned or dried or salted food. Their trade has been stimulated by the economic conditions prevailing in most consumer markets and by perceptions about the health benefits of seafood consumption. In 1999 most North Pacific economies realized a substantial amount of trade surplus, while Japan and the United States recorded a large amount of trade deficit. However, international trade balance of payment for the North Pacific economies has been pretty much stable at more or less minus 15 billion US dollars since 1997.

Table 6. Marine Capture fishery and Aquaculture production

Unit: metirc tones

| Country |1980 |1985 |1990 |1995 |1999 |

|Canada |Capt. |141,620 |211,120 |299,602 |217,121 |211,294 |

| |Aqua. |2,052 |3,740 |19,609 |33,445 |56,430 |

|China |Capt. |2,780,280 |3,696,706 |5,838,383 |11,067,333 |15,105,419 |

| |Aqua. |1,748,966 |2,159,295 |3,308,715 |10,532,257 |15,653,607 |

|Japan |Capt. |9,155,477 |9,961,414 |8,662,129.20 |5,244,707.30 |4,577,952.80 |

| |Aqua. |991,769 |1,088,074 |1,272,831 |1,314,490 |1,252,719 |

|Korea, North |Capt. |1,323,933 |1,583,500 |1,255,000 |307,083 |190,000 |

| |Aqua. |344,099 |741,000 |895,000 |732,917 |478,000 |

|Korea, South |Capt. |1,629,727 |2,042,866 |1,961,915 |1,821,105 |1,514,497 |

| |Aqua. |544,402 |787,571 |772,729 |996,889 |765,252 |

|Mexico |Capt. |. |. |. |. |. |

| |Aqua. |. |. |. |. |. |

|Russian, Fed |Capt. |. |. |4,534,543 |2,845,023 |2,581,025 |

| |Aqua. |. |. |5,547 |6,773 |3,230 |

|USA |Capt. |626,068 |1,585,417 |2,907,319 |2,743,274 |2,334,784 |

| |Aqua. |24,306 |31,826 |37,250 |37,750 |37,582 |

|North Pacific |Capt. |15,657,105 |19,081,023 |25,458,891 |24,245,646 |26,514,972 |

|Total | | | | | | |

| |Aqua. |3,655,594 |4,811,506 |6,311,681 |13,654,521 |18,246,820 |

|World |Capt. |68,779,010 |80,151,793 |86,798,800 |93,107,229.60 |94,086,236 |

| |Aqua. |4,639,903 |6,051,515 |7,887,669 |16,078,789 |21,394,288 |

Sources: FAO/Statistics Web Site. Ftp.fi/stat/windows/fishplus/aquaq.zip and Ftp.fi/stat/windows/fishplus/capdet.zip

Note: Mexico performs little fishing operation in the North Pacific.

Table 7. Import and Export values of Fish and Fish Products

Unit: thousands US dollars

|Country |1980 |1985 |1990 |1995 |1999 |

|Canada |Import |301,589 |355,939 |630,829 |1,052,045 |1,358,720 |

| |Export |1,082,397 |1,343,496 |2,256,088 |2,327,286 |2,631,777 |

|China |Import |. |95,390 |207,083 |957,379 |1,146,031 |

| |Export |263,000 |267,916 |1,301,690 |2,926,479 |3,064,160 |

|Japan |Import |3,253,210 |4,852,280 |10,904,945 |18,146,582 |14,991,704 |

| |Export |937,067 |854,365 |854,170 |754,930 |745,812 |

|Korea, North |Import |. |. |. |4,390 |2,647 |

| |Export |29,290 |27,954 |65,230 |70,223 |72,310 |

|Korea, South |Import |35,681 |99,442 |390,913 |849,607 |1,165,903 |

| |Export |681,607 |858,620 |1,480,707 |1,712,570 |1,508,621 |

|Mexico |Import |35,214 |11,290 |62,954 |90,936 |131,432 |

| |Export |580,038 |378,299 |359,829 |710,733 |655,203 |

|Russian, Fed |Import |. |. |. |346,190 |201,103 |

| |Export |. |. |. |1,635,145 |1,247,638 |

|USA |Import |2,633,160 |4,051,794 |5,573,241 |7,220,604 |9,501,683 |

| |Export |1,001,725 |1,162,372 |3,019,861 |3,493,612 |3,003,763 |

|North Pacific |Import |6,258,854 |9,466,135 |17,769,965 |28,667,733 |28,499,223 |

|Total | | | | | | |

| |Export |4,575,124 |4,893,022 |9,337,575 |13,630,978 |12,929,284 |

|World |Import |16,562,177 |19,490,617 |39,860,064 |57,075,093 |58,329,489 |

| |Export |15,514,080 |17,180,887 |35,674,854 |52,007,713 |53,108,669 |

Source: FAO/Statistics. Ftp.fi/stat/windows/fishplus/fishcomm.zip

The reason for this is that the global economic crisis, which began in the summer of 1997 and spread rapidly through East Asia to the Russian Federation and Latin America, dominated the world economy and resulted in reduced trade and lower prices of seafood products. In Japan, the world’s largest fish-consuming nation and import market, domestic supply remained at more than 8 million tones with small fluctuations till 1995, but since then the trend has been to decline.

Dilemmas: Treadmill Trap, Information Gaps and Entropy Pitfall

Treadmill Phenomenon

During the past three decades, remarkable technological progress has been made in the North Pacific fisheries. It has shifted downward cost function in the short run, but sooner or later upward shift. The total economic welfare or economic surplus, defined as the sum of producer’s net profit Marshallian consumer’s surplus, invariably has continued to decrease.

The distribution of the total welfare gain between consumers and producers depends on the market conditions (i.e., price elasticities of demand and supply). Since the demand curve is downward sloping as normally, which is in general more elastic than supply curve, consumer’s welfare has decreased through the consumption of a less quantity at a higher price. Fishermen have also lost because they were unable to increase output as much as compensate the increased cost. Such an adverse effect of technological progress on fishermen through the fish market is most severe in case of commodities that are not internationally traded and characterized by low demand elasticities.

When product prices go up under the pressure of less supply and in turn overcapitalization results from continuous technological progress, fishermen tend to try to reduce production costs by introducing newer technology. Early adopters of the innovations enjoy entrepreneurial profits. But as the innovations are diffused among late birds over time, the aggregate supply curve shifts to the left, leading to excessive investment.

The late birds are forced to adopt the new innovations so as to avoid incurring economic losses. This process by which fishery incomes have been squeezed out or stagnated can be called a (treadmill trap.( The fishermen who are unable to keep up with the treadmill must be ground out of fisheries and tend to go into other economic activities. Thus, in market economies, serious problem of technological progress in fisheries is that it works to facilitate overcapitalization and rent dissipation.[11] This is exactly the case of the North Pacific fisheries.

Information Gaps

Now, a single most important fundamental question facing the North Pacific marine ecosystems and fisheries is whether they can be sustained beyond short-term economic gains without sacrificing sound bases of marine environment and living resources. To address this problem, the North Pacific coastal states are asked to take measures to (i) increase the potential of marine living resources to meet human nutritional needs, and social, economic and development goals, (ii) take into account traditional knowledge and interests of local communities, small-scale artisanal fisheries and indigenous people in development and management programs, (iii) maintain or restore populations of marine species at levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield as qualified by relevant environmental and economic factors, taking into consideration relationships among species, (iv) promote the development and use of selective fishing gear and practices that minimize waste in the catch of target species and minimize by-catch of non-target species, (v) protect and restore endangered marine species, and (vi) preserve rare or fragile ecosystems, as well as habitats and other ecologically sensitive areas.

In this regard, these critical tasks facing individual states address the measurement issues. The natural resource accounts and other sustainability indicators are typical examples, which can be used to assess depletion and degradation of ecosystems/resources and the potential economic impacts of any intended policy measure, both direct and indirect. All North Pacific economies never disagree that trans-migratory marine living resources in the region be shared in a sustainable manner and also marine ecosystems be conserved with a higher jonit-policy priority. However, individual state’s domestic socioeconomic political affairs often place serious obstacles in moving from international to national plan of action or from international to national plan of action.

our past experience leads to several observations on a variety of marine-related information for relevant policy studies. First, the process of developing useful information and research project on marine affairs at the multilateral level can take many years to bear fruit. Second, because this process has been partly driven by concerns about trade, government budgets and competition, they can be sensitive. Third, information is not perfectly consistent across countries, nor complete. Fourth, there exists a problem of information gaps between data requirement and marine environmental/resource state and between countries.

Entropy Pitfall

Other important elements to be brought to our consideration are the problem of ocean biosphere’s overall degradation. The problem has a very nature of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The first law says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only be transformed. The second law (so called the law of entropy) reads that energy can only be transformed one way toward a dissipated state. Pollution is just another name for entropy. That is, it represents a measure of the unavailable energy in a system (Rifkin 1981).[12]

It is a well-known fact that we, human being, can not stop the progress of entropy phenomena facing our natural system, although it is no doubt that there have been much effort around the world to slow down such physical downward trend. In this regard, we need note what Whitehead (1958) pointed out: ‘history discloses two main tendencies in the course of events. One tendency is exemplified in the slow decay of physical nature. There is degradation of energy. The sources of activity sink downward and downward. The other tendency is exemplified by the yearly renewal of nature in the spring, and by the upward course of biological evolution.’ How can we, human being, make possible such upward tendency against the downward (i.e., the law of entropy)? This is a critical question that has long been waiting for our answer.

Conclusion

The North Pacific Ocean is the most productive and diverse marine sphere in the world. Socioeconomic dependency of the North Pacific economies on the ocean has much increased over time. The North Pacific Ocean has traditionally been taken for granted as an important source of wealth, opportunity and abundance. The vastness of the North Pacific Ocean space that fueled our inspiration and curiosity, suggested that there could be few if any limits to its use or abuse. Our growing understanding of the ocean has fundamentally changed this perception. This has led to a growing appreciation not only of the importance of the ocean to social and economic progress but also of their vulnerability. We now know that abundance is giving way to scarcity, in some cases at an alarming rate, and to conflicts arising form their use.

Transboundary nature of the North Pacific marine environments and living resources is a fundamental element that can and will affect the sustainability of humans themselves and marine ecosystems/resources and that demands international cooperation for their conservation and management in transcendence of individual nation’s interests. Another important element to be brought to our consideration, in particular, is the second laws of thermodynamics, which is called the law of entropy. As Whitehead mentioned, the function of man’s Reason would help us make such downward tendency slowed down or reversed to upward tendency. More specifically, by virtue of it we would be able to find new ocean visions and more feasible paradigms for coexistence with other part of nature through international cooperative effort, which are necessary for putting in place the marine socioeconomic problems in the North Pacific rim.

Searching New Marine Philosophy

Werner Karl Heisenberg, one of the world greatest figures in the 20th century, offered a new vision of our universe, totally different from the Newtonian world, by publishing a monumental article (Principles of Uncertainty (1925)(, which provided the very first idea for the modern theory of quantum mechanics. His quantum universe can be summarized as follows:[13]

There is no way of accurately pinpointing the exact position of a sub-atomic particle, unless you are willing to be quite uncertain about the particle’s momentum. Also, there is no way to pinpoint the particle’s exact momentum unless you are willing to be quite uncertain about its position. To measure both accurately at the same time is impossible.

Marine environment is a highly subtle and fragile universe with a high degree of uncertainty. Even little shock or disturbance given to it by human being may destroy its intrinsic orders irreversibly. Modern science and technology seem to have insufficient capability to explore such subtle marine environmental machinery. Although Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principles provide a framework of describing physical phenomena, it might be extremely useful for helping policy makers, researchers and fishermen better understand marine universe and manage the marine ecosystems and living resources in a holistic manner under the joint effort.

Because ocean currents continue to move across national marine boundaries and human interactions with ocean sphere have been rapidly intensified throughout the world, observation results of socioeconomic events occurring in marine communities are quite relative to observer’s objectives and locations. In particular, oceans and marine economic activities are subject to a high degree of uncertainty, dynamism and diversity and thus they lead to necessitating multilateral (not to speak of interdisciplinary) marine socioeconomic researches.

Developing Regional Cooperative Research Program

The main conclusion of the International Conference on Impacts of Population and Markets on Sustainability of the Ocean and Coastal Resources: Perspectives of Developing Economies of the North Pacific Rim, Seattle, June 2-3, 1999 was that there is an urgent need to start a regional study on impacts of population and market pressures on environmental health of the ocean and coastal resources of the region.[14]

Significant components of such cooperation would be an exchange of information, sharing of data and experience as well as preparation of the policy study with recommendations that would help assure sustainability of the ocean and coastal resources of the North Pacific. This joint effort will not only contribute to a better mutual understanding between all countries, improvement of information on regional trends but also provide information to resource managers and public policy makers so that they could design more coordinated, responsible and transparent country measures for sustainable use of ocean and coastal resources in this region.

To make this cooperative research program successful, it is necessary to hold international workshops like the 1999 Seattle Conference in other countries every year or every two years. It will help the governments realize necessity for this cooperative research project in the region. However, it will be worthwhile to note that there may be research overlap problems with APEC for example.

Information Networking and Data Base Construction

Effective information networking and data base construction will be the most important component of this research project. Any integrated marine socioeconomic data bank and network specialized in the North Pacific does not exist. Establishing such a North Pacific database and information network through the Internet would make great contribution to addressing a variety of marine socioeconomic issues in the region. In fact, however, the use of the Internet as a mainstream tool in marine environmental and resource management is in its infancy.[15]

The project headquarters will be receiving continuously the relevant data from all project country team. The data will be processed and stored in the Data Bank on relevant socioeconomic variables in the North Pacific rim. Project teams will agree on methods and timing of data collection, electronic transfer routines and on cross-accessibility of these data for country teams. It is assumed that each country team will have full access to all available data and use it to produce their own studies and reports. All data received by the project headquarters are to be used for preparation of the marine policy studies.[16]

References

Berzin, A. 1974. The Sperm Whale (Jerusalem: Isreal Program for Scientific Translations).

p. 190.

Constanza R., Francisco Andreade, Paula Antunes, Marjan va den Belt, Dee Boersma,

Donald F. Boesch, Fernando Catarino, Susan Hanna, Karin Limburg, Bobbi Low, Michael Molitor, Joao Gil Pereira, Steve Rayner, Rui Santos, James Wilson, Micheal Young. 1998. “Principles for Sustainable Governance of the Oceans.” Science 281: 198-199.

Cochrane, Willard W. 1958. Farm Price, Myth and Reality. University of Minnesota Press.

Erikson, W. 1978. Marine Mammology Notebook (course materials), College of Fisheries,

University of Washington. p. 48.

FAO. 2000. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture-Part 1. Rome. pp. 5.

FAO, 2000. The State of world Fisheries and Aquaculture 2000 (Par 4). Rome. pp. 4-5.

FAO/Statistics. Ftp.fi/stat/windows/fishplus/fst_plus.zip

FAO/Statistics. Ftp.fi/stat/windows/fishplus/aquaq.zip

FAO/Statistics. Ftp.fi/stat/windows/fishplus/capdet.zip

FAO/Statistics. Ftp.fi/stat/windows/fishplus/fishcomm.zip

Hayami and Robet W. Herdt. 1977. (Market Price Effects of Technological Change on Income

Distribution in Semi-subsistence Agriculture.( American Journal of Agricultural Economics 59: 245-56.

Hayami Yujiro and Vernon W. Ruttan. 1985. Agricultural Development: An International

Perspective, The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 352.

Kasahara , Hiroshi. 1964. Fisheries Resources of the North Pacific Ocean, Part I and II, F. R.

McMillan Lectures in Fisheries, Horman J. Wilimovsky. ed. (Vancouver: University of British Columbia). p. 12.

Kay, Robert and Patrick Christie. 2001. An Analysis of the Impact of the Internet on Coastal

Management. Coastal Management. 29. 157-181.

Mackenzie, Fred T. and Judith A. Mackenzie. 1995. Our Changing Planet: An Introduction to

Earth system Science and Global Environmental Change. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River. p. 94.

McEvoy, J. P. and Oscar Zarate. 1999. Introducing: Quantum Theory. Icon Books Ltd.

Miles, E., Stwphen Gibbs, David Fluharty, Christine Dawson, and David Teeter. 1982. The

Management of Marine Regions: The North Pacific. University of California Press.

p. 19.

OECD. 2000. Outline for a Study on Economic and Social Fisheries Sustainability Indicators,

AGR/FI(2000)5/REV 1.

Owen, Wyn F. 1966. (The double Developmental Squeeze on Agriculture.( American Economic

Review 56: 43-70.

Rifkin, Jeremy. 1981. Entropy: A New World View. Bantam Books, Inc. p. 35.

Sanger, Gerald A. 1974. Preliminary Standing Stock and Biomass Estimates of Seabirds in the

Proceedings of an International Symposium for Bering Sea Study, Occasional Publication no. 2, (Fairbanks: Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska). pp. 589-611.

Sherman K. 1999. Large Marine Ecosystem: Assessment and Management in the Large Marine

Ecosystems of the Pacific Rim (edited By K. Sherman and Q. Tang). Backwell Science.

p. 444.

The World Resource Institute, The United Nations Environment Programme, The United

Nations Development Programme and World Bank, World Resources. 1997. 1997-98 World Resources – A Guide to the Global Environment. P. 268.

The World Resource Institute, The United Nations Environment Programme, The United

Nations Development Programme and World Bank. 1998. 1998-1999 World Resources.

pp. 244-245.

Vlad M. Kaczynski. 2001. Integrative Analysis of Human Impacts on Oceans and Coasts in the

Asia-Pacific (Presented at the Pukyong National University - University of Washington Joint Seminar: Impact of Population and Markets on Marine Environment: Perspectives of the Asia-Pacific Economies. March 13, 2001. Busan, Korea). p. 10.

Whitehead. A. N. 1958. The Function of Reason. Boston (Reprint). Beacon Press.

Zbigi Przydzielski. 2001. Application of Internet in Joint Research on Human Impacts on

Pacific Marine Environment (Presented at the Pukyong National University - University of Washington Joint Seminar: Impact of Population and Markets on Marine Environment: Perspectives of the Asia-Pacific Economies. March 13, 2001. Busan, Korea). pp. 36-37.

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[1] Seong K. Park and Jae M. Choi are respectively professor and research assistant of the Faculty of Ocean Industry policy, Pukyong National University, Busan, South Korea.

[2] Marine transboundary issues arise from transmigration nature of marine living resources and pollutants across the national ocean boundaries.

[3] Mackenzie, Fred T. and Judith A. Mackenzie. 1995. Our Changing Planet: An Introduction to Earth system Science and Global Environmental Change. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River. p. 94.

[4] Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) are areas of the oceans characterized by distinct bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and trophic interactions. They annually produce 90 percent of the world’s fish catch. They are national and regional focal areas of a global effort to reduce the degradation of coastal resources and environments from pollution, habitat loss and overfishing.

[5] . Large Marine Ecosystem: Introduction. This LME website provides a brief and schematic information about the LME strategy.

[6] Hiroshi Kasahara, Fisheries Resources of the North Pacific Ocean, Part I and II, F. R. McMillan Lectures in Fisheries, Norman J. Wilimovsky, ed. (Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 1964). P. 12.

[7] A. W. Erikson, Marine Mammology Notebook (course materials), College of Fisheries, University of Washington, 1978, p. 48.

[8] A. A. Berzin, The Sperm Whale (Jerusalem: Isreal Program for Scientific Translations, 1972), p. 190.

[9] Gerald A. Sanger, Preliminary Standing Stock and Biomass Estimates of Seabirds in the Proceedings of an International Sypmposium for Bering Sea Study, Occasional Publication no. 2, (Fairbanks: Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska, 1974), pp. 589-611.

[10] OECD, 2000, Outline for a Study on Economic and Social Fisheries Sustainability Indicators, AGR/FI(2000)5/REV 1.

[11] Hayami and Robet W. Herdt, 1977, (Market Price Effects of Technological Change on Income Distribution in Semi-subsistence Agriculture,( American Journal of Agricultural Economics 59: 245-56. Cochrane, Willard W., 1958, Farm Price, Myth and Reality, University of Minnesota Press. Owen, Wyn F., 1966, (The double Developmental Squeeze on Agriculture,( American Economic Review 56: 43-70. Hayami Yujiro and Vernon W. Ruttan, 1985, Agricultural Development: An International Perspective, The Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 352.

[12] Entropy represents a measure of the unavailable energy present in a system. An entropy increase means a decrease in available energy. Every time something occur in the natural world, some amount of energy ends up being unavailable for future work. That unavailable energy is what pollution is all about. In fact, pollution is the sum total of all the available energy in the world that has been transformed into unavailable energy. Waste, then, is dissipated energy.

[13] Heisenberg’s original paper was published in1925 and he won Nobel prize in physics in 1932. For Quantum World Vision, see “J. P. McEvoy and Oscar Zarate. 1999. Introducing: Quantum Theory. Icon Books Ltd.” which is written in plain language for laymen.

[14] Vlad M. Kaczynski, Integrative Analysis of Human Impacts on Oceans and Coasts in the Asia-Pacific, p. 10. Presented at the Pukyong National University - University of Washington Joint Seminar: Impact of Population and Markets on Marine Environment: Perspectives of the Asia-Pacific Economies, March 13, 2001, Busan, Korea.

[15] There are some key research questions which, if answered, could substantially improve our understanding of how the role of the Internet in marine environmental and resource management develops. Perhaps the most important of these questions are: (i) What is the influence of increased use of the Internet on the collection and sharing of data related to marine environmental and marine resource management? (ii) What is the effect of the establishment of virtual communities interested in specific marine environmental and marine resource management issues on the overall practice of marine environmental and marine resource management? (iii) What role will the Internet play in enabling two-way interaction between marine environment and marine resource managers and users? (iv) Will the Internet shift power to marine environment and marine resource users through increased ability to interact with like-minded users and through heightened access to information ? (v) Will the current dominance of English on marine environmental and marine resource management websites continue? If so, what are the implications of continued use of English in non-English-speaking countries? (vi) Will technological leapfrogging occur in developing countries, enabling them to increase Internet use to the same or greater level than in the developed world? (vii) Will heightened access to information on marine program outcomes around the world lead to a marine environmental and marine resource management monoculture devoid of cultural and social diversity? (viii) What Internet communication technologies are most appropriate for different contexts and tasks? (Robert Kay and Patrick Christie 2001)

[16] Zbigi Przydzielski, Application of Internet in Joint Research on Human Impacts on Pacific Marine Environment, pp. 36-37. Presented at the Pukyong National University - University of Washington Joint Seminar: Impact of Population and Markets on Marine Environment: Perspectives of the Asia-Pacific Economies, March 13, 2001, Busan, Korea.

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Other factors

Technologies

Markets

Environmental

Driving Forces

Fishing Industry / Communities

Marine

Environment

State

Response

Consumers

Fish Stocks

Government

Economic, Social, Political

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