Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
an endangered or threatened species means 'to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot,
wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect' any such species, 'or attempt to engage in
any such conduct'. Recognising this and other criteria including the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List, DP3
considers the 'take' of endangered or threatened species as well as the efficiency
of the management measures implemented to minimise such impacts.
Habitat impacts are assessed in DP4 and may vary depending upon the sensitivity
or vulnerability of the habitat fished, fishing practices and fishing gear used. Due to
the variety in the types of possible habitat impacts, in DP4 these are considered as
any reported habitat conversion, degradation or loss due to fishing methods and/or
gear, together with the distribution and intensity of such impacts, and the mitigating
actions.
Finally, DP5 addresses bycatch as it relates to all incidental catches or reported
interactions with non-legal target species and all other non-target species, includ-
ing those landed and discarded. This takes into account the reported presence and
amount of target and non-target species bycatch in the fishery as well as the pre-
sumed extent and effectiveness of the management measures devised to avoid or
minimise target and non-target bycatch, as required by national and international
law. DP5 also considers, to the extent possible, relative degrees of harm induced by
capture or gear interactions as a means of estimating unaccounted mortality of dis-
cards or other animals that might have encountered gear during fishing operations.
16.4.2
Aquaculture decision-ranking tool
The philosophy of 'think globally, act locally' was central to the creation of the
aquaculture decision-ranking tool (ADRT). It is a fundamental tenet of sustain-
able development that many large global environmental threats should be resolved
through local approaches: 'although environmental issues should be treated con-
ceptually in a holistic rather than in an isolated manner, efforts at sustainable devel-
opment should be based in the context of the ways in which individual communities
operate' (Jalal 1993). One of the primary goals of the Aquarium's programme is to
foster ocean conservation through positive changes in the seafood industry. Since
proactive changes usually first occur at the local level, local environmental impacts
are considered prior to global impacts. A similar approach is used with temporal
issues - factors having impacts that occur over shorter time intervals are considered
before, and weighted more heavily, than those that occur over longer time periods.
The rationale for this approach is that local impacts are more likely to be under
the control of the specific farming operations and more easily corrected by proac-
tive local managers (FAO 2006a). Likewise, impacts that occur over shorter time
intervals require more immediate attention as they will become problematic more
quickly. With a focus on achieving ocean conservation through incremental posi-
tive change, the Aquarium uses the ADRT to first address the local environmental
impacts of fish farming and subsequently considers the larger global issues.
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