Search Results (16)

The coastal zone consists of diverse littoral habitats, which we categorize into two primary types: linear and areal. Investigating linear littoral habitats is crucial for resolving the ‘coastal squeeze’ phenomenon in coastal and marine protected areas and in seaside resorts. Our research aims to identify the critical conditions for the conversion of defunct seaside military training areas as brownfields into coastal protected areas and small-scale seaside resorts and their sustainable planning and management. The development of seaside tourism facilities is taking place both on the coast and in the hinterland, but the coast is used for tourism much more intensively than the hinterland. It is challenging to ‘pull’ tourists away from the linear beach to the areal hinterland. We argue that the distinctiveness of the resource use conflicts in coastal and hinterland tourism lies in an essential difference between the system’s linear and areal littoral habitats, as 78% of summer visitors in Pajūris Regional Park in Lithuania come for active leisure in nature. The results of our study show that combining the GIS interpretation algorithms, supported by the innovative conjoining of DPSIR and Delphi analytical tools, ensures site-tailored integrated management of the linear waterfront and the areal hinterland. Full article

Collecting is a form of leisure, and even a passion, consisting of collecting, preserving and displaying objects. When we look for its origin in the literature, we are taken back to “the appearance of writing and the fixing of knowledge”, specifically with the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (7th century BC, Mesopotamia), and his fondness for collecting books, which in his case were in the form of clay tablets. This is not, however, a true reflection, for we have evidence of much earlier collectors. The curiosity and interest in keeping stones or fossils of different colors and shapes, as manuports, is as old as we are. For decades we have had evidence of objects of no utilitarian value in Neanderthal homes. Several European sites have shown that these Neanderthal groups treasured objects that attracted their attention. On some occasions, these objects may have been modified to make a personal ornament and may even have been integrated into subsistence activities such as grinders or hammers. Normally, one or two such specimens are found but, to date, no Neanderthal cave or camp has yielded as many as the N4 level of Prado Vargas Cave. In the N4 Mousterian level of Prado Vargas, 15 specimens of Upper Cretaceous marine fossils belonging to the Gryphaeidae, Pectinidae, Cardiidae, Pholadomyidae, Pleurotomariidae, Tylostomatidae and Diplopodiidae families were found in the context of clay and autochthonous cave sediments. During MIS 3, a group of Neanderthals transported at least fifteen marine fossils, which were collected from various Cretaceous units located in the surrounding area, to the Prado Vargas cave. The fossils, with one exception, show no evidence of having been used as tools; thus, their presence in the cave could be attributed to collecting activities. These activities could have been motivated by numerous tangible and intangible causes, which suggest that collecting activities and the associated abstract thinking were present in Neanderthals before the arrival of modern humans. Full article

Interest in understanding environmental attitudes and behaviors after traumatic events has been widely studied, but research specific to the COVID-19 pandemic has yielded inconclusive results. This study addresses a gap by exploring the relationship between COVID-19 and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) in marine protected areas (MPAs), which are vital for preserving marine ecosystems and biodiversity. We focus on scuba divers’ environmental attitudes and behaviors within an MPA, using a mixed methodology that combines surveys based on the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale with covert participant observation. Our findings indicate a moderate increase in pro-environmental concerns post-pandemic, particularly regarding nature’s fragility. However, a gap remains between expressed attitudes and actual behaviors, with notable differences in pro-ecological behavior during leisure activities compared to behavior at home. Additionally, risk perception related to COVID-19 has gained prominence, often overshadowing environmental concerns. This study contributes to a better understanding of environmental attitudes and behaviors in the context of MPAs during the ongoing social changes post-COVID-19. These insights can guide more sustainable management of MPAs and inform future research, which should further explore these trends in similar contexts. Full article

One of the most relevant information gaps in worldwide fisheries is related to the origin and consequences of the gender gap. Recreational fisheries show a remarkable gender gap, which has been especially poorly addressed in the scientific literature. In 2021, the Spanish Working Group on Marine Recreational Fishing (MRF) developed a broad diagnosis on the participation of women in MRF and agreed on a roadmap to address negative impacts derived from the gender gap. The network experts concluded that there is an urgent need to include the gender gap in the agendas of scientists, fishery managers, policy-makers, stakeholder organizations, and civil society. There is a need to better understand the gender-related socio-ecological impacts of MRF to improve fisheries governance and to develop policies and initiatives that facilitate the full access of women to the benefits derived from the practice of MRF. Establishing economic incentives, increasing the visibility of female success references, developing fishing-related programs specifically designed for girls, and promoting the perception of MRF as a family leisure activity in contact with nature will increase women’s engagement. Full article

Biofouling has destructive effects on shipping and leisure vessels, thus producing severe problems for marine and naval sectors due to corrosion with consequent elevated fuel consumption and higher maintenance costs. The development of anti-fouling or fouling release coatings creates deterrent surfaces that prevent the initial settlement of microorganisms. In this regard, new silica-based materials were prepared using two alkoxysilane cross-linkers containing epoxy and amine groups (i.e., 3-Glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, respectively), in combination with two functional fluoro-silane (i.e., 3,3,3-trifluoropropyl-trimethoxysilane and glycidyl-2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9-hexadecafluorononylether) featuring well-known hydro repellent and anti-corrosion properties. As a matter of fact, the co-condensation of alkoxysilane featuring epoxide and amine ends, also mixed with two opportune long chain and short chain perfluorosilane precursors, allows getting stable amphiphilic, non-toxic, fouling release coatings. The sol–gel mixtures on coated glass slides were fully characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, while the morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The fouling release properties were evaluated through tests on treated glass slides in different microbial suspensions in seawater-based mediums and in seawater natural microcosms. The developed fluorinated coatings show suitable antimicrobial activities and low adhesive properties; no biocidal effects were observed for the microorganisms (bacteria). Full article

Urban parks are essential parts of a city’s natural environment, and blue spaces of urban parks bring aesthetic and health benefits to people. However, the current blue spaces mainly focus on the marine environment or a giant water body scale at the urban or regional level. The urban park blue spaces (e.g., rivers, creeks, ponds) are relatively neglected. An experiment involving 10 different urban park blue spaces in Huanhuaxi park was conducted to assess urban park blue spaces’ aesthetic preference and restorative potential. The results indicated that (1) a water body with good water quality and natural visual form may be more attractive and have restorative potential; (2) blue spaces with high vegetation diversity are preferred, and artificial elements should be evaluated more carefully when added to the scene to avoid disharmony and conflict with the surrounding environment; (3) in practical design, the proportions of plants, buildings, topographical changes, and water should be coordinated to maintain the blue space’s landscape heterogeneity; (4) more leisure activities and interactions should be considered for better recovery; and (5) designers need to emphasize the balance of natural and man-made elements to enhance the visual quality of the water feature. This investigation is important for the management and development of leisure and natural resources in urban parks. Full article

In this study, we examined the keelboat industry on Penghu Island in Taiwan as an example to discuss sustainable development strategies for the marine environment and villages. First, three experts were consulted to compile questionnaires. A snowball sampling method was used to collect 278 samples of residents and tourists living in the coastal area. Opinions were collected from 8 residents, crew members, tourists, and scholars. The data were finally summarized and compared by triangulation method and then examined. We found that introducing the keelboat industry could preserve maritime culture, increase local popularity and leisure options for people, create business opportunities, and improve the economy. It could also lead to a loss of coastal architectural features, increased the amount of trash in the community, around the harbor, and on the sea, no improvement in public facilities and medical care, and decreased the willingness of young people to return to their hometowns. Encouraging men to work in tourism-related industries, assisting in balancing job opportunities, strengthening villagers’ communication, improving tourists’ environmental literacy, adding onboard guides, improving women’s professional knowledge of marine ecology and working opportunities for boat maintenance, as well as actively participating in community development planning, can improve the current situation and achieve the goal of sustainable development. Full article

Biopollution by alien species is considered one of the main threats to environmental health. The marine environment, traditionally less studied than inland domains, has been the object of recent work that is reviewed here. Increasing scientific evidence has been accumulated worldwide on ecosystem deterioration induced by the development of massive non-indigenous population outbreaks in many coastal sites. Biopollution assessment procedures have been proposed, adopting criteria already used for xenochemical compounds, adjusting them to deal with alien species invasions. On the other hand, prevention and mitigation measures to reduce biopollution impact cannot always mimic the emission countermeasures that have been successfully applied for chemical pollutants. Nevertheless, in order to design comprehensive water-quality criteria, risk assessment and management strategies, based on scientific knowledge, have been developed in a similar way as for chemical pollution. The Mediterranean Sea is a well-known case of alien species invasion, mainly linked to the opening of the Suez Canal. Non-indigenous species have caused well-documented changes in many coastal ecosystems, favoured by concomitant changes induced by global warming and by the heavy load of nutrients and pollutants by various anthropogenic activities. Naval commercial traffic and leisure boats are among the most active vectors of spread for alien species inside the Mediterranean, and also towards other ocean regions. The scientific evidence gathered and summarized in this review suggests that effective management actions, under a precautionary approach, should be put in place in order to control introductions of species in new areas. These management measures are already established in international treaties and national legislations, but should be enforced to prevent the disruption of the dynamic ecological equilibria in the receiving environment and to control the direct adverse effects of alien species. Full article

Originally designed as a mode of telecommunication, the network of French sémaphore is now dedicated to the continuous monitoring and recording of marine traffic along the entire French coast. Although the observation data collected by sémaphores cover 7/7 days and 24/24 h and could provide precious information regarding marine traffic, they remain underexploited. Indeed, these data concern all types of traffic, including leisure boating and smaller craft that are not usually recorded by the most common means of observation, such as AIS, radar and satellite. Based on sémaphore data, traffic pressure and its spatiotemporal distribution can be fully measured to better analyze its interactions with human activities and the environment. One drawback of these data is their initially semantic nature, which requires the development of an original processing method. The protocol developed to analyze the marine traffic of the Iroise Sea and its first results are presented in this article. It is based on a semi-automatic method aimed to clean the original data and quantify the marine traffic along synthetic routes. It includes a procedure that takes into account the temporal evolution of the traffic based on the Allen’s time framework. The results proved interesting as they provide an overview of marine traffic, including all types of vessels, and may be defined for different time periods and granularity. A description of the numerical and geographic instruments created is given; all the written code is released as Open Source software and freely available for download and testing. Full article

Tourism related to the sea and boating activities is becoming increasingly popular and revolves around a range of leisure, water sports, nautical or other maritime activities. This article studies the main scientific contributions in this area, bearing in mind the complexity of finding a suitable definition of this concept. Hence, the aim of this paper is to analyze the scientific production from 1986 to 2020 in impact journals of the terms “nautical tourism”, “maritime tourism” and “marine tourism” considering the following variables: number of documents, number of articles, period being studied, Hirsch citations and index. The results show an increasing trend in terms of both the number of published articles and citations publications from 2007 onwards and the review of the literature raises the need to define a new concept: “blue tourism”. Future trends in research include terms such as tourist ports, quality of websites and blue economy. Full article

Commentators are advocating for research to better understand relationships between healthy coastal ecosystems and human wellbeing. Doing so requires inter- and transdisciplinary approaches across humanities, arts, social sciences, and science and technology disciplines. These approaches include culturally diverse knowledge systems, such as indigenous ones, that locate sustainable use of and relationships to marine ecosystems. This paper contributes to this agenda through a case-study of relationships between coastal ecosystems and human wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand. This article highlights interconnected cultural and wellbeing benefits of, and socio-ecological relationships between, these coastal ecosystems drawing on a case study of one ocean-based, ‘immersive’ leisure activity, surfing. Further, it examines how these relationships impact human physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing, and the wellbeing of communities and ecosystems. The research illustrates that surfing creates strong bonds between practitioners and coastal places, linking the health of marine environments and people. We demonstrate the value of a transdisciplinary place-based approach that integrates research across the humanities and social sciences and engages with Indigenous knowledge (Mātauranga Māori). This argument for multicultural co-learning shows the value of Western and Māori vantage points for how we understand coastal blue spaces. Indigenous perspectives, we conclude, deepen appreciation, as well as equity considerations, of how we understand place, wellbeing, and long-term sustainable relationships with marine ecosystems. Full article

Nowadays, activities associated with industries, cities, and leisure generate a number of different wastes, including many chemical pollutants that enter the environment and negatively affect the wildlife. Some of them are emerging organic contaminants (EOCs), which include UV filters and stabilizers, antineoplastic agents, and natural and synthetic steroid hormones, among others. It is well demonstrated that the presence of this kind of contaminants may produce adverse effects in aquatic environments and also in marine organisms. Even though the Canary Islands (Spain) are one of the most biodiverse parts of the temperature regions of the world, little is known about the presence of these substances in the environment and organisms in the archipelago. For that purpose, the objective of this work was to evaluate the presence of some UV filters, cytostatic compounds, and hormones in water (wastewater and seawater), sediments, and marine organisms. Moreover, we evaluated conventional and natural wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to study the removal efficiencies of these target compounds. UV filters and stabilizers were found in all the analysed samples and were the only target family found in seawater (with UV-329 appearing at all the locations at concentrations between 67.5 and 859 ng L⁻¹). Some cytostatic compounds were detected in hospital wastewater at concentrations between 375.8 and 1851 ng L⁻¹, but not in the analysis of sludge or fish samples. Hormones were detected in wastewater, sludge, and fish samples, and their removal in the natural treatment system (over 76% for all the hormones) allowed to prove it as an efficient technology for the elimination of these EOCs from urban wastewaters in small communities. Full article

Involving and engaging stakeholders is crucial for studying and managing the complex interactions between marine ecosystems and human health and wellbeing. The Oceans and Human Health Chair was founded in the town of Roses (Catalonia, Spain, NW Mediterranean) in 2018, the fruit of a regional partnership between various stakeholders, and for the purpose of leading the way to better health and wellbeing through ocean research and conservation. The Chair is located in an area of the Mediterranean with a notable fishing, tourist, and seafaring tradition and is close to a marine reserve, providing the opportunity to observe diverse environmental conditions and coastal and maritime activities. The Chair is a case study demonstrating that local, collaborative, transdisciplinary, trans-sector, and bottom-up approaches offer tremendous opportunities for engaging coastal communities to help support long-lasting solutions that benefit everyone, and especially those living by the sea or making their living from the goods and services provided by the sea. Furthermore, the Chair has successfully integrated most of its experts in oceans and human health from the most prestigious institutions in Catalonia. The Chair focuses on three main topics identified by local stakeholders: Fish and Health; Leisure, Health, and Wellbeing; and Medicines from the Sea. Led by stakeholder engagement, the Chair can serve as a novel approach within the oceans and human health field of study to tackle a variety of environmental and public health challenges related to both communicable and non-communicable diseases, within the context of sociocultural issues. Drawing on the example provided by the Chair, four principles are established to encourage improved participatory processes in the oceans and human health field: bottom-up, “think local”, transdisciplinary and trans-sectorial, and “balance the many voices”. Full article

Divers conventionally use underwater notepad or flash to communicate each other in the water. For safe marine leisure activities, touchscreen based intuitive means of communications such as drawing and writing are needed to be integrated into the conventional dive computers. In this paper, we propose a wrist-mounted dive computer, so called DiverPAD, for underwater drawing and writing. For the framework design of proposed DiverPAD, firmware, communication protocol, user interface (UI), and underwater touchscreen functions are designed and integrated on DiverPAD. As a key feature, we deployed an electrical insulator based capacitive touchscreen which enables divers to perform underwater drawing and writing for clear and immediate information delivery in the water. Full article

Sunscreens have spread widely into aquatic systems over the last 18 years in Quintana Roo, Mexico. This contamination is caused by intensive use as a result of leisure activities, as sunbathers apply the substances intensively (up to 83.75% of tourists and locals). Moreover, 25% of the compounds are mainly released into the water through topical products washing off. On average, 300,000 tourists arrive every week in Quintana Roo, increasing the contamination. In addition, there are no recent studies on sunscreen toxicity and the hazards this represents for the native zooplankton of Quintana Roo. In order to assess their adverse effects, acute toxicity was assessed for nine sunscreens (five non-biodegradable and four biodegradable) in four zooplankton species (Brachionus cf ibericus, Cypridopsis vidua, Diaphanocypris meridana, and Macrothrix triserialis). In total, 21 LC₅₀ values were obtained, which are the baseline values for estimating risk and for determining the expected maximum permissible concentration. Our data on toxicity to freshwater species compared to marine species indicate that freshwater species are more sensitive than marine species. In conclusion, biodegradable sunscreen posed a moderate risk, and non-biodegradable posed a high risk. Our outcomes suggested that the maximum permissible concentrations for the contamination of sunscreens were 8.00E-05 g/L for non-biodegradable and 1.60E-04 g/L for biodegradable sunscreens. Full article