Study on the contribution of coastal tourism to marine economic development

Since the reform and opening up, coastal tourism has been rising and developing, and it has become one of the important marine industries. This paper selected the added value and gross marine product of coastal tourism industry from 2001 to 2020, constructed direct contribution rate, indirect contribution rate and marginal contribution rate model, and calculated the contribution degree of coastal tourism to marine economic development. The results showed that the direct contribution rate of coastal tourism was on the rise, and the indirect contribution rate was mostly about 2%~4%.In the selected study period, the marginal contribution rate of coastal tourism to GROSS marine product was 40.44%. The study found that the overall development level of coastal tourism was good, and the coastal tourism made a great contribution to the development of marine economy, but it was difficult to take accurate measures in the face of sudden crises such as COVID-19, and sometimes it took a lot of time to recover to the normal level. Based on the above situation, suggestions were proposed to increase policy support for the post-epidemic era, promote the supply-side reform of coastal tourism and build coastal tourism products with characteristics in the post-epidemic era, increase the publicity and marketing of coastal tourism, and train and introduce high-quality tourism talents, etc..

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on scuba diving experience in marine protected areas. (Special Issue: Covid-19 and outdoor recreation.)

Faced with the need for isolation of most people to reduce the transmission of COVID-19, a great concern for the well-being of the population has resurfaced. Considering the numerous benefits of outdoor activities to human health and well-being, we assessed whether the quality of the experience of recreational divers in a marine protected area (MPA) was impacted during the pandemic. We applied a semi-structured questionnaire to divers, collected their socioeconomic profile, preferences, motivations, experiences, and compared the results with those obtained in the previous season. We found that the quality of the recreational diver's experience remained high even during one of the world's biggest health crises. This suggests that the combination of contact with a preserved environment and the adaptation of regulations in favor of visitor safety was enough to stimulate positive experiences. Therefore, we highlight the importance of investing in adaptive management so that MPAs continue to promote ecosystem services such as human health and subjective well-being.

Sea swimming and snorkeling in tropical coastal blue spaces and mental well-being: findings from Indonesian island communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Special Issue: Covid-19 and outdoor recreation.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has considerable mental health impacts. Immersive nature-based interventions, such as swimming or snorkeling, may help mitigate the global mental health crisis caused by the pandemic. To investigate this, we collected cross-sectional data from residents of coastal villages (n = 308) in Kepulauan Selayar, Indonesia. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used with mental well-being as the outcome variable, operationalized as the Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores from the SF-12 (12-item Short Form Health Survey). After adjusting for covariates, the activity of sea swimming or snorkeling was found to be significantly associated with better mental well-being (2 = 0.036;p < 0.01). Predictive margins analysis revealed that those who engaged in sea swimming or snorkeling for one to three days a week gained a 2.7 increase in their MCS scores, compared to those who did not. A non-linear dose-response relationship was detected: for those swimming or snorkeling more than three days per week, there was only an increase of 1.7 MCS score compared to the 0-day. Overall this study contributes to the expanding of evidence base, showing that interactions with blue spaces can be beneficial for mental health, especially in a potentially stressful time such as the current pandemic.

Wastewater and the aquatic environment as a potential source of fecal-oral transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus / visnja orescanin

The world is on the threshold of the third wave of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic with over 118 million infected and over 2.6 million deaths. Over the past year, knowledge has been growing about the ways of spreading the infection, including oral-fecal transmission, as a result of the discharge of untreated municipal wastewater laden with the virus from the excrement of infected persons. On the other hand, it has been confirmed that the concentration of viruses in wastewater correlates well with the number of infected people, especially with the 14-day incidence, and therefore the analysis of wastewater provides a good insight into the regional epidemiological situation (water-based epidemiology, WBE) and can be used as a sensitive parameter in monitoring epidemiological trends. This paper provides an overview of the results of previous research on the ways of virus transmission, the main sources of viruses in waste water, the degree of loading of waste water and environmental samples, the survival of the virus in waste water and environmental samples, and techniques for removing and inactivating the virus in waste water. The world is facing the third wave of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemics, with over 118 million persons infected and over 2.6 million dead. In the past year, insights into the infection spread routes, including faecal-oral transmission due to untreated urban wastewater discharges containing the virus from excretions of infected persons. It has been also confirmed that the virus concentration in wastewater has a good correlation with the number of infected persons, particularly for a 14-day incidence, so that wastewater analysis provides a good insight into regional epidemiological situations and wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) can be used as a sensitive parameter in the monitoring of epidemiological trends. This paper provides an overview of to-date research regarding the virus transmission routes, main virus sources in wastewater, load level in wastewater and environmental samples, virus survival in wastewater and environmental samples as well as techniques of virus removal from wastewater and its deactivation.

COVID-19 lockdowns promoted recovery of the Yangtze river's aquatic ecosystem

The impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on human life, air quality, and river water quality around the world have received significant attention. In comparison, assessments of the implications for freshwater ecosystems are relatively rare. This study explored the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on aquatic ecosystems in the Yangtze River by comparing river water quality, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish data collected at the site in the middle reach of the Yangtze River in 2018 and 2020. The results show that during COVID-19 lockdowns, the reduction in industrial and domestic effluent discharge led to a reduction in organic pollution and industrial plant nutrient pollution in rivers. Among them, PO43--P, CODMn, and TP were significantly decreased (p < 0.05). During lockdowns, nutrient supplies such as TN and TP were reduced, which led to inhibition of algae growth and decreased phytoplankton abundance. Phytoplankton affects the abundance of zooplankton through a bottom-up effect, and a decrease in phytoplankton density leads to a decrease in zooplankton density. The decrease in plankton density led to lower primary productivity in rivers, reduced fish feed supplies, intensified competition among fish populations, with increases in population dominated by high trophic level carnivorous fish. In addition, the decrease in fishing intensity has contributed to an increase in the number of rivers-sea migratory fish;the fish community was earlier mainly dominated by small-sized species with a short life cycle, and the number of supplementary populations has now increased. As a consequence, the fish community structure shows a tendency toward high complexity and high fish diversity. Overall, these observations demonstrate that the rapid revival of the retrogressive Yangtze River ecosystem is possible through limitation of anthropic interferences.

Impacts of aquatic plant invasions on tourism and recreation

The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic changed the way we use our environments locally and nationally, with a dramatic increase in 'staycations' and uptake in recreational activities, particularly utilizing freshwater habitats. There is high demand for accessible, safe and aesthetically pleasing locations for engaging in a range of water-based activities, such as paddlesports, boating and angling. Fresh waters, and the ecosystem services they provide, have increasingly experienced pressure from a range of anthropogenic stressors, including invasive non-native species (INNS). Invasive aquatic plants have significant impacts on freshwater systems, often dominating local environments. They can limit access to and navigation in watercourses and affect other water-based activities, which has consequences for tourism and recreational use. Once introduced, invasive aquatic plants can rapidly establish and spread, therefore biosecurity is essential to minimize the risk of introduction and subsequent impacts and management costs. While many invasive aquatic plants are undesirable for recreation and tourism, pathways of invasion including water-based activities, such as on boating and angling equipment, can spread them. To minimize the impacts of invasive non-native plants felt by those that enjoy the use of freshwater environments for tourism and recreation, collective responsibility should be encouraged to prevent the spread and enhance the management of established invasive aquatic plant populations.

Failure to respond to a coral disease epizootic in Florida: causes and consequences

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in September 2014 near Virginia Key, Florida. In roughly six years, the disease spread throughout Florida and into the greater Caribbean basin. The high prevalence of SCTLD and high resulting mortality in coral populations, and the large number of susceptible species affected, suggest that this outbreak is one of the most lethal ever recorded. The initial recognition and management response to this catastrophic disease in Florida was slow, which delayed the start of monitoring programs and prevented coordinated research programs by at least two years. The slow management response was a result of several factors that operated concurrently. First, the Port Miami dredging project was ongoing during the coral disease epidemic and dredging rather than SCTLD was blamed by some managers and local environmental groups for the extreme coral losses reported in the project's compliance monitoring program. Second, this blame was amplified in the media because dredging projects are intuitively assumed to be bad for coral reefs. Third, during this same time State of Florida policy prohibited government employees to acknowledge global warming in their work. This was problematic because ocean warming is a proximal cause of many coral diseases. As a result, the well-known links between warming and coral disease were ignored. A consequence of this policy was that the dredging project provided an easy target to blame for the coral mortality noted in the monitoring program, despite convincing data that suggested otherwise. Specifically, results from the intensive compliance monitoring program, conducted by trained scientific divers, were clear. SCTLD that was killing massive numbers of corals throughout Florida was also killing corals at the dredge site - and in the same proportions and among the same suite of species. While eradication of the disease was never a possibility, early control measures may have slowed its spread or allowed for the rescue of significant numbers of large colonies of iconic species. This coral disease outbreak has similarities to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and there are lessons learned from both that will improve disease response outcomes in the future, to the benefit of coral reefs and human populations.

5th EMBRIO International Symposium: Sustainable Development Of Fisheries And Marine Resource Amidst Covid-19 Era And Beyond, 6-7 September 2021

These proceedings contain 67 articles that discuss fish ecology and biology, aquaculture, capture fisheries, marine conservation, management, biology, debris, ecology, bioprospecting, biotechnology, and postharvest.

Existence of severe acute respiratory syndrome causing Coronavirus-2 (COVID-19) on aquatic animals and aquatic products: a review

Many pandemic diseases have emerged in the history and millions of people affected from these diseases. Among the marked pandemics in history, the plague, known as the black death, was recorded to cause the death of 17-54% of the world population. Similar to previous pandemics, as the SARS CoV-2, which emerged in 2019 and belonged to the coronavirus family, caused an epidemic and turned into a pandemic infection, positive cases were detected in more than 483 million people, and more than 6.1 million people died. While this emerging epidemic is still continuing its effects, it has been determined that there are positive cases in pets such as dogs and cats, especially in mink (Neovison vison). Especially in Denmark, Netherlands and Finland, positive animals for COVID-19 were accepted. Unlike the pandemic until today, the COVID-19 has spread to broader geographies and affected many animal species. With the reports that the SARS-CoV-2 - was first transmitted from bats to humans, this viral agent has been accepted as zoonotic, but a complete transmission route has not been shown for its transmission from other animals to humans except bats. It is reported that there is no significant risk of transmission of the virus, which is transmitted primarily by the respiratory route, from both pets and edible foods to humans. Although there are many reports in terrestrial animals, studies on the presence of SARS-CoV-2 - in aquatic animals or aquatic environments and COVID-19 transmission in aquatic animals have doubts. Here we reviewed the viability of the SARS-CoV-2 - in the aquatic environment, transmission to the aquatic ecosystem and aquatic animals, and therefore the risks to humans through water or aquatic products.

The 3rd International conference on Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Surabaya, Indonesia, 10 September 2020

This proceedings contains 96 papers on ocean biodiversity;breeding, reproduction, feeding and diseases of aquacultured fish and shellfish;water quality;fishery management, seafood preservation and quality;aquaculture and fishery economics and the impact of COVID-19 on aquaculture and fishery production.

Public concern for animal welfare and its correlation with ethical ideologies after Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China

The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) represents a major public health challenge and a serious threat to sustainable social development. A consideration of animal welfare is clearly justified, given the potential contribution of animals to the spread of the disease. The present study, therefore, sought to investigate the concern the Chinese people have for animal welfare (PCAW) and how their 'ethical ideology' (idealism and relativism) determines PCAW after COVID-19, through comparison with the same study, carried out in China in 2015. Our results demonstrated a significant improvement in Chinese PCAW after COVID-19. The adverse impact of COVID-19 may have resulted in a lowered idealism score and this decreased score served to neutralise significant correlations between idealism and PCAW, compared to the 2015 results. The global pandemic did not increase people's relativism score and a significant correlation was found between relativism and PCAW. Gender, age, educational level, public perception of animals after COVID-19, zoo and aquarium visiting were all shown to be predictor variables for PCAW. This study is one of the first to investigate Chinese PCAW after COVID-19 and can therefore provide knowledge that will potentially increase Chinese PCAW.

Reflections from the team: co-creating visual media about ecological processes for young people. (Special Issue: Nature on screen: The implications of visual media for human-nature relationships.)

Many migratory fish populations are declining, threatened by human-induced pressures such as habitat loss and fragmentation caused by dams, roads, land use change, climate change and pollution. However, public awareness of fish migration and associated human pressures remains limited. It is important to communicate about hard-to-see and complex environmental topics and issues, such as fish migration, with young people, who stand to be the most affected by ongoing global changes. Young people are also at a critical stage in their attitude formation and may be particularly receptive to learning enrichment and engagement for behaviour change about environmental issues. Arts-based methods can be particularly effective in fostering broad personal connections with nature, especially for complex topics like fish migration. The collaborative and creative processes involved in developing such media often lack critique, which limits learning from previous experiences. In this article, we reflect on the co-creation of the Shout Trout Workout (STW), a lyric poem, comic and music video for 8- to 14-year-olds, designed to entertain, engage and enrich learning about migratory fishes and aquatic environments. We chart the process of creation, including conception of ideas, writing the poem, fact-checking and developing the storyline with scientists and creating a comic and music video with visual artists and musicians. We explore some of the challenges and merits of collaborative working, consider the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the creative and initial engagement process and share what we learned about creative input, communication and respect. We also discuss how the experience shaped our thoughts about the nature of co-creation itself, and how in creating STW, collaborators contributed to the process in multiple, nuanced and unanticipated ways (e.g. artistic input, ideas, science, dissemination), representing a spectrum of co-creative practice. We hope that sharing our experiences and reflections is useful and inspiring for other cross-disciplinary collaborations, and for those who aim to create learning enrichment and engagement material about ecological processes and environmental issues for young people.

Aquaculture: an introductory text

This 4th edition covers issues associated with sustainable aquaculture development, culture systems, hatchery methods, nutrition and feeding of aquaculture species, reproductive strategies, harvesting, and many other topics. While its main focus is on the culture of fish, molluscs and crustaceans for food, the book also covers other forms of aquaculture, such as the production of seaweeds, recreational fish and ornamental species, as well as live foods, such as algae and rotifers that are used to feed larval shrimp and marine fish. Thoroughly updated and revised, this essential textbook now includes increased coverage of open-ocean cage culture and sea lice issues with salmon culture, coverage of the significant progress made in nutrition, including the move away from fishmeal as protein and fish oil as lipids in feed, information on biofloc technology uses, predictive impacts of climate change, probiotics, and the impact of COVID-19 on the aquaculture community, and updated aquaculture production statistics and lists of approved anaesthetics. Aquaculture remains one of the most rapidly growing agricultural disciplines, and this book remains an essential resource for all students of aquaculture and related disciplines.

A global perspective on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on freshwater fish biodiversity. (Special Issue: Conservation and ecological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

The COVID-19 global pandemic and resulting effects on the economy and society (e.g., sheltering-in-place, alterations in transportation, changes in consumer behaviour, loss of employment) have yielded some benefits and risks to biodiversity. Here, we considered the ways the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced (or may influence) freshwater fish biodiversity (e.g., richness, abundance). In many cases, we could only consider potential impacts using documented examples (often from the media) of likely changes, because anecdotal observations are still emerging and data-driven studies are yet to be completed or even undertaken. We evaluated the potential for the pandemic to either mitigate or amplify widely acknowledged, pre-existing threats to freshwater fish biodiversity (i.e., invasive species, pollution, fragmentation, flow alteration, habitat loss and alteration, climate change, exploitation). Indeed, we identified examples spanning the extremes of positive and negative outcomes for almost all known threats. We also considered the pandemic's impact on freshwater fisheries demand, assessment, research, compliance monitoring, and management interventions (e.g., restoration), with disruptions being experienced in all domains. Importantly, we provide a forward-looking synthesis that considers the potential mechanisms and pathways by which the consequences of the pandemic may positively and negatively impact freshwater fishes over the longer term. We conclude with a candid assessment of the current management and policy responses and the extent to which they ensure freshwater fish populations and biodiversity are conserved for human and aquatic ecosystem benefits in perpetuity.

Current status of aquarium fish (ornamental fish) enterprises during the pandemic period (Elazig City sample)

This study was carried out in order to reveal the situation of aquarium sales enterprises in Elazig and to determine their problems. In the study, a total of 14 enterprises (aquarist) were asked questions by the survey method. It has been determined that a significant part of the existing enterprises is located in the center of Elazig (93%), all of them continue to operate as tenants and their operating periods are over 5 years. It has been noted that 86% of the personnel working in the enterprises are male and 14% are female. It was determined that the most sold fish species in the research area were 2 fish species belonging to 2 families. It has been observed that one of the important problems in aquarium businesses is fish diseases. It has been determined that 93% of the fish sales of the Covid-19 pandemic period were negatively affected and 7% were positively affected.

Investigations on water quality parameters and icthyofaunal diversity of the river Tangon at Radhikapur, Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal, India

The physicochemical parameters and ichthyofauna diversity of the water of the internationally important river Tangon at the Radhikapur village in Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal were studied for one year from December 2019 to November 2020. The study was done monthly from the four selected sampling sites of the Tangon river. Water temperature varied from 16.80..C to 32.60..C at all the sites during the study. pH ranged from 7.0 to 8.5, indicating the slightly alkaline nature of the water. Higher values of electrical conductivity were observed in the summer months. Free CO2 showed a positive correlation with water temperature and total hardness during the entire study. The lowest value of dissolved oxygen was observed to be 1.80 mgL-1 at Site 1 and Site 2, which might be due to the use of fertilizer at the nearby agricultural field and lifting of excessive sand from the Tangon river. The sudden increase in dissolved oxygen concentrations at all the sites from March to June might be due to the lesser anthropogenic activities during the lockdown in India because of the Covid-19 Pandemic situation. Total hardness (57.40 mgL-1 to 125.00 mgL-1) had a significant negative correlation with transparency at Site 2. Chloride (3.00 mgL-1 to 24.14 mgL-1) had a significant correlation with pH and total hardness at Site 1. BOD was varied between 1.00 mgL-1 and 11.04 mg L-1. The highest BOD was found in December at Site 4, which was much greater than the drinking and bathing water standard set by CPCB. It may be due to the higher level of pollution due to the increasing level of anthropogenic activities. The study on ichthyofauna diversity revealed a total of 40 species of fish belonged to seventeen families from the different sites of the Tangon river during the entire study period. Cyprinidae was found to be the most dominant family throughout the study period. Eight species of fishes were under the vulnerable category (20%) and three species were under a near threatened category (7%). The present study will help formulating the future policy for conservation and proper management of the fish diversity in the Radhikapur village of the Tangon river. Public awareness is very much important for the conservation of the river.

Metazoan parasites of Mystus cavasius (Hamilton) of river gomti with description of a new species of Acanthocephala raosentis cavasii sp. nov

The growing awareness that biodiversity is a precious global asset to present and future generation and that species's survival and the integrity of habitats and ecosystems are at serious risk, has increased significantly the importance of biodiversity related research. Biodiversity can be defined as the variability among living organism from all sources, including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystem and the ecological complexes of which they are part;this includes diversity within species between species and of ecosystems. The diversity of life on earth is nearly unimaginable. There is such a wealth of organism that it's a continuous need to keep trace of the diversity and there is always a provision for the discovery of new ones as it is a well-known fact that changing environmental conditions, habitat food and other ecological factors are more than enough to bring out certain definite changes and the accumulation of small changes give rise to a new species. With covid-19 we have seen the damage the diseases can do not only to human health but also to the global economy.By protecting biodiversity in Earth's ecosystem, countries could save lives and money while helping to prevent future pandemics. The present findings add one new species of an acanthocephalan parasite i.e. Raosentis cavasii from fresh water fish Mystus cavasius. It differs from R.thapari in presence of 20 rows of trunk spines instead of 9 rows, in having unequal lemnisci instead of being equal and in their extension upto proboscis receptacle and in the number of hypodermic nuclei 2-3 pairs dorsal and 1 ventral instead of 3 pairs on both sides.

Impacts of loss of vegetation cover on biodiversity of ikere-gorge, Oyo state Nigeria. (Special Issue: Covid-19 and climate change.)

Climate change is inevitable as it is caused by natural phenomenon but most often by human induced activities;the impacts of which can be devastating. Ikere-gorge is a freshwater ecosystem. The impact of climate change on Ikere-gorge is examined in this study. Remote sensing technique is employed and land use/cover classification was adopted. The processing of satellite data involved the manipulation and interpretation of images. The results showed that there was loss of vegetation cover around Ikere-groge. But, flow modification was governed by management decision, vegetation cover and climate change. The resultant effect of this was the observed dryness of some parts and changes in the shape of Ikere-gorge. The implication of this is that the biodiversity of Ikere-gorge is vulnerable to these changes. This led to change, modification and/or destruction of ecosystem. The ready- to-spawn fish lost their eggs and they were even becoming prey easily. The most affected fish were the newly spawned or recruited fish (billions of fish eggs, fry, fingerlings and juveniles) that could not swim swiftly to escape into the deeper parts of the gorge. Therefore, management of Ikere-gorge should be holistic incorporating all necessary stakeholders for the survival of the gorge and sustainability of the biodiversity it supports.