That coral reefs are in decline worldwide, particularly in the Caribbean, will come as no surprise. This decades-long decline has reached a potential tipping point as the weight of the effects of climate change have come decidedly to bear on the planet’s most diverse marine ecosystem. Whether coral reefs …

This thesis is a literature review on the impact of global warming on the great whale pump in Europe. Global warming is known to have an effect on different ecosystems around the world. However, what is largely unknown is the impact of global warming on marine systems and specifically large whales that …

This thesis provides an answer to the question if the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) does fulfil its own objective of supporting Ecosystem-based management by producing Ecosystem Overviews as advice. Against the background of ongoing changes and pressures on the ecosystem, …

To limit the pressure on the marine ecosystem, the European Unions’ Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) was developed to ensure sustainable use of the marine ecosystem. The goal of the MSFD is to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES). To achieve this goal, the MSFD prescribes using Ecosystem-Based …

The EU enacted new legislation on regulating access to deep-sea fisheries in 2016. Two important aspects of the regulation are outstanding, namely the establishment of a list of areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) are known to occur or are likely to occur and the determination of the existing …

The first observations of juvenile lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) around the island of Sint Eustatius are described. Observations were made in the summer of 2015 and spring of 2016 and only consisted of individuals estimated to be smaller than 65 cm in total length (TL). These observations represent …

In de Nederlandse kustregio stroomt het zoute grondwater langzaam naar de oppervlakte. Het zouter worden van het ondiepe grondwater noemen we verzilting en dit kan zorgen voor problemen voor de landbouw, de natuur en het waterbeheer. Waterbeheerders proberen rekening te houden met de stakeholders door …