Heavy losses of 6200 ha of seagrass off the Adelaide metropolitan coast since 1949 have had substantial implications for beach management, fisheries and biodiversity. Here, we describe for managers some promising initial trials to develop a cost‐effective method to rehabilitate some of these lost seagrasses.

This article reports on a survey of ranch owners in high amenity areas in southwestern Montana that have experienced marked ownership change over the last two decades. Specifically, we focus on findings from a set of questions targeting water resource and riparian area management. After reviewing the results, we consider how new owners may be managing water resources differently than longtime owners and what the ecological implications of this shift in management might be for Montana's prized wild fisheries.

Fisheries systems are widely considered to be ‘in crisis’ in both economic and ecological terms, a considerable concern given their global significance to food security, international trade and employment. The most common explanation for the crisis suggests that it is caused by weak and illiberal property regimes. It follows that correcting the crisis involves the creation of private property rights that will restore equilibrium between the profitable, productive function of fishing firms and fish stocks in order to maximize ‘rent’.

- Brook charr (Salvelinus fontinalis) is a sentinel fish species that requires clean, cold water habitats generally resulting from landscapes that allow for surface water flows devoid of sediment and contaminants and high groundwater discharge of cold water. As such, brook charr are impacted by land cover changes that alter stream temperature regimes. We evaluated brook charr populations across their eastern and midwestern range in the United States with reference to thermal habitat availability in relationship to land cover and per cent baseflow.

Best-practice environmental policy often suggests co-management of marine resources as a means of achieving sustainable development. Here we consider the impacts of superimposing co-management policy, in the form of territorial user rights for fishers over an existing traditional community-based natural-resource management system in Chile. We consider a broad definition of co-management that includes a spectrum of arrangements between governments and user groups described by different levels of devolution of power.

Institutional thinking has long been central to fisheries governance. Defined in its most generic form as structural constraints that provide regularities, reduce uncertainties and shape people's interactions, institutions create an enabling or controlling environment for specific governing actions and decisions to take place. Over the years, fisheries governance has relied heavily on the creation and evolution of institutions, especially those related to property rights and access rules.

BACKGROUND: Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) addresses the challenge of meeting the growing demand for food, fibre and fuel, despite the changing climate and fewer opportunities for agricultural expansion on additional lands. CSA focuses on contributing to economic development, poverty reduction and food security; maintaining and enhancing the productivity and resilience of natural and agricultural ecosystem functions, thus building natural capital; and reducing trade-offs involved in meeting these goals.

Despite dating back over 400 years the relevance of traditional fisheries management in Aceh, Indonesia, still remains high. Aceh was, however, greatly affected by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed an estimated 167,000 lives, including 14,000 fishermen and 59 of the 193 traditional marine leaders (Panglima Laot). This tragic loss of life was accompanied by a substantial loss of local knowledge, such as the locations of hazardous fishing grounds.

Galicia is a Spanish region which has been one of the leading producers of mussels around the world for decades. The institutional framework of the Galician floating raft culture in the mussel sector set up a scenario of institutional stability and equilibrium, in which new licenses were not granted and a winning coalition maintained the “status quo” from 1976 until 2008. Nevertheless, the two most important legal changes since the 90s took place in Galicia as of December 2008: the Fisheries Act 11/2008 and Act 6/2009 amending the former.

In Bangladesh, extensive common pool fisheries exist in the wet season on private lands in the floodplains. This study investigated the trend in year-round enclosure of these seasonal commons for private aquaculture and the impacts of this practice. The floodplain area enclosed for aquaculture was found to be growing at 30–100% a year. Enclosures are organised by individual landowners, informal groups or companies that lease in land. Aquaculture in enclosures produces more fish than capture fisheries, but input costs are high.

The problem of the commons is more important to our lives and thus more central to economics than a century ago when Katharine Coman led off the first issue of the AmericanEconomic Review. As the U.S. and other economies have grown, the carrying-capacity of the planet - in regard to natural resources and environmental quality — has become a greater concern, particularly for common-property and open-access resources. The focus of this article is on some important, unsettled problems of the commons.