Illegal fishing and Australian security

The security impact of illegal fishing is not well understood. Where illegal fishing is recognised as a security problem, the focus has been on fish as a natural resource, the depletion of which can have impacts on food security, individual livelihoods, and the economic survival of states relying on illegal fishing. We argue that a focus on fish as a natural resource obscures the other security challenges the crime of illegal fishing poses to Australia. As this paper explains, illegal fishing overlaps with drug, human, weapon and other contraband trafficking and smuggling; irregular maritime arrivals; and maritime piracy. In addition, like other easily transported, high value resources, illegal fish can fund insurgencies and other types of political violence. Understanding illegal fishing as a security challenge will improve Australia’s national security policy. First, it acknowledges fish as a vital natural resource, implicated in economic, ecological, and human security; second, it analyses how illegal fishing interlinks with other maritime crimes; third, it challenges the effectiveness of monitoring and enforcement of illegal fishing; fourth, it presents an opportunity for effective regional cooperation; and finally it highlights the benefits of regional cooperation in responding to illegal fishing.     

Examining Land-Use through GIS-Based Kernel Density Estimation: A Re-Evaluation of Legacy Data from the Berbati-Limnes Survey

The use of archaeological survey data for evaluation of landscape dynamics has commonly been concerned with the distribution of settlements and changes in number of recorded sites over time. Here we present a new quantitative approach to survey-based legacy data, which allows further assessments of the spatial configuration of possible land-use areas. Utilizing data from an intensive archaeological survey in the Berbati-Limnes area, Greece, we demonstrate how GIS-based kernel density estimations (KDE) can be used to produce cluster-based density surfaces that may be linked to past land-use strategies. By relating density surfaces to elevation and slope, it is also possible to quantify shifts in the use of specific environments on a regional scale, allowing us to model and visualize land-use dynamics over time. In this respect, the approach provides more multifaceted information to be drawn from archaeological legacy data, providing an extended platform for research on human-environment interactions.     

Australia’s submarine technology cooperation with Japan as burden-sharing with the USA in the Asia-Pacific

Australia, Japan and the USA are all facing dual pressures that require them to do more with less. Internationally, they deal with the challenge of managing China’s rapid rise. However, domestically, they must cut government spending and reduce government debt. With internal balancing effectively ruled out as a long-term solution, the three states are seeking ways to optimise external balancing, or cooperation with like-minded states. This article focuses on Australian motivations regarding the recent proposal for submarine cooperation with Japan, and places it in the context of longer trends that poise the USA, Australia and Japan for even greater trilateralism in the future. Australia’s proposal to buy submarines from Japan, should it go through, would cement Australia and Japan’s fledgling security relationship in steel and coin. For Australia, it would help it to overcome its undersea capability gap, and Japan could set a precedent to re-enter the global weapons market if all goes well. Furthermore, Australia can use defence-technology cooperation with Japan to signal to the USA the seriousness of its commitment to burden-share in pursuit of regional security and determination to politically support the USA’s ‘Pivot’ to the Asia-Pacific. However, domestic politics have begun to play an important role in Australia, with a ‘spill’ motion against Prime Minister Tony Abbott barely overcome by a backroom deal with the opposition to build the submarines domestically, and this is an important development to keep an eye on.     

The politics of assessment: water and sanitation MDGs in the Middle East

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is generally considered to be making adequate progress towards meeting Target 10 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which calls for halving the proportion of the population with inadequate access to drinking water and sanitation. Progress towards achieving Target 10 is evaluated by the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), run by UNICEF and WHO. This article shows that the assessment methodologies employed by the JMP significantly overstate coverage rates in the drinking water and sanitation sectors, by overlooking and ‘not counting’ problems of access, affordability, quality of service and pollution. The authors show that states in MENA often fail to provide safe drinking water and adequate sanitation services, particularly in densely populated informal settlements, and that many centralized water and sanitation infrastructures contribute to water pollution and contamination. Despite the glaring gap between the MDG statistics and the evidence available from national and local reports, exclusionary political regimes in the region have had few incentives to adopt more accurate assessments and improve the quality of service. While international organizations have proposed some reforms, they too lack incentives to employ adequate measures that gauge access, quality and affordability of drinking water and sanitation services.     

石器研究的新视角:技术-功能分析法——以观音洞遗址为例

技术-功能分析法通过综合考察支配石制工具生产的技术机制、分析工具刃口上所整合的技术特征,理解工具预设性的功能和使用方式,并复原打制者的意图。对观音洞遗址石器材料的分析表明,此方法在揭示打制者意图及工具预设性的功能和使用方式的多样性方面具有重要作用。